USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 6
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for other reasons than her evangelical doctrine and worship, saw that it was best that she be thrown upon her own resources. I had a conversation many years since with Mr. Madison, soon after he ceased to be President of the United States, in which I became assured of this. He himself took an active part in promoting the act for the putting down the establishment of the Episcopal Church, while his relative was Bishop of it and all his family connection attached to it. He mentioned an anecdote illustrative of the pre- ference of many for it who still advocated the repeal of all its peculiar privileges. I give his own words. At a time when lobby members were sent by some of the other denominations to urge the repeal of all laws favouring the Episcopal Church, one, an elder of a church, came from near Hampton, who pursued his work with great fearfulness and prudence. An old-fashioned Epis- copal gentleman, of the true Federal politics, with a three-cornered hat, powdered hair, long queue, and white top-boots, perceived him approaching very cautiously one day, as if afraid though desirous to speak. Whereupon he encouraged the elder to come forward, saying that he was already with him, that he was clear for giving all a fair chance, that there were many roads to heaven, and he was in favour of letting every man take his own way; but he was sure of one thing, that no gentleman would choose any but the Episcopal. Although I am far from assenting to the conclusion that no gentlemen are to be found in other denominations, or that there were none in Virginia at that time who had become alienated from the Episcopal and attached to other churches, yet it cannot be denied that the more educated and refined were generally averse to any but the Episcopal Church, while many, of whom the above- mentioned was a fair representative, were in favour of equal privi- leges to all .* It may be well here to state, what will more fully appear when we come to speak of the old glebes and churches in a subsequent number, that the character of the laymen of Virginia for morals and religion was in general greatly in advance of that of the clergy. The latter, for the most part, were the refuse or more indifferent of the English, Irish, and Scottish Episcopal
* Mr. Madison's mother was a pious member of the Episcopal Church. She lived with him, but was of such feeble health that she could not attend public worship for many of her latter years. On this account, as doubtless from a general principle of hospitality, Mr. Madison, who was very regular in his attendance at worship, which, during his day, was held at the court-house in Orange county, there being no church for some time, always invited our ministers to his house, where they ad- ministered the Lord's Supper to his venerable mother.
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Churches, who could not find promotion and employment at home. The former were natives of the soil and descendants of respectable ancestors who migrated at an early period. For high and honour- able character and a due appreciation of what was required in ministers of the Gospel there were numerous influential laymen who would favourably compare with those of any part of the land. Some of the vestries, as their records painfully show, did what they could to displace unworthy ministers, though they often failed through defect of law. In order to avoid the danger of having evil ministers fastened upon them, as well as from the scarcity of ministers, they made much use of lay-readers as substitutes. In some instances, as will be seen, such readers were very successful in strengthening the things which remained after the Church was deprived of her possessions and privileges and the clergy had abandoned their charges. The reading of the Service and sermons in private families, which contributed so much to the preservation of an attachment to the Church in the same, was doubtless pro- moted by this practice of lay-reading. Those whom Providence raised up to resuscitate the fallen Church of Virginia can testify to the fact that the families who descended from the above-men- tioned have been their most effective supports. Existing in greater or less numbers throughout the State, they have been the first to originate measures for the revival of the Church, and the most active and liberal ever since in the support of her ministers. More intelligent and devoted Churchmen, more hospitable and warm-hearted friends of the clergy, can nowhere be found. And when in the providence of God they are called on to leave their ancient homes and form new settlements in the distant South and West, none are more active and reliable in transplanting the Church of their Fathers.
SOME REFLECTIONS GROWING OUT OF THE FOREGOING PAGES.
The desertions from the Episcopal Church in Virginia on the part of many who were awakened to a deeper sense of religion, the violent opposition made to it, the persevering and successful efforts for its downfall, the advantage taken by politicians for pro- moting their objects, the abandonment of their charges by far the greater part of the ministers so soon as their salaries were with- drawn and when only unprofitable glebes remained to them, are events in history which must have resulted from some powerful cause or causes. The leading one must be found in the irreligious
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character and defective preaching of the clergy, operating more or less on the laity, for it will always be, in some degree, " like priest like people." The ignorance, superstition, and corruption of the Romish clergy and people invited that grand assault of the great enemy of God and man upon the Christian Church and religion in Europe, by the agency of Voltaire and his host of followers, which led to the French Revolution with all its horrors. It is not won- derful that the same great foe and his active agents should have turned their attention to the Church and people of Virginia, in their then most irreligious state, and made an effective assault upon them. Infidelity became rife in Virginia, perhaps beyond any other portion of the land. The clergy, for the most part, were a laughing-stock or objects of disgust. Some that feared God and desired to save their souls felt bound to desert them. Persecution followed, and that only increased defection. Infidels rejoiced at the sight, and politicians made their use of the unhappy state of things. The Church fell. There was no Episcopal head to direct and govern either clergy or people. No discipline could be exerted over either. It is not surprising that many should think it was deserted of God as well as of man. Such a view has been taken of it by some ever since, and most diligently and suc- cessfully urged to our injury. Although our present condition ought to be sufficient proof that the Episcopal Church itself is not an offence unto God,-while at one time it came under his dis- pleasure by reason of the unworthiness of many of its ministers and members,-yet it may be well to advert, not in a spirit of retaliation but in the love of truth and justice, to some facts, showing that the Episcopal Church is not the only one in our land which has had its unworthy ministers and members, and been of course so far an object of the Divine displeasure. The history of the whole Christian Church, as one of our opponents has said, is the "history of declensions and revivals." The Baptist Church in Virginia, which took the lead in dissent, and was the chief object of persecution by the magistrates and the most violent and persevering afterward in seeking the downfall of the Establishment, was the first to betray signs of great declension in both ministers and people. The Rev. Robert Sample, in his History of the Bap- tists of Virginia, is faithful in acknowledging this. He informs us that at an early period Kentucky and the Western country took off many of their ministers in pursuit of gain. Some of these ministers had dishonoured the profession. "With some few ex- ceptions," he says, "the declension (among the people) was general
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throughout the State. The love of many waxed cold. Some of the watchmen fell, others stumbled, and many slumbered at their posts. Iniquity greatly abounded." At another time he says, "The great revival had now subsided, and the axe was laid at the root of the tree. Many barren and fruitless trees were already cut down. In many of the churches the number excluded sur- passed the number received." Again, he speaks of the undue dwelling on some highly Calvinistic doctrines. "Truth is often injured by an unsuitable application of its parts. Strong meat should not be given but to men. To preach the deep, mysterious doctrines of grace upon all occasions, and before all sorts of people, is the sure way to preach them out of the parts." Again, he says, in the same connection, "Unguardedness respecting preachers, in various ways, but especially as to impostors, has injured the Bap- tists in many parts, but in none more than on the Eastern Shore. They have probably suffered more by impostors than any other people in Virginia." He then mentions several sad instances of shameful misconduct, adding others afterward. I am also com- pelled in honest truth to say, that at a later period, many others coming within my own knowledge and observation must be united to the above; but I am also rejoiced to declare, from the same knowledge, that the character of the ministry of that denomination for piety and ability, and no doubt that of the people with it, has been most manifestly improving for many years. I trust that with the acknowledged improvement of our own, there will be an in- creased disposition to forget all former animosities, to think and speak charitably of each other, and only strive which shall most promote the common cause of true religion.
Leaving my own State and Diocese, I proceed to speak of some at a distance who have experienced like declension from the true faith and practice. Col. Byrd, of Virginia, in his "Westover Manuscripts," concerning a tour through the State in the year 1733, speaking of the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, says, "Though these people may be ridiculed for some Pharisaical pecu- liarities in their worship and behaviour, yet they were very useful subjects, as being frugal and industrious, giving no scandal or bad example, at least by any open and public vices. By which excel- lent qualities they had much the advantage of the Southern colony, who thought their being members of the Established Church suffi- cient to sanctify very loose and profligate morals. For this reason New England improved much faster than Virginia." Strict, how- ever, as were the morals, and evangelical as were the doctrines, of
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the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, the time of declension in both came on. We may trace the declension in doctrine to that which was the Mother-Church to many of them,-the Church of Scotland. The moralizing system began there, as it had done in the English Church. I remember to have heard Mr. Balmaine- once a member of that Church-often compare together the moral- izing and evangelical parties of his carly days,-now a hundred years ago. Dr. Blair and Mr. Walker were the representatives of the two parties, though associate ministers in the same church in Edinburgh. He had heard them both. The more worldly and fashionable delighted in the sermons of Dr. Blair, who preached in the morning. The more zealous and evangelical attended in greater numbers the services of Dr. Walker, who preached in the afternoon. Dr. Witherspoon also, former President of Princeton College, has, in his work entitled "Characteristics," exercised his unsurpassed wit as well as pious zeal in portraying the two parties, -the one, calling itself the "Moderate Party," which he charges with being " fierce for moderation," and zealous in nothing else. The same soon began to exist in New England. Low views of the qualification for baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the ministry, gradually crept in. The moralizing system took the place of the evangelical. The distinctive principles of the Gospel were kept back, and thus the way was prepared for the Unitarian heresy. The morals also of the Church, as might be expected, began to fail. The labours and preaching of Edwards and others and the great revival under them did much to arrest the downward ten- dency; but the evil went on. The love of pleasure in the young and of strong drink in both young and old increased in many places. Deacons and elders sold rum by wholesale, and other members by retail. Nor did the clergy lift up their voices in solemn warnings, as they should have done, but very many freely used the intoxicating draught. That aged and venerable man, the Rev. Leonard Woods, of Andover, states that at a particular pe- riod previous to the temperance reformation he was able to count nearly forty ministers of the Gospel, none of whom resided at a very great distance, who were either drunkards or so far addicted to intemperate drinking, that their reputation and usefulness were very greatly injured if not utterly ruined. He mentions an ordina- tion at which he was present, and at which he was pained to see two aged ministers literally drunk and a third indecently excited by strong drink. "These disgusting and appalling facts," says this most esteemed minister of the Gospel, "I could wish might be
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concealed. But they were made public by the guilty persons; and . I have thought it just and proper to mention them, in order to show how much we owe to a compassionate God for the great deli- verance he hath wrought."* (The Ninth Report of the Am. Tem. Society, as quoted in the Temperance Prize Essay, "Bacchus," pp. 79, 80; edition of 1840.) To this I add a testimony of my own. About thirty-five or thirty-six years ago, I devoted some time to the service of the Colonization Society, forming the first auxiliaries and selecting the first colonists in some of the larger cities of the Union, North and South. Of course, I mingled freely with minis- ters and members of different denominations and had opportunity of knowing what I now affirm,-namely, that many ministers of respectable standing, and not confined to any one denomination, were in the habit of using themselves and offering to others who visited them, not merely at the hour of dinner, but long before, brandy and other drinks. I have special reference to one large city, where, in a few years, the evil effects were seen and felt, in the reproach brought on several denominations by the partial if not total fall of some of their chief leaders. In proof of the pre- valence of such a ruinous habit I mention the fact, that in a funeral sermon preached about that time over a deceased minister, and
* In the life of Mrs. Huntington, recently published, we have complaints of de- fection among the dissenters of England as far back as the beginning of the last century. After quoting from Bishop Burnet a strong passage as to the ignorance,
ยท want of piety and Scripture knowledge of the clergy of the Establishment, it is added :- " No less mournful utterances came up from the bosom of dissent. Hear its voice of lament :- ' The dissenting interest is not like itself. I hardly know it. It used to be famous for faith, holiness, and love. I knew the time when I had no doubt, into whatsoever place of worship I went among dissenters, but that my heart would be warmed and edified. Now I hear prayers and sermons which I neither relish nor understand. Evangelical truth and duty are old-fashioned things. One's ears are dinned with "reason," "the great law of reason," " the eternal law of reason." Oh for the purity of our fountains!'" When Wesley and Whitefield and others began to preach the Gospel in its power and purity, they found as little favour with the dissenters as with the churchmen. Dr. Doddridge, after quoting the advice of some one of the English Church as to the best method of resisting encroaches on their flocks, namely, more fervent prayer, holy living, and evangelical preaching, says, "Let us of the dissenting churches go and do likewise." Seeing, then, that there is such a tendency to declension in all, we should learn to be charitable, and, even if it should be only a mote in our own eye, compared with the beam in our brother's, be very careful to eradicate that, remembering how soon it may increase so as to obscure our vision. We speak not this to prevent the honest declaration of truth and faithful warnings to churches, as well as individuals, but to put all on their guard, not to assign an undue portion of error and corruption to any one.
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published to the world, it was mentioned to his praise, that such was his hospitality that he never permitted even a morning visit to be paid him without offering wine and other refreshments. How thankful we should be to God for the great change which he has caused to take place in the hospitalities of our day ! As for myself, I can never hear without pain a slighting remark made by any one, especially by a minister, and more especially by one of our own Church, concerning that society which I believe God has raised up in our land, as one instrument by which so much has been done for the diminution of this great evil.
From this digression, if it be a digression, I return, and draw this article to a close.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
Having thus presented a brief sketch of some of the most inte- resting incidents in the past history of the Church of Virginia, let us with deep humility and lively gratitude compare together our past and present condition, saying, "What hath God wrought !" Toward the close of two hundred years after its first establishment there were nearly one hundred ministers and one hundred and sixty churches, and then in seven years after only a few faint- hearted ones serving in the few remaining and almost deserted sanctuaries ; now again, after the labours of less than half a cen- tury, our hundred ministers are restored and more than one hun- dred and seventy churches are open for the people of God. For two hundred years not a Bishop ever visited the diocese, and even after one was sent only a few ministrations were performed ; now, two Bishops have full employment in visiting two hundred churches or stations. It was for years found impracticable to raise sufficient funds for the consecration of one Bishop; now, funds are raised for the annual support of two, independent of parochial charges. It was once proposed, in a declining state of the Church, but in vain, to raise funds for the education of only two candidates for the ministry ; now, numbers are annually receiving preparatory in- struction at our Seminary. Formerly we were entirely dependent on foreign parts for our supply of clergymen, insufficient as to numbers and worse as to character ; now, by the blessing of God on our Seminary, we are enabled to send forth to the decayed churches of Greece, or to the heathen of Asia and Africa, a goodly number of faithful and zealous missionaries of the cross. Formerly,
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and for at least a century, numbers were deserting our communion, as that which had deserted God, and was deserted of God; now, for the last forty years, either themselves or their children or chil- dren's children have in considerable numbers been returning to our fold, as to one which God himself was keeping and blessing. Whereas once almost all men thought and spoke ill of our clergy and communicants as devoid of piety, now, only those who are misinformed, or most prejudiced, refuse to acknowledge that through God's grace there is at least as large an amount of true piety in both ministers and people as is to be found in those of any other denomination. Whereas once we had for many years no Conventions and then for some years a few faint-hearted ministers and people meeting together, now, what numbers of clergy and laity delight to assemble, not for the dry business of legislation only, or for religious controversy, but chiefly for the blessed privi- lege of joining hearts and voices in the sweet exercises of God's word and worship, and thus becoming knit together in love! Thus graciously hath God dealt with us. Out of gratitude to him, and that we may continue to enjoy his smiles, it becomes us ever to bear in mind by what means this hath been done; how our Jacob arose, when he was not only so small, but crushed to the earth, trodden under foot of man, after having been betrayed by friends and dishonoured by the very ministers of God who were appointed to defend him. In the character, habits, views, and history of the man whom God sent to us from a distance to be our head and leader in this work, and in the views of those, whether from our own State or elsewhere, who entered into the service, may be seen the religious principles and methods of action by which, under God, the change has been effected ; and it need not be said how entirely different they were from those by which the disgrace and downfall of the Church had been wrought. Of the efficacy of these means we are the more convinced from the peculiar and very great diffi- culties to be surmounted, which have nevertheless in a great mea- sure been surmounted. We are persuaded that in no part of our own land were there such strong prejudices and such violent oppo- sitions to be overcome as in Virginia, in consequence of the former character of the Episcopal clergy, and the long and bitter strife which had existed between the Church and those who had left its pale, which latter were never satisfied until the downfall of the former was accomplished.
Let me briefly recapitulate the means used. Bishop Moore, in his previous correspondence, and his first sermon and address,
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declared his determination to preach as he had ever done, when God so greatly blessed his ministry, the glorious doctrines of grace, instead of a mere morality, such as many of the English clergy had once preached, and such as had been but too common in Virginia. The young clergy, who engaged in the revival of the Church of Virginia, took the same resolve and made the great theme of their preaching "Jesus Christ and him crucified," on the ground of a total apostasy from God on the part of man which required such a sacrifice, as well as the renewing of the Holy Ghost in order to meetness for the joys of Heaven. But they did not turn this grace of God into licentiousness and think that either priest or people might indulge in sin. Among the first acts of the earlier Conventions, it was at once set forth before the world that the revival of the Church was to be undertaken on principles entirely different from those which had hitherto pre- vailed, and under the influence of which religion had been so much dishonoured. It was plainly declared that there was need of discipline both for clergy and laity, and canons were provided for the exercise of the same. Not merely were grosser vices stig- matized, but what by some were considered the innocent amuse- ments of the world and which the clergy themselves had advo- cated and practised were condemned as inconsistent with the character of a Christian professor.
Baptism, by which we renounce the pomps and vanities of the world as well as the sinful lusts of the flesh, and which had been customarily celebrated in private, directly in opposition to the rubric and often amidst ungodly festivities, was now sought to be performed only in the house of God, and with pious sponsors instead of thoughtless and irreligious ones. Candidates for con- firmation, instead of being presented because they had reached a certain age and could repeat the Catechism, were told what a solemn vow, promise, and profession they were about to make, and that it was none other than an immediate introduction with full qualifications to the Lord's Supper. Of course very different views of the Lord's Supper and of the conduct of communicants were inculcated, and the ministers bound, by express canon, to converse with each one before admitting for the first time to the Lord's Supper. Thus were the whole tone and standard of religion changed, to the dissatisfaction and complaint, it is true, of some of the old members of the Church, and not without the condemnation of some from abroad. In due time, the important measure, requiring that all who enter our Convention to legis-
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late for Christians and Christian ministers should themselves be Christian professors, was adopted, though there were those at home who feared the attempt, and those abroad who prophesied evil in such a manner as to encourage disaffection at home. But God was with us and has granted most entire success.
As to the manner of exciting zeal in Christians and awakening interest in those who were not, it was thought that no better example could be followed than that of the apostles, who preached not only in the temple and synagogues, but from house to house, as occasion required and opportunity offered. As to the manner of preaching, written sermons were generally pre- ferred in the pulpit, while extemporaneous exhortations were often resorted to in smaller assemblies. Without slighting the excellent prayers of our Liturgy, there were many occasions, both in private families and in social meetings, when extemporaneous petitions seemed edifying both to the pastor and his flock. As to the great benevolent and religious institutions of the age, our ministers felt that they were doing well to encourage their people to a lively participation in them. The Missionary and Bible Societies, the Colonization and Temperance Societies, received their most cordial support, and they considered it a subject of devout thankfulness to God if their congregations took a deep interest in the same. To provoke each other and their con- gregations to zeal in all good works, and especially to awaken the careless to a sense of their lost condition, the ministers would meet together occasionally, and for several successive days make full trial of prayer and the word, expecting the blessing pro- mised to two or three who come together and ask somewhat of God.
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