USA > New York > Westchester County > History of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the county of Westchester, from its foundation, 1693, to 1853 > Part 11
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Ought not the original document to be published with the names of all the members of that convention signed thereto, which the Bishop writes he had in his possession ? It is possible also, that a majority of the signers of the Decla- ration of Independence were Episcopalians. An intelligent correspondent writes that 18 were certainly, and was inclined to believe that 15 more were so. The whole number was 51.
¿ A letter from an officer of the Navy, now before the writer, contains the fol- lowing passage : "I have been in the Navy upwards of twenty-eight years, and have formed the opinion that the majority of the officers are Episcopalians, or prefer that mode of worship."
b It will be observed that reference is made not to numbers, but to names, and the exalted character and eminent services of individuals.
c See Book of Common Prayer. The conservative and anti-revolutionary tendency and influence of the Episcopal Church, as a general rule, is manifest, as from other things-so especially from this-her constant daily prayer to God for "the powers that be."
d The author is not aware that so republican a feature is found in any of the denominations around us. The Episcopal Methodist denomination admits no representation at all of her laity,-(Decanver's Catalogue, p. 4,-while among others, he believes a majority of the clergy may carry any favorite measure.
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Did space permit, it would be easy to show how fallacious was all reasoning a priori, on such a subject. Where might we expect to find republicanism in forms more pure and perfect, than among the men who profess to have fled from civil and religious oppression, and to have given up every worldly tie for conscience' sake ? And yet among whom of all the multitudi- nous denominations that cover our wide-spread land, were found more striking instances of intolerance and persecutiona than among the Puritans of New England, excellent and noble men as they were. At the same time it is a recorded fact, that a large
The Bishops too, are elective officers. They hold indeed their office for life, or rather for " good behaviour." But that such a tenure is consistent with republican insti- tutions, is manifest from the fact, that the Judges of the Supreme Court, as well as others, hold their offices by the same tenure. At any rate, if it be not re- publican, it is apostolic.
" In the American Episcopal Church, the body which exercises her legislative power, is constituted analagous to the paramount civil body of the United States -the Congress. This consists of two houses, of Senators and Representatives of the several States, the concurrence of both being necessary to laws. And the supreme authority of the American Episcopal Church is vested in like manner, in a General Convention of two houses, with co-ordinate powers-the House of Bishops of the several dioceses-and the house of Clerical and Lay Deputies from each diocese, chosen by the clergy and representatives of the congrega- ions in diocesan conventions ; the consent of both houses being necessary to the acts of the Convention ; and the clergy and laity having a negative upon each other. The government of the Episcopal Church in America, is perhaps even more republican than that of the Presbyterian denomination. The legislative bodies of the latter are not divided as that of the General Convention of the Epis- copal Church is, into two houses, similar to the civil legislatures, nor in their ecclesiastical assemblies, have the laity, voting as a distinct body, a complete negative upon the acts of the clergy, as they have in all the legislative bodies of the Protestant Episcopal Church."
" There is also a close analogy between the civil government and the gov- ernment of the Episcopal Church, in the single and responsible Executives; the President and Governors in the one; and in the other the Bishops of the several dioceses, originally elective officers, and amenable by impeachment of the Diocesan Conventions to the General Council of Bishops."-Bishop Hobart, " United States of America compared with England," p. 29. Bishop White expresses the same conviction .- Memoirs, p. 74,
See Puritanism, by Thomas W. Coit, D. D. It is well known that a distin- guishing feature of the Newark settlement,-as well as of the Puritan settle ments of New-England,-was that no man might be elected to any civil or military office, nor have any vote at such election, unless he was a member of Congregational Church. See East Jersey under the Proprietaries, p. 44.
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number of their descendants, Congregationalists by profession, espoused the cause of the mother country in the war of the Revolution, and expatriated themselves.a
* The time has arrived when allowances can be or should be made, for prefer- ences and prejudices, the growth of education and associations. The object of the author was not to draw comparisons, but to show that the opprobrium, if any, yet attaches to those who quietly retired from America, and were in consequence designated as royalists and refugees, should not rest exclusively upon Episco- palians, and also that there was no natural or necessary connection between any set of religious tenets, and the principles of republican liberty. A reference to the acts of proscription or confiscation of the various states will show the fact conclusively. Over three hundred individuals, many of them heads of families, were banished by one act of the State of Massachusetts,-more than sixty of them being Graduates of Harvard University,-among whom were undoubtedly many never conceived to have favored Episcopacy. In New Jersey, among those whose property was declared forfeited,-in the county of Essex alone, there were more than one hundred,-the names of many can be found who had no connection with the Episcopal church.
The reader interested in the subject is referred to Eliot's Biography, Lincoln's History of Worcester, and other local annals, and particularly to " Judge Cur- wen's Journal and Letters." Judge C.,-himself a descendant of an early emi- grant to New-England, and the son of a dissenting clergyman,-was not con- nected in any way with the Church of England; and his Journal abounds in references to his countrymen with whom he associated in England as a refugee. A large number of these, says Mr. Ward, "were Congregationalists."-He mentions the names of seventeen of the more prominent.
In July, 1775, Curwen, then in London, says, "there is an army of New- Englanders here ;" and in June, 1776, he mentions " six vessels" arriving at one time " laden with refugees," via Halifax.
So Samuel Quincy, writing Jan. 1st, 1777, says, " I see many faces I have been used to; America seems to be transplanted to London." This family, (the Quincy's,) was one of the most ancient and distinguished in Massachusetts. -Eliot's Biog. Dictionary.
But perhaps the most direct testimony may be found in the History of the Early Missions of the Church of England, by Rev. Ernest Hawkins, to which refer- ence has been already made, wherein are copious extracts of letters, written by men who lived at the time and upon the spot. Mr. Breynton, writing from Halifax, in a letter, dated Jan. 2d, 1776, says expressly in regard to " the wealthier among the loyalist families of New England, who sought refuge in Halifax," that " many of them were dissenters." Hawkins, p. 371. While in a letter the year after, he reports the landing of another body of refugees, " about seventeen hundred loyalists from Boston."
" It appears," adds Mr. Hawkins, "that by the end of 1783, not fewer than thirty thousand from New-York, and other parts of the States, had arrived in Nova Scotia." " Many of them," he adds, " were members of the Church of England ;" of course, then, many of them were not.
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It was an object of anxious solicitude with the church at the close of the war, to secure the succession of the Episcopacy, and thus perpetuate that ministry which she believed was es- tablished by the apostles,a and designed to be permanent and universal. And what she sought for herself she freely accorded to others. "When in the course of Divine Providence," such is her moderate and well considered language, " these American states became independent with respect to civil government, their ecclesiastical independence was necessarily included ; and the different religious denominations of Christians in these States were left at full and equal liberty to model and organize their respective churches and forms of worship and discipline, in such manner as they might judge most convenient for their future prosperity, consistently with the constitution and laws of their country."b
This object was ultimately obtained by the consecration of Bishops White and Provoost, the one of Pennsylvania, the other of New-York, at the chapel of the Archiepiscopal Palace, at Lambeth, on the 4th of February, 1787. The Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and the Bishop of Peter- borough, joined with the Archbishop of Canterbury in the impo- sition of hands.c Bishop Seabury had been consecrated two
The following extract from a letter of G. A. Ward, Esq., the intelligent editor of " Curwen's Journal and Letters," will be read with interest, as the opinion of a man, than whom probably no one has given the subject more attention :
" It is an unquestionable fact, that very many Congregationalists, descendants of the Puritans, expatriated themselves at the commencement of the Revolution, some espoused the cause of our mother country, and entered into her service : others were refugees from a dislike to rebellion, and in the firm belief that their course exhibited a love of law and order, and would eventuate for the best interest of their native land. A large number of Curwen's friends were Congregational- ists ; and I have no doubt, that of the Massachusetts loyalists, ten were of this persuasion, to one of the Episcopal Church."
* It is evident unto all men diligently reading Holy Scripture and ancient authors, that from the Apostles' time, there have been these orders of Ministers ( in Christ's Church,-Bishops, Priests, and Deacons." Book of Common Pray- er. Preface to form for ordaining Deacons.
b Preface to the Book of Common Prayer.
e Bishop White's Memoirs, p. 136.
7
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or three years before, by the "non-juring bishops of Scotland."a Dr. James Madison was shortly after consecrated in England as Bishop of Virginia. The succession of the Episcopacy thus introduced, was secured by the consecration of others for the various States. We have now twenty-nineb of that order in our American church.c
It is an interesting fact, and somewhat important too, as show- ing the sentiments of one of our most distinguished states- men, in regard to the anti-republican tendency of Episcopacy, that the successful result of the application was owing in a great measure to the agency of JOHN ADAMS, our minister at the time, at the Court of St. James. A Congregationalist him- self, from the very heart of Puritanism, yet can he write in words like these : d "There is no part of my life on which I look back, and'reflect with more satisfaction, than the part I took, bold and hazardous as it was to me and mine, in the in- troduction of Episcopacy into America."
The first General Convention that met with a Bishop at its head, assembled 28th July, 1789. Measures were immediately taken for the proper organization and government of the church, and from that time to this, she has grown and strengthened until a large proportion of the most intelligent and influential citizens of these United States are enrolled among her mem- bers."e
We return to the history of this parish. The venerable
* Bishops Kilgour, Petrie and Skinner, Nov. 14, 1784. The non-juring Bishops, although severed from the State in the Revolution of 1688, yet carefully preserved the succession.
b. There are now (in 1853) thirty five, including three missionary Bishops.
c Known unto God are all his ways, and he seeth not as man seeth. The American Revolution was a link in the chain of his providences, by which his mighty plan is bound together. Certainly we have reason to rejoice that we are cut loose from the benumbing influence of "State protection." The writer heartily coincides with these sentiments, expressed by the Rev. Dr. S. Farmar Jarvis of Conn. He cannot but regard il. further, as a providential circumstance, situated as the church then was, that the Episcopate was not obtained till after the war. Bishop White manifestly held this opinion. Mem., pp. 70, 71, 72, 73.
d Dr. Wilson's Memoir of Bishop White, letter 29th Oct., 1814.
· A Centennial Discourse, delivered in Trinity Church, Newark, N. J., Feb. 22d, 1846, by the Rev. Matthew H. Henderson, M. A., Rector.
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Society's Abstracts for 1777, say :- " 'Three letters have been received from the Rev. Dr. Seabury ; the first of them, dated December 29th, 1776, gives an account of the great distresses he had encountered, greater than he can describe, greater, he believes, than he could well support again. In the preceding year, he had been carried away by force into Connecticut. After his return to his mission, he continued tolerably quiet for a few weeks ; but after the King's troops had evacuated Boston, he was perpetually insulted by the rebels, on their way from thence to New-York. This lasted about a month. After the Declaration of Independency, an edict was published at New- York, making it death to support the King or any of his ad- herents. Upon this he shut up his church ; fifty armed men being sent into his neighborhood. On the arrival of the British troops at Staten Island, and of two ships of war in the Sound, the coast was constantly guarded, and the friends of Government seized, so that his situation became critical, as he was particularly obnoxious to the rebels. After their defeat on Long Island, a body of them fixed themselves within two miles of his house, so that he thought it prudent to confine himself; for it appeared he would otherwise be seized, frequent enquiries being made for him, and his house being examined by the rebels.
On the 1st of September, it happened that they withdrew their guard from a neighboring point of land on the coast, and the guard that was to replace it, mistaking their route, gave him an opportunity of effecting his escape to Long Island. The rebels, finding they had missed him, vented their rage on his church and his property, converting the former into an hos- pital, tearing off the covering and burning the pews; and damaging the latter to the value of three hundred pounds cur- rency.
He accompanied the army into Westchester, and returned for one week to his family, but, on the army quitting those parts, he thought it prudent to retire with his family to New-York. He assures the Society that he did not leave his mission so long as it was practicable to stay."a
· Printed Abstracts of Ven. Prop. Soc.
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In his second letter, dated 29th of March, 1777, after alluding to the death of Mr. Babcock, he says :- " With regard to my own mission, I can only say that it is utterly ruined ; before the King's troops went into that part of the country, the people were robbed of their cattle and otherwise plundered by the Rebels ; and, I am sorry to say, that they suffered greatly in that way from the Royal army. Little or no distinction was made ; no redress could be obtained, and no stop was put to it. As soon as the King's troops withdrew, the Rebels returned in parties, and every party plundered the inhabitants. Many fled to this city, with what little they could carry-many were de- prived by the Rebels of every thing but the clothes on their backs, and sent off with only six days provision, because they refused to swear allegiance to the States of America. Children and infants have been deprived of their clothes, and women in child-bed have had the coverings, even the sheets, torn from their beds, by these monsters, who seem to have nothing of hu- manity left but the shape of men only. Many families of my parishioners are now in this town, who used to live decently, suffering for common necessaries. I daily meet them, and it is melancholy to observe the dejection strongly marked on their faces, which seem to implore that assistance which I am unable to give. To pity and pray for them is all I can do. I shall say nothing more of my own situation at present, than that I have hitherto supported myself and family with decency, and will not distrust the goodness of God which has hitherto preserved me, nor render myself unworthy of it by repining and discon- tent." a
In his letter of November 12th, 1777, he observes :- " That about a month before, he had visited Westchester, and thought of staying the winter there, but was obliged to drop such inten- tions on General Burgoyne's defeat, as the Rebels upon that event came to that town by night and carried off forty-two of the inhabitants." Dr. Seabury concludes with requesting that he may remove to Staten Island if he finds it safer than West- chester; and the Society, sensible of his great worth, have
· New-York M. S. S. from Archives at Fulham, vol. ii. 617. (Hawks'.)
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signified their ready compliance with his request, engaging to continue the salary of £50 per annum, during the present dis- turbances.ª
The Abstracts for 1778, state that two letters have been received in the course of the year from the Rev. Dr. Seabury, Missionary at Staten Island. In the former he acquaints the Society, " that in December, 1777, he preached there to a very decent and attentive congregation, of near three hundred people, and baptized twelve infants, &c. That the wretched state of his late mission at Westchester, is beyond description ; many of the inhabitants having removed to New-York and Long Island, where they want many comforts of life; and some who have remained at home, are continually plundered by knots and bands of disorderly people; that all good principles and im- pressions of morality seem to be wearing out in that devoted country."b
In his second letter he thus writes :-
MR. SEABURY TO THE SECRETARY.
EXTRACT.] New- York, November 22d, 1778. REV. SIR :
" I am obliged still to continue at New-York, it being impracti- cable for me to return to Westchester, or reside with safety on Staten Island ; and though I am strong in hope, that the com- motions in this country will soon subside, yet I confess the pres- ent appearances seem to indicate a fixed resolution in the Con- gress to support their Independency, as long as they possibly can. I am, however, confident it could not be supported against the vigorous efforts of Great Britain for one campaign, as the resources of this country must be nearly exhausted.
I remain, Rev. Sir, &c., SAMUEL SEABURY."C
· Printed Abstraets of Ven. P. Soc. for 1777.
b Printed Abstracts of Ven. P. Soc. for 1778.
& New-York M. S. S. from Archives at Fulham, vol. ii. 625. (Hawks'.)
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH
From this time he continued to reside in New-York until the peace, and served as Chaplain of the King's American regiment, commanded by Colonel Fanning.a
His last report to the Society is contained in the following communication :-
MR. SEABURY TO THE SECRETARY.
EXTRACT.] New- York, June 24th, 1782. REV. SIR :-
" The situation of affairs in this country, has for the last year continued so much the same that I have nothing new of which to inform the Society. Both Westchester and Staten Island remain in the same ruined state, as much exposed to the incur- sions of the Rebels as ever. Though their incursions have not lately been so frequent as formerly."b
In 1784 he went to England to obtain consecration as a Bishop, but objections arising there, he was consecrated in Scotland, on the 14th of November of that year,c by Bishops Kilgour, Petrie and Skinner. Early in the summer of the ensuing year, he returned to Connecticut, the first Bishop of our Church (for Talbot and Weldon left no traces behind them,) that had been seen in that part of the North American con- tinent.
The following extract appears in a communication from the Rev. T. B. Chandler, D. D., to Isaac Wilkins, Esq., dated Lon- don, February 25th, 1785. The bearer of which was the Rt. Rev. Dr. Seabury :--
MY DEAR SIR :
"I hope that you may happen to be at Halifax when this ar- rives there-both for your own sake and that of the bearer, who . is no less a person than the Bishop of Connecticut. He goes by the way of Nova Scotia for several reasons, of which the
Sabine's Hist. of the American Loyalists.
b New-York, M. S. S. from Archives at Fulham, Vol. ii. 657. (Hawks'.) In 1783, the Society paid Mr. Seabury a salary of £50. He was then residing in England. See Abstracts for 1783.
" Updike's Hist. of the Narragansett Church.
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principal is, that he may see the situation of that part of his family, which is in that quarter, and be able to form a judg- ment of the prospects before them. He will try hard to see you, but, as he will not have much time to spare, he fears that he shall not be able to go to Shelburne in quest of you.
You were acquainted with this Bishop and his adventures from the time of his leaving New-York, in 1783. He came home with strong recommendations to the two Archbishops and the Bishop of London, from the clergy of Connecticut, and with their most earnest request that he might have Episcopal consecration for the church in that State. Though no objections could arise from his character, the Bishops here thought such a measure would be considered as rash and premature, since no fund had been established for his support, and no consent to his admission had been made by the States ; besides, no Bishop could be consecrated here for a foreign country, without an act of Parliament to dispense with the oaths required by the es- tablished office. These difficulties and objections continued to operate through the winter, and several candidates for Priest's orders, who had been waiting near a twelvemonth, were about going over to the Continent, to seek for ordination in some foreign Protestant Episcopal Church. At length a short act was obtained, authorizing the Bishop of London and his sub- stitutes to dispense with the aforesaid oaths in the ordination of Priests and Deacons for the American States ; but nothing was said in it about the consecration of Bishops. The Minister, it seems, was fearful that opening the door for the consecration of Bishops would give umbrage to the Americans, and, therefore, every prospect of success here was at an end.
Dr. Seabury, with his wonted spirit and resolution, then thought it his duty to apply elsewhere, and by the intervention of a friend, consulted the Bishops in Scotland, who were equally without the protection and the restraint of gr-ernment. They cordially met the proposal, and our friend was consecrated Bishop for Connecticut, at Aberdeen, on the 14th of November last. I have been thus particular, on the supposition that you may not have been acquainted with so much of this history."a
* From the original letter in the possession of Gouverneur M. Wilkins, Esq.
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH
Bishop Seabury died February 25th, 1796, aged sixty-eight years. Two volumes of his sermons were published before his decease, and one volume in 1798. A sermon founded on St. Peter's exhortation to fear God and honor the King, delivered before the provincial or loyalist troops, was printed during the war by direction of Governor Tryon.a The following is in- scribed on his tomb-stone, at New London :
HERE LIETH THE BODY OF
SAMUEL SEABURY, D. D., BISHOP OP CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND, Who departed this transitory scene, February 25th, 1796,
In the 68th year of his age, and the eleventh of his EPISCOPAL CONSECRATION.
Ingenious without Pride,
Learned without Pedantry,
Good without severity,
He was duly qualified to discharge
The duties of the Christian and the Bishop.
In the Pulpit he enforced religion,
In his conduct he exemplified it.
The poor he assisted with his charity,
The ignorant he blessed with his instruction.
The friend of men, he ever designed them good, The enemy of vice, he ever opposed it.
Christian ! do'st thou aspire to happiness ?
Seabury has shown the way that leads to it.b
Charles Seabury, the youngest son of the Bishop, was born in Westchester, in May, 1770, and succeeded his father in the church at New London. In 1796, he preached awhile at Ja- maica. His first wife was Anne, the daughter of Roswell Sal- tonstall, of New London, by whom he had issue. His son, Samuel Seabury, D. D., is the present Rector of the Church of the Annunciation, in the city of New-York.c
By an act of the Legislature, passed 18th of April, 1785, it was ordered :- " that the District formerly called and known
" Sabine's History of the American Loyalists.
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