USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > Oxford > Two discourses relating to the early history of Trinity Church, Oxford, Philadelphia : with a compend of its history between September, 1854, and October, 1882, with an appendix > Part 3
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"WHEN, LORD, to this our Western land, Led by thy Providential hand, Our wandering fathers came; Their ancient homes, their friends in youth, Sent forth the heralds of thy truth, To keep them in thy name.
"And O! may we repay this debt, To regions solitary yet, Within our spreading land; There, brethren, from our common home, Still westward like our fathers roam, Still guided by thy hand.
"Saviour, we own this debt of love. O, shed thy spirit from above, To move each Christian breast, Till heralds shall thy truth proclaim, And temples rise to fix thy name, Through all our desert West."
Hymn 105, 1-3-5.
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SERMON
PREACHED IN
TRINITY CHURCH, OXFORD, PHILADELPHIA, ON SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 1872,
BY THE RECTOR.
The occasion being that of the First Service in the Church, after the painting of its walls, and its improvement in other respects.
"Lord, Thou hast been our Refuge, from one generation to another."-Psalms xc: I. (Prayer Book version.)
0 N this, the first occasion of our occupying this venerable Church, since the recent great im- provement made in its interior, I cannot think of any words of Holy Scripture, from which. I can more appropriately address you, than those which you see inscribed on its eastern end: "Lord, Thou hast been our Refuge, from one generation to another."
These words compose the first verse of the 90th Psalm; that Psalm entitled "a Prayer of Moses, the man of God," and in which are set forth so strik-
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ingly, on the one hand, the fragility and perisha- bleness of man, and on the other, the eternity and power of God. The reason for their selection to occupy the place they do on the walls of this Church, has probably occurred to most of you. It is to be found in the great antiquity of this Par- ish; great, for a country so new as is this. The commencement of this Parish dates back as far as to the close of the 17th century; so that, it em- braces within its history, nearly 6 generations of worshippers. The present Church building, though it had been preceded by another, which in a docu- ment of the year 1704, is said to have been then "long since built," (though it had probably not been long occupied by the Church of England as a place of worship); the present Church building, or the greater part of it, is ten years more than a cen- tury and a half old, having been erected in 1711. It was erected, therefore, while the good Queen Anne was still upon the throne of England, and while this Commonwealth, now a populous State and one of a great confederation of States, compos- ing an independent and powerful Republic, was merely a feeble colony of Great Britain, with a few thousand settlers scattered along its eastern bor- der; the vast area of its interior being inhabited only by roaming Indians and wild beasts.
For the sanctuary of a Parish so old as this,-
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the Church itself being of so early a date-no pas- sage of the sacred Word could be thought of more appropriate for inscription on its walls, or more true, than the one selected: "Lord, Thou hast been our Refuge," etc. From one generation to another, to the number of nearly six, the Lord has been the Refuge of this Parish, as a Parish, and of its indi- vidual members. He has been such, and its sup- port and Strength also, or it could not have made the progress, and flourished, as it seems to have done, at different times in its history ; indeed, under the circumstances, it could not even have continued to exist for so long a time.
To perceive all this the more clearly, let it be remembered, that, in addition to the fact, that its members in the beginning, were most probably very few; the locality in which it was planted was one, far from favorable to its growth. It was a locality where there were but few settlers, and the great majority of them anything but friendly to the Church. They were principally Friends, or Quakers, who, though professed friends of tolera- tion and peace, were at that early day, far from tolerant of efforts to establish the Church, at least in this colony, where they considered themselves as entitled to hold exclusive possession. Then, in addition to them, there were here, as elsewhere, other dissenters from the Church of England, of
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various names-the number every year increasing -who were no doubt equally, if not more, op- posed to the establishment and growth of the Church here. The dissenters of nearly all names were everywhere opposed to its establishment and growth. They brought to this country with them, all their deeply rooted and bitter prejudices against the Church, and everything connected with it; against its mode of worship, against its rites and ceremonies, and against its Bishops. Against these last they were so united and determined in their opposition, that, to the shame of the Government in England, (which ought to have cared more for the Church with which it was connected), they succeeded in keeping the Church in all the colo- nies destitute of Episcopal supervision; the Gov- ernment at home persistently refusing, out of re- gard to the dissenting opposition, to comply with the earnest petitions of the Clergy and the Church's best lay members, that Bishops might be appointed for the colonies. And thus the Church was de- prived of the benefit of a measure which was es- sential to her proper growth and prosperity. Her members were left destitute of any of those offices which it is peculiarly the province of Bishops to perform. Her Churches had to be used without consecration ; her children had to grow up with- out confirmation; persons seeking for Holy orders
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were obliged to continue to take the, at that time, long and perilous voyage to England to obtain them. And worst of all, both Clergy and Laity were left, in a great measure, free to live, and to discharge their ministerial duties, as they saw fit; the Bishop of London, under whose supervision they nominally were, living three thousand miles away, and never coming here to look after them. Of this, as might have been expected, the conse- quence was, there were but too many instances, not merely of unfaithfulness, but of gross miscon- duct, even among the Clergy; which instances again, of course, operated to the injury of the Church, and were, no doubt, made use of to injure it.
From instances of this kind, however, at least among its Clergy, it is pleasant to know that this Parish seems to have been all along free. Its min- isters, from the beginning, seem, judging from all that can be learned of them, to have been exem- plary, good men, and to have been faithful in the discharge of their duties. Whilst some of them, as Evans, Clubb, Weyman and Thomas, seem to have been eminently good and faithful; all of them, for at least nearly three-fourths of a century, ap- pear to have been, in a good degree, such. To Mr. Evans' merits, the testimony from all sources is de- cidedly favorable. Respecting Mr. Clubb, it is said,
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in a communication from this Parish to the So- ciety in England, in the year 1708, that for "near three years he constantly officiated among them, and that, to do him justice, without partiality or flattery, he did it piously and diligently in every part of his ministerial function, viz., in the admin- istration of the Sacraments, preaching, catechising their children, visiting their sick, etc." They therefore humbly petition the Society that he may be appointed their minister, "to whom," as they say, "they had good reason to pay a particular re- gard, for the demonstration he had given them of his zeal for the glory of God, and his concern for the salvation of their souls." Of Mr. Weyman, Governor Gordon writes to the Bishop of London, in 1726, that he is a "very sober, good man." Con- cerning the fourth of the persons named, Mr. Tho- mas, the Minister and Vestry of Christ Church wrote thus in 1703, to the Bishop of London, " Mr. John Thomas, the bearer, returning to your Lord- ship for Priest's Orders; we think ourselves in jus- tice obliged to certify your Lordship, that, for the time he remained among us, (which was about three years,) he demeaned himself very soberly and unblamably, and gave the enemies of the Church not the least occasion of censuring his actions, but by his discreet and prudent behavior, carried him- self inoffensively towards all people, and by using
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more than ordinary industry, has been instru- mental in doing very good service to the Church of God, in this province, particularly in this Church of Philadelphia, and Trinity Church, nine miles distant from this city."
It will thus be seen, that, whilst some of the other Missions in Pennsylvania, as elsewhere, were so unfortunate as to have had unworthy, as well as good, men for their ministers; this Mission seems to have had only good ones; and thus, in a matter, intimately connected with its stability and prosper- ity, to have experienced the favor of the Church's great Head. In this, as in other ways, Thou, Lord, wast their Benefactor as well as their Refuge "from one generation to another." The Lord, as he was their Refuge with reference to the impediments and dangers with which they were encompassed; so He was their positive Benefactor in giving them such ministers as He did, and in prospering their efforts to promote the welfare of the Parish. If He had not been both these, this Parish, situated where it was, and surrounded with the dangers it was, would not only not have grown at all, but would before long have become extinct. "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side," now may our Israel say, "If the Lord had not been on our side, when men rose against us; then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against
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us; then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul."
But now for the purpose of enabling you to see more clearly the character of the early Mission- aries here, and for that of throwing light on the early history of the Parish, and enabling you to see how God has dealt with us, I propose to make some extracts from documents that have come into my possession since the publication of my " His- torical Sketch" of the Parish. The most of the extracts, I may say, will be taken from a volume of interesting and valuable "Papers relating to the history of the Church in Pennsylvania," recently published by the Rev. Dr. Perry, of the Diocese of Western New York, now Bishop of Iowa.
The first extract to be given is from an address of the Clergy in Pennsylvania to the Society in England, in 1711. It is given on account of what is said in it respecting the Church building: "Your other Missionary, whose case we think ourselves obliged, both in justice and charity, to represent to the venerable Society, is the Rev. Mr. John Clubb, minister of Oxford, in Pennsylvania. He has been so diligent and successful in his ministry, that his people now are enlarging their Church, etc." It will be noticed that the Church is here spoken of as being at that time, (1711,) enlarged. This would seem to make it probable that the present Church,
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instead of being a new one, then erected, as has been supposed, is merely the original one, spoken of by Keith and others, which had been standing for some years; that it is merely this one, then enlarged. As, however, on the other hand, it is, in a letter from Mr. Weyman, which shall presently be given, spoken of as "built" in 1711; the greater proba- bility is, that it was built de novo in that year. There may have been an intention, at first, simply to enlarge the old building; but, instead of this, it was, without doubt, finally concluded to erect an entirely new building.
The next extract to be given is from a letter of the Rev. John Humphreys to the Secretary, dated Chester, 1714: "From a tender and affectionate regard to the welfare of the Church at Oxford, which shall never leave me, though I am removed from it, I must necessarily take notice to the vener- able supporters of the Church in these parts (under God) of one thing, which I am afraid will unravel much of the pains taken at that place, which is: the obligation upon Mr. Clubb to divide his labors between the Welsh (at Radnor) and the congrega- tion of Oxford Church. Among the latter there has been always a great number of Quakers and Anabaptists; but they are well enough secured against those "The danger I am apprehensive of, arises from the late intrusion
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of a dissenting (Presbyterian) teacher, who came into these parts last year, from Wales, and bought a settlement at about the distance of two miles from the Church. He preaches every Sunday at his own house, and is very industrious to prevail with his neighbors to hear him; and many people there, are so disposed to variety of doctrine, that all the diligence I could exert in warning my people against the schism, and preaching every Sunday in my Church, could not prevent but that some weak people would follow him, especially if they had the pretence of bad weather to palliate their staying from Church; and God knows what the consequence will be of Mr. C.'s preaching to the Welsh two Sundays in a month, which I hear is his design."
The writer of this, Mr. H., seems to have had the charge of this Mission for a year or two after the erection of the new Church, and during an inter- regnum of Mr. Clubb's service here. He was one of the most respectable and useful of the Society's Missionaries in this province. He was evidently very much concerned for the welfare of this Parish, and very much attached to it. It is remarkable, and may, in this connection, be appropriately men- tioned, that this Mission seems to have been gener- ally a favorite one, with the early Missionaries. In one of his letters in 1767, Dr. Smith speaks of it as
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that "old and respectable Mission;" and another person, a layman, mentions, that it is "really at this time (1771) one of, if not the best, the most agreeable Missions in this Province." He adds: "Pray send them an affable, kind and courteous English clergyman. Such an one would add weight, and do real and essential service to the Church." He continues: "Hard, indeed, is our case, that we cannot have a Bishop sent to America. Should that happy time arrive, our Church would then be countenanced and supported, whereas, at present, she droops her head and languishes. We desire no power over our dissenting brethren; but we want at least to be on a level with them" (pages 456-7).
I propose next to read nearly the whole of an interesting address to the Society, signed by Peter Taylor and James Morgan, Church Wardens, and others of this Parish, in the year 1718: "We the Church Wardens, and divers of the members of Trinity Church of Oxford, in the Province of Penn- sylvania, know the great want of a good minister, by sad experience, particularly in our great loss in the decease of our late godly minister, the Rev. Mr. J. Clubb, who was entirely beloved of this congre- gation; who is now, we doubt not, entered into the joy of his Lord. But now, since his departure, many of this congregation have drawn back, and
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are strayed away like sheep having no shepherd,- some to Quakers, some to Anabaptists, some to Presbyterians, and some to the profane Sabbata- rians, etc., to the great grief of us that have an en- tire love and a great regard for the prosperity of the Protestant religion of the Church of England, as by law established. Particularly, we most earnestly petition for this little branch of that noble Vine which, by the good Providence of God, is begun to be planted among us, and would flourish and be great, we are persuaded, if you, the honor- able members of the most illustrious Society for the Propagation of the glorious Gospel in Foreign Parts, would be pleased to grant our humble peti- tions."
"It may not be unacceptable to their Honors to let them know what we are doing to keep ourselves together in this our necessity, until we have a minister," etc.
"We having no minister (except by chance), agree among ourselves to meet at the House of God every Sunday, where one Nathaniel Walton, our schoolmaster, one zealous for the Church, and of good report among us, takes due pains every Lord's Day, to read unto us the Holy Scriptures, as they are appointed to be read, also the Prayers and Psalms, in their order and course; and a Hom- ily or Sermon he reads every Sunday; where, also,
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he catechizes the children that are of the Church every Sunday, etc. What we do in this matter is intended by us purely for the Church, and by no means against it. The Rev. Dr. Evans gives us his benediction in doing what we do, and the learned Rev. John Talbot highly commends us in our zeal for the Church. It is by the majority, probatum est" (114-5).
Of a like most interesting character to the docu- ment just quoted, is one written by the Rev. Robert Weyman, while on a visit to England, in 1728. From this I make a few extracts, regretting that it is not expedient to detain you with the whole of it: "The Church of Oxon" (Oxford) "was built in the year 1711, by the contributions of well-disposed people of that town and country. The materials of it are brick, lime and sand, and it is 36 foot in length, and 26 in breadth, and 16 to the square. It is only endowed with 60 acres of glebe land, and house, that was purchased by the donation of Mrs. Mallows, and the benevolence of the people, for my use, and my successors, forever."
On this extract I pause to remark that I was glad, on reading it, to find that it confirmed my conjecture in the little history of the Parish, read and printed a few years ago, that the present Church was built, (whether it was then built entirely anew, or only enlarged) in the year 1711. It may also
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be mentioned here, as appears from a letter written by Mr. Weyman in 1725, that the Mrs. Mallows referred to, as having made a handsome donation to the Church, died soon after doing so; and that "that gentlewoman," as he adds, "in her last will and testament, gave the Church an additional leg- acy of £5, to her former benefaction of £80; both of which sums were laid out in the purchase" of the land and house referred to.
But to proceed with my extracts. He writes: "The number of inhabitants in the township of Oxon, are, according to the best and nearest com- putation that I can make, about sixty families, and in Radnor about the same number. In their for- tunes they are much the same, as they are in their conditions. "There is one meeting- house that is frequented by Quakers" (supposed to be the Meeting-house at Frankford), and "another by Anabaptists" (supposed to be Pennepack), "in my parish at Oxon; and at Radnor there is one Quaker meeting-house; and a considerable num- ber of dissenters in both Parishes. There are two schools in my Parish: One in Frankford, a small and compact village in the township of Oxon, about three miles distance from the Church; in which village I have lately introduced a lecture in the afternoon to a numerous auditory. The house of our meeting is kept by Mr. Walton, schoolmas-
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ter, a man of sober life and conversation, and of good abilities for that employment; and the other school is kept by a stranger near the Church. The former has about forty scholars; the latter, about twenty; at Radnor, none." It may here be re- marked, that, at the time Mr. Weyman wrote, and for a long time after, this Parish embraced, not only the "village" of Frankford and vicinity, but Germantown, also, and all the country between Philadelphia and Bristol. For many years Oxford Church was the only one, between the two places just named; and a considerable number of its members lived in the neighborhood where All- Saints' Church, Lower Dublin, now stands. And it was specially for their accomodation that that Church was built in 1772. That Parish is the eldest daughter of this one, as Frankford is one of its younger daughters. In the list of her progeny are to be reckoned St. Luke's Church, German- town; Emmanuel Church, Holmesburg; and Church of Our Saviour, Jenkintown.
After Mr. Weyman, came in this Parish, in 1733, the Rev. Alexander Howie. In a letter written by him in the next year, he says: "The congregation at Oxford increases so much that there is not room in the Church to hold them; but, for their better accommodation, they design soon, either to raise a gallery, or to enlarge the outward building. Since
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last month was a year, I have baptized seventy children, and seventy-six grown persons; some of them aged men and women, almost lost in the wilderness of Quakerism, and Anabaptistical er- rors. Last Easter-day I administered the Sacra- ment at Oxford, and had forty-six communicants, persons of good life and conversation, who are se- rious in religion, and have a due regard to the Church of England. Twice a year I visit all my common hearers in their own houses, and many dissenters of all denominations, by which means, in these three-fourths of a year last past, I have gained over to the Church of England, two Romans, three Independents, four Quakers, and three Ana- baptists. They have quitted their former errors, and constantly attend our service at Church" (190).
Mr. Howie writes again, in 1741: "The number of heads of families in Oxford is about 49. I have baptized within the last half year, twelve children, and one adult. Last Whitsun-day, eighteen re- ceived the Holy Communion." Three years before this he had informed the Society that he had, within twelve months, baptized forty-three chil- dren, and seven adults; that the number of his communicants was twenty-four, and that he ex- amined the children every Sunday in the Cate- chism; they answering well, through the care of Mr. Walton, who had taught school at Oxford more
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than twenty years, and had instructed many poor children gratis. He also asked, in the same letter, for some Bibles, Common Prayer Books, and some copies of the "Whole Duty of Man;" scarce one in ten of his congregation having so much as a Com- mon Prayer Book. What a contrast in reference to the possession of the invaluable book last men- tioned, does the present time afford. Now, there are few books more generally possessed than the Prayer Book. It is being constantly and every- where published, in all varieties of size and style; and every one buys it, and most persons prize it. All which speaks well for the enlightenment and improvement of the age.
After Mr. Howie, in 1743, the Rev. Æneas Ross came to this Mission. In 1744, he wrote to the Secretary, that, "notwithstanding the great number of dissenters of all sorts around him," yet that "the Churches," (meaning those of Oxford and Whitemarsh, now for some years associated,) "on Sundays are generally crowded, and both men and women appear very devout." "My situation," he adds, "is near Abington, about nine miles from Philadelphia, where there is one Treat, a preacher of the new sect, who has misled a great many weak people, this year or two past; but they now seem to come again to their senses, and to be much more agreeable both in their temper and behavior, which
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was quite morose and disagreeable, except to those of their own party. Davenport, likewise, that occa- sioned so much confusion in New England, has been preaching about in our neighborhood this spring, but without gaining any proselytes." (page 238.) In the next year, Mr. Ross wrote as follows, "In my last I acquainted the Honorable Society with the regularity and good behavior of both my congregations, and that I live in perfect love and unity with them, and am now in great hopes that the rising generation will show themselves as pious members of the Church as their fathers were. The chief of the old standers of Oxford are dead, and there appears in many of their children a great share of devotion, and please God I live, in a year or two more I expect to see as flourishing a Church as they were twenty-five years ago." (page 239.) A brother of this Missionary, it may be added, was subsequently a signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence.
In 1758, the Rev. Hugh Niell took charge of the Mission. In 1760 he wrote to the Secretary thus: "It is with the greatest pleasure I can inform you that the congregation of Oxford, through the bless- ing of God, is in a growing condition, as regular, numerous and uniform, as it ever has been, as I am informed. The pewing of the Church, which cost about £70, is completed; and there are numbers we
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cannot supply. We had twenty communicants last Easter. The oldest livers in the place tell me they do not remember such a number to have taken the sacrament there before." Concerning Mr. Neill, the Secretary, in one of his reports, says, "This poor gentleman writes further, that on Sunday the 28th of October, while he was officiating at the Church, he had the very great misfortune to have his house and most valuable effects burned, not being able to come time enough to save many of them, and but very few books; and two of his children very nar- rowly escaped the flames. This most unhappy ac- cident having greatly distressed Mr. Neill and his family, they having saved scarce any of their clothes but those on their back, and being forced to shelter themselves in a neighbor's house, the Society out of compassion to this worthy Missionary's very press- ing necessities, have given him for their relief £30, which they hope the generous benefactors of this Society will not think improperly bestowed." In another of the Secretary's reports, 1761, it is said that "Mr. Neill officiated last Summer on the Sun- day evenings in Germantown, where the rising generation of Dutch, who understand English, are well affected to the Church of England." Mr. Neill had removed to Germantown immediately after the burning of the Glebe House. Mr. Ross had lived there for a year before him, for the greater ease of
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