USA > Virginia > Henrico County > Henrico County > History and reminiscences of the Monumental Church, Richmond, Va. : from 1814 to 1878 > Part 9
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Rev. Wm. Norwood, assistant minister to Monu- mental Church, took his seat as a member.
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Messrs. Wm. Williams and Thomas Macon were received as the lay delegates from the Monumental Church.
The Rev. Mr. Norwood having proposed, on the part of himself and sundry other individuals, to pro- cure, on their own responsibility, for the use of the diocese, an edition, in a separate form, of the consti- tution and canons of the church in Virginia, and constitution and canons of the general convention, Mr. S. H. Lewis, of the committee on finance, offered the following resolutions, which were adopted :
" Resolved, That the Rev. Messrs. Norwood, Cobbs, Parks, and Woodbridge, be appointed, and they are hereby respectfully requested to cause to be published copies of the constitution and canons of the general convention, and also of the constitution and canons of the diocese of Virginia, for the use of the several parishes of this diocese."
On motion of the Rev. Mr. Norwood,
" Resolved, That a committee be appointed to con- sist of clergymen residing in various parts of the diocese, to whom the executive committee of the 'Protestant Episcopal Association for the promo- tion of Christianity in Virginia' may refer for infor- mation respecting the condition and wants of the church in their respective sections of the State."
Mr. John Stuart was appointed by the president of the convention one of the committee of seven, di- rected by the following resolutions to be appointed :
" WHEREAS the religious instruction of our colored population must manifestly appear a subject of the
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most serious importance, and whereas it is firmly be- lieved every minister, and master and mistress, will be called upon to render an account of their stewardship touching this solemn duty, at that day when God, who is no respecter of persons, will judge the world in righteousness ; and whereas it is believed this sub- ject has not hitherto received that full attention and interest which it merits, and most urgently demands; therefore,
" Resolved, That a special committee of seven, to be composed of the bishop, assistant bishop, and two others of the clergy, and three of the laity, be appointed to report to the next convention the most efficient system of oral religious instruction, both public and private.
"Resolved, also, that if deemed necessary, they re- port who amongst the colored people are to be con- sidered the proper subjects of baptism, both infants and adult."
The Rev. Wm. Norwood was appointed one of the committee of four, recommended by the first, of the following resolutions :
" WHEREAS, during the course of the last year, various tracts intended to promote the interests of religion have been published, under the direction and authority of this diocese, and it is believed their influence has been beneficial, and that the pub- lication of the same on a more extensive scale would be highly useful, therefore,
"Resolved, 1, That a committee be appointed to consider the subject, and report to the next conven-
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tion a plan to carry out the object indicated in the: foregoing preamble.
"Resolved, 2, That the clergy of the diocese be requested to make collections in their several par- ishes to pay the expense of these publications."
The secretary and the Rev. Mr. Ward, who had been appointed a committee to receive contributions to the episcopal and contingent fund, acknowledged the following receipts :
" Monumental Church, Richmond, $106."
Mr. S. H. Lewis presented the report of the com- mittee on finance :
"The committee on the finances of the church,: having performed the duty assigned them, beg leave respectfully to report that they find, by reference to the journal of the last convention, that it was made the duty of the vestries of the several parishes to take order for the collection of a sum, 'equal to fifty cents for each communicant, to be forwarded to the convention ;' and whilst they take pleasure in stating that mnost of the parishes have complied with that duty with becoming promptness, they regret to report that some of them have failed to do so, caus- ing a deficit in our treasury. We feel it to be our duty to present to the convention a list of those who have not paid their quotas, that they may be admon- ished of their delinquency.
"The committee think that the obligation which rests on the vestries to collect the moderate amount required by the convention should not be less im- perative because there is no power to coerce its pay-
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ment. With Christian men it should be sufficient to insure a cheerful contribution of the sum assessed to know that it is wanted in the economical admis- tration of the financial business of the church.
"The committee have been generally guided by the number of communicants in the parochial re- ports of the year 1839, in determining the amount which each parish should pay; and if reference had been made to the reports of this year, many would have been charged with a larger sum.
"A 'list of vestries who have forwarded their quotas in part,' is then given, to which is appended this note:
"The committee take great pleasure in stating that our Right Rev. and beloved Diocesan, as soon as he ascertained that the Monumental Church was de- ficit to a considerable amount, promptly assumed its payment, proposing to deduct that sum from the $300 now due him for 1839, and they trust that this generous example will be followed by all the delin- quent vestries."
The parochial reports were called for, and when the reading of them was completed, they were re- ferred to the appropriate committee, of which the Rev. Richard H. Wilmer was chairman.
No. 1. Monumental Church, Richmond, Right Rev. Richard Channing Moore, rector; Rev. Wm. Norwood, assistant minister. The rector, with great gratitude to the Almighty, reports to the convention that the congregation, during the past year, have manifested a more than usual degree of attention to
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the duties of religion; and that the minds of a con- siderable number of the young have, through the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, been awakened to a due sense of their responsibility to heaven; all of whom, after a free conversation with himself and pious assistant on the subject of their duty to God, have taken up the cross of Christ, and are now following their Redeemer in that path He has pre- scribed for their observance.
" The rector takes great pleasure in mentioning to the convention the debt of gratitude he owes to his heavenly Father, in blessing him in his old age with an assistant in his congregation, not only highly qualified for the ministerial office, but as willing as he is qualified to advance the interest of the church, and to promote the piety and devotion of the flock in whose behalf he industriously labors.
" During the present year there have been added to the holy communion 28 ; baptized, 8 adults, and 43 children, together, 51 ; confirmed, 28."
On the cover of the journal of the convention for the year 1840, I find printed, "A form of prayer at the laying of the corner stone of a church or chapel." The form alluded to, it is believed, was composed by the bishop for use on the occasion of laying thè corner stone of St. James Church, in the city of Richmond, which church (although then not quite ready for consecration) was admitted into union with the convention of the diocese in May, 1839.
The establishment of that congregation, of which the Rev. Adam Empie, D. D., was the first minister, .
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was rendered necessary by the increase of the num- ber of episcopalians in Richmond, and the inability of some to obtain regular seats elsewhere. It was composed largely of those who were in the habit of attending the Monumental Church.
1841.
The convention assembled in Alexandria, on Wed- nesday, the 19th of May ; Bishop Moore presiding.
The Rev. Benjamin M. Miller was duly elected secretary, in the place of the Rev. Zachariah Mead, deceased.
Rev. Wmn. Norwood took his seat as the assistant minister of the Monumental Church.
Mr. William Williams and Mr. Thomas Nelson presented certificates of their appointment as lay delegates from the Monumental Church.
"On motion, ordered that Mr. Wm. Williams be appointed treasurer and trustee of the fund for the relief of the widows and orphans of deceased clergy- men in the diocese of Virginia, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the death of the late Mr. Hilary Baker.
"Mr. Wm. Williams was elected treasurer of the diocesan missionary society. He was also elected treasurer of the Protestant Episcopal Association for the promotion of Christianity in Virginia-and a member of the executive committee of the same association."
The committee on finance reported, among the contributions to the contingent fund, from the Monumental Church, Richmond, $100.
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Rev. Wm. Norwood was elected one of the dele- gates to the general convention.
Rev. Wm. G. Jackson, from the committee on parochial reports, submitted the following :
"Monumental Church, Richmond, Right Rev. R. C. Moore, rector; baptisms : adults, 6 ; infants, 24- total, 30. Confirmations, 18. Communicants added, 19-whole number, 200. Total receipts, $2,221.
In the summer of this year Bishop Moore went to Westchester, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of ordaining to the priesthood the Rev. Gregory T. Bedell, afterwards assistant bishop of the diocese of Ohio, a son of the Rev. Dr. Bedell, formerly rector of St. Andrew's Church, Philadelphia, who was the son of Bishop Moore's youngest sister.
The ordination took place on Sunday, 29th Aug.
After this, having spent the intervening time with his children and friends in New York and its vicinity, he was present at the opening of the gen- eral convention in that city on the 6th of October ; but returned home before its final adjournment, to comply with an appointment which he had made to be in Lynchburg on the first Sunday in November.
During the summer session of the general conven- tion the Rev. Dr. Henshaw, afterwards Bishop of Rhode Island, in his memoir of the life of Bishop Moore, says that on several occasions he dined with his venerated friend, the bishop, and that never did he appear to enjoy the pleasures of social Christian intercourse more highly. Full of vivacity and cheer- fulness, abounding in anecdote and sprightly conver-
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sation, he was the chief attraction of every circle, and his conversational powers seemed like a brilliant jet d'eau, which sparkles most brightly in reflecting the rays of the setting sun.
From Richmond to Lynchburg the bishop travel- led by packet boat on the canal. A fellow-passenger, Judge Balch, of Florida, afterwards told a friend that on board the boat the bishop had been very cheerful ; that his benignity, vivacity, and conversa- tional powers during the two days of their journey had rendered his society exceedingly delightful.
He arrived at Lynchburg on Thursday, the 5th of November.
On Friday he attended Divine service in the fore- noon; in the afternoon he met at the rector's house the candidates for confirmation, and made them a very admirable address on the qualifications for that holy rite. In the evening he attended Divine service again, and after a sermon by one of his presbyters, he made an address characterized by the highest de- gree of pathos, animation and energy.
That night he was seized with a sickness which terminated his life the following Thursday morning, about a quarter after one o'clock.
· The Rev. Thomas Atkinson, at that time rector of St. Paul's Church, Lynchburg, (now bishop of North Carolina), and at whose house Bishop Moore died, afterwards furnished a statement, giving a de- tailed account of the bishop's last hours, which were in beautiful consistency with the apostolic excellence of his character.
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Dr. Henshaw, in his memoir, appropriately says of him:
"Never, perhaps, was there a Christian bishop whose public ministrations were more fully and uni- formly attended with a manifest blessing from on high. But there were some occasions when he ap- peared to much greater advantage than at others.
"If we were to name those when the unction from the Holy One seemed more abundantly to rest upon him, and diffuse around its sacred odors, we would select those annual ones, when he was seated as a patriarch in the midst of his ecclesiastical family. Yes, they alone have seen Bishop Moore in his glory, who have beheld him discharging the duties of his high function as president of a Virginia convention.
"In the midst of the hallowed and interesting scenes of that annual festival the bishop moved as the presiding genius.
"He was the centre of attraction and unity to the numerous family of devoted and affectionate chil- dren by which he was surrounded. He was a leader or participator in the numerous devotional services which took place day after day, and night after night. His heart glowed with the kindled fervors of faith and love; his eyes sparkled under the inspiration of hope and joy; and his tongue flowed with melting eloquence, as now he urged his ministers to greater zeal and faithfulness, and then exhorted the people to repentance and holy life."
These annual conventions were to him sources of unaffected pleasure and delight. As amidst these
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times of refreshing he beheld the word of God tak- ing effect upon the hearts and consciences of the people, and witnessed answers to prayer in the con- version of sinners, he rose to higher and higher de- grees of enjoyment, till, as the end drew near, it seemed as if he were in a rapture or ecstasy,-just ready, like Elijah, to go up in a chariot of fire to heaven.
"Never have we witnessed a spectacle which so nearly answered to our idea of the purity and joy and love of the primitive church, as the closing scene of a Virginia convention. When the body of weeping clergy gathered around the altar, while in the presence of a crowded but praying assembly, their Right Reverend father in God, with shaking hands and whitened locks, stood before them as an appropriate representative and successor of the apostles, and with streaming eyes, and a voice trem- ulous with emotion, gave them his parting coun- sels, and pronounced over them his affectionate fare- well, a scene was presented upon which attending angels might gaze with rapture.
"Bishop Moore was so long a resident of Rich- mond, that his person was well known to almost all its inhabitants.
"He was considered as a kind of patriarch in the city, of whom all were proud as one of its greatest ornaments.
"As he moved to and fro through the streets on his frequent visits to the church, and other errands of devotion and benevolence, with his silvery locks
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floating upon the breeze, and his devout countenance lifted. to the heavens, his venerable aspect com- manded the attention of beholders, and called forth the tokens of homage which uncorrupted youth and virtuous manhood ever pay to the hoary head, when found in the way of righteousness. Even childhood paused in its sports, and suspended its re- creations as he passed, to gaze on him with glad- ness, as one to be venerated and loved.
"The thoughtless and giddy votaries of mammon or pleasure might sneer at his piety, and scoff at what they deemed his credulity and superstition ; yet as he passed through the busy throng, occupied with reflections and pursuits widely different from theirs, even they, doubtless, thought at times that their condition was bettered by the kindly warmth of his charity, and that they were perhaps indebted for their preservation to the influence of his prayers.
"Even the criminal and vicious, to whom his prin- ciples and life had been a constant reproof, would deem his removal a common loss, producing a blank which could not easily be filled; for the wicked, who affect to despise the righteous man liv- ing, often mourn his death as a public calamity. Accordingly, when the bishop's death was an- nounced, there were few indeed in that community who did not feel as if they had lost a friend and a father.
"Almost the entire population of the city joined the funeral procession which followed his remains to their last resting place, and mingled their tears over his sepulchre."
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The Rev. Mr. Norwood, than whom few could have enjoyed better opportunties of knowing and appreciating the merits of the lamented bishop in the closing years of his life, prepared a sketch of his life and character, which was extensively pub- lished, and has been preserved in the Southern Lit- erary Messenger, Vol. VIII, January, 1842. The subjoined extract is from that sketch :
"But it is in his parochial character, as rector of the Monumental Church congregation, that he is best known and most beloved in Richmond.
" His pastoral labors here, for twenty-seven years, have exceedingly endeared him to his congregation. Gentle, aimble, kind and courteous, with a heart full to overflowing with benevolence, with a charity which included in the wide circle of his affection all the lost world for whom the Redeemer died ; always under the influence of the most kindly feel- ing for all men, and the tenderest sympathy for the afflicted, he associated with his people as their spirit- ual father and guide.
"He delighted in the gospel; Christ crucified was his constant theme, and he loved especially to dwell in his preaching on the bright and cheering topics of Christianity.
"The mercy of God; the tender and kind invita- tions of the Saviour; the soothing consolations of religion, and its glorious hopes, constituted the bur- then of his preaching; and when set forth with great animation, the most moving pathos in an eloquent style of composition, aided by a delightful voice and
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and fine manner, gave to his preaching a peculiar charm which all appreciated.
"He dearly loved the liturgy of the church ; and as in its eloquent and holy strains he presented to God the prayers and praises of his people he often wept.
" Love to God and love to man dwelt in his bosom and pervaded his conversation and sermons. He could seldom speak of the dying love of Christ with- out tears; and like the beloved apostle whom Jesus most loved, and whom he greatly resembled in character, the prevailing sentiment of this aged min- ister of Christ, during his latter years, was, 'Little children, love one another.'
" O that his bereaved people may remember and obey this godly admonition.
" They will love him, and well they may ; for there are few of the younger part of them whom he did not receive in those arms now cold and stiff in death, and at the baptismal font dedicated them to God's service, and admit them into the Church of Christ, and make them heirs of all the precious promises of the Christian covenant.
" O that they may never forget the obligations then assumed for them, and that they may not, by failure to comply with the conditions of salvation, forfeit that rich inheritance, the title to which was then bestowed upon them.
" Most of those of his flock who now mourn his · loss also had their earthly happiness cemented by him in holy matrimony. The large body of com- municants now worshipping in the Monumental Church were all, with very few exceptions, admitted
10
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to that sacred means of grace by the imposition of his hands in the apostolic and beautiful rite of con- fir mation.
" Often have they assembled around that chancel before which his venerated remains so lately lay cold in the embrace of death, and seen that much loved form instinct with life within their kneeling circle, and heard that gentle and dear voice, now silent for ever, invite them in the most affectionate tones to the spiritual feast of their Lord, and receive from his hands the emblems of the crucified body and shed blood of their dying Redeemer.
"Brethren, let the memory of these consecrated scenes of the communion of saints never fade from your minds, and never forget the faithful teaching of this godly old man.
" Few among you who so lately followed the be- loved pastor to his last resting-place on earth, have not been led by him to that city of the dead where his dust will lie until summoned on the resurrection morn by the archangel's trump to a new and eternal life; you have there seen him commit your loved ones to the grave, in the solenin service of your church, and with the trembling accents of the deepest sympathy and tenderest love.
"Remember, also, those solemn scenes, and O, prepare to follow them to the tomb, and him to the bliss of heaven ?
" He loved social and friendly intercourse with his people, and all have enjoyed his sprightly and cheer- ful conversations, and heard his fatherly advice and spiritual encouragement around their firesides."
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Bishop Meade, who in conjunction with two or three others had been most active in calling him to Virginia, in a statement quoted by Bishop Johns, ex- presses himself thus :
"I was not so well pleased with him at first as I expected. He brought with him more of New York than was to my taste, or the taste of many others. But his good sense, his amiable disposition, and sin- cere piety, gradually accommodated him to the clergy and people of Virginia ; and we all loved him more and more to his life's end, and he became more and more one of us every year."
" Bishop Moore had some fine qualifications for the work of revival.
" His venerable form, his melodious voice, his pop- ular preaching, his evangelical doctrines, his amiable disposition, his fund of anecdote in private, and his love for the church, all contributed to make him popular and successful, so far as he was able to visit and put forth effort."
The address of Bishop Meade to the next conven- tion commences with this reference to the bereave- ment that the diocese had sustained :
"The great head of the church, who for a long time has continued to the diocese of Virginia the counsel and superintendence of a very beloved father, has, since our last meeting, been pleased very sud- denly to take him away. I hope it will only make us look the more humbly and steadily to Him from whom all good counsels come, that the interests of true religion may not suffer in our hands.
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"If there be any of you, my friends, who deeply feel the absence of our beloved father, (and which of you does not !) how much more must I, who for so many years had been unitedly and harmoniously laboring at his side, as a son with his father, and who had begun seriously to think that my auxiliary services might probably be over before he should be called to his rest.
"God has otherwise determined, and permitted to devolve on one illy able, either in body or mind, to sustain it, the undivided responsibility of superin- tending this diocese.
"It is not my intention to undertake either an eulogy or biography of our departed father; that having already been done, and often and well done, by others, both from the pulpit and the press. And indeed there was something so peculiarly amiable in his character, and so correspondingly interesting and venerable in his form and countenance and manner, that it were worse than useless to attempt a deline- ation of one who has been so recently among us, and who can be so much better remembered than described.
"May God rather give us grace to imitate those traits which endeared him to the heart. For myself, who of necessity must now take his place, and enter more entirely upon all the anxieties and responsi- bilities of the Episcopal office, I must ask of you, my brethren, both of the clergy and laity, not only great indulgence for infirmities and unfitnesses, of which I am daily more and more sensible, but a very
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large share in your most earnest entreaties at a throne of grace, that the cause you have entrusted to me may not suffer. This I ask not in feigned hu- mility, but, as God knows, from the very depth of a heart which feels more of its deficiences than can be known to any human being."
In the convention itself, after the delivery of this address, on the motion of Mr. Edmund Fontaine, the lay delegate from St. Martin's Parish, Hanover, it was-
" Resolved, That a committee, consisting of four of the clergy and four of the laity, be appointed to consider and report to this convention some appro- priate mode of expressing its sense of the loss which the church has sustained in the death of its late venerable and beloved diocesan, and also of testify- ing its respect for his memory."
The chair appointed the following gentlemen to compose the committee, viz :
Rev. Messrs. Woodbridge, Cobbs, McGuire, and Adie. Messrs. Fontaine, Lewis, Burwell, and Carter H. Harrison.
On the next day, the Rev. Geo. Woodbridge pre- sented the following :
"The special committee appointed to consider so much of the bishop's address as relates to the late bishop of this diocese, have performed the duty as- signed them, and beg leave to report :
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