USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Narragansett > A history of the Episcopal church in Narragansett, Rhode Island, including a history of other Episcopal churches in the state > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
Her last admonition, " live so as I may meet you in Heaven," still sounds in my ears.
O, my dear Sister, to return your own words-"your own heart will better suggest to you what I feel than any words I can make use of." Imagine to yourself, the dearest, the best, the tenderest wife, torn from the bleeding side of the man who loved her above all earthly good. Imagine to yourself a man destitute and forlorn, to whom the whole world is a blank and a wilderness ; imagine to yourself the concern of a parent for eight motherless children, the youngest of whom is about two and a half years old, and then tell me, my dear sister, if my case is not truly wretched.
Though the ways of Providence seem dark and perplexing to our narrow capacities, yet we know that infinite goodness does always what is best. Infinite wisdom cannot err, and all the ways of God are right. Let us therefore. my dear Sister submit ourselves to the determinations of Heaven, and endeavor to follow them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises.
Your legacy, like all other estates in this Colony that lay in money, is greatly depreciated in value. However, I shall do you all the justice in my power, by making good the depreciation, and although I have not made an exact calculation, believe it will amount to about £1,550, which at £7 per dollar, the now legal and cur. rent price, may be in value about two hundred and twenty dollars, which I shall endeavor to have in readiness by the time you men- tion, or when (or before,) I hope to see you here ; and if I can col-
.
137
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
lect any considerable sum to the value of one hundred dollars, more or less, before that time, should be glad you would give proper orders, to whom I may pay it.
I have an only daughter and seven sons, the second of whom lives with Mr. Robinson, an Attorney at Law ; the rest are at home with me, and all desire their compliments of duty may be accepta- ble.
May the God of all grace protect, comfort, and support you and yours, is the sincere prayer of my dear Sister.
Your affectionate Brother, And humble servant, JAMES HELME.
To MRS. ELIZABETH SEABURY.
HEMPSTEAD, Nov. 26th, 1764.
MY DEAR BROTHER :- I received yours of the 23d of July, charged with the affecting account of the death of my dear and only Sister ; in regard to which, and my own troubles, I beg to say with Job-" the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."
It is some time since I received yours, and should have answered you before, but have been much hurried with business ; having, with the assistance of some gentlemen of this Parish, raised a dwelling house and got it under cover, but do not purpose doing any more to it this winter, as I see no prospect of being obliged to quit the par- sonage.
As to the money in your hands, I know not how to convey it to Hempstead, for I do not think my affairs will allow of my making a journey to you. I should be extremely glad of a visit from you, my neice, or any of my nephews, to whom pray make my compli- ment of condolence. My children present their duty to you, and love to their cousins.
That God Almighty may assist, comfort, and direct you, in all your difficulties, is the earnest prayer of
Your affectionate Sister, And humble servant, ELIZABETH SEABURY.
To JAMES HELME, ESQ. 17A
138
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
MY DEAR SISTER :- Agreeable to your desire of the 11th current, I sent you, by my nephew, Nathaniel Seabury, £500, old tenor, in gold and silver, as the value for your legacy. I have made good the depreciation of the money, and allowed interest to you for the whole time ; though I have been obliged to receive it at the depreciated value, and often had a great part of the money lying by me, for months together, for want of a proper person to let it to-at other times have been at the trouble and expense of law-suits, and in such cases, with us, we are always obliged to levy six months after judg- ment, for the money, without a farthing of interest being allowed --- and I cannot help thinking, that, upon the whole, I have not received so much value for the legacy. I hope, in this affair, I have ap- proved myself to your acceptance ; if not, let me know, and if any mistake has been made, it shall be rectified; although, I believe there is none. I must now repeat to you what you wrote to me in June, 1765 ; I hope the finishing of this affair will not put an end to our correspondence. Your near relation to that person who was the comfort of my life, and the joy of my heart, and that brotherly kindness with which you have treated me, will always make you and yours very near and dear to me. My nephew tells me that you have some thoughts of making a journey to New London some time hence ; when you are so near, I beg you to favor us so much as to make us a visit, as all my children are desirous of waiting on their aunt.
I still remain in a state of widowhood, without the least appearance of altering that condition-and indeed, when I reflect that the dear, dead partner who has left me, to receive the reward of a well spent life, has not left her equal behind her-how can I attempt a second mar- riage, and how can I, my dear Sister, dwell upon so tender a subject ?
Let it be our endeavor to meeet her in yon celestial regions, where bliss and immortality crown the happy subjects.
My children all make their most profound compliments of duty to their dear aunt, and love to their cousins.
With my sincere love to all my dear nephews and neices,
I am, my dear Sister, Your affectionate Brother, JAMES HELME.
MRS. ELIZABETH SEABURY.
139
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
" His second wife survived him more than thirty years, and died February 6th, 1799, at the age of eighty-seven. Few better men have lived than Mr. Seabury. He discharged every duty of his sacred function, with the greatest diligence and indefatigable labor ; leaving behind him a character, held in high estimation, and an ex- ample worthy of imitation.
"Mr. Seabury left four sons, Samuel, Adam, Nathaniel, and David, and three daughters, Mary, Jane, and Elizabeth.
"Samuel, the eldest son by the first wife, was born at New Lon- don, in 1728, and graduated at Yale College, in 1748, and went to Scotland for the purpose of studying medicine, but turning his at- tention to theology, he took orders in the Church of England, and, on his return, settled in New Brunswick. In 1756, he removed to the Church of Jamaica, Long Island ; from thence he went to West Chester, in 1766, where he was rector of the church, and kept a classical school, until the British entered New York, in 1776, when being a royalist, he took refuge in that city, where he remained until 1783."
In 1784, Mr. Seabury was recommended by the Episcopal clergy of Connecticut, and some in New York, for Bishop of Connecticut. He went to England for the purpose of being consecrated. The Archbishop of Canterbury, doubted his canonical authority to con- secrate, without the authority of an act of Parliament, a Bishop resident out of the British empire ; this, then, being by the treaty of peace, an independent and foreign country.
The following, says Hawkins' Missions of the Church, is Mr. Granville Sharp's account of the interview, between the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop elect of Connecticut :-
" Dr. Seabury, in coming to England, called on the Archbishop of Canterbury, for consecration, to the great surprise of the Arch- bishop, who was apprehensive it would give great offence to the Ame- ricans, with whom we had just then made peace ; and therefore, his grace (the very worthy and learned Dr. Moore,) wished to be al- lowed some time to consider of the request ; upon which Dr. Seabury very abruptly left the room, saying, ' If your grace will not grant me consecration, I know where to obtain it; and immediately set off for Aberdeen. The Archbishop communicated to G. Sharp this account of Dr. Seabury's behaviour ; and G. Sharp, in return,
140
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
informed his grace, that a General Convention was actually ap- pointed in America, for the election of Bishops. On hearing this, the Archbishop gave G. Sharp authority to assure the Americans, that if they elected unexceptionable persons and transmitted proper certificates of their morals and conduct, and of their suitable abili- ties for so important a charge, he would do every thing in his power to promote their good intentions.'
"It was certainly only reasonable that the Archbishop should take time to deliberate and to consult with his suffragans, on a mat- ter of such importance as the consecration of a Bishop for an inde- pendant country. Without, indeed, the consent of the crown, he could not legally consecrate; and besides, he might have had scruples about the propriety of doing so, partly from the circumstance of the Bishop elect not being the choice of the whole church, and partly from an apprehension of giving umbrage to a power with whom a treaty of peace had but lately been signed. On the other hand it was natural that Seabury, an hereditary missionary, who had lived through years and years of disappointed hope, and had seen the church languish for want of a head, should be impatient of further delay, and that fearful of legal obstructions, he should, even though it were somewhat precipitately, address himself to Bishops who were unfettered by state connection, and of whose sympathies he was well assured. Nor should it be forgotten, that he was strongly advised to adopt this course by one whose name, station and learning gave weight to his opinion. Dr. George Berkeley, pre- bendary of Canterbury, who inherited all his father's zeal for the Colonial Church, had, for some time previously, been in correspon- dence with Bishop Skinner, of Aberdeen, on the subject of transmitting to America the gift of Episcopacy from the suffering Church of Scotland. ****
"From Dr. Seabury's own account, it would appear that he did not even apply to the Scotish Bishops until he had ascertained that the government would not permit a Bishop to be consecrated without the formal request, or at least, consent of Congress, which, he added, "there is no chance of obtaining, and which the clergy of Connecti- cut would not apply for, were the chance ever so good.' At length, every obstacle having been removed, Dr. Seabury went to Scotland and was there consecrated on the 14th of November, 1784, by
141
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
Bishops Kelgour, 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 Continent.'"".
The number of Episcopal congregations in the Provinces at this time, were 70, and the members of the church 40,000. Granville Sharp did not, of course, for a moment doubt the full validity of Bishop Seabury's consecration, but was still as anxious as ever to see the succession conveyed to America through the English branch of the church. This he rightly considered as a matter of the high- est importance, and accordingly kept up an active correspondence on the subject, with persons of various characters and professions, as Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, the first ambassador from the United States, Dr. Rush, an eminent physician at Philadelphia, of the Presbyterian denomination, and the Rev. Mr. Manning, a clergy- man of Rhode Island. By these means he was enabled to keep the Archbishop fully informed on the subject. Dr. Rush wrote to him, April 27th, 1784 :- ' I am happy in being able to inform you, that attempts are now making to revive the Episcopal church in the United States. Though a member of the Presbyterian Church, yet I esteem very highly, the articles and worship of the Church of England. Such is the liberality produced among the dissenters by the war, that I do not think they will now object to a Bishop being fixed in each of our States, provided he has no civil revenue or juris- diction.
"In a letter to his brother, Mr. Sharp thus expresses his gratifi- cation at the prospect of a successful issue of the labors of himself and others in this great cause. He says, January 10th, 1786, ' the Church of England is likely to take the lead, and to be gloriously established in America.' And a week later the following entry oc- curs in his journal :- 'January 13th, 1786 ; informed by Mr. Adams, American ambassador, that the Convention of the Episcopal Church of America (which included Carolina, the Jerseys, and Maryland, as well as Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York,) have written a letter to the two Archbishops, requesting them to conse- crate a person whom they should send ; that the letter was inclosed to him, and delivered with his own hand.'
" The next morning he waited upon the Archbishop of Canterbury,
142
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
who, he says, ' told me that the requisition is a very proper one, and expressed in very respectful terms; and assured me that he is a very sincere friend to what is proposed, and will promote it to the utmost of his power; provided they send persons duly quali- fied.'
"When all seemed thus prepared, some very formidable diffi- culties were suggested, respecting the orthodoxy of the persons to be elected, and the alterations which had been made in the Book of Common Prayer. . As long as any uncertainty remained on these points, the greatest caution was necessary, and the Archbishop, therefore, demanded satisfactory proof that the clergymen to be presented for consecration, were in doctrine uncorrupt. In an- swer to the address of the Convention, the Archbishop thus expres- sed the unanimous opinion of the English Bishops. 'While we are anxious to give every proof, of not only our brotherly affection, but of our facility in forwarding your wishes, we cannot but be ex- tremely cautious, lest we should be the instruments of establishing an ecclesiastical system, which will be called a branch of the Church of England, but afterwards may possibly appear to have departed from it essentially, either in doctrine or in disci- pline.'
" The church at large, is under the greatest obligations to the Bishops, for the faithful execution of their trust at this critical time. Their christian firmness, and a little wise delay, gave the Conven- tion an opportunity of withdrawing the most objectionable altera. tions in their Prayer Book, which was mainly constructed according to the revision of Archbishop Tillotson and a committee of Divines, in 1689. The preface states that, by an examination of the altered form, 'it will appear that this church is far from intending to depart from the Church of England, in any essential point of doc- trine, discipline, or worship ; or further than local circumstances require, or to deviate in any thing essential from the thirty-nine ar- ticles.'
" On the 17th July, 1786, Mr. Sharp waited on the Archbishop of Canterbury, with a copy of the New American Prayer Book ; and a few days later, July 27th, 1786, he writes to his brother as fol- lows :- The Archbishop very obligingly read over to me the letters which he and the Archbishop of York wrote to the American Con-
143
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
vention, and the forms of the certificates and testimonials which they proposed as being satisfactory. The letter is exceedingly well drawn up, with all the solemnity and true Christian propriety that you could possibly wish on the occassion.
" This very delicate and protracted, but important negociation, was now brought to a successful issue. The Rev. Wm. White, and the Rev. Samuel Provoost, who had been duly elected to the sees of Pennsylvania and New York, arrived in London at the end of November, 1786, bearing testimonials signed by the Conventions of their respective states. They were at once introduced to the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, by Mr. Granville Sharp, and formally pre- sented to his grace a few days afterwards, by Mr. Adams, the Ame- rican minister. At length, on the 4th February, 1787, [an act of Parliament having been passed for the purpose,] they were conse- crated in the Chapel of Lambeth Palace, by the Archbishop of Can- terbury, assisted by the Archbishop of York, and Bishops of Bath and Wells, and Peterborough.
" The two Bishops did not linger in England, but embarked in a few days after their consecration, and arrived in New York on the 7th of April,-Easter Day,-a happy omen as it was considered, for the reviving church of that country, (soon after Bishop Madi- son was consecrated in London.) Thus at last, after nearly two centuries of struggle, the church was perfected in America.
At the Episcopal Convention, in Philadelphia, in 1786, the va- lidity of the orders conferred on Bishop Seabury by the Scots Bishops, was questioned, which created some warmth, and means were immediately taken to obtain valid consecrations, as has been above stated, and the threatened difficulties were averted .- Bishop Seabury's consecration was afterwards admitted to be canon- ical.
" Bishop Seabury," continues Thompson, " was the first Ameri- can citizen who attained to that title. On his return to this coun- try, he settled in his father's parish, at New London ; presiding, of course, over the diocese of Connecticut, and, in 1790, he was elected Bishop of Rhode Island, the clerical functions of which sacred offices he continued to exercise until his death, February 25th, 1796, aged sixty-eight. The following is inscribed on his tomb-stone, at New London :
144
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
HERE LIES THE BODY OF SAMUEL SEABURY, D. D.,
BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND, WHO DEPARTED THIS TRANSITORY SCENE, FEBRUARY 25th, 1796,
IN THE SIXTY-EIGHTH 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 ! DOST THOU ASPIRE TO HAPPINESS ?
SEABURY HAS SHOWN THE WAY THAT LEADS TO. IT.
" Charles Seabury, the youngest son of the Bishop, was born in West Chester, in May, 1770, and succeeded his father in the church, at New London. In 1796, he preached a while at Jamaica. His first wife was Anne, the daughter of Roswell Saltonstall, 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, and editor of the CHURCHMAN, a religious news- paper."
"Bishop Seabury died in 1796. His death was a heavy loss to his infant communion ; yet he had lived long enough to leave a marked impress of his character upon its institutions. His influence was most important whilst the foundations of the ecclesiastical fabric were being laid. For he was a clear-sighted man, of a bold spirit, and better acquainted than any of his coadjutors with those guiding principles which were then especially required. His own bias, in- deed, was to extremes in the very opposite direction from that to which their inclination led them. Trained amidst the New England sects, he had early learned to value the distinctive features of his
145
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
own communion ; and receiving the consecration from the Scotch Bishops, the affections of his heart opened freely towards them, and drew the whole bent of his mind towards their forms and practices. Had it been left to him alone to form the temper and mould the insti- tutions of the western church, there would have been little hope of its ever embracing the whole of the jealous population of that wide republic. But his views were a wholesome check upon those with whom he had to act. Of these, Bishop Madison had been bred a lawyer in the worst days of Virginia laxity. He was an elegant scholar, a good president of a college, and a mild and courteous gentleman ; but he had none of the Christian learning and little of the untiring energy in action which his difficult position rendered needful. Bishop White, mild, meek, and conciliatory, inclined al- ways to those councils which bore most faintly the stamp of his own communion, and fulfilling, through these qualities, a most important part in the common work, was indisposed by character and temper from taking resolutely the position which the times required. From that which he was sure was right, nothing indeed could move him ; but he was naturally over-tolerant of all opinions.
"These very qualities made him a most useful coadjutor to the Bishop of Connecticut. For, as it was his great endeavor to secure unanimity of action, he was ready to take part in many things to which he was himself indifferent, when he saw his brother's earnest- ness concerning them. The same easy temper as to things he judged indifferent, which would have led him, for the sake of peace, to con- cede to the most opposite objections what ought not to be yielded, now made him take the stricter side in matters which he saw would not be given up by Bishop Seabury. On this principle he voted for reinserting in the liturgy the Athanasian creed, whilst he scrupled not to say that he would never use it; and agreed to place in the communion office the prayers of invocation and oblation, though he himself had never regretted their omission."-Archdeacon Wilber- force.
" August 15th, 1734. Cecelia Mumford, grand daughter of the Rev. James Honeyman, of Rhode Island, an infant and daughter of William Mumford, of 18A
146
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
South Kingstown, was baptised by Mr. McSparran, of Narragansett ; the sureties were said Mr. McSparran, Mrs. Honeyman, and Mrs. Wickham."
" July 10th, 1735. Mr. McSparran baptised William Mumford, a child, son of William Mumford, shopkeeper in South Kingtown. The sureties were the grand father, the Rev. Mr. James Honeyman, and the grand mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Honeyman, and the uncle of the child, Mr. Francis Honeyman."
In 1704, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, at the solicitation of the wardens, appointed the Rev. James Honeyman their missionary at Trinity Church, Newport. Mr. Ho- neyman discharged the duties of his mission with great faithfulness and diligence for nearly fifty years.
"Besides the cares of his own particular district," says Hawkins, " he made frequent visits to the neighboring towns on the continent, until another minister was assigned to them. Very early in his ca- reer, he felt the great disadvantages under which the church was laboring, for want of a superintending head. Writing to the Secre- tary of the Society, in 1709, he says, 'You can neither well believe, nor I express, what excellent services for the cause of religion a Bishop would do in these parts ;' and he expresses a conviction that if one was sent, 'these infant settlements would become beautiful nurseries, which now seem to languish for want of a father to over- .see and bless them.' In 1714, he presented a memorial to Governor Nicholson, on the religious condition of Rhode Island. The people, he says, were divided among Quakers, Ana-Baptists, Independents, Gortonians, and Infidels, with a remnant. of true Churchmen. He then proceeds to suggest a remedy, in the settlement of a competent number of clergy in the several townships, under the jurisdiction of a Bishop, the establishment of schools, and a proper encouragement from the civil government. A new and most painful duty was im- posed on him, in 1723, in attending daily, for nearly three months, a
147
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
great number of pirates, who were brought into Rhode Island, tried, condemned, and executed.
" There is not, probably, a single mission, at the present time, in the whole of our North American Colonies, so beset with difficulties and discouragements, and so entirely dependent upon the zeal and judgment of individual clergymen in charge, as were most of the parishes in the now independent States, at the commencement of the last century. No better instance can be given than this of Rhode Island, where a single clergyman was set to labor in the midst of a population hostile, for the most part, to the church, and without the smallest support from secular authority.
In 1728, Mr. Honeyman, and another clergyman, the Rev. J. Mc- Sparran, who, since 1719, had occupied the mission of Narragansett, sent home a joint memorial," complaining of the " frowns and dis- couragements" to which they were subjected by the government.
"The only further extract that need be given from Mr. Honey- man's correspondence, is dated Sept. 1732, and occurs in connection with an application to the society for a small increase of his stipend, to enable him to provide for his family : 'Between New-York and Boston, a distance of 300 miles, and wherein there are many mis- sions, there is not a congregation, in the way of the Church of Eng- land, that can pretend to compare with mine, or equal it in any re- spect ; nor does my church consist of members that were of it when I came here, for I have buried them all ; nor is there one person now alive that did then belong to it; so that our present appearing is en- tirely owing to the blessing of God upon my endeavors to serve him.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.