USA > Virginia > Spotsylvania County > Spotsylvania County > History of St. George's parish, in the county of Spotsylvania, and diocese of Virginia > Part 4
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The indisposition of Mr. Stephenson continuing, the following correspondence ensued, which explains the occasion of his resignation.
" FREDERICKSBURG, July 25th, 1805.
" DEAR SIR :- In conformity to a resolution of the trustees of your church, at a meeting on the 24th inst., we beg leave to express the just sense enter- tained of your past services, and the sincere regret that your indisposition has so long deprived us of their continuance.
"It has been intimated that you had expressed yourself doubtful of your health's enabling yon to perform those clerical duties so justly appreciated ; though from motives of personal consideration, the trustees feel a repugnance in the discharge of this duty, yet the welfare of our church, requiring every attention that can promote it, and well knowing your unremitted zeal for its interest, we flatter ourselves that you will excuse the request we now make, of be- ing informed of your intention of continuing in the office of your present appointment.
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"With sentiments of affectionate regard, we are very respectfully, dear sir, your ob't servants,
" WILLIAM TAYLOR, " JAMES BROWN, Church- Wardens."
Answer. " CULPEPER, July 29th, 1805.
"GENTLEMEN :--- Your letter of the 25th current came to hand yesterday, and I am requested, by my husband, to make his acknowledgements for the sentiments therein contained, both in regard to his past services and health. As to the latter, he has but little hope of its being established so far as to enable him to perform the duties of a parish; but he begs you will believe that the zeal he has hitherto mani- fested towards your church is still alive, and to hear of its welfare will ever be grateful to him. He therefore recommends it to the trustees, to provide a minister as soon as they can, and that he may be one every way suitable, is his sincere wish.
"With much respect and esteem, "I am, Gentlemen, Yours, &e., "FRANCES STEPHENSON."
This venerable minister survived this correspond- ence several years, and departed this life in June 1809. The following brief obituary, in the Virginia Argus, furnishes the intelligence :
" Died on Friday last, in Culpeper, after a tedious indisposition, the Rev. James Stephenson, a gentle-
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man much and deservedly esteemed by an extensive acquaintance."*
1805. The Rev. Abner Waugh was chosen to supply Mr. Stephenson's place, in 1805, and took charge of St. George's parish in 1806. In July fol- lowing, Mr. Waugh resigned his charge, in conse- quence of extreme indisposition rendering him incom- petent to discharge its duties. Soon after his resig- nation, he retired to Hazlewood, from whence he ad- dressed to his late parishoners the following commu- nication : 1
" HAZLEWOOD, August 5th, 1806.
"Impressed with a high sense of their friendly re- gards and general attention to him during his resi- dence and want of health among them, the Rev. Abner Waugh begs them to receive his acknowledg- ments. Loss of health, and, consequently, loss of power of being any longer useful, compelled him to' relinquish his prospects in Fredericksburg. In bid- ding the citizens farewell, he wishes them, individ- ually and generally, as much comfort, case, and hap- piness in this life, as may be consistent with a more exalted degree of happiness hereafter."
Mr. Waugh did not long survive this parting bene-
* The Rev. Mr. Stephenson married Miss Littlepage, a lady of fine intellectual endowments. The Hon. Andrew Stephenson, of Richmond, is their son. The Rev. Mr. Woodville married a daugh- ter of the Rov. Mr. Stephenson.
[There must be an error in the spelling of the name, as Ste- phenson, certainly the son cited, spelled his name Stevenson, as did his son, Hon. John W. Stevenson, Governor of and United States Senator from, Kentucky .- EDITOR. ]
.
3
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diction, as we learn from the accompanying obituary, extracted from the Virginiu Herald:
" Died, at the seat of Col. John Taylor, in the county of Caroline, on Saturday last, after a long in- disposition, which he bore with Christian resignation, the Rev. Abner Wangh, late minister of the Protes- tant Episcopal Church in this town."*
1808. In July, 1808, the Rev. Samuel Low sue- ceeded Mr. Waugh. Mr. Low seems to have been a very acceptable minister, who, by his popular ad- dress, made many friends, and awakened no small interest in behalf of the Church. Ilis private de- meanor during his residence in Fredericksburg, ac- cording to the testimony of successive vestries, was uniformly exemplary; his public ministry, zealons, able, and eloquent; and his prospects of a long ca- reer of usefulness full of promise. But the reverend gentleman had committed an error years before, which, however it may be regarded from many points of worldly observation, when brought to the light of Holy Seriptitre, was a sin of a high grade, and of most deplorable consequences.t.
In the midst of popularity and apparent useful- ness, the evil report overtook him; and although at first, in his infatuation, he was disposed to cover the
* During Mr. Waugh's incumbency, Mr. THOMAS COLSTON, an old respected member of the Vestry, died, and devised .€500 to be in- vested for the use of the church -- the annual interest of which was to be appropriated to the minister's salary. The successive Rectors of the parish have regularly received this appropriation.
1 His offence consisted in marrying a second wife before he had obtained a legal divorce from his first.
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offence and even to plead justification, yet a manly and faithful letter from the church-wardens seems to have dispelled the allusion, and to have awakened him to a proper sense of his situation. In his reply he says, "perhaps long and confirmed habit, some self-love, with other palliating circumstances, may have made me view the principal transgression of my past life in a light less reprehensible than that in which it deserves to be considered. I persuade my- self that a merciful God, who knows my frame, and remembers I am but dust, views the great and manifold distresses I have suffered in consequence of that trans- action as some atonement, and that my future endea- vors to walk worthy of my high vocation will, through the merits of our Redeemer, be a full expiation."
Mr. Low soon after moved to King George county, but continued to officiate in this parish once in three weeks for twelve months, and then tendered his resig- nation, which was accepted. We have no informa- tion of his future history, but trust that he fulfilled his own expectations in walking worthy of that high vocation which his gifts qualified him to adorn, and realized the hopes of the vestry, when they told him "that while they could not palliate what they deemed to be the great error of his life, yet they believed he would repair it by his future usefulness."
In Nov. 1811, the Rev. George Strebeck was elected to till the vacancy occasioned by the resigna- tion of Mr. Low. The only event of which there is a record in the proceedings of the vestry during the incumbency of Mr. Strebeck of sufficient interest to
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deserve historical notice, is the appointment of a committee to obtain subscriptions to build a new church. The old church, the details of whose build- ing we have given so minutely in the former part of this tract, and which had now been standing nearly a century, had been for some years yielding to the ravages of decay. Sundry propositions had been made for its repair, and at length Messrs. Bernard, Stone, Day, and Mercer were appointed to open a sub- scription for build a new church, but Mr. Strebeck left the parish and the diocese before anything was done.
Hitherto we have been writing of generations that are past and gone, the materials of whose history are
few and unsatisfactory. These materials consist chiefly of the church records, which treat for the most part of statistical details, which of course are wanting in the freshness and animation of life. Writing history by such lights, is like walking among the tombs and reading the epitaphs of the silent dwellers there, instead of conversing with living be- ings, and learning their story from their own lips in their own burning words. Our narrative, therefore, is a sort of chronological skeleton of facts and dates, instead of showing, as we could have wished, the "body of the times," except when we meet with some precious fragment of contemporary history, or with some venerable patriarch whose long life over- laps several generations, and whose memory, like an electric telegraph, linking the past with the present, transmits to us in a moment of time the impressions of by-gone days.
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Our materials make us sufficiently acquainted with the boundaries of parishes and the number of their tythables; the names of the ministers, with the dates of their births and of their deaths; the statistics of baptisms and of burials; the sites of the churches, with their order of architecture and materials of con- struction; with all, indeed, that pertains to the out- ward organization of the church, its temporal aspects and relations. But as to its spiritual state, we are left almost entirely in the dark.
But we now emerge from the darkness which has so long hung over our pathway, and begin to see with our own eyes and hear with our own cars. Let us then endeavor to supply for those who are to come after us, the defects we have been lamenting in those who have gone before. We have now reached a period at which it is convenient to pause for a few moments, and take a brief retrospect of the past. Although there were many things in the liis- tory of the Church before the American revolution to be deplored, arising from a union of Church and State, from the defective character of many of the clergy, who were sent to the colony, and from the want of Episcopal supervision, so essential in our Church to good discipline, and from other causes, yet, it is an undeniable fact, which we affirm upon the authority of eye-witnesses, both within and without the Church, that the state of religion after the revo- Intion was even more deplorable than before .*
* See D. JARRATT'S Autobiography, and SEMPLE'S History of the Baptist», as quoted in HAWKS'.
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This arose from a variety of causes, among the most prominent of which were, the distracting and demoralizing effects of war, even in the most right- cons cause, the angry controversies about the church property, the prevalence of an infidel philosophy among the higher classes, and the outbreak of a ma- lignant fanaticism among the lower order of the peo- ple. These causes had reduced the state of religion among all denominations of Christians to a point of sad declension.
But there were other facts which especially af- fected the prosperity of the Episcopal Church in Vir- ginia.
She was associated in popular opinion with that form of government which for its abuses and usurpa- tions had just been indignantly thrown off by the people, and although a majority of those illustrious men who led our battles in council and in the field, including the Father of his Country, were her de- voted adherents, yet there were few whose minds were sufficiently cahu and discriminating to separate two things which had been so long and intimately connected, and there was neither leisure nor inelina- tion for an investigation of the true and independ- ent grounds upon which she rested her claims to rev- erence and respect. Under these circumstances, her constitution, her liturgy, her ministry and members, became the objects of a torrent of popular prejudice and abuse, which had well nigh driven her out of the land. The Church had been so long accustomed to lean upon the secular arm for support, that when it
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was rudely withdrawn, she could with difficulty walk alone. And when in this state she was turned out to contest the field with those who had been always accustomed to rely on their own resources, she was for awhile unequal to the conflict. The stoutest hearts trembled for the ark of God, the timid fled, while only those who had the spirit of martyrdom adhered to her fallen fortunes. These with the eye of faith pierced the thick clouds that lowered upon her, and saw the dawning of a brighter day, never doubting but that the time would come when the cloud would pass away, and, in the language of Jar- ratt, "the Old Church would arise out of the dust and again be a praise in the land." Such was the state of things generally in the Diocese at the time of which we now write, but there were some causes, already briefly alluded to, which made the prospect in the parish of St. George particularly gloomy and unpromising.
Such were the circumstances under which the Rev. Edward C. McGuire became the rector of the parish in October, 1813.
By the influence of the present Bishop of Virginia, and a few other kindred spirits, a Convention (the first for many years) had been assembled in 1812, and an effort made for the resuscitation of the Church. By the advice of Mr. Meade, whose instructions he had enjoyed during his preparation for the ministry, Mr. MeGuire chose his present field of labor. When he took charge of the parish, it is believed there were
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not more than eight or ten communicants of the Church in Fredericksburg.
Young and inexperienced he could no doubt with deep feeling utter the words of St. Paul, " Brethren I come to you not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, but in weakness and in fear and in much trembling." But with a sincere affection for the Church at whose altars he ministered, with an ex- perimental knowledge of the gospel, he was commis- sioned to preach, with a lively compassion for the souls he saw perishing around him, and with a firm reliance upon the promise of him who had said, " My word 'shall not return unto me void," he was not dis- couraged.
Sad as was the deelension of the Church in Vir- ginia, there was still much latent sensibility in the minds of the people to her former glory.
There were chords in many hearts which vibrated when that key was touched; insomuch that Bishop Moore, in reporting one of his first visitations of the Diocese, says, "I have seen congregations at the men- tion of the glory which once irradiated the Church in Virginia, burst into tears and perfectly electrify my mind." Accordingly, soon after Mr. MeGuire commenced his ministrations, he had the happiness of seeing his congregation greatly increased, and the higher and purer joy of hearing broken and contrite spirits asking what they should do to be saved, and of seeing new communicants bending around the altar.
In May, 1814, the corner stone of the present
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church edifice was laid, and in 1816, he reported to the Convention, and the addition of sixty or seventy members to the communion. At the same Conven- tion, Bishop. Moore, in describing an Episcopal visita- tion of St. George's parish, says, "he had consecrated a handsome brick edifice there and confirmed sixty persons," and adds, " the zeal of the members of that church entitles them to the love and veneration of their brethren, and the pious and indefatigable ex- ertions of the minister meet my warmest commenda- tion. From all that I have seen, his labors have re- ceived the sanction of his God."
This congregation seems to have received the con- verting and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit in an eminent degree for a series of years. The gen- eral tone of the reports to the annual convention for a number of years was, "the gentle dews of God's blessing continue to fall regularly upon us," until in 1823, these were sneceeded by plentiful showers of divine grace, from which the 'rector anticipated a valuable accession of piety and inthience to the cause of evangelical truth, and an acceptable mite to that revenue of glory which is aceruing to the great Head of the Church from the progress of true religion upon earth. From this period until 1831, the parish of St. George experienced many tokens of the kind and gracious remembrance of the Lord, and the parishoners exhibited an encouraging fruitfulness in those good works which ever distinguish and adorn the followers of the Redeemer.
In 1831 this growing interest seems to have
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reached its climax in a deeply interesting revival of religion. In his report of that year the rector says: "we have rarely enjoyed more manifest proofs of the faithfulness of Him who has said ' My word shall not return unto me void.' A large accession to our com- munion, and the increasing number of those who, around the family altar, offer the sacrifice of prayer and praise with morning light and evening shade, is of great advantage to the cause of truth and good- ness among us, while the greater number of those who go up to the house of God, have suggested the enlargement of our church." Bishop Meade soon after visited this parish, and his reports to the Con- vention of 1832, of the results of this deeply inter- esting work of grace, is so full and graphic that we transcribe every word of it.
" From Culpeper," says the Bishop, "I proceeded in company with the Rev. Z. Meade to Fredericks- burg where a spiritual feast awaited us. For some months before, the religious state of that parish had been deeply interesting. The rector traces the com- mencement of that happy revival with which his peo- ple have been blessed, to serious impressions made upon the minds of some of the young members of his congregation, at the Convention in Norfolk. These impressions were soon communicated to others, and spread from heart to heart, until a general and very deep concern pervaded the congregation. Meet- ings for religious exercises became more frequent in the church, in the lecture room, and in private houses. The anxieties of souls hungering and thirsting after
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righteousness loudly called for every effort from the minister, and the pious members of the church. The result was such as must give joy to every friend of religion. God perfected praise out of the mouth of babes; young men and maidens were converted to the Lord; even the old were born again; the zeal of Christians was stirred up; infidelity was removed; vice stood abashed ; scoffers became mmte. All ages, characters, and classes, flocked to the house of God as a place of deep and all-absorbing interest. Such was the condition of the congregation in Fredericks- burg when I was called upon to assist in the admis- sion of a number of new converts to all the priv- ileges of the Church of God.
" It was indeed a most delightful and triumphant season tomyself and the brethren attendant on the occasion. Often did we meet together with people who evidently felt it to be good to be there, who de- lighted to sing together in prahns, and hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in their hearts to the Lord.
"We felt that it was good for ourselves to be there, that our truth and zeal might be improved. On Sun- day we were privileged to hear the renewal of solemn baptismal vows in the rite of confirmation, by more than seventy persons, from the age of fifteen to three- score years and ten. We have good reason to be- lieve that these vows were made in sincerity and truth, with enlightened understandings, and sanctified affections. No methods were used to produce a spurious excitement, and hurry to an open profession
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of religion, those who might be under its influence. Such a revival as this may. God grant to all our churches."
In the foregoing address, Bishop Meade says that the rector ascribed the beginning of this good work to impressions made upon the minds of some young members of his floek, at the Convention at Norfolk. Although this was doubtless the immediate occasion of bringing out into open profession the latent re- ligions sensibilities of many hearts, yet it is clear, from the history of the parish, that there had been for a number of years a regular progression towards this result, and that the grain which was now gath- ered into the garner, was the fruit of good seed sown in a good soil, and which needed but a reviving shower, to make the field white to the harvest.
From 1832 to the present time the state of the Parish had been one of uniform prosperity. While the religions sensibility of the congregation has not been so great as at former periods, and while the number of communicants has been diminished by deaths and removals, yet the growth of the parish in outward things has been steadily onward. During this period it has furnished to the church at home several faithful ministers, three of whom, the Rev. Francis McGuire, the Rev. W. T. Leavell, and the Rev. Edw. MeGnire, Jr., are now lyboring diligently in the Diocese, while one, the Rev. Charles Taliaferro, has gone to reap his reward. It has also sent to the foreign field two devoted missionaries, the Rev. Launcelot Minor, and Mrs. Susan Savage, who, hav-
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ing finished their course with joy, do now rest from their labors."
There are those it may be who regard the enter- prise of these young soldiers of the cross, as a relig- ious romance-an idle crusade against the principali- ties and powers of darkness in benighted Africa; who deem their early death upon a foreign shore, and in an unfriendly clime, as an unnecessary and wasteful expenditure of human life, and their lives a costly sacrifice to the cause of missions. These are the natural reasonings of natural minds, but the Christian can have no sympathy with them. Not that Christianity blunts the sensibilities of the human heart. Never was heart so full of sympathy as that of Christ. He was as intensely human as he was di- vine. And if he wept at the grave of a friend, so may we, without sin, shed tears at the tombs of those we love. The present writer feels that he has some claim, over and above that of a common humanity and brotherhood in Christ, to mingle his sympathies with those of the surviving relatives and friends of these two martyr missionaries. It was his privilege to know them personally, and he begs to be indulged with a brief tribute to their momories.
Mrs. Susan Savage was the daughter of John Met- calfe, Esquire, of Fredericksburg. She made an early profession of religion, and her walk was worthy of her high vocation. She "adorned herself in modest ap- parel, not with gold, and pearls, and costly array; but which becometh women professing godliness, with good works." These qualities commended her
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to him who was the pioneer of our African Missions, as a person meet and fit to be a companion of his labors. In the year 1838, she was married to the Rev. Dr. Savage. On the 12th of December, of the same year, she sailed with her husband for Africa, and on the 16th of April, 1839, she died.
Who that remembers that open face, that cheerful voice, those artless manners, that kind and gentle heart which so endeared her to the social and domes- tie eireles in which she moved, but will drop a tear at the early blighting of her bloom, beneath the scorching sun of Africa ?
The Rev. Launcelot Byrd Minor was the son of General John Minor, and of Lucy Landon, daughter of Landon Carter, of Cleve. He was born at Topping Castle, in the county of Caroline, in September, 1813. He was educated at Kenyon College, and studied theology in the seminary of Virginia. While a stu- dent at Kenyon College, he became a subject of the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and soon afterward de- termined to devote himself to the ministry. Having resolved to be a minister, it was easy for one who knew his tastes to conclude that he would be a mis- sionary. For while he was tenderly attached to his relatives, and had a keen relish for the society of kin- dred spirits, yet le deeply sympathized with "the outcasts of society," and comtemplated with lively interest the mysterious fate of the red and of the black man.
Often would his mind wander away from present scenes, and he would roam in imagination over the
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great mountains, and along the majestic rivers of the West, and hold converse with the native sons of the forest in their own wild homes. And, although he did not neglect nor undervalue the appointed means of grace, yet he loved to commune with the Deity in the great temple of Nature, and offer the sacrifice of praise upon her rocky altars. Ile delighted to trace the footsteps of God upon all bis works, and there was not a fossil nor a flower that he did not make tributary to his devotion. With these tastes, coin- ciding as they did with his convictions of duty, it was inevitable that he should be a missionary. This point once settled, and it was easy for those who were familiar with his history to conclude that Africa would be the chosen field of his labors. From his boyhood he had been familiar with the scheme of African colonization. Often had he listened with a beating heart to the story of that unhappy land, and so deeply were his sympathies excited, that he would appropriate the little pecuniary rewards with which his youthful industry was encouraged to the Coloni- zation Society.
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