USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 4
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men and a few ladies communed. One of these gentlemen, the elder son of Judge Marshall, was a resident in the upper country. One of the old clergy who was present did approach to the chan- cel with a view of partaking; but his habits were so bad and so notorious, that he was motioned by the Rector not to come. In- deed, it was believed that he was not in a sober state at the time.
Before proceeding further in the narrative of such circumstances as may tend to throw light on the condition of the Church in Vir- ginia, I will, at the risk of being charged with even more of ego- tism than has already been displayed, make a few remarks, which, I think, are necessary to a right understanding of the whole subject I have taken in hand. So low and hopeless was the state of the Church at this time-the time of my ordination-but a few of the old clergy even attempting to carry on the work-only one person for a long time having been ordained by Bishop Madison, and he from a distance, and a most unworthy one-it created surprise, and was a matter of much conversation, when it was understood that a young Virginian had entered the ministry of the Episcopal Church. Even some years after this, when I applied to Judge Marshall for a subscription to our Theological Seminary, though he gave with his accustomed liberality, he could not refrain from saying, that it was a hopeless undertaking, and that it was almost unkind to induce young Virginians to enter the Episcopal ministry, the Church being too far gone ever to be revived. Such was the general impression among friends and foes. I had, however, throughout the State many most respectable and influential relatives, some still rich, others of fallen fortunes, both on my father's and mother's side,* who were still attached to the Church. My parents, too, were very popular persons, and had many friends and acquaintances throughout Virginia, who still lingered around the old Church. These things caused my ordination to excite a greater interest, and created a partiality in behalf of my future ministry. But still there were many who thought it so strange a proceeding, that they were ready to accept, as a probable mode of accounting for it, an
* My great-grandfather on the paternal side was an Irish Romanist. Emigrating to this country, he married a Quakeress, in Flushing, New York, and settled in Suf- folk, Virginia. From this alliance sprang a large family of Protestant Episcopa- lians. Through my grandmother an infusion of Anglican Protestantism entered the family, as she descended from Richard Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, after whom my father and many others of the family have been called. With scarce an exception, their descendants have all adhered to the Episcopal Church.
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opinion expressed by one or more and soon put in circulation, that there was something unsound in mind or eccentric in character, at any rate a want of good common sense, or I could not make such a mistake as to attach myself to the fallen and desperate fortunes of the old Church. Some strange speeches of this kind were made, Nor were they or their effects confined to Virginia, or to that time. I am not sure that their influence has ceased to the present day. One good, however, resulted from them, namely, that certain views of religion and certain modes of life adopted by me and contrary to what were supposed to be the doctrines of the Episcopal Church -certainly, contrary to the sentiments and practice of the people -were ascribed to this natural defect and kindly dealt with, instead of awakening hostility which, under other circumstances, might have been exhibited. Certain it is that my ministry, from the first, was received with a favour which neither my imperfect theological education nor my most unfinished sermons nor any thing else about me were entitled to. Under such favour, I commenced my ministry in the spring of 1811, in Frederick county, as assistant to Mr. Balmaine, in the two congregations belonging to his charge, while living and labouring on a small farm, and having no design or wish to go elsewhere. But in the fall of that year I consented to the very urgent solicitations of the vestry of old Christ Church, Alexandria, to take charge of it, with the privilege of spending a portion of the year in Frederick and not entirely relinquishing my engagements there. Very peculiar were the circumstances of that congregation, and very strong the appeal, or I should not have been moved to undertake even the partial and temporary charge of it. Its last minister was from the West Indies, and after having married in Alexandria was found to have left a wife behind him. On her pursuing and reaching him he fled, and I believe was heard of no more. His predecessor was of an unhappy temper and too much given to the intoxicating cup. His predecessor again was one of the old-fashioned kind in his preaching and habits, being fond of what was called good company and the pleasures of the table. In order to insure full and frequent meetings of the vestry- men-twelve in number and, for the most part, good livers-he got them to meet once per month at each others' houses to dinner. These meetings continued until after I took charge of the congre- gation. I was present at one of them. The old minister who had established them was also there, being on a visit. He then lived in a distant parish. It was not difficult to perceive why such vestry-meetings were popular with certain ministers and vestry-
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men. I attended no more of them, and they were soon relin- quished. That a congregation having had three such ministers in succession should be desirous to try a young Virginian was not very wonderful. I should be guilty, however, if I did not pursue the history of the ministers of Christ Church further back. The next in order of time past was the good Dr. Griffith, of whom I have already spoken, as the first Bishop-elect of Virginia, but who was prevented by poverty from going to England for consecration. His predecessor was Lord Bryan Fairfax, of whom I have some- thing to say in another place. He was a pure and conscientious man, the friend and neighbour of General Washington, and a true Englishman. He attempted, in a series of private letters, which one of his children showed me and which have since been pub- lished, to dissuade Washington from engaging in or pursuing the war. General Washington dealt very tenderly with him in his replies, knowing how conscientious he was, and being much at- tached to him and the elder Lord Fairfax with whom he had lived. There was associated with Mr. Fairfax the Rev. Mr. Page, who afterward moved to Shepherdstown, and of whom I have heard that venerable old lady, Mrs. Shepherd, speak in the highest terms as an evangelical man of the school of Whitefield.
A few remarks on my ministry during the two years of its exercise in Alexandria may serve to cast some light on the pro- gress of the Church in Virginia from that time. 1st. The old Virginia custom of private baptisms, christening-cake, and merri- ment, had prevailed in Alexandria. The ground, however, was now taken that the rubric was entirely opposed to this and that the whole meaning and design of the sacred rite forbade it and that it could not be continued. There were demurrings and refu- sals for a time, but a little decision with kind persuasion completely triumphed, as they did afterward at a later period both in Norfolk and Petersburg, where private baptisms were made to give place to public ones, when I had the temporary charge of these two con- gregations, peculiar circumstances inducing me to undertake it. 2dly. The Gospel, it is to be feared, had not been clearly preached in times past. It was now attempted; and, though most imper- fectly done as to style and manner, God's blessing was granted. The services were well attended. Many were added to the Church of such as gave good proof afterward that they would be of those who should be saved. A goodly number of the members of Con- gress often came down on Sunday morning to attend the church,
FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.
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among whom were Mr. John Randolph* and Dr. Milnor, with both of whom I became then and thus acquainted. In the mind of the latter there was at that time going on the great change
* It being known that there was a family connection and some intimacy and cor- respondence between Mr. Randolph and myself, I have been often asked my opinion as to his religious character. It is as difficult to answer this as to explain some other things about this most talented, eccentric, and unhappy man. My acquaint- ance and correspondence with him commenced in 1813 and terminated in 1818, although at his death he confided a most difficult and important trust to myself, in conjunction with our common and most valued friend, Mr. Francis S. Key. I pub- lish the following letter written in 1815, when his mind seemed to be in a state of anxiety on the subject of religion, and an extract from another paper in my possession, showing a supposed relief in the year 1818. Other letters I have, during the period of our intimacy, of the same character. The reader must judge for himself, taking into consideration the great inconsistencies of his subsequent life, and making all allowances for his most peculiar and unhappy temperament, his most diseased body, and the trying circumstances of his life and death.
"RICHMOND, May 19, 1815.
" It is with very great regret that I leave town about the time that you are con- fidently expected to arrive. Nothing short of necessity should carry me away at this time. I have a very great desire to see you, to converse with you on the sub- ject before which all others sink into insignificance. It continues daily to occupy more and more of my attention, which it has nearly engrossed to the exclusion of every other, and it is a source of pain as well as of occasional comfort to me. May He who alone can do it shed light upon my mind, and conduct me, through faith, to salvation. Give me your prayers. I have the most earnest desire for a more perfect faith than I fear I possess. What shall I do to be saved ? I know the answer, but it is not free from difficulty. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. I do submit myself most implicitly to his holy will, and great is my reliance on his mercy. But when I reflect on the corruptions of my nature I tremble whilst I adore. The merits of an all-atoning Saviour I hardly dare to plead when I think of my weak faith. Help, Lord, or I perish, but thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I know that I deserve to suffer for my sins; for time misspent, faculties misemployed ; but, above all, that I have not loved God and my neighbour as we are commanded to do. But I will try to confide in the promises we have received, or rather to comply with their conditions. Whatever be my fate, I will not har- bour a murmur in my breast against the justice of my Creator. Your afflicted friend,
' " REV. WILLIAM MEADE."
"JOHN RANDOLPH, OF ROANOKE.
August, 1818. "It is now just nineteen years since sin first began to sit heavy upon my soul. For a very great part of that time I have been as a conscious thief ; hiding or trying to hide from my fellow-sinners, from myself, from my God. After much true repentance, followed by relapses into deadly sin, it hath pleased Almighty God to draw me to him; reconciling me to him, and, by the love which driveth out fear, to show me the mighty scheme of his salvation, which hath been to me, as also to the Jews, a stumbling-block, and, as to the Greeks, foolishness. I am now, for the first time, grateful and happy; nor would I exchange my present feelings and assurances, although in rags, for any throne in Christendom."
3
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whose abundant fruits have so blessed mankind. 3d. It was during my stay in Alexandria that I procured from the library of Mr. Custis, of Arlington, the folio edition of Bishop Wilson's works, which had been presented to General Washington by the son of Bishop Wilson, and which works had been recommended to me by Bishop Madison. By the help of Mr. Edward McGuire, who, for more than forty-two years, has been the faithful and successful minister of the Church in Fredericksburg, and who was then pre- paring for the ministry with me, I selected from the various parts of that large book, a small volume of private and family prayers, which have gone through three editions, and which, being freely circulated among the families of Virginia, contributed greatly to introduce what was indeed a novelty in that day-the practice of family worship .* It was during my short stay in Alexandria that the Rev. William Wilmer assumed the charge of St. Paul's congre- gation, and at the close of my ministry there that the Rev. Oliver Norris took charge of Christ Church. These beloved brothers, coming from Maryland with those views of the Gospel and the Church which the evangelical clergy and laity of England were then so zealously and successfully propagating there, contributed most effectually to the promotion of the same in Virginia, and to them is justly due much of the subsequent character and success of the Church in Virginia, as is well known to all of their day. I cannot take leave of Alexandria without referring to my admission to priests' orders, which took place there a year or two after this, and which were conferred on me by Bishop Clagget, of Maryland, our faithful brother the Rev. Simon Wilmer preaching on the occasion. Bishop Clagget, so far as I know and believe, enter- tained sound views of the Gospel and was a truly pious man.
* Many of the sentences or petitions, making up these family devotions, are taken from short prayers found either before or after the printed sermons of Bishop Wil- son, and no doubt were used by him in the pulpit. They were evidently adapted to sermons. Such we know to have been the case with many if not all of the English clergy, for a long time. Specimens of the same may be seen in connection with a few of the homilies. Such is the practice of some of the English clergy to this day, as I know from having heard them while on a visit to England a few years since. It is well known that Bishop White did at one time, after the example of English Bishops and clergy, prepare and use such prayers after his sermons. Some of the Virginia clergy have done the same occasionally, and for it they have been denounced as transgressors of the law, and no Churchmen. I sincerely wish that so good a practice were generally adopted and that ministers would carefully prepare, either in writing or otherwise, a prayer suitable to the sermon. The col- lects might sometimes be found admirably adapted, but not always.
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There was much of the Englishman about him, I presume, from his wearing the mitre, and his mode of examining me, that con- forming so much to the character of the English University exa- minations .* Beside a number of hard questions in the metaphysics of divinity, which I was by no means well prepared to answer, but which he kindly answered for me, he requested that I would, in compliance with an old English canon, which had been, I think, incorporated somewhere into our requisitions, give him an account of my faith in the Latin tongue. Although I was pretty well versed in the Latin language, yet, being unused to speak it, I begged him to excuse me. He then said I could take pen and paper and write it down in his presence; but he was kind enough to excuse from that also, and determined to ordain me with all my deficiencies, very much as some other bishops do in this day.
* A singular circumstance occurred about this time in connection with Bishop Clagget's consecration of old St. Paul's Church, Alexandria. Putting on his robes and his mitre at some distance from the Church, he had to go along the street to reach it. This attracted the attention of a number of boys and others, who ran after and alongside of him, admiring his peculiar dress and gigantic stature. His voice was as extraordinary for strength and ungovernableness as was his stature for size, and as he entered the door of the church where the people were in silence awaiting, and the first words of the service burst forth from his lips in his most peculiar manner, a young lady, turning around suddenly and seeing his huge form and uncommon appearance, was so convulsed that she was obliged to be taken out of the house.
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OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND
ARTICLE II.
Recollections of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia, during the Present Century.
ON leaving Alexandria I returned to my little farm in Frederick and to the tending, in conjunction with Mr. Balmaine, of the two small flocks at the chapel and in Winchester. During all the time of that joint rectorship I bestowed a considerable portion of my labours on five or six counties around, which were either destitute of ministers or very partially served. The continual presence of Mr. Balmaine in Winchester, and the lay-reading of my excellent father-in-law, Mr. Philip Nelson, at the chapel, enabled me to do this. In my absence from the chapel, the excellent sermons of Gisborne and Bradley and Jarrett were delivered by one of the best of readers, from its pulpit. I was happy to be able, during my visit to England some years since, to communicate to the two former the fact that they had thus, without knowing it, preached so often and so acceptably in my pulpit in America. Such was the scarcity of ministers and churches around, that my chapel ser- vices were attended by families living at the distance of twelve and fifteen miles. There are now seven churches, with regular services by six ministers, within that district to which I was a debtor for all pulpit and parochial ministration. My connection with Mr. Bal- maine was most pleasant and harmonious. He was one of the most simple and single-hearted of men. Himself and his excellent part- ner were the friends of the poor, and indeed of all, and were be- loved by all who knew them. They had no children, and having some property, as well as a few hundred dollars rent for the glebe, might have lived in a little style and self-indulgence, but they were economical and self-denying in all things, that they might have something for the poor and for the promotion of pious objects. They did not even keep fire in their chamber during the coldest weather of winter. They had one family of servants, who were to them as children. As children they inherited, and some still live in, the old mansion. As to some things Dr. Balmaine had been weak, and at times led astray by those who surrounded him. But I can truly say, that for many of the last years of his life, a
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more warm-hearted and exemplary man I knew not. Some of the most eloquent extempore effusions I ever heard were from his lips, while standing in the chancel on sacramental occasions, when he referred with tears to past errors and sought to make amends, by thus testifying to evangelical doctrine and holy living. In the spring of 1812, Bishop Madison died. And as Dr. Buchannon, of Richmond, was the Secretary to the last Convention, which was held.seven years before, Dr. Wilmer and myself united in a re- quest that he would call a special one in May. At that Convention fourteen clergymen and fourteen laymen assembled. It resulted in the election of Dr. Bracken as successor to Bishop Madison ; not, however, without opposition by some among us .* Another Convention was held in the following spring, at which only seven clergymen attended. To that Convention Dr. Bracken sent in his resignation. Our deliberations were conducted in one of the com- mittee-rooms of the Capitol, sitting around a table. There was nothing to encourage us to meet again, and but for that which I shall soon mention, I believe such profitless and discouraging efforts would soon have ceased. I well remember, that having just read
* A circumstance occurred at this Convention worthy of being mentioned, as showing the effrontery of an unworthy clergyman, even at that day. One such, from New York, came to Virginia a few years before this, and excited considerable attention by his eloquence in Richmond, Norfolk, and elsewhere. He soon settled himself in the vacant church at Fredericksburg, and collected crowds by his pulpit- powers. After a while rumours came that he had left his first and true wife in New York, and that the one with him was unlawfully married to him. This he solemnly denied in the pulpit, and in a letter to the vestry. The thing being to a certain ex- tent proved upon him during the week, he was obliged to admit it as publicly the following Sabbath and in a letter to the vestry. He shortly after left Fredericks- burg, (which was soon supplied with another from the same State, who also turned out badly,) and went to one of the lower counties of Virginia, where he was too well received and preferred to the incumbent who had the glebe, but was an intem- perate man. He was encouraged to go to the Convention, and see if there was no method by which the incumbent might be ejected and himself be substituted. On coming to Richmond, an interview took place between himself and one of the clergy, in which he was told that if possible he himself would be brought before the Con- vention, for his violation of the laws of God and man. Enraged by this, he raised his stick, and, shaking it over the head of the clergyman, bid him beware how he proceeded. He afterward, however, sought another interview with the same cler- gyman, to whom, in the presence of a third, he acknowledged his transgression. He was told that he ought, at any rate, to abandon the ministry. He disappeared that night, and soon after died. He had by his first wife a son of considerable talents who was attached to the stage. By the grace of God he was led to exchange the stage for the pulpit, and, in the providence of God, was led to prepare for the ministry in my house, and became an acceptable and useful minister in the large congregation at Norfolk.
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Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," as I took my solitary way homeward on horseback, I found myself continually saying, in relation to the Church of Virginia, in the words of the elvish page, "Lost-lost-lost ;" and never expected to cross the moun- tains again on such an errand. But in the course of that year, or in the early part of the following, it was suggested to Messrs. Wil- mer and Norris, and by none other than that unhappy man, the Rev. Mr. Dashiel, of Baltimore, (whom they then highly esteemed, but whom they abandoned as soon as his unworthiness was known,) that the Rev. Dr. Moore, of New York, was the man to raise up the Church in Virginia. Mr. D. had become acquainted with Dr. Moore at a recent General Convention, heard him eloquently advo- cate the introduction of more hymns into the Prayer Book, and preach the Gospel with zeal and power in several large churches. Dr. Wilmer and myself entered into a correspondence with Dr. Moore, which led to his election at the next Convention. Some objections, however, were privately made to Dr. Moore. It was said that Bishop Hobart had complaints against him for some irregularities in carrying on the work of the ministry, and that he was somewhat Methodistical. It so happened, however, that Bishop Hobart had written a most favourable letter concerning Dr. Moore to some one present, which being shown, all opposition was silenced and he was unanimously elected as Bishop of the Diocese, and im- mediately after, or perhaps before, as Rector of the Monumental Church, which had been reared on the ruins of the Richmond Theatre. Bishop Moore was consecrated in May of 1814, and en- tered on his duties in the summer of that year. Our organization was now complete, but on a diminutive scale. Besides the few older clergy, who had almost given up in despair, there were only the Rev. Messrs. Wilmer and Norris, in Alexandria, the Rev. Mr. Lemmon, who had just come to Fauquier, Mr. Edward McGuire, acting as lay-reader in Fredericksburg, (preferred by the people in that capacity to another importation from abroad,) and the one who makes this record. But from this time forth a favourable change commenced. Hope sprung up in the bosoms of many hitherto desponding. Bishop Moore had some fine qualifications for the work of revival. His venerable form, his melodious voice, his popular preaching, his evangelical doctrine, 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. His parochial engagements and bodily infirmities prevented his visiting many parts of the diocese.
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He never crossed the Alleghany Mountains, although he sometimes visited North Carolina, which then had no Bishop. In the spring of 1815, the first Convention under his Episcopate assembled in Richmond. It must be evident to all, from the account given of the past history of the Church in Virginia, that much prejudice must have existed against it, and that the reputation of both clergy and people for true piety must have been low, and that it was most proper to take some early occasion of setting forth the principles on which it was proposed to attempt its resuscitation. The last Convention, which was held under Bishop Madison, and which was followed by an intermission of seven years, had prepared the way for this, by declaring the necessity of a reform in the manners of both clergy and laity and by establishing rules for the trial of both. Wherefore, among the first things which engaged the consideration of the Convention of 1815, was the establishing a code of disci- pline. The Diocese of Maryland, from which two of our brethren, the Rev. Messrs. Wilmer and Norris, came, had already been en- gaged in the same work, and we did little else than copy the regu- lations there adopted. But although they were only the grosser vices of drunkenness, gaming, extortion, &c. which it was proposed to condemn, yet great opposition was made. The hue and cry of priestly usurpation and oppression was raised. It was said that the clergy only wanted the power, and fire and fagot would soon be used again-that we were establishing a Methodist Church, and that the new church needed reformation already. The opposition indeed was such at this and the ensuing Convention, that we had to content ourselves with renewing the general resolutions of the Convention of 1805, under Bishop Madison. In two years after this, however, in the Convention held in Winchester, when the number of the clergy and the piety of the laymen had increased, the subject was again brought up, and the condemnation of those things which brought reproach on the Church was extended to theatres, horse-racing, and public balls, by an overwhelming ma- jority. The same has been renewed and enforced at a more recent one. The Church now began to move on with more rapid strides. In looking over the list of the clergy who were added to our ranks in the few following years we see the names of such men as Haw- ley, Horrell, the two Allens, the Lowes, Ravenscroft, Smith, now Bishop of Kentucky, Wingfield, the elder Armstrong, of Wheeling, Charles Page, Keith, Lippitt, Alexander Jones, Cobbs, George Smith, William Lee, John Grammer, J. P. McGuire, Brooke, the Jacksons, and others. The itinerant labours of some of them de-
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