USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 14
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"To you, therefore, (most noble sir,) the patron and father of us in this countrie, doe I utter the effects of this my settled and long-continued affection, (which hath made a mightie warre in my meditations ;) and here I do truly relate, to what issue this dangerous combat is come unto, wherein I have not only examined, but thoroughly tried and pared my thoughts, even to the quicke, before I could finde any fit, wholesome, and apt applications to cure so dangerous an ulcer. I never failed to offer my daily and faithful praiers to God for his sacred and holy assistance. I for- got not to set before mine eies the frailtie of mankind, his proneness to evill, his indulgence of wicked thoughts, with many other imperfections, wherein man is daily insnared and oftentimes overthrown, and them com- pared to my present estate. Nor was I ignorant of the heavie displeasure which Almightie God conceived against the sonnes of Levie and Israel for marrying strange wives, nor of the inconveniences which may thereby arise, with other the like good notions, which made me look about warily and with good circumspection into the grounds and principall agitations, which thus provoke me to be in love with one whose education hath been rude, her manners barbarous, her generation accursed, and so discrepant in all nurtreture from myself, that oftentimes with fear and trembling I have ended my private controversie with this :- ' Surely these are wicked instigations, hatched by him who seeketh and delighteth in man's de- struction ;' and so with fervent praiers to be ever preserved from such diabolical assaults (as I tooke those to be) I have taken some rest.
"Thus when I thought I had obtained some peace and quietness, behold, another but more gracious tentation hath made breaches into my holiest and strongest meditations, with which I have been put to a new triall, in a straighter manner than the former; for besides the many pas- sions and sufferings which I have daily, hourly, yea, and in my sleepe indured, even awaking me to astonishment, taxing me with remisness and carelessness, refusing and neglecting to performe the duties of a good Christian, pulling me by the eare, and crying, ' Why dost not thou indea- vour to make her a Christian ?' And these have happened to my greater
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wonder even when she hath bin furthest separated from me, which in common reason (were it not an undoubted work of God) might breede forgetfulness of a fare more worthy creature. Besides, I say, the Holy Spirit hath often demanded of me, why I was created, if not for transi- tory pleasures and worldly vanities, but to labour in the Lord's vineyard, there to sow and plant, to nourish and increase the fruits thereof, daily adding, with the good husband in the gospel, somewhat to the talent, that in the end the fruits may be reaped, to the comfort of the labourer in this life and his salvation in the world to come ? And if this be, as un- doubtedly this is, the service Jesus Christ requireth of his best servant, wo unto him that hath these instruments of pietie put into his hands, and wilfully despiseth to worke with them! Likewise adding hereunto her great appearance of love to me, her desire to be taught and instructed in the knowledge of God, her capablenesse of understanding, her aptness and willingnesse to receive anie good impression, and also the spirituall, beside her own incitements hereunto stirring me up. What should I doe ? Shall I be of so untoward a disposition as to refuse to leade the blind into the right way? Shall I be so unnaturall as not to give bread to the hun- grie, or uncharitable as not to cover the naked ? Shall I despise to ac- tuate these pious duties of a Christian ? Shall the base feare of displeas- ing the world overpower and withhold me from revealing unto man these spirituall works of the Lord, which in my meditations and praiers I have daily made known unto him? God forbid ! I assuredly trust he hath thus delt with mee for my eternal felicitie and for his glorie; and I hope so to be guarded by his heavenly grace, that in the end, by my faithfull praiers and christianlike labour, I shall attaine to that blessed promise pronounced by that holy prophet Daniell unto the righteous that bring many unto the knowledge of God,-namely : that 'they shall shine like the stars forever and ever.' A sweeter comfort cannot be to a true Chris- tian, nor a greater incouragement to him to labour all the daies of his life in the performance thereof, to be desired at the hour of death and in the day of judgment. Again, by my reading and conference with honest and religious persons, have I received no small encouragement ; besides mea serena conscientia, the cleannesse of my conscience, clean from the filth of impurity, que est instar muri ahenei, which is to me a brazen wall. If I should set down at large the perturbations and godly motions which have striven within mee, I should make but a tedious and unnecessary volume. But I doubt not these shall be sufficient, both to certify you of my true intent, in discharging of my duties to God and to yourselfe, to whose gracious Providence I humbly submit myself, for his glory, your honour, my countrie's good, the benefit of this Plantation, and for the converting of one unregenerate to regeneration, which I beseech God to grant for his dear Sonne Christ Jesus his sake. Nor am I in so desperate an estate that I regard not what becometh of mee; nor am I out of hope but one day to see my countrie, nor so void of friends, nor mean in birth, but there to obtain a match to my great content; nor have I ignorantly passed over my hopes there, nor regardlessly seek to lose the love of my friends by taking this course : I know them all, and have not rashly over- slipped any.
" But shall it please God thus to dispose of me (which I earnestly desire to fulfill my end before set down) I will heartily accept of it, as a godly taxe appointed me, and I will never cease (God assisting me) until I have accomplished and brought to perfection so holy a worke, in which
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I will daily pray God to bless mee, to mine and her eternal happiness. And thus desiring no longer to live, to enjoy the blessing of God, than this my resolution doth tend to such godly ends, as are by me before de- clared, not doubting your favourable acceptance, I take my leave, beseech- ing Almighty God to rain down upon you such plenitude of his heavenly graces as your heart can wish and desire; and so I rest, " At your command, most willingly to be disposed off, "JOHN ROLPH."
FIRST JOURNAL OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES.
For the following deeply-interesting document I am also in- debted to the same hand. Mr. Robinson, in his careful examina- tion of papers in the State Office, in London, discovered a manu- script journal covering thirty pages, in which are the proceedings of a House of Burgesses held at Jamestown in 1619. It has been generally received and admitted, since the first volume of Mr. Henning's Statutes at Large were published, that no account of any such meeting was to be found for some years after this.
My object in publishing it is not merely to gratify the curiosity and promote the objects of the historian and politician, but far more,-to give additional weight to what I have already adduced in proof of the spirit of piety which animated the bosoms of the first founders of the Church and State of Virginia.
. None can read the following document without admitting this :---
" A report of the manner of proceeding in the General Assembly con- vented at James City, in Virginia, July 30, 1619, consisting of the Go- vernor, the Council of Estate, and two Burgesses elected out of each incorporation and plantation, and being dissolved the first of August next ensuing."
This is a document of the greatest interest to every Virginian. It is very satisfactory to find that it is quite a full report, em- bracing thirty pages. After the caption it proceeds as follows :-
" First, Sir George Yeardley, Knight, Governor and Captain-General of Virginia, having sent his summons all over the country, as well as to invite those of the Council of Estate that were absent, as also for the election of Burgesses, they were chosen and appeared.
"1st. For James City- Capt. Wm. Powell, Ensign Wm. Spense.
" 2nd. For Charles City-Samuel Sharpe, James Jordan.
" 3rd. For the City of Henricus-Thomas Dowce, John Potintine.
"4th. For Kicciotan-Captain Wm. Tucker, Wm. Capp.
" 5th. For Martin Brandon, Captain John Martin's Plantation-Mr. Thomas Davis, Robert Stacy.
9
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"6th. For Smyth's Hundred -Captain Thos. Graves, Mr. Walter Shelley.
" 7th. For Martin's Hundred-Mr. John Boys, John Jackson.
"8th. For Argall's Plantation-Mr. Powlett, Mr. Gourgemy.
"9th. For Flour De Hundred-Ensign Poppingham, Mr. Jefferson.
"10th. For Captain Lannis' Plantation-Captain Christopher Lanne, Ensign Wisher.
"11th. Captain Wirt's Plantation-Captain Wirt, Lieutenant Gibbs.
"The most convenient place we could find to sit in was the quire of the church where Sir George Yeardley, the Governor, being set down in his accustomed place, those of the Council of the Estate sat next him on both hands, except only the Secretary, then appointed Speaker, who sat before him. John Frome, Clerk of the General Assembly, being placed next the Speaker, and Thomas Pierce, the Sergeant, standing at the bar, to be ready for any service the Assembly should command him.
" But for as much as men's affairs do little prosper when God's service is neglected, all the Burgesses took their places in the quire till a prayer was said by Mr. Bucke, the minister, that it would please God to guide and sanctify all our proceedings to his own glory and the good of this plantation. Prayer being ended to the intent that, as we had begun at God Almighty, so we might proceed with careful and due respect towards his Lieutenant, our most gracious and dread sovereign, all the Bur- gesses were instructed to retire themselves into the body of the church, which, being done, before they were fully admitted, they were called in order and by name, and so every man (none staggering at it) took the oath of supremacy, and then entered the assembly."
To the foregoing documents in proof of the spirit which ani- mated the most devoted friends of the Colony, I add a third, furnished me by another true son of Virginia,-Mr. Charles Camp- bell, of Petersburg.
In the records of the London Company we meet with the name of the Earl of Southampton as the treasurer and most active friend of the same at the time of its greatest trials, when King James and his ministers were seeking its destruction. In the year 1724, their object was effected and the Company summarily dis- banded, all their papers were seized upon, and the Colony taken under the sole charge of Government. The pious, zealous, and brave Earl of Southampton, however, never deserted the cause, but, in Parliament, boldly advocated such measures as he believed would most promote the true welfare of the Colony, in opposition to a corrupt king and cabinet. This was the more honourable to him from the relation he bore to the king. The Earl of South- ampton was the bosom-friend of the celebrated Earl of Essex, Prime Minister to Elizabeth, and was somewhat implicated with him in that conduct toward the queen which brought Essex to the scaffold. Southampton was imprisoned by the queen, though
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spared the fate of Essex. At the death of Elizabeth and the coronation of James, he was released from prison and placed in some offices of honour and trust, being a member of the Privy Council also. While thus honoured, in opposition to the wishes and remonstrances of the king, the earl, true to the best interests of the Company and the Colony, accepted the office of treasurer, attended all its meetings, often had them at his own house, and, as we have said, was the zealous advocate of all measures in Parlia- ment calculated to promote the truest good of the Colony, after the company was dismissed by the king. The true secret of this moral courage was his fidelity to the King of kings. How much the following letter from his friend, the Earl of Essex, may have contributed to this, we know not, but that it was eminently calcu- lated to direct his mind to the only true source of moral greatness none can question. It has been a long time since its publication in a London chronicle, and it is well worthy of republication in con- nection with the name of Southampton and the early history of Virginia. Let me add that so high was the character of South- ampton held in Virginia, that one of her rivers for some time bore his name, and one of her largest counties still retains it.
Letter from the Earl of Essex to his friend the Earl of Southampton.
" MY LORD :- As neither nature nor custom ever made me a man of compliment, so now I shall have less will than ever for to use such cere- monies, when I have left with Martha to be solicitus circa multa, and believe with Mary unum sufficit. But it is no compliment or ceremony, but a real and necessary duty that one friend oweth to another in absence, and especially at their leave-taking, when, in man's reason, many acci- dents may keep them long divided, or perhaps bar them ever meeting till they meet in another world ; for then shall I think that my friend, whose honour, whose person, and whose fortune is dear unto me, shall prosper and be happy wherever he goes, and whatever he takes in hand, when he is in the favour of that God under whose protection there is only safety, and in whose service there is only true happiness to be found. What I think of your natural gifts or ability, in this age or in this State, to give glory to God and to win honour to yourself, if you employ the talents you have received to their best use, I will not now tell you; it sufficeth that when I was farthest of all times from dissembling I spake truly and have witness enough. But these things only I will put your lordship in mind of.
"1. That you have nothing that you have not received.
"2. That you possess them not as lord over them, but as an accountant for them.
"3. If you employ them to serve this world, or your own worldly de- lights, which the prince of this world will seek to entertain you with, it is ingratitude, it is injustice, yea, it is perfidious treachery.
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"For what would you think of such a servant of yours that should convert your goods, committed to his charge, to the advantage or service of your greatest enemy; and what do you less than this with God, since you have all from him, and know that the world and prince thereof are at con- tinual enmity with him? And therefore, if ever the admonition of your truest friend shall be heard by you, or if your country which you may serve in so great and many things be dear unto you; if God, whom you must (if you deal truly with yourself) acknowledge to be powerful over all, and just in all, be feared by you; yea, if you be dear unto yourself and prefer an everlasting happiness before a pleasant dream, which you must shortly awake out of and then repent in the bitterness of your soul ; if any of these things be regarded by you, then, I say, call yourself to account for what is past, cancel all the leagues you have made without the warrant of a religious conscience, make a resolute covenant with your God to serve him with all your natural and spiritual, inward and outward gifts and abilities, and then He that is faithful and cannot lie hath promised to honour them that honour him; He will give you that inward peace of soul and true joy of heart which, till you have, you shall never rest, and that, when you have, you shall never be shaken, and which you can never attain to any other way than this that I have showed you.
"I know your lordship may say to yourself and object to me, This is but a vapour of melancholy and the style of a prisoner; and that I was far enough from it when I lived in the world as you do now, and may be so again when my fetters be taken from me. I answer, though your lordship should think so, yet cannot I distrust the goodness of my God, that his mercy will fail me or his grace forsake me. I have so deeply engaged myself, that I should be one of the most miserable apostates that ever was; I have so avowed my profession and called so many from time to time to witness it and to be watchmen over me, that I should be the hollowest hypocrite that ever was born. But though I should perish in my own sin, and draw upon myself my own damnation, should not you take hold of the grace and mercy, in God, which is offered unto you, and make your profit of my fearful and wretched example ? I was longer a slave and servant to the world and the corruptions of it than you have been, and therefore could hardly be drawn from it. I had many calls, and answered some of them,-slowly thinking a soft pace fast enough to come to Christ, and myself forward enough when I saw the end of my journey, though I arrived not at it; and therefore I have been, by God's providence, violently pulled, hauled, and dragged to the marriage-feast, as the world hath seen. It was just with God to afflict me in this wor'd, that he might give me joy in another. I had too much knowledge when I performed too little obedience, and I was, therefore, to be beaten with double stripes. God grant your lordship may feel the comfort I now enjoy in my unfeigned conversion, but that you may never feel the torments I have suffered for my too long delaying it! I had none but divines to call upon ; to whom I said, if my ambition could have entered into their narrow hearts, they would not have been so humble; or, if my delights had been tasted by them, they could not have been so precise. But your lordship hath one to call ou you, that knows what it is you now enjoy, and what the greatest fruit and end is of all the contentments that this world can afford. Think, therefore, dear earl, that I have staked and buoyed all the ways of pleasure to you, and left them as sea-marks, for you to keep the channel of religious virtue : for, shut your eyes never
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so long, they must be open at last; and then you must say with me, There i's no peace to the wicked.
"I will make a covenant with my soul, not to suffer my eyes to sleep in the night, nor my thoughts to attend the first business of the day, till I have prayed to my God, that your lordship may believe and make profit of this plain but faithful admonition; and then I know your country and friends shall be happy in you, and yourself successful in all you take in hand, which shall be an unspeakable comfort to
"Your lordship's cousin and true friend,
"whom no worldly cause can divide from you, "ESSEX."
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ARTICLE X.
Henrico Parish .- No. 2.
WE introduce this second article by the following extract from a pamphlet of Alexander Whittaker, the first minister of Henrico parish. It was written in the year 1613. The account he gives of the Indian character has a bearing on that sad catastrophe which at an early period marred the fair prospects of Henrico College, and which, but for it, might have been the William and Mary of Virginia.
"TRACTATE BY MASTER ALEXANDER WHITTAKER, WRITTEN AT HENRICO, 1613.
" They (the Indians) acknowledge that there is a great good God, but know him not, having the eyes of their understanding as yet blinded ; wherefore they serve the Divell for feare, after a most base manner, sacri- ficing sometimes (as I have hearde) their own children to him. I have sent one image of their god to the Council in England, which is painted on one side of a toadestoole, much like unto a deformed monster. Their priests (whom they call Quickosoughs) are no other but such as our Eng- lish witches are. They live naked in body, as if their shame of their sinne deserved no covering. Their names are as naked as their body : they esteem it a vertue to lye, deceive, and steale, as their master the Di- vell teacheth them.
"Their men are not so simple as some have supposed them, for they are of body lusty, strong, and very nimble; they are a very understanding generation,-quicke of apprehension, sudden in their despatches, subtile in their dealings, exquisite in their intentions, and industrious in their labour. I suppose the world hath no better marksmen than they be : they will kill birds flying, fishes swimming, and beasts running. They shoote also with marvailous strength : they shot one of our men, being unarmed, quite through the body and nailed both his arms to his body with one arrow ; one of their children also, about the age of twelve or thirteen years, killed a bird with his arrow, in my sight. The service of their god is answerable to their life, being performed with great feare and attention, and many strange dumb shewes used in the same, stretching forth their limbs and straining their body, much like to the counterfeit women in England, who fancie themselves bewitched or possessed of some evil spirit. They stand in great awe of the Quickosoughs or priests, which are a generation of vipers, even Satan's own brood. The manner of their life is much like to the Popish hermits of our age; for they live alone in the woods, in houses sequestered from the common course of men ; neither may any
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man be suffered to come into their house, or speake to them, but when the priest doth call him.
"He taketh no care for his victuals; for all such kind of things, both bread and water, &c., are brought into a place neare his cottage and there left, which he fetcheth for his proper needs. If they would have raine, or have lost any thing, they have recourse to him, who conjureth for them and many times prevaileth. If they be sick, he is their physician; if they be wounded, he sucketh them. At his command they make warre and peace; neither doe they any thing of moment without him. Finally, there is a civil government among them which they strictly observe, and show thereby that the law of nature dwelleth in them; for they have a rude kinde of commonwealth and rough government, wherein they both honour and obey their king, parents, and governors, both greater and lesser. They observe the limits of their own possessions. Murther is scarcely heard of; adultery and other offences severely punished."
We follow this sketch of the Indian character by stating that the efforts of Mr. Whittaker and others, and all the acts of the Company and Colony, seemed to have produced some effect on the natives, and to promise friendly relations with them. This pros- pect was brightened by the marriage of Rolph and Pocahontas. Even after her death, in 1617, a letter is written to the Company, saying, "Powhatan goes about visiting his country, taking his pleasure, in good friendship with us; sorry for the death of his daughter, but glad her son is living. So does Opechancanough. They both wish to see the boy, but do not wish him to come to Virginia until he is a man."* But, even at this time, it is to be feared that the perfidious Indians were meditating war.
We now proceed with the history of the College and parish.
We have already stated, in one of our articles on Jamestown,
* Even as late as 1641 the boy Thomas Rolph asks and obtains leave of the Assembly to visit his uncle, Opechancanough. There is a document in the records of the Virginia Company of the 7th of October, 1622, which is worthy of insertion here. It appears that Mr. John Rolph, after returning to Virginia in 1617, mar- ried again and had other children, and that he died in or before 1622, leaving a widow and children. Mr. Henry Rolph, brother of John Rolph, addresses a peti- tion to the House of Burgesses, "desiring the estate his brother John Rolph, de- ceased, left in Virginia, might be enquired out and converted to the best use for the maintenance of his relict wife and children, and for his indemnity, (having brought up the child his said brother had by the daughter of Powhatan, which is yet living and in his custody.) It was therefore ordered that the Governor and Council in Virginia should cause inquiry to be made what lands and goods the said Rolph died seized of, and in case it should be found that the said Rolph made no will, then to take such order for the petitioner's indemnity, and for the maintenance of the said children and his relict wife, as they shall find his estate will beare, (his debts unto the Company and others being satisfied,) and return unto the Company an account of their proceedings."
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that about the year 1619 it was determined to establish a College at Henrico, and that liberal contributions were made in England for that purpose. A pious and philanthropic man, a good scholar, a warm and confiding friend of the Indians, Mr. George Thorpe, was actually engaged in superintending all the preparatory opera- tions. How far they had advanced when the great massacre in 1622 occurred, and in which Mr. Thorpe and so many others were killed and the city either destroyed or greatly injured, we have no means of ascertaining. We have reason to believe that some un- successful attempts were afterward made; but neither the city nor the College ever recovered from this disastrous blow.
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