USA > Rhode Island > Bristol County > Bristol > Two hundred years of St. Michael's rectors, 1721-1955 > Part 4
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"More than one hundred persons were confirmed as a result of this revival. As in the former case in 1812, the work which St. Michael's was doing quickly spread throughout the town, and the other congregations received equally large accessions. From other towns came crowds of people to gaze upon the scenes that were daily presented. From Fall River a packet brought a full load of sight-seers. The voyage was prompted only by curiosity, but when the hour came for the return of the vessel the captain waited in vain for his passengers. They, too, had yielded to the wonderful influences of the hour, and had joined the throng of worshippers. The next day the most of them went back, no longer scoffers but penitents.
"For nine years longer Bishop Griswold continued to reside in Bristol. Almost as soon as he had been consecrated, he had been advised and besought to take up his abode in a more central location, from which he could more easily reach all the large parts of his large diocese. But the old town was exceedingly dear to him. When he removed from Harwinton to Bristol he took with him a wife and eight beautiful children. When he removed from Bristol to Salem, all but one of them were dead. In the church- yard, just behind the chancel (removed long ago to Juniper Hill) were eight white marble tombstones. There lay the wife of his youth (Bishop Griswold was twice married), and there were sleep- ing three of the children who had been born to him in Bristol. Is it not wonderful that he clung to the place with all the strength of his nature, and resisted for so long a time the temptations that were offered to induce him to remove from it. In 1830 he removed to Salem and assumed the rectorship of St. Peter's Church." He died in Boston in 1843.
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The Reverend ALEXANDER VIETS GRISWOLD
BISHOP ALEXANDER V. GRISWOLD Picture from "Bristol, R. I." by permission of M. A. DeWolfe Howe.
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An old picture of St. Michael's Church showing the spire which originally surmounted the tower. The present structure was built from plans furnished by Saeltzer & Valk of New York, by George Ricker of Newark, New Jersey. The consecration took place in 1860.
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Photo by Henry A. Curtis
A recent photograph of St. Michael's. The spire was removed in 1891 and replaced with the belfry.
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The Reverend JOHN BRISTED As a young man Picture from "Bristol, R. I." by permission of M. A. DeWolfe Howe.
The Reverend JOHN BRISTED
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The Reverend JAMES WELCH COOKE
The Reverend JOSEPH TRAPNELL, JR.
The Reverend WILLIAM STOWE
The Reverend DR. LEWIS P. W. BALCH
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The Reverend GEORGE L. LOCKE
THE REV. GEORGE L. LOCKE As a young man
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THE REV. GEORGE L. LOCKE As he is remembered by many
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The Reverend JOHN GARDNER
The Reverend ANSON B. HOWARD
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CHAPTER VIII
THE SLAVE TRADE
Take a walk around Bristol and note the lovely old houses, many of them dating back from the end of the XVIII century, or the beginning of the XIX. We are back in the time of the second John Usher. In the early days of the young Republic, Bristol be- came a very important port of entry, and her ships were all over the world. This was fine, and Bristol had a right to be proud of her seamen, especially when they sailed successful privateers in the War of 1812. But, unfortunately, there is a cloud on the hor- izon, a very black cloud indeed, which from small beginnings grew rapidly into a human menace, threatening the spiritual welfare of every citizen of our town, for that cloud was the African slave trade.
Now it is perfectly true that slavery was not looked upon 150 year ago with the horror that is felt for it today. There were many good Christians who held slaves, and thought nothing of it. Back in the time of the first John Usher, that earnest pastor had en- deavored to teach and baptize the 80 slaves then in Bristol. He ran into a stone wall of prejudice, and was unable to accomplish what he tried so earnestly to do. Slave owners would quote the Bible in support of their right to own human beings., a condition which Holy Scripture seems to take for granted. (Cor. XII-13- whether bond or free). Were not the majority of Christians in the Emperor's househould in Rome slaves? Even as late as the Civil War Bishop Hopkins of Vermont made himself extremely unpopular in New England by backing up the Southerners' claim to the right of slavery. It is only within recent years that the spiritual message of Christianity was realized to be absolutely in- compatible with traffic in human beings, no matter what their color might be.
What is so ghastly about slavery in Bristol, a relatively un- important factor in the life of the town, was the fact that because of the very lucrative slave trade, Bristolians (and even St. Mi- chael's people) were engaging more and more in the transporta- tion of human beings from Africa to be sold in the markets of the West Indies and the southern States.
There is no need here to describe the horrors of the slave
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ships, even after the traffic was forbidden by the United States in 1808. There are plenty of books written on the subject which can give gruesome details of these diabolical voyages. Taken from their homes in Africa where they were used to roam in freedom, thousands of Negroes herded like beasts in the close quarters of a ship's hold, separated from their loved ones, these unfortunate victims of the white man's love of money, were brought to a "Christian civilization." Yet in spite of it all many were to be in future years converts to the Gospel of Christ, whose fathers and mothers had suffered the horrible tortures of the slave trade. That Bristol had a very large part in this unholy traffic is a sad fact which the following table taken from Monro's History of Bristol, Page 352, will prove. It lists the slaves imported to Charlestown during the 4 years when that port was open to the trade:
From 1st January 1804 to 31st December 1807
Vessels belonging to Rhode Island 59 Vessels belonging to Connecticut 1
Imported by merchants, Bristol
3,914
Newport 3,488
Providence 556
Warren 280
Total African slaves imported by Rhode Island, 8,238.
How shall we reconcile this with Christian Bristol? Of course, it cannot be done, but the condition of the household slaves of earlier days in Bristol was not to be compared with the slave trade of the first years of the XIX century. Thus Christianity exists side by side with the grossest evils, and it is not until some prophet arises who shows the impossibility of a condition of life in which the rights of the children of God are trampled under foot, that the Christian social conscience is aroused.
Perhaps the great religious revivals which, as we have seen in the last chapter, swept over Bristol in 1812 and 1820, were aug- mented by thoughts of the slave trade, "the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable." For it is a fact that while God waits a long time for His purposes to be car- ried out, He never waits in vain. "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea." (Heb. 11-14)
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CHAPTER IX
JOHN BRISTED
(This account is taken from the History of the Narragansett Church by Wilkens Updike. St. Michael's Church, Bristol: A sketch contributed by a writer unknown in 1840.)
"John Bristed, Esq., a gentleman of high literary attainments who had, a few years before, relinquished a lucrative professional business in the City of New York, to devote the remainder of his life more immediately to the service of His God, retired to the pleasant and quiet village of Bristol, from the noise and bustle of that active City, to prosecute his studies in divinity more effectu- ally, in the vicinity and under the direction of Bishop Griswold."
John Bristed had married a daughter of John Jacob Astor. They lived together only a short time, then he moved to Bristol, and she remained in New York. They met together once a year at dinner. Mr. Bristed insisted at the marriage that he would derive no pecuniary benefit from his wife. They had one son, Charles Astor Bristed, a distinguished scholar at Oxford.
"After his ordination, he remained here and rendered accept- able gratuitous assistance to the Bishop, supplying his pulpit during his frequent and necessary absences on Episcopal visita- tions. On the Bishop's removal to Salem, the Rev. Mr. Bristed was invited to officiate, "for the time being", and, shortly afterwards, by the unanimous vote of the vestry, was elected the permanent rector of the parish being instituted in 1830. Mr. Bristed began his new labours with ability and zeal, the parish continued as flourishing as formerly, and, in the winter of 1830-31, large acces- sions were made to the Communion; a general and anxious in- quiry was made after the way of righteousness, and more than one hundred were added to the Church, being soon after confirm- ed. But it is deeply to be deplored that, after an unusual awaken- ing, when large accessions have been made to the Church, in some instances, a whole year has afterwards elapsed, with the addi- tion of scarcely one new communicant. Whether a church is more benefitted and more persons are brought to acknowledge the truth by occassional revivals, or by a uniform and continuous aug- mentation, probably creates, in the minds of many devout per- sons, doubts, which it would be exceedingly desirable to have
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removed.
"Some years before Bishop Griswold left Bristol, efforts had been made to establish an Episcopal society in the adjoining and prosperous town of Warren, which were cordially seconded by many of its most respectable inhabitants, and Mr. Bristed con- tinued to render most acceptable aid to that new parish, till the Rev. George W. Hathaway was settled there. Mr. Bristed is also entitled to much praise for his services in assisting to collect and sustain many new parishes in this State since his ordination.
"In 1833, it was ascertained that the church edifice required very considerable repairs and that it did not well accommodate all who worshipped within its walls. By the active exertions of Mr. Bristed, seconded by most of his congregation, resolutions were adopted to take down the old church and erect a new one in its place. This was carried into immediate effect, and, the next year, there was completely finished one of the most beautiful and com- modious Gothic churches in the country, eight-five feet long by fifty-four feet wide, covering the long-endeared site on which the two former churches had stood. The church was consecrated by the Right Rev. Bishop Griswold, on the sixth day of March, 1834, and on the next day a sufficient number of pews were sold to de- fray the whole cost of the building (amounting to nineteen thou- sand dollars), including a basement lecture-room fifty feet square, a large organ, and a fine-toned bell.
"In 1837, Mr. Bristed's general health in a degree failing, he employed the Rev. Francis Peck (rector of St. Andrew's Church, Providence), to assist him for a number of months, but, a situation which might increase his usefulness, being offered in the City of Baltimore, he thought it advisable to accept it and remove thither.
"An addition of a number of respectable families was made to the parish in 1838, in consequence of the dissolution of the so- ciety of the Reformed Methodists, a large proportion of its mem- bers uniting with the Church.
"Mr. Bristed has always, when his health has permitted, been in the habit of preaching two sermons on the Sabbath and de- livering a lecture in the lecture-room on Sunday evening. Both of these kinds of service are highly acceptable, the large room be- ing always crowded. On one other evening of the week, he meets his congregation for social worship. The brethren also continue their prayer and conference meetings. Mr. Bristed, by collections taken at the monthly concert of prayer-meetings and by his own
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liberality, constantly supports one student for the ministry at one of the Episcopal theological seminaries.
"Mr. Bristed's health continuing feeble and not adequate to the parochial duties of the parish, the Rev. Thomas F. Fales has been employed as his assistant, and he is now in that capacity acceptably officiating here.
"The communicants now number two hundred and eighty- seven, the congregation being respectable, and the largest in the town. Ten poor boys continue (1840) to be educated from the Na- thaniel Kay fund. The Sunday-School is in a most flourishing condition, with thirty-five teachers, one hundred and seventy-five scholars, and a sufficient library. The services of the sanctuary are rendered more perfect by a large and well instructed choir of singers.
"Thus this Church, which began with doubtful prospects of success, when there were but two other Episcopal societies in the future State of Rhode Island, and they in their infancy, having lit- erally passed through fiery trials, and experienced oppositions, difficulties and depressions, which few of our churches have been called up to suffer, is now, A. D. 1840, through the infinite good- ness and sustaining care of God, one of the most prosperous par- ishes in the State.
"For His all-protecting and sustaining care, the Lord be praised."
REV. JAMES WELCH COOKE 1844-1850
Mr. Cooke was Mr. Bristed's successor. Through his efforts the wooden Chapel North of the church was built in 1848. It did not burn with the church in 1858, but has long since been sold and moved to the eastern end of State Street. A graduate of Brown University, his early work was in Lonsdale, R. I. where through his efforts Christ Church was founded. He left St. Michael's be- cause of ill health, but later became secretary of the Protestant Episcopal Board of Foreign Missions. He was a very earnest dis- ciple of what are termed "low church" views. His gifted evangel- icism gained him an esteem by no means confined to his own congregation.
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REV. JOSEPH TRAPNELL, JR. 1852-1857
Rev. Joseph Trapnell, Jr. became the next rector of St. Mi- chael's. He was born in England and educated at St. John's Col- lege, Annapolis, Maryland. He served St. Michael's with great fi- delity for over five years. He was then called to St. John's Church, Keokuk, Iowa.
REV. WILLIAM STOWE 1858-1865
The Rev. William Stowe was elected rector of St. Michael's at the Easter Meeting of 1858. He was a deacon at the time but was soon ordained to the priesthood. That same year the third church was burned. The corner stone of the new church was laid on April 12, 1860. The new edifice was consecrated on November 28, 1861. During the interval the congregation met for services in the old Methodist Meeting House on the common. Mr. Stowe re- signed in 1865 to accept a call to Grace Church, Port Huron, Michigan.
REV. LEWIS P. W. BALCH D.D. 1865-1866
Mr. Stowe was succeeded by Dr. Balch who remained with us for but one year. Dr. Balch was a Virginian by birth and already a distinguished churchman before he came to St. Michael's. He served as secretary of the House of Bishops from 1853 to 1866. He resigned the rectorship of St. Michael's to become a canon of the Cathedral of Montreal.
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CHAPTER X
COMMUNION SUNDAY
Let us look in on one of the four "Communion Sundays" at St. Michael's Church one hundred and twenty years ago. Facing us as we enter the main door of the church at the west end (where now the chancel is), stands with its back to Hope Street the Communion Table, a wooden table with four legs, covered by a "fair linen cloth" as required by the rubric. No ornament, not so much as a flower can be seen on the Holy Table; while standing directly behind it facing the congregation, Mr. Bristed is reading from a large and beautifully bound Prayer Book the familiar words of the Communion Service arrayed in a long white surplice. On the Altar, for altar it is, on which is celebrated the holy mys- teries, the silver "communion plate" is displayed, massive in its weight and size, and of beautiful workmanship, a gift of Nathaniel Kay of colonial days. Closing in the sanctuary, a curved wooden communion rail accommodates a large number of kneeling com- municants. In the gallery in the west end, a mixed choir of men and women, sings from the very abbreviated hymnal bound in the Book of Common Prayer, four hymns in the selection for the Lord's Supper, two of which we take as examples of the hymns heard in St. Michael's Church on Communion Sunday in 1836. Hymn 94 (Present hymnal)
"My God, and is thy table spread?
And does thy cup with love o'erflow?
Thither be all thy children led,
And let them thy sweet mercies know!
"Hail, sacred feast, which Jesus makes!
Rich banquet of his flesh and blood!
Thrice happy he who here partakes
That sacred stream, that heavenly food! Why are its bounties all in vain Before unwilling hearts display'd? Was not for you the victim slain?
Are you forbid the children's bread? O let thy table honour'd be,
And furnished well with joyful guests!
And may each soul salvation see,
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That here its holy pledges tastes! Drawn by thy quickening grace, O Lord, In countless numbers let them come, And gather from their Father's board, The bread that lives beyond the tomb! Nor let thy spreading gospel rest, Till through the world thy truth has run, Till with this bread all men be blest, Who see the light or feel the sun.
Hymn 96
To Jesus, our exalted Lord, That name in Heaven and earth adored, Fain would our hearts and voices raise A cheerful song of sacred praise.
But all the notes which mortals know, Are weak, and languishing, and low; Far, far, above our humble songs,
The theme demands immortal tongues. Yet whilst around his board we meet, And worship at his sacred feet, O let our warm affections move, In glad returns of grateful love. (Yes, Lord, we love and we adore,
But long to know and love thee more;
And, whilst we taste the bread and wine,
Desire to feed on joys divine.
Let faith our feeble senses aid, To see thy wondrous love display'd;
Thy broken flesh, thy bleeding veins,
Thy dreadful agonizing pains. Let humble, penitential woe,
With painful, pleasing anguish flow,
And thy forgiving love impart, Life, hope, and joy to every heart.)
How simple, no cross, no candlesticks, no flowers! Yet how dignified and devotional, as those communicants knelt at the Al- tar, hearing the same words, and receiving the same Food as we do in 1956. It would have been an impossibility of the wildest im- agination for that congregation of 1836 to visualize St. Michael's Altar today, nor would they have been alone in their lack of im- agination; what church at that date anywhere in the United States
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would have been arrayed in the Catholic apparel of the average Episcopal Church of our times?
But all unknown to the Episcopalians of Bristol one hundred and twenty years ago, a great change was coming slowly but surely. John Keble had preached three years before, in St. Mary's Church at Oxford, his famous sermon on national apostasy, and thereby had started the Oxford movement. What that has meant to Episcopalians the world over is too well known to need repe- tition here. Quarrels, misunderstandings, ritual disputes were com- ing in the near future, but also dignity, reverence, the beauty of holiness, which, producing in some parishes the fullness of sacra- mental, life, were to affect all churches in new life and vigor, with a wider conception of Christ's Holy Catholic Church.
At the Easter meeting in 1858 the Reverend William Stowe, although only a deacon, was elected Rector of St. Michael's, and ordained priest soon afterwards .. During the year a very valuable gift of land lying just west of the church, was given by Mrs. Lydia S. French, with an excellent dwelling house, which has been used as the rectory ever since. On midnight of Sunday, December 5th, the church was totally destroyed by fire. I quote from Munro's History of Bristol: "The flames, when first seen, were bursting out from the large window in the eastern end of the building. So rapid was the work of destruction, that by one o'clock the church was in ruins. The rector succeeded in saving his robes. A Prayer Book, a book of Psalms and Hymns, two chairs, a looking glass and an umbrella-stand only were saved besides. The church was so densely filled with smoke that no one could safely enter it, and it was useless to attempt the removal of any but the articles named. These, with the exception of the two books, were all from the robing-room." It was said at the time of the fire that the sexton on being told of what was taking place, replied, "It cannot be for I have the key of the church in my pocket."
Plans were immediately made for a new church and in 1860 the present building was finished and next year consecrated by the Right Reverend Thomas March Clark, Bishop of Rhode Island. For the first time since the first church was built in 1728, the main entrance was on Hope Street, while the chancel was at the west end of the building. Why this radical change, which may seem to the average person of little importance? Most churches in England face east, i.e., the Altar faces the west door of the building. So general is this custom, that one can frequently tell the points of
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the compass by the position of a church. The idea of it all is that as our religion came from the east, it is fitting that we should worship toward the east. That is the reason why the choir facing north and south, turn to the east at the recital of the Creed, the Faith of the Church. It is not to the Altar that they are facing, but to the east, where, of course, the Altar is placed. Undoubtedly, it was more convenient for the congregation to go into the church from Hope Street than around the corner, on the side from Church Street. But a fine old custom was done away. Then, too, it must never be forgotten that the bodies of John Usher and his son are buried under the east end, where once the chancel stood, now the main door into the church. No further description need be given of this lovely Gothic church of brown sandstone, so well known to us all, and then soon to be guided by the devoted care of George Lyman Locke, who for over 50 years carried the parish from the Reconstruction Days of the Civil War to the end of the First World War.
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CHAPTER XI
THE RECTORSHIP OF DR. LOCKE
PART I 1867 - 1877
Mr. Stowe resigned the rectorship of St. Michael's in 1865, and was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Lewis P. W. Balch who, re- maining only one year, left to become a Canon of the Cathedral of Montreal. The Vestry elected the Rev. Mark Antony De- Wolfe Howe of Philadelphia, who declined the call, but recom- mended the Rev. George Lyman Locke, assistant at Trinity Church, Boston, for the position. Mr. Locke, a native of Boston, was a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1859. The following let- ter of acceptance to the call by Mr. Locke, gives a very good in- sight into the character of the young clergyman.
Boston, May 9th, 1867
Benj. Hall )
E. W. Brunsen ) Committee of St. Michael's Church, Bristol, R. I.
Dr. S. S. Drury ) Gentlemen:
May I beg you to convey to the parish of St. Michael my answer to the communication received therefrom through you. That communication I understood to be an invitation from the Parish expressed by a unanimous vote, to accept the rectorship of the Church and Parish, the salary to be fifteen hundred dollars per annum payable quarterly together with the use of the rectory.
I desire to express in the first place my deep sense of the honor conferred in proposing for my acceptance the charge of a Parish so venerable and so highly respected as that of St. Michael's in Bristol. I desire also to express my very great satisfaction and at the same time my devout thankfulness to God, that the result of my temporary ministrations in the Parish should have been so favorable an impression on the minds of the people, and such a measure of spiritual edification as to lead to the proposal. The invitation I accept with the same cordiality with which I believe it to have been given. I regard it as a call to fulfill in a definite sphere the vow of my ordination, namely, to give faithful dili-
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gence always so to minister the Doctrine and Sacraments and the Discipline of Christ as the Lord has commanded, and as the Church hath received the same, according to the Commandments of God; so that I may teach the people committed to my care and charge, with all diligence to keep and observe the same and as such I accept it. As a Pastor in Christ's Flock it will be my object and endeavor to set forth to the people committed to my charge the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and to lead them all, young and old, in the way of Christian life. As Rector of a Parish and Church in the communion of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Unit- ed States, it will be my aim to regulate its spiritual affairs in ac- cordance with the spirit of the Formulae and Laws of that Church. I shall feel myself bound to be diligent and active in seeking by wise and practicable measures to promote the true spiritual inter- ests of the Parish, the Diocese, the Church at large, the World. I shall also feel myself at liberty to call upon the whole Parish and its various members to second me in all such efforts, by their sympathies, their prayers, their active efforts, their money; at liberty and called upon to teach plainly the obligation of every Christian to regard himself as devoted to the Lord. There is only one stipulation that I have disposition to make - I must ask to be allowed an annual vacation, including not less than four con- secutive Sundays during which vacation I shall be free from re- sponsibility for the administration of parochial affairs. I do not look to have the holiday during the months of July and August.
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