USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 8
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* When Captain Smith left the Colony, driven away by ill-usage, there were five hundred persons in it. When Lord De la War reached it, six months after, there
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landing, the first place visited by Gates was the ruined and unfre- quented church. "He caused the bell to be rung, and such as were able to crawl out of their miserable dwellings repaired thither, that they might join in the zealous and sorrowful prayer of their faithful minister, who pleaded in that solemn hour for his afflicted brethren and himself, before the Lord their God." After a few days, the provisions being nearly out, the whole Colony embarked for Newfoundland, "none dropping a tear, because none had en- joyed one day of happiness." "When this departure of Sir Tho- mas Gates, full sore against his heart, was put'in execution," says Mr. Crashaw, "and every man aboard, their ordnance and armour buried, and not an English soul left in Jamestown, and giving, by their peal of shot, their last and woeful farewell to that pleasant land, were now with sorrowful hearts going down the river,-be- hold the hand of Heaven from above, at the very instant, sent in the Right Honourable De la War to meet them at the river's mouth, with provision and comforts of all kind, who, if he had staid but two tydes longer, had come into Virginia and not found one Englishman." They all now returned to Jamestown. On landing, Lord De la War, before showing any token or performing any act of authority, fell down upon his knees, as Paul upon the sea-shore, and in presence of all the people made a long and silent prayer to himself. After which he arose, and, going in procession to the church, heard a sermon by the Rev. Mr. Bucke; at the close of which he displayed his credentials to the congregation, and ad- dressed them in a few words of admonition and encouragement. . The author from whom the above statement is taken, and who was Secretary and Recorder of the Colony, (Strachy, who wrote a narrative of all the proceedings of the same,) gives us the following sketch of the church, which he says the Governor had given order at once to be repaired :-
" It is in length threescore foot, in breadth twenty-four, and shall have chancel in it of cedar, a communion-table of black walnut, and all the
were only sixty remaining, in a most wretched condition, famine and the natives hav- ing destroyed the rest. It was always afterward called " the starving-time." Truly was it said of this Colony at this and other periods, that "it grew up in misery." One of the historians of that day, Dr. Simons, assures us, that "so great was our famine, that a salvage (savage or Indian) we slew and buried, the poorer sort took him up again and eat him, and so did divers one another, boiled and stewed with roots and herbs. And one of the rest did kill his wife, powdered her, and had eaten part of her before it was known, for which he was executed, as he well deserved "
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pews of cedar, with fair broad windows, to shut and open, (as the weather shall occasion,) of the same wood, a pulpit of the same, with a Font hewn below, like a canoe, with two bells at the west end. It is so caste, as it be very light within, and the Lord-Governor and Captain-General doth cause it to be kept passing sweet, and trimmed up with divers flowers, with a sexton belonging to it; and in it every Sunday we have sermons twice a day, and every Thursday a sermon, having true preachers, which take their weekly turns; and every morning, at the ringing of the bell about ten o'clock, each man addresseth himself to prayers, and so at four o'clock before supper .* Every Sunday, when the Lord-Governor and Captain-General goeth to Church, he is accompanied by all the counsel- lors, captains, other officers, and all the gentlemen, with a guard of Hal- berdiers in his Lordship's livery, (fair red cloakes, ) to the number of fifty, on each side, and behind him. His Lordship hath his seat in the Quoir, in a great velvet chair, with a cloth, with a velvet cushion spread before him, on which he kneeleth, and on each side sit the council, captains, and officers, each in their place, and when he returneth home again, he is waited on to his house in the same manner."
In the foregoing, it is said that there were true preachers, who took their weekly turns, which shows that there were more than the Rev. Mr. Bucke in the Colony at this time; and we do read of a most venerable old man, by the name of Glover, who came over with Sir Thomas Gates, upon his second return to Virginia, and who was doubtless one of the true preachers (perhaps it should read two) spoken of above. In the account of the decora- tions of the church under Lord De la War, and the pomp and cir- cumstance of his own attendance at church, the reader will not fail to perceive some of the peculiarities of the Laudian school. That school was not very far off, in our Mother-Church, at this time. Some of those concerned in promoting and preparing this expedition of Lord De la War were, I doubt not, somewhat inclined to it. The secretary, Strachy, who has given this account, was, it is believed, the person who had much to do in drawing up the code of "Laws, moral, martial, and divine," which is so much tinctured with Romish and martial discipline, and which has ever been the reproach of the Church and State of Vir- ginia, though its penalties were so seldom enforced, and the worst of them were soon abolished. One, at least, of those excellent men, "the Ferrars," was somewhat inclined to a monkish religion. This, however, is the only instance in which such decorations and pomp are mentioned in the history of Virginia. Only a few years after this, the Rev. Mr. Whittaker speaks of the simplicity of our
* They were then all living together, in one small place, with little work to do.
.
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worship and liberality of our discipline in the following words :- " But I much more muse, that so few of our English ministers that were so hot against the surplice and subscription come hither, where neither of them are spoken of."
Having alluded to the Ferrars, the two brothers, as zealous and active friends of the Colony, and especially labouring for its religious condition, it is due not only to them, but to the whole family, to add a few more words. The father was a wealthy merchant in London, and a promoter of all the good works in which the sons were engaged. The mother was also like-minded. The two sons, John and Nicholas, were highly-educated and talented men, labouring zealously, as members of the London Company, until it was dissolved by the tyranny and covetousness of King James, by a kind of Star Chamber operation, in the year 1624, the year before his death. John, the elder, then entered into the House of Commons, and sought to promote the best interests of the Colony in that place. Nicholas, after debating the question whether he should remove to Virginia and seek her welfare here on the spot, or devote himself to the ministry at home, determined on the latter. In the words of Mr. Ander- son, who duly appreciated his worth, I make the following statement :-
" In 1626, Ferrar was ordained by Laud, then Bishop of St. David's. From that period, to the time of his death, which took place in 1637, he gave himself up to those duties, with an ardour and steadfastness of devo- tion which the world has never seen surpassed. It forms no part of the present history, to relate the particulars of the economy which he then established in his house, and in the church; still less can it be required to enter into any explanation of the personal austerities exercised by himself and the members of his family-austerities not exceeded, as his biographer justly observes, by the severest orders of monastic institutions. It is clear that such rigorous observances were not required by that branch of the Church Catholic of which Ferrar was an ordained minister, and the exaction of them on his part may, therefore, have justly been dis- approved of by many who loved and shared the piety which prompted them. There is reason also to think that his own life was shortened by the hardships of fast and vigil which he endured."
As it is well known that such a type of personal religion is often accompanied by an excessive regard to the ceremonial, the pomp and show of public worship, decoration of churches, &c., we may thus account for the fact that Lord De la War, who may have sympathized with the rising school of Laud, in England, introduced some parade, which had never been before, and, as we
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believe, never was afterward seen in the Colony. In connection with this, we add that when George Herbert, a brother in soul to Nicholas Ferrar, was about to die, he sent some poems to Ferrar, which were published, and which showed how he sympathized with him, in his hopes from America. The two following lines are evincive of this :-
" Religion stands tiptoe in our land, Ready to pass to the American strand."
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ARTICLE IV.
The Parish of James City .- No. 2.
As it is an important object with the writer to furnish proofs of the benevolent and religious spirit which actuated the friends and patrons of the Colony, before proceeding with our narrative we invite the attention of the reader to the two following docu- ments. The first was written in the year 1612, and may be found in a pamphlet entitled "The New Life of Virginia," and shows the spirit of the author toward the Indians.
"And for the poor Indians, what shall I say? but God, that hath many ways showed mercy to you, make you show mercy to them and theirs, and howsoever they may seem unto you so intolerably wicked and rooted in mischief that they cannot be moved, yet consider rightly and be not dis- couraged. They are no worse than the nature of Gentiles, and even of those Gentiles so heinously decyphered by St. Paul, to be full of wickedness, haters of God, doers of wrong, such as could never be appeased, and yet himself did live to see that by the fruits of his own labours many thou- sands even of them became true believing Christians, and of whose race and offspring consisteth (well-near) the whole Church of God at this day. This is the work that we first intended, and have published to the world, to be chief in our thoughts, to bring those Infidel people from the worship of Devils to the service of God. And this is the knot that you must untie or cut asunder, before you can conquer those sundrie impediments that will surely hinder all other proceedings, if this be not first pre- ferred.
"Take their children and train them up with gentleness, teach them our English tongue and the principles of religion. Win the elder sort by wisdom and discretion ; make them equal to you English in case of protection, wealth, and habitation, doing justice on such as shall do them wrong. Weapons of war are needful, I grant, but for defence only, and only in this case. If you seek to gain this victory upon them by stratagems of war, you shall utterly lose it, and never come near it, but shall make your names odious to all their posterity. Instead of iron and steel, you must have patience and humanity, to manage their crooked nature to your form of civility; for as our proverb is, 'Look, how you win them so you must wear them:' if by way of peace and gentleness, then shall you always bring them in love to youwards, and in peace with your English people, and, by proceeding in that way, shall open the springs of earthly benefits to them both, and of safety to yourselves."
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The following extracts are from "A Prayer for the Morning and Evening Use of the Watch or Guard, to be offered up either by the Captain himself, or some one of his principal men or officers." It was probably prepared by Mr. Crashaw, and sent out with Mr. Whittaker. It furnishes a just view of the religion of that day,-at any rate, of those who were engaged in this enter- prise. It is also a fair specimen of the theology and devotion of the English Reformers. While it is in faithful keeping with the prayers of our Common Prayer Book, it shows that our fore- fathers did not object to, but freely used, other prayers besides those in the Prayer Book. The reader is requested not to pass over it, but to read it in a prayerful spirit :-
" Merciful Father, and Lord of Heaven and Earth, we come before thy presence to worship thee, in calling upon thy name, and giving thanks unto thee. And though our duties and our very necessities call us hereunto, yet we confess our hearts to be so dull and untoward, that unless thou be merciful to us to teach us how to pray, we shall not please thee, nor profit ourselves in these duties.
"We, therefore, most humbly beseech thee to raise up our hearts with thy good Spirit, and so to dispose us to prayer, that with true fervour of heart, feeling of our wants, humbleness of mind, and faith in thy gracious promises, we may present our suits acceptably unto thee by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
"And now, O blessed Lord, we are desirous to come unto thee, how wretched soever in ourselves ; yea, our very wretchedness sends us unto thee, with whom the fatherless and he that hath no helper findeth mercy. We come to thee in thy Son's name, not daring to come in our own. In his name that cares for us we come to thee, in his mediation whom thou hast sent. In him, O Father, in whom thou hast professed thyself to be well pleased, we come unto thee, and do most humbly beseech thee to pity us, and to save us for thy mercies' sake in him.
"O Lord, our God, our sins have not outbidden that blood of thy Holy Son which speaks for our pardon, nor can they be so infinite as thou art in thy mercies; and our hearts, O God ! (thou seest them,) our hearts are desirous to have peace with thee, and war with our lusts, and wish that they could melt before thee, and be dissolved into godly mourning, for all that filth that hath gone through them and defiled them.
"O Lord! O Lord our God! thou hast dearly bought us for thine own self: give us so honest hearts as may be glad to yield the possession of thine own, and be thou so gracious, as yet to take them up, though we have desperately held thee out of them in time past; and dwell in us and reign in us by thy Spirit, that we may be sure to reign with thee in thy glorious kingdom, according to thy promise, through him that hath pur- chased that inheritance for all that trust in him.
"And now, O Lord of mercy! O Father of the spirits of all flesh ! look in mercy upon the Gentiles who yet know thee not! And seeing thou hast honoured us to choose us out to bear thy name unto the Gen-
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tiles, we therefore beseech thee to bless us, and this our plantation, which we and our nation have begun in thy fear, and for thy glory. We know, O Lord! we have the Devil and all the gates of Hell against us; but if thou, O Lord, be on our side, we care not who be against us ! Oh, therefore vouchsafe to be our God, and let us be a part and portion of thy people; confirm thy covenant of grace and mercy with us, which thou hast made to thy Church in Christ Jesus. And seeing, Lord, the highest end of our plantation here is to set up the standard and display the banner of Jesus Christ even here where Satan's throne is, Lord, let our labour be blessed in labouring for the conversion of the heathen. And because thou usest not to work such mighty works by unholy means, Lord, sanc- tify our spirits, and give us holy hearts, that so we may be thy instruments in this most glorious work.
" And whereas we have, by undertaking this plantation, undergone the reproofs of this base world, insomuch as many of our own brethren laugh us to scorn, O Lord, we pray thee fortify us against this temp- tation !
"And seeing this work must needs expose us to many miseries and dan- gers of soul and body by land and sea, O Lord! we earnestly beseech thee to receive us into thy favour and protection, defend us from the delusions of the Devil, the malice of the heathen, the invasions of our enemies, and mutinies and dissensions of our own people. Knit our hearts alto- gether in faith and fear of thee, and love one to another; give us patience, wisdom, and constancy to go on through all difficulties and temptations, till this blessed work be accomplished for the honour of thy name and glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ !
" And here, O Lord ! we do upon the knees of our hearts offer thee the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for that thou hast moved our hearts to undertake the performance of this blessed work with the hazard of our person, and hast moved the hearts of so many hundreds of our nation to assist it with means and provision, and with their holy prayers. Lord, look mercifully upon them all, and for that portion of their substance which they willingly offer for thy honour and service in this action, re- compense it to them and theirs, and reward it sevenfold into their bosoms, with better blessings. Lord, bless England, our sweet native country ! save it from Popery, this land from heathenism, and both from Atheism. And, Lord, hear their prayers for us, and us for them, and Christ Jesus, our glorious Mediator, for us all. Amen !"
We now proceed with the history.
The services of Lord De la War were of short duration, being obliged to return to England early in 1611, by reason of ill health. Before his arrival in England, the Council had sent Sir Thomas Dale, giving him the title of High-Marshal of Virginia, with a fresh supply of men and provisions, and with the Rev. Alexander Whittaker, between whom and Sir Thomas there appears to have ever been a strong attachment. They remained together at Jamestown until the arrival of Sir Thomas Gates, in the same year, with full powers as Governor, when Sir Thomas Dale, the High-Marshal, by agreement with the Governor, went
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higher up the river, with Mr. Whittaker and three hundred and fifty men, to establish two new positions,-one of them called New Bermuda, in what is now Chesterfield county, in the angle formed by James River and the Appomattox, and which after- ward assumed and still retains the name of Bermuda Hundred; the other was five or six miles higher up, on the opposite side of the river, on what was called Farrar's Island, though it was, as Jamestown, only a peninsula. This was called Henrico City. In both of them churches were built, and small villages established, and Mr. Whittaker was the minister of both, alternately residing at each of them. As these were the first establishments after Jamestown, and are intimately connected in their history with that of Jamestown, the governors sometimes residing at Bermuda, we shall unite them together in our notices, until the destruction of Henrico in the great massacre of 1622. The Rev. Alexander Whittaker was the son of that eminent theologian of Cambridge who took part in drawing up the Lambeth Articles in the year 1595, and was, as his various writings show, one of the first theo- logians and controversialists of his day. He was the friend and companion of Hooker, and sympathized with him in his doctrinal views. The son, Alexander Whittaker, was a graduate of Cam- bridge, and had been for some years a minister in the North of England, beloved and well supported by his people, with a hand- some inheritance from his parents. Crashaw says, "that having, after many distractions and combats with himself, (according to his own acknowledgment,) settled his resolution that God called him to Virginia, and therefore he would go, he accordingly made it good, notwithstanding the earnest dissuasions of some of his nearest friends, and the great discouragements which he daily heard of, touching the business and country itself." Again, says the same, "He, without any persuasion but God and his own heart, did voluntarily leave his warm nest, and, to the wonder of his kindred and amazement of them that knew him, undertook this hard, but, in my judgment, heroical resolution to go to Vir- ginia, and help to bear the name of God to the Gentiles. Men may muse at it, some may laugh, and others wonder at it; but well I know the reason. God will be glorified in his own works, and what he hath determined to do, he will find means to bring it to pass. For the perfecting of this blessed work he hath stirred up able and worthy men to undertake the manning and managing of it." Mr. Whittaker had given himself to this work for three years, but at the end of that time, instead of returning to Eng-
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land, as too many of the governors and other officers did, being weary of their banishment, he preached a sermon and sent it over to England, exhorting others to come over to his help, and declaring his intention to live and die in the work here. His text is, " Cast thy bread upon the waters, and thou shalt find it after many days." Pleading for the nations, he says, "Wherefore, my brethren, put on the bowels of compassion, and let the lamentable estate of these miserables enter into your consideration. One God created us. They have reasonable souls and intellectual faculties as well as we. We all have Adam for our common parent; yea, by nature the condition of us both is all one, the servants of sin and slaves of the Devil. Oh, remember, I beseech you, what was the state of England before the Gospel was preached in our country." The whole sermon is full of such passages. In the year 1614, after having spent three years at Bermuda Hundred and Henrico, Sir Thomas Dale now removed to Jamestown, and, as Mr. Anderson affirms, Whittaker returned with him to that place. If so, he must, either before or after Sir Thomas's return to England in 1616, have gone back again to his old con- gregations, for, in the year 1617, Governor Argal, who succeeded Sir Thomas Dale, writes to the Council, from Bermuda Hundred, begging that a minister may be sent there, as Mr. Whittaker was drowned, and Mr. Wickham was unable to administer the sacra- ments. From this, it is probable that Mr. Wickham had been his curate, in deacons' orders. I am aware that there is a letter ascribed to a Rev. Mr. Stockam, and said to be dedicated to Mr. Whittaker, at a later period. But this letter of the Governor, declaring his death by drowning, would seem to be of higher authority. Within the period of which we have been discoursing, and during the ministry of Mr. Whittaker and the office of Dale as High-Marshal, there occurred some things in the Colony which deserve to be considered,-viz. : the conversion of Poca- hontas to the Christian faith, her baptism, and marriage to John Rolph. The places of her residence, and of her baptism and mar- riage, have been matter of discussion, and are not unworthy of notice. As to the place of her birth and residence, there ought to be no doubt. Her father, the great King Powhatan, lived chiefly on York River, on the Gloucester side, some miles above York. Here, or at a place higher up, it was that Captain Smith was brought captive, and that Pocahontas saved his life. From one of these places, she occasionally visited Jamestown, and there doubtless became acquainted with Rolph, a young man of good
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family and education from England, between whom and herself an attachment was formed. In the year 1612, Captain Argal, after- wards Governor for a short time, went up the Potomac River in quest of provisions, and finding, accidentally, that Pocahontas was there, artfully contrived to get her on board of his vessel, and carried her prisoner to Jamestown, in order by that means to get back from her father some of our men and arms, and implements of husbandry which he had, from time to time, stolen from the Colony. But he did not succeed in the effort. At this time, Sir Thomas Dale and Mr. Whittaker were up the river, engaged in their duties at Henrico and Bermuda Hundred. It is most pro- bable that Pocahontas was carried up the river to Sir Thomas and Mr. Whittaker, as being a more distant place, and one of greater safety, since her father might have attempted her rescue, or she her escape from Jamestown, the place being so much nearer to Powhatan's residence. Certain it is that, in the following year, Sir Thomas himself went on the same errand, up York River,- then called Charles River,-in a vessel, and succeeded in getting the prisoners and property from Powhatan. He took Pocahontas with him, and got her brothers to come on board and see her. She did not now wish to return to her father, (for she was engaged to Mr. Rolph,) and she did not go on shore to see him, as he might have forced her to stay. Sir Thomas, however, on leaving, caused the fact of her engagement to be made known to her father, who was quite pleased, and, in ten days, sent over his old uncle, Opachisco, and two of his sons, to bear his consent, and be present at the marriage. It is, therefore, altogether probable that the marriage took place at Jamestown, where Sir Thomas would stop to deliver to Governor Gates an account of the suc- cess of his expedition. From thence, they no doubt returned to Henrico, which was their residence until they went to England, with Governor Dale, in 1616. This I think to be the true account, from an examination of all the documents on the subject. As to the question whether her baptism was before or after mar- riage, there are some conflicting testimonies. Mr. Stith, in his History of Virginia, says,-
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