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AUTHOR: 
 
 BEARDSLEY, EBEN 
 EDWARDS 
 
 TITLE: 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DA TE : 
 
 1866 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT 
 
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 Beardsley, Eben Edwards. 1808-1891; '•^'S=5=5f5^^f^5- 
 
 History (,f the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, from tlie 
 sctUcmcnt of the colony to the death of Bishop Seabury New 
 York, 1869. 1866- -ff^-^ '-60^ 
 
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Columbia S^nitoe r^ftp 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF THK 
 
 Cpijscopal €\)mcl) in Connecticut 
 
i 
 
'^"^ VVw \\V4'^\\'^ 
 
 CHRIST CIIUKCir, f<TIJATFOIir>. 
 Kr.>««f.».! f» 174."?: d.-iDolisli.. i in mr,«. 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THB 
 
 episcopal Cj)urc!) in Connecticut. 
 
 FROM THB 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE COLONY TO THE DEATH 
 
 OF BISHOP SEABURY. 
 
 BY 
 
 E. EDWARDS BEARDSLEY, D. D., 
 
 KECrOU OF ST. THOMAS' CHURCH, NEW HAVEN. 
 
 * t 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PUBLISHED BY KURD AND HOUGHTON. 
 
 BOSTON: E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY. 
 
 186G. 
 
Entered according to Act of Conjjress, in the year 1865, by 
 
 E. Edwards Beardsley, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Connecticut. 
 
 TO THE 
 
 RIGHT REVEREND JOHN WILLLVMS, D.D, 
 
 FOURTH BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF CONyECTICUT, 
 TO WHOSE KIND ENCOURAGEMENT ITS PUBLICATION IS LARGELY DUE, 
 
 iJ^ljis bolume, 
 
 IN TOKEN OF PRIVATE GRATITUDE, PERSONAL FRIENDSHIP, AND A 
 
 PRESBYTER'S DUTIFUL RESPECT, 
 
 IS DEDICATED 
 
 BT THE AUTHOR 
 
 riverside, CAMBRIDGE: 
 
 STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY 
 
 H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 
 
 11 
 
 i 
 
 n /?* ri \^} (\ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In January, 1864, I commenced a series of Lectures 
 to my own people on the early History of Episco- 
 pacy m Connecticut. My object was twofold- to 
 use and work into shape .materials which I had been 
 gathering for years ; and to awaken an interest in 
 subjects that were in danger of being overlooked 
 amid the excitements of the day and the attraction 
 or popular themes. 
 
 The favor with which my effort was received en- 
 couraged me to make deeper researches than I at 
 first intended, and my investigations led me to con- 
 sider and examine topics hitherto approached with 
 tenderness, if not with fear and trembling. What- 
 ever estimate may be put upon such inquiries, it 
 certainly demands some courage to begin and pros- 
 ecute them to a successful issue. Memorials of the 
 past. It IS hardly necessary to state, increase in value 
 ^ time goes on, and events and "good deeds done 
 for the house of our God and for the offices thereof" 
 are often lost for want of the recording pen. Many 
 facts which might have easily been collected, even 
 half a century ago, now float only in tradition, or 
 
viu 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 else lie buried in faded and tattered manuscripts, 
 so that he must be as a bold diver for pearls, who 
 would go down into the depths of unwritten history 
 and bring them up from their secret hiding-places. 
 
 When the course was finished, the Lectures were 
 carefully revised, broken into chapters, large portions 
 of them entirely rewritten, and much new matter 
 added. Their publication in the present form has 
 been called for from various quarters, and I have 
 given them to the press in the humble hope that 
 they may serve to excite the churchmen of Con- 
 necticut to gratitude for the struggles borne by 
 their forefiithers, as w^ell as teach them to prize more 
 highly the rich inheritance into which they have 
 come. It ought never to be forgotten what a vast 
 debt is due to the men who, from Johnson down to 
 Seabury, carried the Church in this Diocese through 
 troublous and stormy epochs, till finally she was 
 planted in peace, and hke "a vineyard in a very 
 fruitful hill." Grown to greatness under "the con- 
 tinual dew of the divine blessing," she still retains, 
 and long may she retain, the distinct impress of 
 her original character. 
 
 Minuteness of detail would have swelled the volume 
 to an unusual size; but I have aimed to exhibit all 
 the important facts necessary to a complete historic 
 survey of the Church in the period which has been 
 reviewed. Mistakes and omissions may have unin- 
 tentionally occurred, and w^ioever discovers them 
 will do me a favor by pointing them out in a kindly 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 spirit, that they may be corrected and supplied I 
 have had no such unworthy object before my mind 
 as o present eulogy mider the guise of history, and 
 It has not been in my heart to speak with severity 
 of those from whom we theologically differ. While 
 1 confess to a strong attachment for the Episcopal 
 Cuu^ch, haying descended from one of the families 
 which kuKlled her fires in Stratford under the earliest 
 Miss:onar3,-I am not conscious of any undue partial- 
 ity in my statements. It has been my study to seek 
 mid write the truth; and the careful reader will find 
 tliat 1 have been no more ready to hold up to cen- 
 sure the harsh and bigoted sectarian than the indis- 
 creet and guilty member of my own communion. 
 
 Little a lowance has hitherto been made for those 
 who steadily adhered to the cause of tlie Crown 
 during the War of the Revolution. The Loyalists, 
 for the most part, have been rudely assailed by Amer- 
 lean historians, and their motives and principles mis- 
 represented and occasionally traduced. The time h.s 
 come for a more dispassionate consideration of their 
 actions. The events of the last four yeai^ in our 
 country must teach us to entertain a higher respect 
 for the men who did not at once join in the cause for 
 independence, violate their oaths of allegiance, and di^- 
 own submission to the long-established Government 
 
 The course of the narrative is not hiterrupted by 
 numerous foot-notes, but a list of some of the author- 
 ities and sources of information consulted or referred 
 to wiU be found at the end, before the Index No 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 one, unless he has tried it, can judge of the time and 
 labor necessary to be spent in examining authori- 
 ties, and searching old manuscripts and town rec- 
 ords, to produce a work of this kind. I acknowl- 
 edge myself under obligations to several persons for 
 supplying me Avith llicts in their possession, and for 
 the loan of rare books and pamphlets. Mr. Charles 
 J. Hoadley, State Librarian at Hartford, has put into 
 my hands copies of all the unprlnted petitions rela- 
 tive to the Church of England on file in the office 
 of the Secretary of State. My thanks are espe- 
 cially due to Mr. William Samuel Johnson of Stratr 
 ford, for free access to the letters and papers of his 
 grandfather and great-grandfather. The sea of John- 
 son MSS. has been explored w^ith abundant satisfiic- 
 tion, and many of the extracts to be found in the 
 body of the work have been copied from the original 
 draughts of the Rev. Dr. Jolinson, rather than from 
 the letters printed in that valuable publication, the 
 ^•^Documentary History of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church in Connecticut." The Library of Yale Col- 
 lege has been open to me at all times, and the Good- 
 rich and Kingsley Collections of Pamphlets have 
 aided me greatly in my researches. 
 
 The materials for another volume, bringing the his- 
 tory down to the death of Bishop Brownell, are partly 
 gathered; but the cares of a parish press upon me so 
 much that an immediate use of them is not promised 
 
 E. E. B. 
 
 New Haven, November ^ 1865. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 i J 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND, AND THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 
 
 ESTABLISHED BY THE PURITANS. 
 
 A. D. 1620-1665. 
 
 The Colonics of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay planted 
 Rise of the Puritans in England, and their part in the Reformation .* 
 I heir treatment under Queen Elizabeth and the House of Stuart 
 Seventy of Archbishop Laud, and his attempt to establish uniformity 
 by the secular arm . . 
 
 • • • 
 
 Sufferings of the Puritans, the fruit of the principles of the'times 
 Preparations for the settlement of Connecticut, and the arrival of Win- 
 
 throp, the younger, from England 
 
 John Davenport and his associates anchor their ships' in Quinnipiack 
 
 harbor, and plant the Colony of New Haven . 
 William Pitkin and six others,* " members of the Church of England," 
 
 petition the General Assembly for a redress of grievances 
 Church and State united, and the people taxed to support the sta'ndinc^ 
 
 order ® 
 
 Execution of Charles I, and overturn of the British Government 
 The New-England Puritans no better friends to liberty of conscience 
 than their adversaries 
 
 Restoration of Charles H., and revival of affection for the Church of 
 England 
 
 PAGE 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 13 
 
 U 
 
 15 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 COMMISSIONERS OF CHARLES THE SECOND; AND ORIGIN OF EPISCO- 
 PACY IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 A. D. 1665-1722. 
 
 An " Act of Toleration " passed by the General Assembly of Connect- 
 icut in 1 708 - « 
 
 Charter of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Forein^n 
 Parts "^ . ''. 17 
 
Xll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Missionary labors of Keith and Talbot ...... 18 
 
 The Rev. George Muirson of Rye, in company with Col. Caleb Heath- 
 cote, visits Stratford and baptizes a number of adults . . .20 
 The Congregationalists in Stratford invite the Rev. Timothy Cutler 
 
 to become their Pastor ......... 21 
 
 After a ministry often years among them, he is made Rector of Yale 
 
 College 22 
 
 Organization of the parish in Stratford, and death of Mr. Muirson . 23 
 The Rev. Francis Philips sent out a Missionary by the Society in 
 
 London, but proves unfit for the station 26 
 
 Arrival of the Rev. Georjre Pijfot at Stratford, and renewal of the ef- 
 
 fort to build a church . 27 
 
 Astounding events in the religious history of the colony . . .28 
 Rector Cutler, and several of the neighboring ministers, declare for 
 
 Episcopacy, or doubt the validity of Presbyterian ordination . . 29 
 Debate in the Library of Yale College, presided over by Gov. Salton- 
 
 stall 30 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF THE LITURGY AND TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH 
 OF ENGLAND; AND THE RESULTS OF THE DEBATE IN THE LIBRARY 
 OF YALE COLLEGE. 
 
 A. D. 1722-1723. 
 
 The annual Commencement in 1 722 ....... 32 
 
 Samuel Johnson, the Congregational minister at West Haven, and 
 Rector Cutler, and Daniel Brown, the Tutor in the College, his 
 intimate friends .......... 33 
 
 His love for the Prayer Book 34 
 
 Extracts from his private journal, and the uneasiness of his conscience 36 
 The alarm of the Trustees at the change in their religious sentiments ; 
 and the request for their views in writing upon the matters which 
 troubled their consciences ........ 
 
 The minds and pens of distinguished Congregational divines busy 
 Mr. Cutler excused from all further service as Rector of Yale Col- 
 lege, and the resignation of Mr. Brown, as Tutor, accepted , 
 Efforts to guard the established reli«;ion of the Colonv, and to main- 
 
 tain the faith and ecclesiastical organization of the Puritans . 
 Cutler, Johnson, and Brown embark for England to receive Holy 
 
 Orders 43 
 
 Arrival at Canterbury, and visit to the Cathedral . . . .44 
 Keception by the Dean and a company of Prebendaries . . .45 
 Arrangements in London for their ordination and future duties . . 46 
 
 37 
 39 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 f 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Cutler seized with the small-pox, and the ordination delayed 
 Ordained by the Bishop of Norwich near the end of March 
 Another great disappointment ; Death of Brown on Easter Eve 
 
 Xlll 
 
 PAGK 
 . 47 
 
 . 47 
 . 48 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE RETURN OF CUTLER AND JOHNSON TO AMERICA, AND THE IN- 
 CREASE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 A. D. 1723-1727. 
 
 Preparations for returning 49 
 
 Visits to Oxford and Cambridge, and honors conferred upon Cutler 
 
 and Johnson 49 
 
 Joined by James Wetmore, the Congregational minister at North 
 
 Haven 49 
 
 Appeal for an American Episcopate, and interest of Bishop Gibson in 
 the measure ........... 50 
 
 Arrival of the Missionaries in New England, and Johnson's entry in 
 
 his private journal after reaching Stratford 51 
 
 Opening of the first Episcopal church in Connecticut . . . .52 
 Mr. Pigot's Parochial Register; and letter of Johnson to the Bishop of 
 
 London 53 
 
 Appeals of churchmen in Newtown, Redding, and Ripton, to the So- 
 ciety for the Propagation of the (iospel in Foreign Parts . . 65 
 Hostility to the Church of England, and its increase in the Colony . 56 
 
 Johnson officiates at New London 57 
 
 Church built at Fairfield 53 
 
 Talcott, the Governor of Connecticut, writing to the Bishop of London 58 
 Imprisonment of members of the Church of England for refusin<T to 
 
 pay taxes to support dissenting ministers 59 
 
 State of the Church in the Colony, and extent of Johnson's ministra- 
 tions 60 
 
 The Church in Connecticut rooted amid storms and opposition . . 60 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THB EFFECT OF CANDID INVESTIGATION, AND THE ENACTMENT OF 
 A LAW IN CONNECTICUT TO RELIEVE CHURCHMEN. 
 
 A. D. 1727-1729. 
 
 Puritans disturbing the settled order of religion 62 
 
 Quincy's statement of the operations of the Society for the Propa<»ation 
 
 of the Gospel 63 
 
 Its opposition to historical facts . . . . . , . .63 
 
XIV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 FAOB 
 
 Interest in the Church at New Haven 65 
 
 The Rev. Henry Caner appointed a Missionary in Fairfield, and the 
 condition of the Congregationalists in that town . . , .66 
 
 The extent of his ministrations 68 
 
 The churchmen of Fairfield memorializing the General Assembly for 
 
 relief from oppressive taxation 69 
 
 Passage of a law in favor of members of the Church of EnMand . . 70 
 Construction put upon it ; and another Memorial . . , .71 
 
 Apologies for the course of the Government 72 
 
 Mr. Caner applies to the Society for an enlargement of his Missionary 
 
 bounds, and permission to change his place of residence . , .73 
 Legal opinion in England adverse to the scheme , . . .74 
 Removal of families into the Province of New York to escape annoy- 
 ance 74 
 
 Subscriptions towards the erection of a church at Wethersfield . . 75 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF DEAN RKRKELEY IN RHODE ISLAND; HIS BENEFAC- 
 TIONS TO YALE college; AND NEW MISSIONARIES IN CONNECT- 
 ICUT. 
 
 A. D. 1729-1734. 
 
 Royal charter to found a college at Bermuda 76 
 
 Appropriation from the crown lands in St. Kitts to promote the object 77 
 Devotion of Berkeley to the benevolent enterprise . . . ,77 
 
 His mental studies and '' Minute Philosopher " 78 
 
 The faithlessness of Sir Robert Walpole, and the return of the Dean 
 
 to his native country 79 
 
 Consecrated Bishop of Cloyne in Ireland 80 
 
 Anniversary sermon before the Society for the Propagation of the 
 
 Gospel 80 
 
 Mr. Johnson visits him at Newport, and is charmed by his genius and 
 
 character 81 
 
 Donation of books and lands to Yale College 82 
 
 Ingratitude of Rector Williams 84 
 
 The Rev. James McSparran, and his " America Dissected" . . 85 
 Samuel Seabury, a Congregational licentiate at North Groton, de- 
 clares for Episcopacy, and proceeds to England for Holy Ordei-s . 86 
 Returns with the appointment of a Missionary to New London . . 86 
 Increase of a good temper towards the Church ; new candidates for 
 
 Orders, and the want of a resident Bishop .... 87 
 John Beach, the popular Independent minister at Newtown, declares 
 
 for Episcopacy . . . . 89 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Appointed a Missionary among his former people 
 Church built in Newtown ; and Ebenezer Punderson 
 The rooted tree spreading out its salubrious branches 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 XV 
 
 PAGB 
 
 90 
 91 
 92 
 
 RELIGIOUS controversy; AND THE GROWTH OF THE PARISHES. 
 
 A. D. 1734-1738. 
 
 A parishioner of Johnson assailed by Jonathan Dickinson . 
 Controversy printed, and new champions in the field 
 Popular attention drawn to the Church of England . 
 Prolonged controversy between Mr. Dickinson and Mr. Beach! 
 Episcopacy gaining strength in the Colony .... 
 A church built at Hebron ; and John Bliss, a lay reader . ] 
 Punderson appointed an Itinerant Missionary, with his residence at 
 
 North Groton 
 
 Mr. Caner visits England for the benefit of his health 
 
 Extract from a letter of the Bishop of Gloucester to Johnson, touchin 
 
 an American Episcopate 
 
 Richard Caner a teacher in Fairfield and a lay reader at Norwalk 
 
 Glebes and ministerial support . , 
 
 A second and larger church erected at Fairfield 
 
 Spiritual condition of the Colony, and religious revival 
 
 The Church a gainer by steadily presenting the truth 
 
 ^' 
 
 94 
 95 
 96 
 97 
 98 
 99 
 
 100 
 101 
 
 101 
 
 102 ' 
 102 
 
 103 ^ 
 104 
 105 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE CHURCHMEN OF CONNECTICUT PETITIONING FOR A REDRESS OP 
 THEIR GRIEVANCES ; AND REACTION OF PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 
 
 A. D. 1738-1740. 
 
 Petition of churchmen to the General Assembly in relation to the act 
 appropriating moneys arising from the sale of lands . 
 
 Reasons why it should be so amended as to secure to them their equi- 
 table proportion 
 
 The memorial signed by six hundred and thirty-six males, and rejected 
 by both Houses of Assembly i^q 
 
 Jonathan Arnold conforms to the Church of England, and is appointed 
 Itinerant Missionary, with his residence at West Haven 
 
 PubUc service at Milford, and movements to build churches in Derby 
 
 107 
 
 108 
 
 111 
 
 and West Haven 
 
 112 
 
Xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 PACK 
 
 Mr. Arnold prevented from getting possession of Gregson's land by a 
 mob 114 
 
 The clergy of Connecticut unite in a complaint to the Society of the 
 grievances they suffer from the Government . . .' . .115 
 
 Mr. Arnold removes to Staten Island, and is succeeded by Rev. 
 Theophilus Morris, an English clergyman 116 
 
 The present church at West Haven a specimen of Colonial Archi- 
 tecture . . . . . . . • . . . .118 
 
 New demands for the services of the ^lissionavies . . . .119 
 
 Reaction of public sentiment, and lingering reverence for the Church 
 ofEngland 119 
 
 Sentiment and words of Higginson on embarking for America . .120 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF WHITEFIELD IN NEW ENGLAND, AND RELIGIOUS EN- 
 THUSIASM. 
 
 A. D. 1740-1742. 
 
 The ordination of Whitefield, and his course rebuked by Bishops and 
 elerjiv in Enjjjland . . . . . . . . .121 
 
 Arrival in Rhode Island, and reception by the Independent ministers 122 
 
 Visit to Boston, and religious enthusiasm 1-23 
 
 Visit to Jonathan Edwards at Northampton, and welcomes in New 
 
 Haven 124 
 
 Sparks of religious discord kindling 125 
 
 Extravagant demonstrations under the preaching of Gilbert Tennent, 
 
 and irregularities of James Davenport 125 
 
 Course of tiie Episcopal clergy, and their condemnation by the Inde- 
 pendent ministers 127 
 
 Rapid growth of the Church in the interior, and demand for more 
 
 Missionaries 128 
 
 Richard Caner goes to England for ordination, and letter from John- 
 son to the Bishop of Cloyne 130 
 
 Divisions among the Congregationalists, and church built at Water- 
 bury 131 
 
 Organization of a parish in Northbury 132 
 
 Church raised at Ripton, and effects of popular enthusiasm . . 133 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 XVU 
 
 ( 
 
 A COMMISSARY FOR CONNECTICUT SOLICITED ; AND THE INFLUENCE 
 
 OF WHITE field's PREACHING. 
 
 A. D. 1742-1747. 
 
 Rev. Roger Price the Commissary for all New En^rland 
 Commissary for Connecticut solicited, and Mr. Johnson named as a 
 
 suitable person for the appointment 
 
 Animosity of the Rev. Theophilus ]\Iorris - . . [ , 
 The Bishop of London unwilling to change his commission* 
 Rev. James Lyons appointed a successor to Mr. Morris 
 Honorary Degree conferred upon Johnson by the university of Oxford 
 
 A new church built at Stratford 
 
 Rev. Richard Caner sent a Missionary to Norwalk, and a new church 
 
 erected there, and also at Newtown 
 Laws enacted to suppress enthusiasm, and their operation * 
 Churches built in Woodbury, New Milford, Norwich, and 'other 
 
 Pla^'es 
 
 Mr. Richardson Minor declares for Episcopacy, and 'dies on his way 
 to England for Holy Orders .... 
 
 Rev. William Gibbs sent to Simsbury, and removal 'of Mr. Caner to 
 Boston . 
 
 Candidates for Holy Orders, and renewed appeals for an American 
 
 Episcopate 
 
 Gloomy picture of the moral and religious state' of the colony 
 Whitefield returns to New England, and is denounced by Associa- 
 tions of Connecticut divines, and by the authorities of Harvard 
 and Yale 
 
 A love for Episcopacy manifested in New Haven, and especially In 
 
 the College 
 
 Influence of laymen, and perpetuity of the Church's system 
 
 PAGE 
 134 
 
 134 
 135 
 13G 
 130 
 137 
 138 
 
 139 
 
 140 
 
 141 
 
 142 
 
 143 
 
 144 
 145 
 
 146 
 
 148 
 149 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE EPISCOPAL CLERGY KEEPING ALOOF FROM SECTARIAN CON- 
 TROVERSIES; AND THE GENERAL PROSPERITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 A. D. 1747-1752. 
 
 Decline of religious enthusiasm, and prudence of the Episcopal elerrry 151 
 Vacancies in Connecticut . . . ^r« 
 
 Appointment of the Rev. Mr. Lamson to Fairfield . . . ! 153 
 Church built under his ministrations at Stratfield . . * * 154 
 
 b 
 
XVlll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Stamford and Greenwich assist their lay reader, Ebenezer Dibblee, 
 
 to go to England for ordination 155 
 
 Misfortune of the Norwalk people 156 
 
 Richard Mansfield and Jeremiah Leaming in Holy Orders . .157 
 Letter of Dr. Johnson to the Society, and his vigilance and fidelity . 157 
 Graduates of Yale College, and Thomas B. Chandler . . .159 
 Report of the Rev. Matthew Graves, the Missionary at New London 160 
 General prosperity of the Church throughout the Colony . . . 162 
 Ichabod Camp and Jonathan Colton; death of Mr. Colton . . 164 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 MEMORIALS OF CHURCHMEN IN CONNECTICUT TO THE GENERAL 
 assembly: and organization of trinity parish, NEW HAVEN. 
 
 A. D. 1752-1753. 
 
 Memorials to the General Assembly, and opposition of Mr. Graves . 166 
 Punderson's ministrations in New Haven County . . . . ^ 167 
 Design of William Gregson's *' indenture " to Jonathan Arnold . 168 
 
 Defect in, and its entry upon the Land Records . . . .169 
 Statement of the case, signed by six clergymen, sent to the Society . 169 
 Increase of the Church at New Haven, and formation of Trinity 
 
 Parish . • • • • .170 
 
 Another defective deed, and application to the General Assembly . 171 
 Enos Ailing and Isaac Doolittle, influential members of the parish . 171 
 
 The church built, and number of worshippers 172 
 
 Mr. Punderson petitions to be appointed the Missionary in New 
 
 Haven 1^3 
 
 Noah Hobart's " Addresses to the members of the Episcopal separa- 
 tion in New England " 1 73 
 
 Charge against the Society for Propagating the Gospel, and defence 
 by Mr. Beach 1 74 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 education; and the removal of dr. JOHNSON to new YORK 
 TO ACCEPT THE PRESIDENCY OF KING'S COLLEGE. 
 
 A. D. 1753-1756. 
 
 Renewed zeal of Churchmen, and intelligence of the Laity . .176 
 
 Education in the hands of the Independents 177 
 
 Dr. Johnson refuses the oversight of a college at Philadelphia, and 
 accepts the Presidency of King's College, New York . . 1 78 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Charter of the Institution opposed 
 
 Removal of Johnson to New York • • • . 
 
 AtZr "rT" ""' ?'' ^'"'^" '' mai^tain'the Purita'n system 
 
 Attraction ofEpiscopal students to King's College . . 
 
 Wdhani Johnson embarks for England to receive Holy Orders ', 
 
 Death fi'om the small-pox, and grief of his father . 
 
 I athetic appeal for an American Episcopate . 
 
 Entries in the Parochial Register of the church at Stratford * 
 
 Labors among the Indians 
 
 XIX 
 
 PAGK 
 179 
 
 180 
 
 181 
 
 183 
 
 183 
 
 184 
 
 184 
 
 186 
 
 186 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SUCCESSOR TO DR. JOHNSON AT STRATFORD ; AND THEOLOGICAL DIS- 
 PUTES BETWEEN THE OLD LIGHTS AND THE NEW LIGHTS 
 
 A. D. 1756-1760. 
 
 The Rev. Edward Winslow appointed to Stratford . 
 
 Introduction of the first organ into the Colony . . ' ' 
 
 Christopher Newton and Solomon Palmer 
 
 The number of Missionaries in Connecticut, and new chur'ches *. 
 
 Church built at Tashua .... 
 
 Growth of the parishes affected by the oldFrench wlr 
 
 Theological disputes, and the Discourse of Mr. Beach 
 
 Controversy between the Old Lights and New Lights; Wallin^ord 
 
 case 
 
 James ScoviU added to the list of Missionaries.' and'removal of Mr 
 
 tamp from the Colony .... 
 Church opened at Cheshire ...'.*' 
 Lukewarmness in New Haven ...'.**' 
 A contrast . 
 
 188 
 189 
 189 
 189 
 191 
 192 
 193 
 
 194 
 
 197 
 198 
 198 
 199 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PROSPERITY OF THE CHURCH IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY, AND ALONG 
 THE SHORE FROM NORWICH TO GREENWICH. 
 
 A. D. 1760-1762. 
 
 Ministrations of Solomon Palmer 
 
 His treatment by his former people ^^^ 
 
 Growth ofMr. Beach's Mission, and primitive c'ustoms \ ' ' Tnl 
 Thomas Davies, Samuel Andrews, and John Beardsley embank for* 
 England to receive Holy Orders . . / <irK lor 
 
 * * • • • 204 
 
XX 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Their appointment as Missionaries 
 
 Conscientious obedience to the instructions of the Society . 
 
 Church at Hebron supplied by Samuel Peters, a native of the place . 
 
 Illness of Mr. Gibbs, and appointment of Roger Viets to discharge 
 
 his duties ....••••••• 
 
 Prosperity of the parishes in the shore towns 
 
 Bela Hubbard and Abraham Jarvis proceed to England for ordination 
 
 Increase of the congregation at Hi pton 
 
 Churches erected at North Fairfield and Danbury . . . . 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MR. ST. GEORGE TALBOT ; BITTER OPPOSITION TO THE CHURCH ; 
 AND DR. JOHNSON'S RETURN TO STRATFORD. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 205 
 207 
 
 207 
 
 208 
 209 
 210 
 211 
 211 
 
 A. D. 1 762-1 7G3. 
 
 Charitable layman, and convention of the clergy at Ripton 
 
 Pressing need of more ^lissionaries 
 
 Letters of Leaming and Winslow 
 
 Dr. Johnson's second marriage 
 
 Domestic atlliction ; death of his wife from small-pox 
 Resigns the Presidency of the College and retires to Stratford . 
 Appointment to his former charge . . . • • 
 Transfer of Mr. Winslow to the vacant Mission at Braintree, Mass. . 
 Death of the Rev. Mr. A\'etmore, and removal of Mr. Punderson to 
 
 Rye 
 
 The Rev. Solomon Palmer his successor at New Haven 
 Result of the changes 
 
 212 
 213 
 214 
 216 
 217 
 217 
 218 
 219 
 
 220 
 221 
 222 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CHURCH IN NEW HAVEN; DEFENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROPAGAT- 
 ING THE gospel; and an American episcopate. 
 
 A. D. 1763-1764. 
 
 Uninterrupted services of the Missionary desired in New Haven 
 
 Purchase of (^regson's land, and title traced 
 
 The phantom ship, and settlement of Thomas Gregson's estate . 
 Bitter assaults upon the Church throughout New England 
 
 The Society attacked and defended 
 
 Apthorp, Beach, Johnson, and Archbishop Seeker enter into the 
 
 controversy . . . . . • • • • • . ^-o 
 Establishment of a Mission at Cambridge, the seat of Harvard College 230 
 
 223 
 224 
 
 226 
 228 
 228 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XXI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Attempt to overthrow Episcopacy 231 
 
 The Inde[)endents frightened by the apparition of the English hie- 
 rarchy 232 
 
 Seeker's reply to Mayhew, and vindication of an American Episcopate 233 
 
 Rejoinder, and notice by Apthorp 234 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 hostility to the church ; passage of the stamp-act ; AND 
 
 the course of the clergy. 
 A. D. 1764-1766. 
 
 State of the public mind . . 235 
 
 Missions in the eastern part of the Colony 235 
 
 Ministrations of Hubbard and Jarvis 236 
 
 Recall of Mr. Palmer to the JNIission in Litchfield County, made 
 
 vacant by the death of Thomas Davies 237 
 
 Parishes formed in Watertowii and Milford, and churches bejiun . 238 
 
 Signs of political trouble 239 
 
 General Congress of the Colonies to remonstrate against the Stamp- 
 
 x\.Cl< . . . . . « . . . . « t ^oJ 
 
 Course of the clergy of the Church of England .... 240 
 
 Dr. Chandler's letter to the Society 243 
 
 Repeal of the Stamp- Act 246 
 
 Declaratory Act, and Webster's description of its effect . . . 246 
 Trials and disasters in store for the Church in Connecticut . .247 
 
 Vigilance of the Missionaries, and their Christian character . . 248 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 APPEAL OF THE CLERGY OF CONNECTICUT FOR A BISHOP; DR. 
 chandler's PUBLICATIONS, AND THE REPLIES OF HIS ANTAGO- 
 NISTS. 
 
 A. D. 1766. 
 
 Convention at Stratford, and Address of the clergy .... 250 
 
 Want of a Bishop 250 
 
 Resolution of the Society not to establish any more Missions in New 
 
 England 251 
 
 Private entreaties for an American Episcopate unavailing . .252 
 
 Plans of union among Presbyterians and Congregationalists . . 255 
 
 Dr. Chauncey's notice of the Bishop of Landafl[*'s sermon . . . 256 
 William Livingston's pamphlet on the same subject, and the reply 
 
 to it 257 
 
XXll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Cbandlei^s «* Appeal to the Public," and Dr. Johnson's assistance 
 Spirit of the attacks upon it from various quarters . 
 " Appeal to the Public Answered," by Dr. Chauncey 
 
 " The Appeal Defended " 
 
 Action of Colonial Legislatures . 
 
 PAGB 
 
 267 
 259 
 260 
 261 
 
 262 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON A SPECIAL AGENT TO ENGLAND FROM 
 THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT; DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP SECKER ; 
 AND CLOSE OF THE PUBLIC CONTROVERSY CONCERNING AN AMER- 
 ICAN EPISCOPATE. 
 
 A. D. 1766-1771. 
 
 Departure of Mr. Johnson for England as a special a^ent from the 
 
 ^.^"^^""''y ° ... 263 
 
 His mtroduction to the best society, and interest in the American 
 
 Episcopate 263 
 
 Extract from a letter to Governor Trumbull 265 
 
 Death of Archbishop Seeker 266 
 
 His character, and zeal for the Church in this country . . .267 
 Indifference of the British ministry to her welfare, and political mis- 
 
 ^^^^^^ 268 
 
 Dr. Johnson preparmg students of Divinity for Holy Orders . . 269 
 
 New names added to the list of Missionaries 270 
 
 Andrews, Mansfield, and Peters extend their mirdstrations into the 
 
 more northern provinces 271 
 
 Church built in that part of Pomfret now called Brooklyn . '. 273 
 Trials of Godfrey Malbone .'274 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 SUPPORT OF THE CLERGY; RENEWAL OF THEIR APPEAL FOR A 
 bishop; AND PROCEEDINGS OF DELEGATES FROM THE SYNOD OF 
 NEW YORK AND PHILADELPHIA, AND FROM THE ASSOCIATIONS 
 OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 A. D. 1771-1772. 
 
 Provision for the Missionaries 276 
 
 Church at Middletown [ * * 277 
 
 Libraries of the clergy ' 277 
 
 Effort to establish the Church in Hartford unsuccessful .' .* [ 278 
 
 Suit at law to recover land 279 
 
 Signs of increased interest in the services of the Church . .* '. 280 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XXiii 
 
 Renewed appeal for an American Episcopate 
 
 Proceedings of Delegates in opposition to the measure 
 Letters to the Committee of Dissenters in London 
 Statistics of Ei)iscopalians and non-Episcopalians in the Colony 
 Religious liberty, and the General Asso(.-iation of Congregational 
 ministers in Connecticut 
 
 PAGB 
 
 282 
 283 
 
 283 
 
 286 
 
 287 
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 
 ENUMERATION OF EPISCOPALIANS IN CONNECTICUT; ITS INFLU- 
 ENCE; AND THE DEATH OF REV. DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 A. D. 1772-1774. 
 
 Proportion of Episcopalians to non-Episcopalians . . . . 
 Secret opposition to the Church . . ^. . . . ', 
 Correspondence of Johnson with Bishop Lowth and Dr. Berkeley 
 
 Spirit of the Convention of Delegates 
 
 Testimony of the elder Adams 
 
 Connecticut churchmen emigrating into new settlements 
 Gideon Bostwick appointed a Missionary in Great Barrington, and 
 James Nichols, the last of those from Connecticut who'" went to 
 England for Holy Orders 
 
 Troubles of the country thickening, and no new missions planted . 
 
 Death of the Rev. Dr. Johnson 
 
 His Life compiled by Dr. Chandler . 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Kneeland his successor at Stratford 
 
 Influence and labors of Mr. Beach . 
 
 Clouds in the American sky .... 
 
 288 
 289 
 290 
 291 
 291 
 292 
 
 293 
 293 
 295 
 296 
 297 
 298 
 299 
 
 CHAPTER XXHL 
 
 THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION; AND THE ADHERENCE OF 
 CLERGY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND TO THE CAUSE OF 
 CROWN. 
 
 A. D. 1774-1776. 
 
 Churchmen the objects of public suspicion 
 
 Arrest of the Rev. Samuel Seabury, and his confinement in New 
 Haven 
 
 His memorial to the General Assembly, and release .... 
 Returns to Westchester, and becomes a chaplain to a Loyal Ameri- 
 can Regiment 
 
 Independence of the Rev. Samuel Peters, and a mob in Hebron 
 His forced confession, and escape from the country .... 
 
 THE 
 THE 
 
 301 
 
 302 
 
 303 
 
 305 
 306 
 306 
 
XXIV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGIL 
 
 The clerjry drawn into embarrassments and perils from supporting 
 the Crown 308 
 
 Zeal of the partisans for liberty 
 
 ()[)position to Mr. ^lansfield, and his flight to Long Island 
 The Laity for the most part in sympathy with the Clergy 
 Course of Dr. William Samuel Johnson .... 
 Loyalty among the Congregational ministers . 
 
 309 
 310 
 310 
 311 
 313 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; TRIALS OF THE MISSION- 
 ARIES IN CONNECTICUT; AND DEATH OF MR. BEACH. 
 
 A. D. 1776-1781. 
 
 315 
 
 315 
 316 
 
 318 
 319 
 320 
 321 
 
 323 
 324 
 
 The Thirteen Colonies declared independent 
 
 Oaths of allegiance, taken at the time of their ordination, involving 
 
 the clergy in new troui)les 
 
 Treatment of Viets, Learning, and other Missionaries in Connecticut 
 Meeting of the clergy at New Haven, and resolution to suspend the 
 
 public exercise of their ministry 
 
 Firmness of I\Ir. Beach, and his churches not closed .... 
 
 Action of the parish in Norwich 
 
 Troubles of Mr. Graves, and his abandonment of his parish 
 Keopeuing of the churches, and use of prayers tor Congress and the 
 
 Independent States ......... 
 
 Visit of the British forces under General Tryon to New Haven 
 
 Fairfield and Norwalk burnt with their churches . . . 325-327 
 
 Loss by Mr. Leaming, and his escape to New York .... 328 
 
 Abuse of sacred edifices, and treatment of Mr. Marshall . . . 329 
 Death of Mr. Beach, and the memory of his name .... 331 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 DISCOURAGING FEATURES IN THE CAUSE OF THE COLONIES; CON- 
 NECTICUT THE THEATKE OF FRESH HORRORS; CHANGE IN THE 
 BRITISH MINISTRY, AND TREATY OF PEACE. 
 
 A. D. 1781-1783. 
 
 Leading patriots of the land despondent . 
 Washington mourning the lack of public virtue 
 Depreciation of the currency . . . . 
 Jealousy among the military officers . 
 Blunders of the British ministrv 
 
 332 
 332 
 333 
 334 
 336 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XXV 
 
 The clergy not willing to forfeit their stipends from the Society, 
 
 while the issue of the contest was in doubt . 
 Expedition to New London under Benedict Arnold 
 The town burnt, with the Episcopal church . 
 Garrison in Fort Griswold massacred 
 Purity and piety of the Connecticut cler^ry 
 Tribute of respect to their memory . 
 Negotiations for a general peace begun in Paris 
 Treaty signed, and independence of the Thirteen Colonies acknowl- 
 
 edged 
 
 PAGE 
 
 336 
 337 
 337 
 338 
 339 
 340 
 342 
 
 343 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 CONDITION OF THE CHURCH IN CONNECTICUT AT THE CLOSE OF 
 THE WAR; MEETING OF THE CLERGY AT WOODBURY, AND DR. 
 8EABURY PREVAILED UPON TO GO TO ENGLAND FOR CONSECRA- 
 TION; WITHDRAWAL OF MISSIONARIES AND LOYALISTS TO THE 
 BRITISH PROVINCES. 
 
 A. D. 1783-1784. 
 
 Gloomy prospects for the Missionaries 
 
 Loss of their stipends from the Society 
 
 Number in Connecticut at the close of the war . . . . 
 
 Meeting at Woodbury, to deliberate upon the affairs of the Church 
 
 and organize for the future 
 
 Samuel Seabury prevailed upon to go to England for consecration . 
 
 His departure 
 
 Letter of the clergy to the Archbishop of York .... 
 
 Pamphlet of the Rev. William W^hite 
 
 Treatment of the Loyalists, and their emigration to the British 
 
 provinces ••....... 
 
 Withdrawal of the clergy and portions of their flocks 
 Misfortunes of the Rev. Dr. Charles Inglis 
 
 His elevation to the See of Nova Scotia 
 
 Testimony to the character of the Refugees by the Bishop of Oxford 
 
 345 
 345 
 346 
 
 346 
 347 
 348 
 
 348 
 349 
 
 351 
 353 
 356 
 357 
 357 
 
XXVI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF SEABURY IX LONDON, AND IMPEDIMENTS TO HIS CON- 
 SECRATION. CONSECRATED IN SCOTLAND. RETURN TO CONNECT- 
 ICUT; AND PRIMARY CONVENTION AT MIDDLETOWN. 
 
 A. D. 1784-1785. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Dr. Seabury presents his testimonials to the English Bishops . . 358 
 
 Objections to his consecration raised 358 
 
 Correspondence between the bishop elect and the clergy of Connect- 
 icut S59 
 
 Reluctance of Parliament to authorize the consecration . . . 360 
 
 Attention directed to the Scotch succession 861 
 
 Dr. Seabury visits Scotland, and receives consecration . . . 363 
 
 Returns to London, and addresses a letter to the Venerable Society . 3G5 
 
 Stipends of the Missionaries cease 306 
 
 Arrival of Bishop Seabury at New London 367 
 
 Convention at Middletown, and public reception by the clergy of 
 
 their Bishop 368 
 
 Ordination of four candidates to the Diaconate 370 
 
 Sermon of Mr. Learning before the Convention . . . .370 
 
 Bishop Seabury's First Charge 371 
 
 CHAPTER XXVHL 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTIONS OF DELEGATES FROM SEVERAL 
 STATES, AND ATTEMPTS TO UNITE THE CHURCH IN THE INDE- 
 PENDENT COLONIES UNDER ONE GENERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 A. D. 1785-1786. 
 
 373 
 374 
 
 Business of the Convention at Middletown 
 
 Meeting of Delej^ates from different States at New Brunswick . 
 
 Meeting in New York, and refusal of Connecticut to join in the meas- 
 ures contemplated ......... 
 
 Interchange of civilities 
 
 Correspondence between Drs. White and Smith and Bishop Seabury 
 and Dr. Chandler ......... 
 
 Clergy of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire meet 
 at Boston 
 
 First General Convention at Philadelphia 
 
 No representation trom any of the New-England States . 
 
 Adoption and publication of '' The Proposed Book "... 
 
 Settlement of Bishop Seabury at New London, and rebuilding of 
 the church 383 
 
 374 
 376 
 
 377 
 
 379 
 380 
 380 
 381 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Churches at Fairfield and Norwalk rebuilt 
 Erection of churches at Branford and Woodbury 
 Ordination at Derby, and disposal of the candidates 
 
 XXVll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 384 
 . 385 
 . 386 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 CHANGES IN THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER*, AND THEIR RECEP- 
 TION IN ENGLAND; CONSECRATION OF DRS. PROVOOST AND 
 white; THE CHURCH IN CONNECTICUT, AND CORRESPONDENCE OP 
 BISHOPS AND CLERGY. 
 
 A. D. 1786-1789. 
 
 Communion Office set forth for the use of the Church in Connecticut 388 
 
 Reception of*' The Proposed Book" in England .... 389 
 
 Reassembling of the General Convention at Philadelphia . . . 389 
 Answer of English Prelates to the application for the Episcopate, 
 
 and reply of the Convention 390 
 
 Attempts to discredit the ordinations of Dr. Seabury . . . 392 
 Convention assembles in Wilmington, Delaware, pursuant to adjourn- 
 ment 393 
 
 A second letter from the English prelates 393 
 
 Adoption of their suggestions . . . .' . . . . 395 
 Consecration of Drs. Provoost and White in the chapel of Lambeth 
 
 Palace, and their return to America 396 
 
 Progress of the Church in Connecticut 397 
 
 Steps of her clergy to secure a coadjutor Bishop .... 399 
 Correspondence between Bishops Skinner and Seabury . . .400 
 
 Efforts to bring about a reconciliation 402 
 
 Influence of Learning and Parker 403 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 ELECTION OF A BISHOP FOR MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW HAMPSHIRE; 
 SIGNS OF CHRISTIAN HARMONY; GENERAL CONVENTION AT PHIL- 
 ADELPHIA; COMPLETION OF THE UNION OF THE CHURCH IN ALL 
 THE STATES, AND ADOPTION OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 
 
 A. D. 1789-1790. 
 
 Election of Rev. Edward Bass to the Episcopate .... 405 
 Appeal to the three Bishops in this country to join in his consecra- 
 tion .... 405 
 
 General Convention at Philadelphia, July, 1 789 .... 406 
 
XXVlll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Signs of Christian harmony, and recognition of the validity of Bishop 
 Seabury's orders 406 
 
 Death of Dr. Griffith 
 
 Action of the Convention upon the case of Mr. Bass .... 
 
 Healing of tlie breach between the two great parties 
 
 Three Bishops in the AngHcau line desired before proceeding to con- 
 sec rait' ••..•«.••.., 
 
 Connecticut appoints clerical delegates to the General Convention, 
 adjourned to meet again in September 
 
 A House of Bishops establislit'd 
 
 Seabury and White in council 
 
 Comi)letIon of the general union, and revision of the Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer 
 
 Convocation of the clergy of Connecticut confirm the doings of their 
 Proctors 
 
 Death of Marshall and Leaminsr 
 
 406 
 407 
 408 
 
 409 
 
 409 
 411 
 412 
 
 413 
 
 415 
 416 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF THE LAITY INTO THE COUNCILS OF THE CHURCH ; 
 COURSE OF THE REV. JAMES SAYRE ; AND CONSECRATION OF THE 
 FIRST BISHOP IN AMERICA. 
 
 A. D. 1790-1792. 
 
 Establishment of a CoUege of Doctors 413 
 
 Appointment of the first Standing Committee 419 
 
 Primary Convention of tlie Bishop, Clergy, and Laity at New 
 Haven . . . . . . , . , ^ ^ .4*^0 
 
 Adoi)tion of an ecclesiastical constitution by the parishes . . .421 
 
 Protest of the Rev. James Sayre 421 
 
 Sympathy of the parish at Stratford with his course .... 422 
 
 Address of the Rev. John Bowden 424 
 
 Result of the controversy with Mr. Sayre 425 
 
 The Rev. Ashbel Baldwin called to Stratford, and discontent at 
 
 Woodbury 425 
 
 Peace throughout the Diocese, and prosperity of the Church . . 427 
 Bishop Seabury preaches the sermon before the General Convention 
 
 at New York 428 
 
 Connecration in England of the Rev. James Madison, as Bishop of 
 
 Virginia 428 
 
 Consecration of the Rev. Dr. Claggett, Bishop elect of Maryland . 429 
 
 Incomplete record of confirmations 430 
 
 Erection of a new church at Newtown 43X 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 XXIX 
 
 infidelity; the establishment of the EPISCOPAL ACADEMY OP 
 CONNECTICUT; THIRD GENERAL CONVENTION; AND DEATH OF 
 BISHOP SEABURY. 
 
 A. D. 1792-1796. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Infidel opinions and Calvinistic theology 432 
 
 The Churcli drawing to the old patlis and the good way . . . 433 
 
 Foresight of Bishop Seabury 433 
 
 Renunciation of the ministry by the l\ev. David Perrv . . . 435 
 Establishment of the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire . . .436 
 Third General Convention, and no representative from Connecticut 436 
 *' Strictures on the Love of Power in the Prelacy " . . . .437 
 Convocation of the clergy at East Plymouth and HavAvinton . .4 37 
 Consecration of churches, and ordination of Rev. Mr. Griswold . 438 
 
 Forms of Prayer set forth for Courts and General Assembly . .438 
 
 Sudden death of Bishop Seabury 439 
 
 Impress of his character upon the Church in Connecticut . . . 439 
 
 Popularity as a man and a preacher 440 
 
 New church at New London 440 
 
 Monument to his memory, and conclusion 441 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Letter of Mr. Cutler resigning his charge at Stratford 
 Extracts from the Records of Yale Collcire 
 
 445 
 446 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 Letter of Rev. Dr. Johnson to President Clap 447 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 Correspondence between the Standing Committees of Rhode Island 
 and Connecticut 450 
 
 LIST OF SOME OF THE AUTHORS QUOTED OR CONSULTED. . 453 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND, AND THE RELIGIOUS LIB- 
 ERTY ESTABLISHED BY THE PURITANS. 
 
 A. D. 1620-1665. 
 
 Upwards of a century passed away after the dis- 
 covery of America by Christopher Columbus before 
 our extreme eastern shores were Kned with Eno-hsh 
 eniigrants. The Pilgrims of Leyden, with an ecclesi- 
 astical organization formed before they sailed from 
 Ue ft Haven, landed at Plymouth in December 1620 
 and eight years later John Endicott and his company 
 began to plant the Colony of Massachusetts Bay 
 The resolute and honored Winthrop, and those who 
 immediately followed him, took possession of Boston 
 and the surrounding country in 1630. These were 
 the earliest successful New-England colonies; and 
 through school-books, tales, poems, orations, com- 
 memorative addresses, and elaborate histories, we have 
 long been taught that they were the offspring of such 
 du-ect religious persecution in the mother-country as 
 really drove them from their homes. Those who read 
 
 1 
 
2 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 history only as a recreation from toil, and shun the 
 labor of collating the representations of different au- 
 thors, are quite ready to fall into this belief, and to 
 float along with the current of popular feelings and 
 prejudices. To speak the truth and to contemplate 
 with calmness the ferments of an age of revolution, 
 ouglit not to detract from a proper reverence for the 
 character of our Puritan forefathers. Though we 
 know their imperfections and their faults, which were 
 in a measure the faults of the times and of our com- 
 mon ancestry, we may admire and honor none the less 
 their zeal and bravery — their earnestness and energy 
 — their faith and devotion. 
 
 Dr. Trumbull begins his " Complete History of Con- 
 necticut, Civil and Ecclesiastical," with this remark- 
 able sentence : " The settlement of New England, 
 purely for the purposes of religion, and the propaga- 
 tion of civil and religious liberty, is an event which 
 has no parallel in the history of modern ages." 
 
 Let us cross the ocean and scatter ourselves for a 
 while in the cities and among the Gothic churclies of 
 the British realm. What do we hear and what do we 
 see ? We hear cold responses to the prayer for " our 
 most gracious Sovereign Lord, King James." We 
 hear the trumpet giving "an uncertain sound," and 
 we observe signs of popular discontent and evidences 
 of non-conformity to the estal)lished religion of the 
 land. Whence has this state of things, this lack of 
 reverence for the venerable usages of the Church, 
 arisen ? If we go back a little, we shall discover that 
 it is one of the unhappy and unintended results of the 
 Reformation. Under the reign of Queen Elizabeth the 
 Protestants became divided into two great parties, — 
 
 ) 
 
 , IN CONNECTICUT. o 
 
 those who were in fovor of adhering to the Liturgy 
 and ntua order adopted and established in the reign 
 of Edward tlie Sixth, and those who desired to carry 
 reform stdl farther, and to introdu,« a simpler and L 
 they conceived a purer form of church discipline and 
 worship. The opponents of a Liturgy and of the 
 hierarchy were comprehended under the general 
 name of I-uritans, - a name which had been ap,,lied 
 before to the thin companies of English Protestants in 
 exile on the Continent, while the Bloody Mary occu- 
 pied he throne. Not separating as yet from the 
 Chureh of England, they were that party within it 
 which accepted its doctrines as set forth in the Thirty- 
 nine Articles, because they were truly Protestant — 
 but accepted them with the right of private interpre- 
 tation, taking them in the pure Calvinistic sense, and 
 in many cases with the avowed purpose of not con- 
 torming to the prescribed rubrical ceremonies and ob- 
 servances. The Eeformation in England, unlike that 
 on the Contment, was conducted by the authority of 
 government, and under the direction of several ot' the 
 most learned and devoted prelates, — so that there 
 was no good or assignable reason for any departure 
 from the outward order of the Church. All that was 
 intended to be done was to banish doctrines contrary 
 to the Word of God, to make the people acquainted 
 with the Scriptures, to give them a Liturgy free from 
 Komish corruptions, and to remove from it all idle 
 and unprofitable ceremonies. 
 
 The English Reformers, therefore, understanding 
 their work well,-*hich was to restore, not to de- 
 stroy,— paused precisely at that point where they be- 
 heved their high object would be accomplished ; but 
 
4 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 the Puritans were not content. The more moderate 
 among them had scruples of conscience about wear- 
 ing the surpUce, the Episcopal habits, and the four- 
 cornered hat, kneeling at the communion, and the 
 sign of the cross in Baptism ; while the more violent 
 went farther, and were for imposing their own Gene- 
 van scheme upon the whole nation. On this account, 
 and for their continued disregard of the established 
 form of Church government, Elizabeth treated them 
 with great rigor during almost the whole of her reign. 
 This only served to alienate their affections, to ani- 
 mate their zeal, and to push them into more strenu- 
 ous and decided opposition to the ceremonials of Di- 
 vine worship. 
 
 Under James, of the house of Stuart, who succeeded 
 Elizabeth in 1603, their fortunes were not improved, 
 and they gained no advantages as a reforming party; 
 for the king, though educated, in a measure, under 
 Presbyterian influences, fiivored and maintained the 
 English Church as he found it ordered and settled. 
 Upon his death in 1625, his son Charles the First 
 ascended the throne, and now his reign thickens with 
 events which gave impulse to the colonizing of New 
 England. Two centuries had elapsed since France 
 had furnished a queen-consort to Britain ; but Charles 
 was no sooner crowned than he inaugurated his reign 
 by wedding Henrietta Maria, the beautiful daughter 
 of Henry the Great, — an alliance which, with all its 
 circumstances, excited rather than allayed the irrita- 
 tion of the Puritans. With a good heart, but a weak 
 judgment, he attempted to rule the people more by 
 his sovereign and absolute prerogative than by law. 
 He continued the policy of his fiither in Church and 
 
 / 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. g 
 
 State, and surrounded himself iv^th advisers who 
 watched narrowly the old controversies, and insisted 
 upon a rigid obedience to the rubrics and canons 
 established under the dominion of his predecessors. 
 When Abbott, the archbishop, sufficiently mild and 
 moderate in his defence of the Eeformed Church, 
 but exact in maintaining the prerogatives of the High 
 Commission Court and the Star-Chamber, w^as laid In 
 his grave, William Laud was elevated to the Primacy, 
 and he, it must be confessed, full of zeal, full of energy,' 
 loved and served the Church with all his heart ; but,' 
 like others of w^hom we read, raised to important 
 positions in troublous and disastrous times, he had his 
 faults, and attempted the accomplishment of his de- 
 signs with too little wisdom, meekness, or gentleness. 
 Austere in all his habits, repulsive in his manners, 
 impatient under contradiction, and arrogant in his 
 Episcopal sway, he attached to himself no company 
 of grateful and affectionate adherents, but found his 
 enemies multiplying on every side, and ready to thrust 
 him into that path the end of which had always been 
 the scaffold. As the principal and confidential ad- 
 viser of Charles the First, he took no pains to con- 
 ciliate the Puritans; but, moved by his own sense 
 of duty to the Church, reduced the services through- 
 out the realm to a stricter order, and restored customs 
 and ceremonies which, to say the least, savored of 
 superstition, or which seemed to unpress the " senti- 
 ments of local holiness and sacramental efficacy." He 
 was a better man, however, than many who have pur- 
 sued him with malignity, and justified the crime of 
 his execution by painting his character in the darkest 
 and most odious colors. 
 
6 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Non-conformity in the reign of Charles the First 
 was so common that those who admmistered disci- 
 pline were compelled to use some degree of severity. 
 To uphold the order of the Church by the strength 
 of the secular arm, was accounted the surest way to 
 enforce religious unity ; and no one appears to have 
 questioned the lawfulness of employing violence for 
 the attainment of that end. The sufferings of the 
 Puritans were the fruit of the prmciples of the times, 
 and the very men who complained of hard treatment 
 under Laud proved themselves to be greater perse- 
 cutors than the Primate himself The spirit and lan- 
 guacTC of conciUation were alike unknown m that day. 
 The'' barbarities intUcted in 1630 upon Leighton, and 
 subsequently upon Prynne and Bastwick and Burton, 
 for having published schismatlcal and seditious libels, 
 are extraordinary, and overwhelm the mind with 
 astonishment and sorrow. But it was a struggle for 
 preeminence, as events afterwards showed, rather than 
 for toleration ; and when Presbytery acquh-ed power, 
 its little finger would have proved thicker than the 
 loins of the^bishops, had not the reins of discipline 
 been stoutly held by the Parliament. And so when 
 Prynne, the persecuted, l)ecame a persecutor, "he 
 executed that hateful otfice with the malignity of a 
 fiend, entering the prison-chaml^er of Laud whilst he 
 was in bed, searching the pockets of his garments, 
 and refusing to let him have a copy of his own manu- 
 scripts, unless it were made at his own charge." Neal, 
 in his - History of New England," says, " it must be 
 allowed that, when the Puritans were in power, they 
 carried their resentments too far." Unwarrantable 
 cruelty in one party is no justification of it in an- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 7 
 
 other ; yet when men talk of the sufferings and sac- 
 rifices and self-denial of the Puritans, they should 
 consider the spirit and principles of the age, and 
 remember how those who were thus persecuted 
 turned persecutors and practised the rigors from 
 which they sought to escape. We have the opinion 
 of Bishop Burnet, that the Church of England was 
 milder in her government than either Presbytery or 
 Lidependency. " It were as easy as it would be invid- 
 ious," says lie, " to show that both Presbyterians and 
 Independents have carried the principle of rigor in 
 the point of conscience much higher, and have acted 
 more implacably upon it than ever the Church of 
 England has done, even in its angriest fits." 
 
 From this brief review of an eventful period in 
 English history it can hardly be said that the early 
 settlement of New England sprung from any necessity 
 to avoid direct religious persecution in the mother- 
 country, or from an unmixed motive to " propagate 
 civil and religious liberty." "After the fashion of' op- 
 pressed sects," are the words of Macaulay, " the Puri- 
 tans mistook their own vindictive feelings for emo- 
 tions of piety ; encouraged hi themselves in reading 
 and meditation a disposition to brood over their 
 wrongs, and when they had worked themselves up 
 into hating their enemies, imagined that they were 
 only hating the enemies of Heaven." Their griev- 
 ances were great. Their sufferings were severe 
 enough to irritate them, and bring lasting disgrace on 
 the government; but they did not destroy fife. Even 
 the Pilgrims of Leyden, who, separated from the 
 Church, and with their future pastor, John Robinson, 
 fled from the north of England in 1608, without doubt 
 
8 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 '^purely for the purposes of religion," might have 
 returned a few years later and enjoyed comparative 
 liberty. For the fires of Smithfielcl had ceased to be 
 kindled, and there was no burning at the stake in 
 England, nor persecution unto death in any form for 
 the sake of religious opinions and practices, after 
 1611. The rites and ceremonies of the Eufrlish 
 Church then were substantially what the}' are now, 
 and the quarrel between the opposing parties was 
 more over these than over Christian doctrines. The 
 Protestant faith was struggling to maintain its life 
 without casting aside all the good things which Eome 
 had corrupted and abused, and the government was 
 enforcing a recognition of the religion which by law 
 had been established. 
 
 America, at this period, was attracting some of the 
 most skilful European voyagers to her shores. The 
 Spaniards and the Italians led the wav in the earliest 
 discoveries, and the Dutch and the French seem to 
 have taken advantage of the time, while England was 
 absorbed with her religious disputes, to acquire pos- 
 sessions on this continent. But with the patents and 
 charters granted by King James to different compa- 
 nies of his subjects, the spirit of Anglo-Saxon enter- 
 prise was awakened and greatly increased in the 
 reign of his unfortunate son. Whether the plan of 
 colonizing New England originated with the Puritans 
 or with Sir Ferdinando Gorges is an inquiry which 
 need not be settled here; but it is certain that, who- 
 ever were the originators, the plan resulted as much 
 from the commercial ideas and adventurous spirit of 
 the age as from religious impulse. Perhaps we should 
 say, as the cautious Humphrey did, that " it ought to 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 9 
 
 be owned to the just honor of this people, that the 
 first settlers who left their native countrv, Enoland 
 appear to have done it out of a true principle of con- 
 science, however erroneous." 
 
 Preparations for the settlement of Connecticut ^ere 
 begun in 163-3, on the banks of the river which o-ives 
 name to the State. Early in tlie autumn of tiiat Jear, 
 a company of explorers from the Colony of Phniouth 
 established a trading - house at Windsor, near tlie 
 mouth of the Tunxis River, and carried on a brisk 
 traffic m peltry with the native inliabitauts. Shortly 
 before, the Dutch from Manhattan had erected a fort 
 at Hartford, six miles below, and claimed possession 
 of the country by the right of being the original dis- 
 coverers. They resisted with redoubtable tlireats, and 
 some show of siege and assault, the movements of 
 their new neighbors ; but all attempts to dislod"-o 
 them proved unavailing, and the Englisli colonists 
 were soon left to the occupancy of the soil, and to the 
 privdege of working out their deliverance both from 
 the Indians and from the rigors of a winter in the 
 wdderness. When their scheme of settling Comiecti- 
 cut came to be fully known in the Old Colonv, it met 
 with strong opposition, and permission to" remove 
 thither with their flmiilies was only granted after a 
 warm debate in the General Court. In I63o, John 
 Winthrop, son of Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts, 
 but a more accomplished and amiable man, arrived at 
 Boston, with a commission from sundrv noblemen and 
 gentlemen interested in the Connecticut patent, and 
 proceeded, according to his instructions, to erect forti- 
 fications, build houses, and make a settlement at the 
 mouth of the river. 
 
 r 
 
10 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 In the spring of 1638, John Davenport and his as- 
 sociates — who had wintered at Boston, waiting there, 
 to use his own words, for " the eye of God's Provi- 
 dence" to "guide us to a place convenient for our 
 flunilies and for our friends," and resisting the induce- 
 ments offered them to remain in Massachusetts and 
 Ijlend their influence and their wealth with the earlier 
 emigrants — anchored their ships in Quiuuipiack har- 
 l)or, and began the settlement of the Colony of New 
 Haven. Thus there were tAvo jurisdictions or colonies 
 in what constitute the present limits of Connecticut, 
 with separate governors and councils; and this state 
 of things continued until 1665, when New Haven was 
 put under the broad and liberal charter granted to 
 Connecticut by Charles the Second, and Winthrop the 
 younger became Governor of the united colonies. 
 
 In all this time there is no evidence that Episcopacy 
 was anywhere tolerated, or that it had any earnest 
 friends in Connecticut to vindicate its claiuis. If 
 here and there one was bold enough to avow his pref- 
 erence for the Ritual of the Church, he was made so 
 uncomfortable by it that he soon modified his opinion 
 or sought a more quiet residence. William Pitkin 
 and six others, signing themselves " professors of the 
 Protestant Christian Religion, members of the Church 
 of England, and subjects to our Sovereign Lord, 
 Charles the Second, by God's grace King of England," 
 did indeed address the General Assembly at the Octo- 
 ber session in 1664, 'uleclaring their aggrievances," 
 and "petitioning for a redress of the same." Their 
 grievances were, that they were not under the care 
 of those who "administered in a due manner" the 
 sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; that 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT 
 
 11 
 
 they "were as sheep scattered, having no shepherd"; 
 and they asked for the estabhshment of " some whole- 
 some law," by virtue of which they might Ijoth claim 
 and receive their privileges ; and " furthermore they 
 humbly requested, that for the future no law might be 
 of any force to make them pay or contribute to the 
 maintenance of any minister or officer in the Church 
 that will neglect or refuse to baptize their children, and 
 take care of them " as church-members. The action 
 which followed this humble petition was sunply a rec- 
 ommendation to the ministers and churches in the 
 coloU}^, "to consider whether it be not their duty to 
 entertain all such persons, who are of (ui honest and god- 
 ly conversation, having a competency of knowledge in 
 the principles of religion," — entertain meaning in this 
 place to receive into church-fellowship and treat ac- 
 cordingly. The recommendation — which was ordered 
 by the Court to be sent to the several minirsters and 
 churches in the colony — added, "that all the chiklren 
 of iha Church be accepted and accounted real mem- 
 bers," " and that the Church exercise a due Christian 
 care and watch over them ; and that, when tliey are 
 grown up, being examined by the officer in the pres- 
 ence of the church," and it appears, in the judgment 
 of charity, they are duly qualified to participate hi that 
 great ordinance of the Lord's Supper, by their being 
 able to examine themselves and to discern the Lord's 
 body, such persons be admitted to full communion. 
 
 Church and State were as closely united here, at 
 that period, as ever they were in England. The 
 ecclesiastical and civil powers were blended together, 
 and liberty of conscience and the theory of human 
 rights existed more in name than m reahty. The 
 
 M 
 
12 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 I HI"*' 
 
 " u!;,. 
 
 1 ■'■■" 
 
 people were compelled to support the Congregational 
 order, which was the order of faith established by the 
 civil government. Nor was this all. None had lib- 
 erty to worship pubUcly in any other way, nor could 
 men vote or hold any civil office, except in the orig- 
 inal Colony of Connecticut, unless they were members 
 of some Cono:reo:ational cliurch. The settlement of 
 New Haven was eminently a connnercial project, and 
 Theophilus Eaton, the first governor of it, had been, 
 as Cotton Mather calls him, "a merchant of great 
 credit and fashion in the city of London." He had 
 been, too, the early friend and parishioner of John 
 Davenport, who, before his emigration to this country, 
 was Vicar of St. Stephen's Church, Coleman Street, 
 London. The first planters of New Haven set up for 
 independence, and recognized no human authority 
 apart from themselves. They appear to have been 
 very careful to avoid any mention of their native 
 land, or any allusion to the question of allegiance to 
 the King. Davenport, an Oxford divine, who must 
 be regarded as the light that guided them in their 
 religious organization, threw ofl' all the liturgical 
 fonns to which in his vouth he had been accus- 
 tomed, and 
 
 " in Nt wmnii's barn laid down 
 Scripture foundations for the town." 
 
 About the same time his brother Christopher^ with 
 a like temperament, also deserted the Church of Eng- 
 land, but travelled in an opposite direction, and did 
 not stop until he reached Rome, gave in his allegiance 
 to the supremacy of the Pope, and became a high 
 official in the Romish communion. 
 
 After the independent jurisdiction of New Haven 
 
 / 
 
 13 
 
 had been extinguished by incorporating the colony 
 with Connecticut, John Davenport accepted an invi- 
 tation to remove to Boston, and he was the more 
 willing to accept it, because the practice of restrict- 
 nig the right of suffrage to church-members, for which 
 he had honestly contended, Avas henceforth to be given 
 up for the broader practice which had always obtained 
 in the older colony. 
 
 It helped to strengthen the Puritan policy in New 
 England, that events in the mother-country had led 
 to the dethronement and execution of Charles the 
 First, and to the overturn of the government both 
 ni Church and State. The removal of Episcopacy 
 and the Book of Common Prayer opened a floodgate 
 through which errors and heresies of the wildest kind 
 rushed in and overspread the land. More unlucky 
 prophets never existed than the preachers of war and 
 rebellion in the time of Oliver Cromwell, and a more 
 complete system of tyranny never was set np than 
 that which drove the Episcopal clergy from their liv- 
 ings, and forbade the people, who stDl remembered their 
 cherished customs, even to keep with religious wor- 
 ship that " day of days " in the Calendar, the festival 
 of the Nativity of our Lord. So wearied had the 
 people become of these and other like things, and so 
 little reason had the nation at lai-ge to be sati-^fied 
 with that novel form of government imposed by the 
 regicides, that, upon the death of the Pj-otcctor, the 
 Presbyterians themselves were quite ready to accot 
 the restoration of Charles the Second, and "the veestab- 
 lishment of the ancient monarch v. 
 
 It is natural for the child to imitate the parent and 
 espouse the family mterests. Though remote from 
 
 n 
 
 il 
 
14 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 lif 
 
 all the convulsions and intolerances of the home gov- 
 ernment, the New-England Colonies felt their influ- 
 ence, and shaped their policy with a view to perpet- 
 uate rigid and severe discipline. They noted and 
 punished departures from the established order of 
 religion, and few were the favors and tender mercies 
 shown in Massachusetts to the Baptists and the Quak- 
 ers. " When the first New-England league was formed, 
 in 1643, for better protection against savage warfare, 
 the delegates of Maine were excluded because they 
 were Churchmen, and those of Ehode Island, because 
 they were Baptists." ^ 
 
 Such was the clamor raised not only in America 
 but Europe, against the government of Massachusetts,' 
 for cruel treatment of the Quakers, that the mag' 
 istrates were led to publish a declaration in defence 
 of their conduct. Four of those unliappy religionists 
 suffered death by virtue of the law of the Colony, — 
 two of them on the 2Tth of October 1659; and Neal, 
 the faithful historian of the Puritans, is free to confess 
 that " these executions raised a great clamor against 
 the government, and sullied the glory of their former 
 sufferings from the bishops ; for now it appeared that 
 the New-England Puritans were no better friends to 
 liberty of conscience than their adversaries, and that 
 the question between them was not, whether one 
 party of Christians should have power to oppress an- 
 other, but who should have that power. Great num- 
 bers of the common people were offended at these 
 proceedings, as well as the generality of sober persons 
 in the several nations of Europe, which," he goes on 
 to say, "obliged the magistrates to publish to the 
 
 1 Poor's English Civilization in America^ p. 61. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 15 
 
 world their own vindication," ' and which he gives at 
 length, showing that they were still resolved to con- 
 tinue the law in force, and two of the four executions 
 mentioned above (one that of a woman) followed 
 quickly upon the utterance of their public apology. 
 
 But as the Church in England revived with the 
 monarchy, so here there was a revival of affection in 
 the hearts of some for the ancient forms of faith, 
 as well as an outspoken sense of the justice which 
 belonged to them, after the restoration of the Eoyal 
 family in 1660. The mhiisters who came overdo 
 this country with the earliest emigrants had re- 
 ceived Episcopal ordination, and, as they passed to 
 their final reward, their places were supplied in a 
 way which must have excited doubt in the minds of 
 those who had a spark of reverence for the past, or 
 any lingering recollection of tlie formula, " It is evi- 
 dent unto all men, diligently reading Holy Scripture 
 and ancient authors, that from the Apostles' time 
 there have been three orders of ministers in Christ'.- 
 Church, — Bishops, Priests, and Deacons." 
 
 1 Neal's History of New England, Vol. I. p. 329. 
 
 || 
 
 i 
 
 k 
 
1*) 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EriSCOrAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 COMMISSIONERS OF CHARLES THE SECOND; AND ORIGIN OF EPIS- 
 COPACY IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 A. D. 1665-1722. 
 
 When the Commissioners of Charles the Second 
 visited Connecticut in 1665, they carried back a re- 
 port that the colony "will not hinder any from en- 
 joying the Sacraments and using the Common Prayer 
 Book, provided they hinder not the maintenance of 
 the public minister." But the Commissioners could 
 not have meant by this statement tliat there was 
 any legal provision for such liberty. They probably 
 received private assurances, that, whenever any in 
 the colony should desire to adopt in their worship 
 the ritual and doctrines of the English Church, they 
 would not be disturbed, and tliat the laws would be 
 clian<2:ed in conformitv with such desire. For there 
 was no letting up of the Puritan rigor, no lelaxation 
 of the rule that none .should have liberty to worship 
 God publicly except after the order of religion estab- 
 lished by the civil governuieut, until 1708. In that 
 year the General Assembly of Connecticut passed 
 what was called the "Act of Toleration," by which 
 all persons who sobei'ly dissented from the worship 
 and ministry by law established, — that is, the Congre- 
 gational order, — were permitted to enjoy the same 
 liberty of conscience with the Dissenters in England 
 
 under the act of William and Marv. That ^ct ex 
 empted Dissenters from puni.shment"' for non-confonn- 
 ity to the established Church, but did not exempt 
 them from taxation for its maintenance. And so bv 
 appear „g before the County Court, and there in M 
 forms declaring their "sober dissent," any persons in 
 the Colony of Connecticut could obtain permission 
 to have public worship in their o^to way; but thev 
 were still obliged to pay for the support of the Con- 
 gregational churches in the place of their respective 
 residences. 
 
 This little relaxation of Puritan rigor must have 
 been prompted by a growing feeling of uneasiness 
 m the colony. As early as 1690, some half a cen- 
 tury after the settlement of the place, "a considerable 
 number of freeholders, inhabitants of the town of 
 btratford, professors of the faith of the Chm-ch of En<r. 
 land, desired to worship God in the way of their fore- 
 tathers." The communication between this and the 
 mother-country had become so frequent that mer- 
 chants and traders, as well as artisans and planters ' 
 were mvited hither by the promise of rich gains, and 
 of these adventurers the Church of England had a fair 
 proportion of representatives in Stratford, then a town 
 embracing a large section of the present County of 
 Fairfield. They must have fed their faith and kept 
 alive their churchmanship by private reading and a 
 private use of the Liturgy, for they had no minister 
 to whom they might flee for counsel and direction 
 
 Iho Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
 Foreign Parts was chartered in England, June 16tli 
 1/01, and among its first acts was that of sendin- to 
 this and other British colonies on the American con- 
 
 2 
 
 iPiM. 
 
 II 
 
18 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 . tinent a Missionary, to itinerate and make personal 
 ^observations. The individual selected for this pur- 
 pose was George Keith, a Scotchman by birth, who 
 for twenty-eight years was a distinguished light among 
 the Quakers. He proclaimed and defended their tenets 
 in East Jersey and Philadelphia, and, according to his 
 own account, " the burden of the Word of the Lord 
 came upon him on the twenty-first day of the fourth 
 month, 1688, in the town of Boston, in New England/; 
 and he there " boldly threw down the gauntlet, and 
 challenged to theological combat the chosen cham- 
 pions oi Puritanism." Appearing again in Pennsyl- 
 vania, he commenced his fiimous dispute with the 
 Quakers, which ended in his separation from them, 
 and in twenty-eight of their leading members issuing 
 against him what they called " A Testimony of Dis- 
 ownment," — a testimony confirmed by the Yearly 
 Meeting of their brethren in London. In 1694 he 
 went to England, and subsequently received Holy 
 Orders in the established Church. The Society sent 
 him back to this country, in company with Mr. Patrick 
 Gordon, who was to be the Missionary for Long Isl- 
 and. Mr. Gordon died, of a " violent fever," a few 
 weeks after his arrival, and then Mr. Keith had for 
 his assistant and associate in missionary travels and 
 services the Rev. John Talbot, chaplain of the ship 
 in which they came over to America. The journal 
 of the Missionary proves the extent of their labors, 
 and the reception Avhich they met with in different 
 places. The only town in Connecticut mentioned 
 as having been visited by them was New London, 
 where they passed a Sunday; and both of them 
 preached, being invited to do so by Mr. Gurdon Sal- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 19 
 
 tonstall, then the Congregational minister in that 
 place, and afterwards the Governor of the colony. 
 He "civilly entertained them at his house, and ex- 
 pressed his good affection to the Church of Eng- 
 land." In general, they reported of Connecticut that 
 it contained "thirty thousand souls, [in] about thirty, 
 three towns, all Dissenters, supplied with ministers 
 and schools of their own persuasion." 
 
 But the introduction of Episcopacy into Connecti- 
 cut stands closely connected with the name of a dis- 
 tinguished layman, the Hon. Caleb Heathcote, — a 
 Christian gentleman, loving most warmly the Church 
 and sustaining high and important responsibilities in 
 "the New York government." As early as 1702 an 
 application had been made to the Bishop of London 
 for a Missionary at Stratford, but it met with no suc- 
 cess ; and three years later, when the town was desti- 
 tute of any minister, the members of the Church of 
 England applied to the Rev. William Vesey, Rector 
 of Trinity Church, New York, and desired him in vain 
 to visit them in his official capacity. Both these ap- 
 plications must have been prompted by Col. Heath- 
 cote ; for, Avriting in 1705 to the Secretary of the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, of which 
 he was now a member, he says : " My principles and 
 natural temper lead me to do the Church all the ser- 
 vice I can everywhere; but I dare not promise for 
 more than this County at present, and my best en- 
 deavors in the westernmost towns in Connecticut 
 
 Colony, when the Church is well rooted here 
 
 As for Boston Colony, I never was in it, so can say 
 little about it. But as for Connecticut, I am and have 
 been pretty conversant with it, and always was a^ 
 much in all their good graces as any man." 
 
20 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 But after the charter of the Propagation Society 
 was publicly known, and after Keith and Tall)ot had 
 itinerated through the land, the people seemed io 
 awake from their letharsrv, and o-reat numbers of the 
 inhabitants in different colonies beg^an to contend 
 zealously which should be first supplied with min- 
 isters of the Church. Frequent and earnest letters 
 went over to the Society from time to time, — the 
 funds of which were insufficient to respond favorably 
 to one half the appeals for aid which they contained. 
 The Rev. Geon^-e Muirson was ordained bv the 
 Bishop of London in 1705, and sent over as a Mis- 
 sionary to the church at Rye, — a good point in West 
 
 ^ Chester County from which to act upon this colony, 
 and originally included within its jurisdiction. Rye 
 was annexed to the Province of New York in 1683; 
 but the lines between the two colonies, as they now 
 exist, were not established until nearlv half a century 
 had elapsed. Some of the Connecticut people living 
 ne.ar attended the services of Mr. Muirson, and thus 
 he became acquainted with their feelings and inclina- 
 tions. In the summer of 1706, after the drooping 
 prospects of his own ^^iH'ish, by the Di\ane blessing, 
 liad revived, he and Colonel Ileathcote set out upon a 
 
 ^"^ journey to explore the shore towns from Greenwich 
 to Stratford. They rode into the latter village, — the 
 Colonel " fully armed," — and finding a suitable place 
 for worship, Mr. Muirson, tliough threatened '• with 
 prison and hnrd usage," "preached to a very numer- 
 ous congregation, and baptized about twenty-four, 
 mostly gro^vn people." Upon a repetition of the visit 
 a few months later, their entrance was disputed and 
 their object opposed. Each subsequent visit appeared 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 21 
 
 } 
 
 to mcrease the popular hostility ; for the settlers, 
 though many of them were born and nurtured in the 
 Church of England, had long been taught to look 
 upon her as the Nazareth out of which no good thin- 
 could come. Hence all favor shown to her worship 
 and missionaries, and all participation in her ordi- 
 nances, were denounced, and the handful of cluu-eh- 
 men Avere greatly misused and persecuted, and subse- 
 quently « distresses " were levied upon their estates 
 to support the ministry and religion encouraged and 
 legalized by the Provincial Government. But the 
 churchmen did not despond. «A member of the 
 councd standing himself in the highway" on Sunday, 
 and inciting and empowering several otliers to forbid 
 persons to go to the Episcopal assemblies or church 
 and "threatening them with a fine of five pounds " 
 each if they did, neither broke up the congreo-ations 
 nor lessened the number of baptisms. A spirit of 
 uiquiry was excited which could not be allayed It 
 reached out to other towns, and soon there were finni- 
 hes in Fairfield, and back upon the hiU-sides of the 
 mterior, which welcomed the sound of the pure and 
 fervent Liturgy of the Church of England. The Con- 
 gregational Society in Stratford was rocked to its 
 very centre by the same spirit; for Mr. Eeed, the 
 minister, was so far from being horrified by Episco- 
 pacy that he early manifested a friendship for her 
 doctrines and worship, and expressed a willingness to 
 receive Holy Orders, if provision, in the mean time 
 could be made for himself and his famDy. Colonel 
 Heathcote, writing to the Society, thus speaks of him : 
 "I acquainted you in my former letter that there 
 was a very ingenious gentleman at Stratford, one Mr. 
 
22 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Eeed, the minister of that place, who is very inclin- 
 able to come over to the Church ; and if the charge 
 can be dispensed with, he is well worth the gaining, 
 being by much the most ingenious man they have 
 amongst them, and would be very capable to serve 
 the Church. By reason of the good inclination he 
 shows for the Church, he has undergone persecution 
 by his people, who do all which is in their power to 
 starve him, and, being countenanced and encouraged 
 therein bv all the ministers roiuid them, they have 
 very near effected it, so that if any proposal could be 
 made to encourage his coming over for ordination, his 
 family, which is pretty large, must be taken care of 
 in his absence." His pastoral relations in Stratford 
 involved him in much trouble, and a council of neigh- 
 boring elders was convened to consider " the wrongs 
 of which he complained." It appears from the records 
 of the to\\Ti, that in their advice they " recommended 
 the people to take all suitable care to purge and vin- 
 dicate Mr. Reed from scurrilous and abusive reflec- 
 tions." For some reason, not now known, he never 
 went to England for Holy Orders; but he lost his 
 livinir amonsT the Con^-reo-ationalists at Stratford, and 
 was obliged to leave ; and they endeavored to repair 
 the mischief which had been done, and to weaken or 
 destroy the increasing interest in fiivor of Episcopacy, 
 by calling to their oversight, in 1709, the Rev. Timo- 
 thy Cutler, " who lived then at Boston or Cambridge," 
 and was "one of the best preachers both colonies 
 afforded." He ministered among them for ten years, 
 when his learning and popularity gained for him the 
 appointment of Rector of Yale College, and a town- 
 meeting was warned to consider the order of the 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 23 
 
 Trustees for his removal to " the great work " of con- 
 ducting that Institution. The people "passively" 
 submitted to what they called " the overruling Provi- 
 dence of God," and acquiesced in the removal of Mr. 
 Cutler for the sake of peace, upon condition that he 
 " returned the house and home lot which he received 
 of i\\^ town," and provided that they were allowed 
 "one hundred pounds money for and towards the 
 charge of settling another minister amongst them." ^ 
 
 The churchmen of Stratford were organized into a 
 parish, with Wardens and Vestrymen, at the visit of 
 Mr. Muirson, in April 1707. Besides being attended ; 
 by the distinguished Christian gentleman before men- ^ 
 tioned, he was on one occasion accompanied by the 
 Rev. Evan Evans, a clergyman of the Church in Phil- 
 adelphia, who was with him when he baptized some 
 ^ children at a private house in Fairfield, and witnessed 
 there and in Stratford the course pursued by the min- 
 isters and magistrates of the colony to prevent the 
 introduction of Episcopacy. He witnessed also the 
 prudence and discretion, the good temper and Chris- 
 tian moderation of Mr. Muirson, and visiting England 
 soon after, and knowing the hearty desires of the 
 churchmen of Stratford that he might be located 
 among them, and even being charged with such a 
 petition, he interceded with the Society for the Prop- 
 agation of the Gospel to secure his appointment as %. 
 Missionary to that place. But Muirson died in Octo?^ 
 ber 1708, too soon to hear of his transfer, if not too 
 soon for the Church in Connecticut. He was a man 
 to be admh-ed for his many excellent and Christian 
 quaUties. When the people at Norwalk and Fairfield 
 
 ^ Appendix A. 
 
24 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 25 
 
 were ready to break open the meeting-liouse doors to 
 let him m, he woukl not permit the violence. He 
 drew the picture of himself when he wrote thus to 
 the Society, nine months before his untimely death: 
 " Gentleness and sweetness of temper is the readiest 
 way to engage the afiections of the people ; and 
 charity to those who difter from us in opinion is the 
 most likely to convince them that our labors are in- 
 tended for the welfore of their souls ; whereas pas- 
 sionate and rash methods of proceeding will fill their 
 minds with prejudices against both our persons and 
 our prhiciples, and utterly indispose them against all 
 the means we can make use of to reclaim them from 
 their errors." 
 
 The parish, with about thh'ty connnunicants and a 
 respectable number of families, was now left to the 
 occasional services of missionaries who chanced to 
 visit this and the nei<i.'hborinf2; towns. The Rev. Mr. 
 Talbot of New Jersey, the Eev. Christopher Bridges, 
 stationed at Rye, and the Rev. Mr. Sharpe, are re- 
 corded as coming from time to time to minister to 
 the people and encourage tlieni to persevere in the 
 midst of their vexations and trials. Colonel Heath- 
 cote still continued his watchful interest, and accom- 
 panied, in January 1710, Mr. Sharpe, who spent "near 
 a month " preaching from house to house and baptiz- 
 ing many, " amongst whom was an aged man, said to 
 be the first [white] man-child born in Connecticut." 
 The Wardens and Vestrymen, who, before the death 
 of Mr. Muirson, had resolved on building a church, ear- 
 nestly appealed to the Society at home to be remem- 
 bered in their deplorable destitution. They stated 
 that, until the 12th day of December 1709, they had 
 
 
 received no persecution — but that of the tongue. 
 Now came the operation of the law recently passed 
 by the General Assembly, relaxing the rigor of Puri- 
 tan rule ; and then followed the levy by distress upon 
 their estates, the seizure and imprisonment of their 
 persons, and, what was meaner than aU, the combi- 
 nation not to patronize those churchmen who were 
 dependent for support upon their trades and employ- 
 ments. But they were not to be crushed out in this 
 way. They held together, and empowered one of 
 their number to go before the General Court assem- 
 bled at Hartford, and ask for a redress of their griev- 
 ances, and for the adoption of some measures by 
 which they might have peace for the future. But 
 the attorney — William Jeanes — accomplished noth- 
 ing by his efforts; for the General Court Avell knew 
 that if the case of Stratford was decided in favor of 
 the Church of England, there would soon be shnilar 
 petitions coming from other towns. 
 
 The attempt has sometimes been made to depre- 
 ciate the character of these men, or to speak in dis- 
 paragement of them, as if they were hisignificant 
 tradesmen and mechanics. But they certainly showed 
 good qualities of head and heart. Though poor in 
 this world's goods, they were rich in faith. They 
 were men who bore their trials and grievances nobly, 
 and took especial pains to recommend their creed by 
 pious and blameless lives; for Governor Hunter of 
 New York, in a letter written in 1711, after a visit to 
 Connecticut, described the churchmen of Stratford as 
 " appearing very much in earnest, and the best set of 
 men he met with m that country." 
 
 In a brief address, about the same time, to Queen 
 
26 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Anne, the Vestry alluded in modest terms to their 
 many trials and troubles, and then meekly added, — 
 " The want of a minister is the greatest of our afflic- 
 tions." That want was shortly to be supplied ; for 
 just before Christmas in 1712, the Rev. Francis Phil- 
 ips arrived among them, having been sent out by the 
 Propagation Society as a Missionary in charge of this 
 station. The members were greatly encouraged by 
 his appearance, and " the masters of considerable fam- 
 ilies" were on the point of withdrawing from the 
 Conorreo:ationalists and unitino; with the Church of 
 England, when, lo ! the Missionary proved unfit for 
 his position, and the brightest hopes again vanished. 
 "As to Mr. Philips," says Colonel Heathcote, "the 
 Society made a wrong choice in him; for that Mis- 
 sionary being of a temper very contrary to be pleased 
 with such conversation and way of living as Stratford 
 aflbrds, had no sooner seen that place but his thoughts 
 were bent and employed how he should get from it." 
 He spent much of his time in New York, and " the 
 greatest thing the people had to charge him with, as 
 touching his behavior whilst among them, was the 
 neglect of his orders and commission." This certainly 
 was enough. He left them abruptly in the midsum- 
 mer of 1713, in a condition worse than he found 
 them, — "a scorn and reproach to their enemies," — 
 but still not quite disheartened. 
 
 Francis Philips yet lives in the person of many a 
 clergyman who succeeds a good and judicious Rector 
 in a well-ordered parish, but begins his ministrations 
 by tilling the field in his own novel way, and with his 
 plough turned backward. 
 
 Again the churchmen of Stratford were dependent 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 27 
 
 for occasional services upon the neighboring mission- 
 aries, and again the appeals went over to the Society 
 for another minister. They wrote in April 1714, that 
 they had felled the timber with which to erect an edi- 
 fice, and expressed the hope that it might be " raised 
 m three months' tune " ; but the hope was not realized. 
 Four years later, we find them bemoaning to the 
 Society their sorrowful condition, pleading for sym- 
 pathy and succor, and closing their letter with this 
 description and these few statistics : "As to our out- 
 ward estate, it may very well be said that we are 
 inconsiderable, it being the interests of our govern- 
 ment so to make us ; but as to our number, we have 
 had at least a hundred baptized into the Church, and 
 have had at one time thirty-six partakers of the Holy 
 Communion of tlie Lord's Supper, and have several 
 times assembled in our own congregation between 
 two and three hundred persons ; and, if encouraged 
 by your honors, [ours] may be as flourishing a church 
 as any country church in America." 
 
 The minister of God, for whom we may believe 
 they had so long prayed in the dark night of their 
 discouragement and persecution, came to them at 
 length, Trinity Sunday, 1722. Heathcote had gone i 
 suddenly to his rest the year before, and the Society | 
 in England sent out as missionary the Rev. George 
 PiGOT, who, on arriving in New York, thus addressed 
 the churchmen of Stratford under date of April 23, 
 1722: "I take this opportunity by your own towns- 
 man of informing you of the Society's great care of 
 you, who have been pleased to appoint me, a mean 
 yet willing watchman over you for the Lord. I chose 
 to settle among you, because my family might be 
 
 I 
 
28 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EnSCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 more easily transported from Rhode -Island (where 
 they now reside) to your town, than to any other 
 vacant mission in America. It is expected from you, 
 that you will make some provision for me and mine ; 
 that I may not be necessitated to settle elsewhere, as 
 the Society have promised, if you do not take care 
 accordingly. I am now waiting for a passage to 
 Rhode-Island, from whence, after settlement of my 
 affairs, you may expect your hitherto unknown and 
 very humble servant." 
 
 For this favor, as well as for the books which Mr. 
 Pigot brought with him, the people returned their 
 most grateful acknowledgments. He won their hearts 
 by his energy and edifying conversation, and the 
 Cliurch, whose " timber " had been seasoning for years, 
 was at once put in the progress of completiou, and on 
 a site wliicli the town in lawful meeting first refused, 
 but afterwards Vv'cre compelled to allow. By this 
 time, some earnest inquiries had been started else- 
 where, and soon those astounding events in the 
 religious history of the colony occurred that widened 
 the prospect of establishing the Cliurch and increasing 
 the number of her parishes. Samuel Johnson, an 
 acceptable minister among the Congregationalists at~^ 
 West Haven, and Timothy Cutler, for ten years the , 
 popular preacher in Stratford, but now the classic 
 Rector of Yale College, with their associates, Jared 
 Eliot, John Hart, Samuel Whittelsey, James Wetmore, 
 and Daniel Brown, coming together first as friends 
 and brethren, had finally met in the Library of the 
 Institution, and examined froui time to time a few 
 theoloo^ical books sent over in kindness from the 
 mother-country. They examined the doctrines and 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 29 
 
 practices of the Primitive Church, and compared them 
 with the model of their own discipline and worsliip ; 
 and the flirther they pushed their inquiries, the more 
 uneasy they became. As light would break hi upon 
 the darkened chamber of tlieir toil, they were com- 
 pelled at last to welcome it; and not onlv the two 
 wlio occupied the eminently responsible positions in 
 the College, but the rest, making no secret of their 
 opinions, sent in to the Trustees, " Rev. Fathers and 
 Brethren present in the Library," a form.al statement 
 of their views, and declared for Episcopacy, or doubted 
 the validity of Presbyterian ordination. Unspeakable 
 vras the amazement of the grave assembly which 
 heard the statement of Cutler and his associates; 
 overwhelming was the sorrow and wide the con- 
 sternation as the tidings of it passed from town to 
 town and village to village. " I suppose," says Presi- 
 dent Woolsey, speaking of this event in the Historical 
 Discourse delivered on occasion of the one hundred 
 and fiftieth anniversary of the Institution, '-that 
 greater alarm would scarcely be awakened now, if 
 the Theological Faculty of the College were to de- 
 clare for the Church of Rome, avow their belief in 
 Transubstantiation, and pray to the Yiro-in Mar v." 
 
 Nothing could shake the strongest of these men 
 from their convictions. They had been looked upon as 
 brethren of highest promise and influence, and there- 
 fore every effort was made to remove their doubts 
 and misgivings, to settle them back into the prevail- 
 ing fiiith, and thus to quiet the apprehensions and 
 alarm of the pastors and the people. The General 
 Assembly was to have a session in the ensuing Octo< 
 ber, and Saltonstall, the Governor of the colony, — of 
 
30 
 
 IIISTORr OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 whom Dr. Trumbull speaks as ^^a great man, well 
 versed in the Episcopal controversy," — with a view 
 to these benevolent ends, invited and presided over a 
 debate held the day after the session commenced, and 
 in which he appears himself to have borne a con- 
 spicuous part. The friendly conference was invited 
 with no expectation that it would tenninate virtually 
 in the discomfiture of the Trustees of the College; but 
 it was soon discovered that the parties were une- 
 qually matched, — tlie advocates for the Church hav- 
 ing weighed and examined the points in controversy 
 with the utmost care, while to Saltonstall and his sup- 
 porters many of them were new and perplexing. 
 The defence of Episcopacy by one of the number ex- 
 citino; some irritatino; remarks from the other side, 
 the Governor abruptly' put an end to the debate, and 
 it never was reopened in the same way. Cutler, 
 Johnson, and Brown wavered not, having studied the 
 matter too thoroughly to be shaken by anything but 
 foir and solid argument. But three others, Eliot, 
 Hart, and Whittelsey, who only doubted the validity 
 of Presbyterian ordination, continued in their respec- 
 tive places, and for the rest of their days "were never 
 known to act or say or insinuate anything to the dis- 
 advantage of the Church." Wetmore, who stood up 
 side by side with his friends in the College Library, 
 defending Episcopacy, surrendered his pastoral charge 
 a few months later, and followed them to England for 
 Holy Orders. 
 
 In closing this chapter, it is impossible not to be 
 grateful to the Giver of all good for the priceless 
 inheritance which we have received. With every 
 revolving year we may find new and stronger rea- 
 
 IN COXNECTICUT. 
 
 31 
 
 sons to bless God for his Church, which is the pillar 
 and ground of \h^ truth, and for the Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer, which is the beautiful child of the Ref- 
 ormation, or, to use another figure, the golden casket 
 that contains Bpolia opima, the richest spoils of one of 
 the noblest and mightiest conflicts ever waged with 
 '' principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in 
 high places." Since the fathers of Christendom fell 
 asleep for " the truth as it is in Jesus," there has been 
 no such struggle with the champions of error, igno- 
 ranee, and superstition as that which Wicklifie com- 
 menced, and Cranmer and Ridley and Latimer con- 
 tinued even to martyrdom. Honor be to the Church, 
 then, — with all her shortcomings and all the evils 
 that inhere to her as a national hierarchy, — which 
 does not forget her children, but follows them forth 
 into the wilderness, and feeds them there with ih^ 
 bread of life, comforts them with the prayers of her 
 venerable Liturgy, and cheers them with hymns and 
 chorals, around which cluster the precious memo- 
 ries of confessors and martyrs and saints in all ages. 
 She goes where ih^ English tongue goes, and blesses 
 with her hohest benedictions i\\^ lowhest vales of 
 poverty and the highest seats of power. 
 
 " She kindles realms so far aparf, 
 That, while her praise you sing, 
 These may bo clad witli Autumn's fruits, 
 And those with flowers of Spring." 
 
 She has claimed " the heathen for her inheritance, 
 and the uttermost parts of the earth for her pos-' 
 session." 
 
32 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 THE INFLUEXCE OF THE LITURGY AND TEACHINGS OF THE 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND ; AND THE RESULTS OF THE DEBATE 
 IK THE LIBRARY OF YALE COLLEGE. 
 
 A. D. 1722-1723. 
 
 lA 
 
 The Commencoinont at Yale College in 1722 at- 
 tracted unusual attention. The events briefly noted 
 in tlie conclusion of the previous chapter were not 
 anticipated, but there had been some whisperings 
 about the frequent conferences in the Library, of 
 Cutler and the neighboring ministers^ and a word 
 had been dropped here and there which boded the 
 probability of a strange development. Johnson had 
 madr a summer visit to Mr. Pigot at Stratford ; and 
 the interview showed so plainly the direction in which 
 the thoughts and aflections of the inquirers were 
 drifting, and so surprised and gratified the Missionary 
 of the Church of England, that he could neither refrain 
 from hinting the matter to his good parishioners, nor 
 refuse the courteous invitation of the Rector of the 
 College to be present at the approaching Commence- 
 ment. He came not, however, to take any part in 
 that earnest debate which was subsequently held, 
 much less to bolster up the courage of his new and 
 s}Tnpathizing friends in their meditated change. It 
 does not appear that he was at any time, or in any 
 wav, the aider or sUsrgester of their united action. 
 
 IN COXNECTICUT. 
 
 33 
 
 As far as related to the main points at issue, they 
 probably understood them as thoroughly as the Mis- 
 sionarj himself In a communication to the Society 
 written just before this eventful Commencement, he 
 says: Those gentlemen who are ordained pastors 
 among the Independents, namelj-, Mr. Cutler, the 
 President of Yale College, and five more, have lield 
 a conference with me, and are determined to declare 
 themselves professors of the Church of England, as 
 
 !!tZine' ^^' '''"" ""^'''^""^^ ^^'""y ^^ ^^ supported 
 
 It may be proper to mention in this place, that the 
 Inst.ti.tion, located first at Saybrook, and then car- 
 ried fractionally to other towns of the colony, was 
 hnall^-, by a major vote of the Trustees, established at 
 Aew Haven in 1716. A storm of continued opposi- 
 tion arose to this action, broken at last by tlie inter- 
 fereiice of the General Assembly ; but all the elements 
 of discord appear to have been completely hushed 
 when Cutler was called to be the first resident Rector 
 and Brown was appointed to assist him in his office' 
 John.«on now relinquished his own situation as a tutor, 
 held by hmi for three years, being contented to leave 
 the College -which had been, and still was, an object 
 of his aflection - in the care of his two friend.s, and 
 Irom whose society he would not be withdrawn in 
 retiring to West Haven, then a part of New Haven 
 and entering upon the more congenial duties of pas^ 
 toral life. There he was set apart to the CongregaX 
 tional ministry, March 20, 1720, when he was in thaJ 
 twenty-fourth year of his age. Fairer fields of labor 
 and more inviting offers, in many respects, had been 
 tendered his acceptance ; but as one prominent ob- 
 
34 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 ject with liim at this period was the improvement 
 of his mind, with a view to more extended iis(^fulness, 
 he could not be distant from the College, the Library, 
 and his friends ; and so West Haven, the birthplace 
 of Brown, was selected for the beginning of his min- 
 isterial work. 
 
 A good man in Guilford (Smithson) — blessed be 
 his memorv ! — had a Prave'r Book, which he put into 
 the hands of the youthful Johnson before he left his 
 native town, and he read and re-read it until his mind 
 was charged with its contents, and he began to feel 
 as the celebrated George Herbert of old felt and said, 
 when he lay on the bed of death, "There are no 
 prayers like those of my mother, the Church of Eng- 
 land/' Many of these prayers he committed to mem- 
 ory and used as occasion required in public worship, 
 alike to the comfort of himself and to the comfort and 
 edification of his tiock. So much were they admired 
 by people in general, that, we are told, " it was com- 
 mon for persons lielouging to the neighboring parishes 
 to come to West Haven on purpose to hear them." 
 He had previously perused a discourse of Arch1)ishop 
 King, '' On the Inventious of Men in the Worship of 
 God," and the argument to him was so convincing 
 against public prayer carried on in the extempore 
 way, that he w\is already prepared to lay it aside. It 
 is no w^onder, therefore, while thus engaged, that all 
 his prejudices against the Church should disappear, and 
 feelings of reverence and admiration for her Kitual 
 come to take strong possession of his mind. It is no 
 wonder that he should wish to communicate his 
 thoughts to his friends, and to consult them in a 
 matter of such momentous importance, and in relar 
 
 
 IN COiMXECTICUT. 
 
 35 
 
 .on to which he both needed and prajed for direc 
 tion and assistance. Hence from Lt meeting to- 
 gether in a fi-aternal way at the residences of 'end, 
 other, and conversing upon the subject of cJiurch o-ov- 
 ernment they had proceeded to .a more fomiaV-n^d 
 thorough investigation, and read cnrefullv the bes 
 books which the Library furnished on either II ^ 
 
 John Scott Wntby, Burnet, Sharp, and Sherlock 
 eminent authorities in English theology tlien ni d 
 eminent authorities still, were among'the wri ' 
 whose works, through Jeremiah Duinmer wer" do 
 nated to the College, while yet it was in an irperflt" 
 and wandering condition. These feU under their Tm- 
 mediate inspection and review; and probably no books 
 m connection with the Bible, were ever more inte.^Iy 
 examined and studied. The eyes of seven men seek 
 ing the truth, were bent upon them from d^; llw 
 and inonh to month, and around the subjects of which 
 t^ey treated their thoughts hung constanllv in mingle 
 
 tZ^. Tr ■ '" ----'--g their respective 
 pos tons and changing the fonn of their faith, they 
 coidd not have been influenced by any prospect of 
 bettenng their temporal fortunes, and they must have 
 foreknown that it would be a severe trial for them to 
 Muthstand the alternate reproaches and entreaties of 
 their friends. Undoubtedly they were sincere and 
 hones in their intentions; and had their inquiries 
 se tied them all back confidingly in the establXd 
 desS^d f VoIony,_,it„ated as they were, and 
 despised and abused as the Church of England then 
 was, - It would have been a most welcome result 
 Johnson showed the workings of his mind and his 
 
 i 
 
36 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 whole desire to be led into a right path, when he 
 noted in his private journal, three months before the 
 final shock came, these touching words: — "I hoped, 
 when I was ordained, that I had sufficiently satisfied 
 myself of the validity of Presbyterian ordination under 
 my circumstances. But, alas ! I have ever since had 
 growing suspicions that it is not right, and that I am 
 an usurper in the House of God, which sometimes, I 
 must confess, fills my mind with a great deal of per- 
 plexity, and I know not what to do : my case is very 
 unhappy. Oh, that I could either gain satisfaction, 
 that I may lawfully proceed in the execution of the 
 ministerial function, or that Providence would make 
 my way plain for the obtaining of Episcopal orders ! 
 What course I shall take I know not. Do Thou, 
 my God, direct my steps; lead and guide me and my 
 friends in Thy way everlasting." Again, immediately 
 after the Commencement, and when he had been ad- 
 vised to suspend for the present the exercise of his 
 ministry, he made another record of his feelings, as 
 follows : — "It is with great sorrow of heart that I am 
 forced thus, by the uneasiness of my conscience, to be 
 an occasion of so much uneasiness to my dear friends, 
 my poor people, and indeed to the whole colony. 
 God, I beseech Thee, grant that I may not, by an 
 adherence to Thy necessary truths and laws, (as I 
 profess in my conscience they seem to me,) be a 
 stumbling-block or occasion of fall to any soul." 
 
 Six of these men had been educated, wholly or 
 in part, at Yale College, and three of them. Brown, 
 \ ! jjohnson, and Wetmore, were classmates and intimate 
 friends, Cutler was of Massachusetts birth, a grad- 
 uate of Harvard, and the eldest of the number, to 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 3-7 
 
 whom the rest looked up with a degree of filial rever- 
 ence an^ the guide and the steadier of their move- 
 ments. His popularity as a preacher, his extensive 
 learning, and the responsible office which he held 
 gave him a good reputation and great influence 
 hroughout the colony. An American^writer, revie" 
 ng the progress and events of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury and who had no sympathy with any theology 
 but Presby tennn, sums up an estimate of his charac- 
 ter m words too honorable and impartial not to be 
 quoted here. "In Connecticut, at this time, hterature 
 and science were, on the whole, gaining ground. The 
 appomtment of the Eev. Dr. Cutlei^^as President" 
 (or Rector, the term used in those days) "of Yale 
 College was an auspicious event to that institution 
 He was a man of profound and general learninc. in 
 the various branches of knowledge cultivated in his 
 day, particularly in Oriental literature, and presided 
 over the seminary- which he was called to superintend, 
 wid dignity, usefulness, and general approbation." 
 
 I he Trustees, too, at the Commencement followhio- 
 
 his appointment, indorsed his prudent and successful 
 
 course m a formal vote, « That his service hitherto, in 
 
 he place of a Rector, was to their good satisfaction, 
 
 and therefore they desired him to continue in it " 
 
 feuch had been the current of events, and such was 
 the state of popular feeling in reference to the admin- 
 istration of the College just prior to the time when 
 Cutler and his associates revealed the change in their 
 rehgious sentiments. The Trustees, alarmed and 
 grieved at the intelligence which reached them re- 
 quested an interview with these gentlemen in ' the 
 Library, and there, the day after the Commencement 
 
38 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 they were all asked, from the youngest to the eldest, 
 to state their views on the matters which troubled 
 their consciences, and not only to state them, but to 
 express them briefly in writing. The modest paper, 
 reluctantly prepared in obedience to this challenge, 
 ran thus : — 
 
 " To the Rev. Mr. Andreio, and Mr. Woodhridge and others, 
 our Reverend Fathers and Brethren, present in the Library 
 of Yale College, this \Wi of September, 1722. 
 "Keverend Gentlemen, — Having represented to you 
 the difficulties which we labor inider, in relation to 
 our continuance out of the visible commimion of an 
 Episcopal Church, and a state of seeming opposition 
 thereto, either as private Christians, or as officers, and 
 so being insisted on by some of you (after our re- 
 peated decliuiugs of it) that we should sum up our 
 case in writmg, we do (though with great reluctance, 
 fearing the consequences of it) submit to and comply 
 with it, and signify to you that some of us doubt the 
 , validity, and the rest are more fully persuaded of the 
 I invalidity of the Presbyterian ordination, in opposition 
 4o the Episcopal^ and we should be heartily thankful 
 to God and man, if we may receive from them satis- 
 faction herein, and shall be willing to embrace your 
 good counsels and instructions in relation to this 
 important affair, as far as God shall direct and dispose 
 us to it." 
 
 The paper was signed by the whole seven, and a 
 true copy of the original, attested by Daniel Brown, 
 is among the archives of the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. At the same 
 time two other "pastors of great note ga\e their 
 assent" to the declaration without signing it, "of 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 39 
 
 whom the one, Mr. Bulkley, of Colchester, declared 
 Episcopacy to be jure divino, and the other, Mr. Whit- 
 ing, of some remote town, also gave in his opinion for 
 moderate Episcopacy." The critical point was now 
 touched. To remove the scruples of these gentlemen 
 and give them " satisfiiction " was an efibrt which 
 required some little time and consultation. They 
 were all entreated to reconsider their opinions and 
 surrender their doubts, — but they must have good 
 reasons directing and disposing them to this course ; 
 and accordingly that earnest and sincere debate was 
 held, over which Governor Saltonstall presided with 
 such candor and politeness, and which has already 
 been described as having taken place in the ensuing 
 month, on the day after the opening of the Autunm 
 session of the General Assembly. The minds and 
 pens of the Congregational ministers were not idle 
 in the intervening time. Joseph Webb, of Fairfield, 
 writing to Cotton Mather at Boston, and speaking of 
 what he termed "the revolt of several persons of 
 figure among us unto the Church of England," said : 
 " They are, the most of them, reputed men of consider- 
 able learning, and all of them of a virtuous and blame- 
 less conversation. I apprehend the axe is hereby laid 
 to the root of our civil and sacred enjoyments, and a 
 doleful gap opened for trouble and confusion in our 
 churches. The churchmen among us are wonderfully 
 encouraged and lifted up by the appearance of these 
 gentlemen on their side ] and how many more will, by 
 their example, be encouraged to go off from us to 
 them, God only knows. It is a very dark day Avith 
 us ; and we need pity, prayers, and counsel." But 
 what appears to have occasioned him personal uneasi- 
 
40 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 ness was the matter of ordination. He foresaw a 
 possible turn in the approaching debate, which it 
 would be difficult to meet. Several pastors in the 
 colony, in the more ancient days of it, had been set 
 apart^ to the ministry by laymen, and the pastors so 
 ordained had acted in subsequent ordinations. His 
 own ordination was of this kind, and had a connection 
 with '' the leather mitten that was laid on the head of 
 the Rev. Mr. Israel Chauncey, of Stratford." If their 
 antagonists should allow to Presbyters the power 
 to ordain, they might accompany the admission with 
 the remark, "Your ordination is not by Presbyters, 
 but by laymen ; " and the del)ate urged in this hue 
 would*^ be more troublesome, and, he thought, " more 
 damaging than all the arguments that could be 
 brought for the necessity of Episcopal ordination." 
 
 Joseph Moss, of Derby, in a letter to the same 
 divine, and bearing the same date, was in similar per- 
 plexity. Though fully satisfied in his own mind that 
 the truth was on his side, he yet confessed that he 
 had not read mucli upon the controversy, and, there- 
 fore, he would "be very glad to have some books that 
 do nervously handle this point concerning ordination 
 by Presbyters, whether good or bad." 
 
 Davenport and Buckingham, the ministers at Stam- 
 ford and Norwalk, joined in bemoaning to their Bos- 
 ton friends " the dark Providence " which they felt to 
 be hanging over the entire colony. In reference to 
 the College, they spoke of its pristine glory, and 
 added, "But who could have conjectured that its 
 name, being raised to Collegium Yalense from a Gipnua- 
 mini Sa//brookense, it should groan out Ichabod, in 
 about three years and a half under its second rector 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 ±1 
 
 so unhke the first, by an unhappy election, set over it, 
 into whose election or confirmation, or anv act relat- 
 ing to him, the senior subscriber hereof (though not 
 for some reason, through malice or mistake bruited) 
 never came." 
 
 These two ministers, and a few others of like tem- 
 per, went so for as to charge Cutler with dishonesty 
 or dissimulation in consenting to hold a po.sition of 
 such exalted influence, while, for eleven or twelve 
 years, he had been secretly of the Episcopal persua- 
 sion, and only waited for a suitable opportunity to 
 avow his foith. HoUis, writing from London, in 1723, 
 to Benjamin Colman in Boston, makes a hke state- 
 ment, which he professes to have obtained from hiiu, 
 and which he gives in these words : " I never was in 
 judgment heartily with the Di^^senters, but bore it 
 patiently until a favorable opportunity offered. This 
 has opened at Boston, and I now declare publicly 
 what I before believed privately." But there is not a 
 particle of evidence coming directly from Cutler to 
 support the charge, and what thus comes from other 
 sources is based chiefly on rumor ; so that if at any 
 time he dropped a word which was construed in this 
 way, he probably intended no more by it than that 
 there had long been a struggle between his religious 
 convictions and his temporal prospects. 
 
 Passing over the harsh epithets applied to these 
 gentlemen and to the Church of England, as no better 
 than Popery, by the ministers intemperately zealous 
 for the prosperity of the prevailing order, we come to 
 the results of the theological dispute in the Col- 
 lege Library. If both sides claimed the victory, it 
 cannot be said that both sides went away equally 
 
42 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 satisfied. The abrupt termination of the debate was 
 soon enough, as we have seen, to save to Congrega- 
 tionahsm three of the signers of the declaration, Eliot, 
 Hart, and Whittelsey ; but the rest, with clearer and 
 more decided convictions, were quite prej^ared to fol- 
 low on in the severe i)atli which thev had alreadv 
 entered. They distinctly declared their belief that 
 the Church of Eno-land was a true branch of the 
 Church of Christ, and that it became /their duty to 
 enter and serve in her communion. i^Tlie Trustees 
 took no official action, or rather passed no resolves, at 
 the annual Commencement in reference to the Eector 
 or the Tutor, — though the latter had sent in his 
 resignation, — preferring without doubt to ascertain 
 the popular will as well as to wait the result of the 
 efforts to rej^tore them in full affection to the estab- 
 lished relii»'ion. But wlien the controversv had been 
 
 cj »■■■ 
 
 jlosed, and while the General Assembly was still in 
 5ession, they met and voted to " excuse the Rev. Mr. 
 (Cutler from all further service as rector of Yale Col- 
 lege, and to accept of the resignation which Mr. 
 Brown had made as tutor." They voted too, " that 
 all such persons as shall hereafter be elected to the 
 office of rector or tutor in this college, shall, before 
 they are accepted therein, before the trustees declare 
 their assent to the confession of faith owned and con- 
 sented to by the elders and messengers of the churches 
 in the Colony of Connecticut, assembled by delega- 
 tion at Saybrook, September 9, 1708; and confirmed 
 by act of the general assemljly ; and shall particularly 
 give satisfaction to them of the soundness of their 
 faith, in opposition to Arminian or prelatical corrup- 
 tions, or any other of dangerous consequence to the 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 43 
 
 purity and peace of the churches." Still further they 
 voted, " that upon just grounds of suspicion of the 
 rector's or a tutor's inclination to Arminian or prelat- 
 ical principles, a meeting of the trustees shall be 
 called to examine into the case." 
 
 All this was done to guard the established religion 
 of the land, and to maintain in their integrity the faith 
 and ecclesiastical organization of the Puritans. The 
 displacement of Rector Cutler from his office was a 
 natural step, which few will be bold enough, even at 
 this late day, to censure, under the circumstances, 
 but it is difficult to reconcile it with the cherished, 
 theory that the settlement of New England was 1 
 " purely to propagate civil ami religious liberli/r The 
 resolves of the Trustees were passed October 27, and 
 a week later. Cutler, Johnson, and Brown v.ere on 
 their way to Boston, where they embarked Novem- 
 ber 5th, and sailed for England. They had prepared 
 their friends for this termination of their inquiries 
 by putting books into their hands which they per- 
 suaded them to read, and Johnson, in resigning his 
 pastoral charge, told his people in affectionate terms 
 that he would return to them, if they would receive 
 him as an Episcopal clergyman ; but with such a prop- 
 osition they were unable to comply, notwithstanding 
 their esteem for him personally, and their admiration 
 of his preaching and his prayers, both of which, he \ 
 now informed them to their great surprise, had -^11^ 
 along been drawn from the Church of England. When 
 he had laid together and balanced all the considera- 
 tions which affected his rehgious feelings, and come 
 to a resolution to brave the consequences of renounc- 
 ing the fiiith in which he had been educated, he wrote 
 
44 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 t ~ 
 
 ■.4/ A 
 
 T 
 
 \ » 
 
 in his private jonmal these final words : " It seems to 
 be my duty to venture myself in the arms of Almighty 
 Providence, and cross the ocean for the sake of that 
 excellent church, the Church of Enirland, and God 
 preserve me ; and if I err, God forgive me." 
 ' After a stormy passage they reached the shores of 
 the mother-countiy, and landing at Ramsgate De- 
 bember 15th, they proceeded immediately to Canter- 
 bury, where they were obliged to tarry three days 
 for a stage-coach to take them to London. 
 t This brief suspension of their journey afforded them 
 I an opportunity to see and hear what they had never 
 I seen and heard before. On the morning after their 
 arrival they visited the Cathedral Church and joined 
 in the celebration of divine service. They must have 
 been bowed to reverence by the deep solenniity of 
 the place and the worship. The magnificence of the 
 structure, its lofty arches and shadowv aisles, the air 
 of devotion, the •• dim religious liglit," the surpliced 
 priests, the beauty, the order of the whole service, — 
 the notes of the pealing organ, growiug more and 
 more dense and powerful, filling the vast pile and 
 seeming to cause the very walls to tremble, the rich 
 voices of the choir breaking out, at intervals, into 
 sweet gushes of melody, — gushes that rose and re- 
 verberated through every part of the sacred edifice, 
 — how grandly impressive, yet how surprising, all 
 these things must have been to men who had just 
 emerged from the bald worship of the Puritans, and 
 known only their plain sanctuaries here in the wilds 
 of New England. Surely feelings of reverential grat- 
 itude must have overflowed their hearts at finding 
 themselves in that venerable cathedral, "observin»- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 { 
 
 45 
 
 the ordinances and sharing the devotions of a church, 
 which in spite of the misrepresentations and taunts 
 of her adversaries they had learned to vindicate and 
 to honor." They had no letters of introduction to 
 any one in Canterbury, but, relying upon the strength 
 of their mission to fovor them, they ventured, through 
 their landlord, to present themselves to the Dean, — 
 the excellent and learned Dr. Stanhope, whose name 
 is flimiliar to all students in Enghsh theology. On 
 reaching the Deanery, he instructed the senant to 
 say " that they were some gentlemen from America, 
 come over for Holy Orders, who were desirous of pay- 
 ing their duty to the Dean." He came at once to 
 the^ door, took them cor<lially by the hand, and to 
 their amazement said, '' Come in, gentlemen ; you are 
 very welcome ; I know you well, for we have just been 
 reading your declaration for the Church." 
 
 The declaration, with their names appended, had 
 found its way into the London papers, and the Dean 
 and a company of Prebendaries who dined with him 
 were engaged in reading it, at the moment when 
 their arrival was announced. Every feeling of em- 
 barrassment that they were in a land of Strangers 
 was dispelled by this hearty welcome. Here in Can- 
 terbury, as elsewhere, friends rose up and followed 
 them with their lavors and remem]n\ances ; and one 
 kind gentleman, chaplain to the Earl of Thanet, moetr 
 ing them some months afterwards in London, invited 
 them to his lodgings, and ^- counted out to each of 
 them ten guineas," which were a present from hL^ 
 noble patron for ih^ purchase of books. Their recer>. 
 tion by the Bishop of Tendon, (Dr. Robinson,) unde 
 whose jurisdiction the Colonial Church in New En 
 
 1 
 
4G 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CIIUUCU 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 47 
 
 land was placed, and by the principal members of the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, was equally 
 cordial and gratifying. They found sympathy wher- 
 ever they went, and from men of cultivated minds 
 who honored them for their independence and sacri- 
 fices. They bore with them, among other testimoni- 
 als, a letter from the Rev. James Orem, — one of the 
 Society's missionaries in Rhode Island, — in which he 
 said : " I can scarce express the hardships they have 
 undergone, and the indignities that have been put 
 upon them, by the worst sort of dissenters who bear 
 sway here, and several honest gentlemen who declared 
 for the church with them ; who, by reason of the 
 unhappy circumstances of their families, can't go to 
 England, but He now under all the hardships and 
 pressures that the malice and rage of the implacable 
 enemies of our excellent church and constitution can 
 subject them to ; but I hope their suffering condition 
 will be taken into consideration at home." Some lay- 
 men in the same province, Church-wardens and Ves- 
 trymen, testified to their high character and disinter- 
 ested motives, by saying, '' It is plain these gentlemen 
 have, in this huportant aflair, acted like Christians 
 and men of virtue and honor, without any sordid 
 private views of interest and advancement." The 
 bishops and clergy of the Church of England, there- 
 fore, could do no less than regard them with the love 
 and confidence of brothers ; and, satisfied of their emi-| 
 nent fitness for the ministry into which they desiredj 
 to enter, arrangements were soon made for their ordi- 
 nation and future duties. It was decided that to 
 Cutler should be committed the new church (Christi 
 about to be opened in Boston ; that BrowTi should have 
 
 f 
 
 the charge of the vacant Mission at Bristol, in Rhode 
 Island, and that Johnson shoidd be appointed to Strat- 
 ford, in the neighborhood of his former associations ; 
 while Mr. Pigot, who had lingered now, at the earnest 
 request of the Society, for more than a year in Con- 
 necticut, should proceed to Providence, the first desig- 
 nated field of his labor. 
 
 But these plans, so well laid by the wisdom of man, 
 were destined to be frustrated, in a measure, by the 
 inscrutable and higher wisdom of God. Before they 
 had quite completed their preparations for receiving 
 Holy Orders, the small-pox, a disease which wns long 
 the dread of both Europe and America, fell witli great 
 severity upon Cutler, the eldest of the three, and 
 threatened to terminate in his death. But the Divine 
 goodness was pleased to spare him, and upon his re- 
 covery, towards the end of March 1723, he and his 
 two friends were ordained by the Bishop of Norwicli. 
 (Dr. Green,) in St. Martin's Church, first Deacons, and 
 afterwards Priests. The Bishop of London, (Dr. Rob- 
 inson,) to whom the dut}' belonged, was so near his 
 grave that he was obliged to delegate the office Avith 
 Letters dimissory to his brother in the Episcopate. 
 The high object for which they had suffered and sur- 
 rendered so much, for which thev had encountered 
 many of St. Paul's perils, been ''\i\ weariness and 
 painfulness," and crossed the ocean, Avas at last at^ 
 tained, and they were clothed with authority to exe- 
 cute the office of Priests in the Church of God. But, 
 alas ! another and a more painful trial was at hand. 
 Scarcely had they arranged for brief visits to Oxford 
 and other places, prior to their return to America, 
 before the same dreadful malady which had pros- 
 
48 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 49 
 
 trated for a time the eldest, reappeared with greater 
 malignity, and struck down to the dust the youngest 
 jOf their number. Withni a week after their ordina- 
 tion. Brown, who had preached the day before, was 
 1 1 seized with the small-pox and died on Easter eve, — 
 a mvsterious loss to the Church : mourned by all who 
 knew him, but by none so much as by his dear friend 
 and classmate, the companion of his travels, and the 
 sharer of his personal fears and solicitudes. He was 
 not laid to his rest in his native land and among the 
 graves of his immediate kindred; but if he must be 
 cut oif in the bright morning of his youth, and while 
 yet he had but once lifted np his voice as a minister 
 in the Churcli which he had so earnestly hoped and 
 prayed to serve, doubtless it was some consolation 
 to his mind, that he was among those who recognized 
 and regarded him as a brother, and in a land towards 
 which his thoughts, for many months, had been affec- 
 tionately drawn. If God vouchsafed him the con- 
 sciousness of death hi the last hour, he might have 
 felt, as a poet of our Church has expressed the sen- 
 tmient, — 
 
 " And I can yet my dust lay down 
 Beneatli old Enirland's sward ; 
 For, lulled by her, 't were sweet to wait 
 The coming of the Lord." 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE RETURN OF CUTLER AND JOHXSOX TO AMERICA, AND THE 
 INCREASE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 A. D. 1723-1727. 
 
 When the first shock of sorrow for their painful 
 bereavement had passed awaj^, the snrviving friends 
 of Brown began to prepare for their depaiiure to this 
 conn try. They nnproved the brief remainder of their \ 
 sojourn in England by visiting the Universities of 
 Oxford and Cambridge, where they were treated with 
 every mark of affectionate and respectful regard, and 
 honored in a way which must have been specially 
 gratifying to their personal pride and laudable ambi- 
 tion. Oxford conferred upon Cutler the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity, and npon Johnson that of Master 
 of Arts, giving them both diplomas ; and Cambridge, 
 shortly afterwards, repeated to them i\\Q, same distin^ 
 guished honors. By this time James Wetmore, who 
 had boldly delivered hi< testimony for Episcopacy in; 
 presence of the authorities of the College and of Con- 
 necticut, and wlioin they had left behind to make 
 suitable arrangements for his voyage, had resigned i 
 his pastoral charge at North Haven, and now came to 
 be their companion in the ranks of the Church of 
 England, as well as m their visits to Cambridge, Wind- 
 sor, Hampton Court, and other remarkable places. Dr. 
 Robinson, the Bishop of London, had descended to 
 
50 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL 'CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 51 
 
 his grave, and Bishop Gibson, an excellent and learned 
 prellte^ had beeii translated from the See of Lincoln 
 to be his snccess^w^^ From him they received their 
 letters of license, and, at the universities not more 
 than in London, they availed themselves of every 
 opportunity to enter into a fall description of the 
 state of the Colonial Church, and to show the vast 
 injury it was suflering for the want of an Episcopate. 
 While they had encountered the perils of the ocean 
 to obtain what their consciences told them was a 
 valid ordination, and while they were at that moment 
 fresh in their grief over the loss of a beloved asso- 
 ciate who had fallen a victim to the distemper of the 
 country, they certainly had a good right to speak 
 with earnestness and warmth on this subject, and to 
 represent the discouraging eflect which their experi- 
 ence must have upon those Congregational ministers 
 in New England who were waiting to be settled m^ 
 the faith of the Cliurch. In Bishop Gibson they 
 found not only an attentive listener, but one who 
 proved himself a noble Christian prelate, by his anxi- 
 ety to correct the evils of which they complained, 
 and who, on his first coming to the See of London, 
 set forth in a large memorial the advantages of placing 
 and maintaining one or more bishops in the Americaiir 
 colonies. Mr. Pigot, writing to the Society soon after 
 his arrival at Stratford, pleaded for the same manifest 
 right ; and referring to the hardships of compelling the 
 new converts from Presl)yterianism to go to England 
 for Episcopal ordination, added, " The Honorable So- 
 cietv will perceive by this, that many sound reasons 
 are not wanting to inspirit them to procure the mis- 
 sion of a Bishop into these Western parts 3 for, besides 
 
 
 the deficiency of a governor in the Church, to inspect 
 the regnlar hves of the clergy, to ordain, confimi, 
 consecrate churches, and the hke, amongst tliose that 
 already conform, there is, also, a sensible want of this 
 superior order, as a sure bulwark against the many 
 heresies that are already brooding in this part of the 
 Avorld." 
 
 Dr. Cutler and Mr. Johnson — having completed 
 their designs in visiting the mother-country, and 
 established Jwnds of friendship which united the 
 hearts of zealous churchmen on both sides of the 
 Atlantic — embarked for a New-England port July 
 2G, 1723, and immediately upon their arrival hast- 
 ened, the one to his churcli in Boston, the otlier to 
 his mission at Stratford. The day after reaching his 
 charge, (Nov. 5th,) Johnson made another entry in 
 his private journal, thus: "God having in his meiTiful 
 Providence spared me another year through so many 
 dangers as I have been exposed unto on my late voy- 
 age, and returned me safe to my father's house, and 
 here to my charge, I adore his singular and marvel- 
 lous goodness, which I the rather admire, because I, 
 M'ho am a sinful unworthy creature, am spared when 
 my friend far worthier than I (Mr. Brown) is cut of^ 
 for which dispensation of God, I desire to be deeply 
 humbled. He was one of the most amiable persons 
 in the world, a finely accomplished scholar, and a 
 brave Christian. But such is thy pleasure, good 
 God, such thy kindness, that I am yet alive, though 
 unworthy to live ! What can I do less than devo^te 
 my life thus preserved by Thee to thy service, to do 
 all the good I can for thy glory and the souls of men! 
 And as I am now (for which I adore thy goodness) 
 
 \ 
 
52 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 perfectly well satisfied as to the lawfulness and regu- 
 larities of my mission, (being Episeopally initiated, con- 
 firmed, and ordained,) so I purpose by thy grace both 
 to adorn my profession by a holy hfe, as a Christian, 
 and liiith fully to fulfil my ministry as a clergyman, 
 by doing all the service I can to the souls committed 
 to my cliarge." 
 
 Mr. Wetmore was sent to New^ York, and subse- 
 quently stationed lit Eye, in that State, and after a 
 foithful and most successful ministry of nearly thirty- 
 seven years, he died of the small-pox in 1760, in the 
 
 sixtv-fifth year of his aQ:e. Dr. Cutler followed him 
 
 *■' 
 to his reward iixe years later, having done good ser- 
 vice for the Church in Boston, and seen his own con- 
 gregation, within three years from the tune of his 
 settlement among them, increase from four hundred 
 to seven or eight hundred persons. If it was proper 
 to trace here any part of the early history of Episco- 
 pacy in Massachusetts, much might be said in com- 
 mendation of his unwearied and efficient ministra- 
 tions. But Connecticut is our tlieme, and henceforth 
 to the history witliin her borders attention will be 
 lAost strictly confined. 
 
 ! When Mr. Johnson arrived at Stratford, he found 
 the church, -which had lieen for some time in the 
 progress of huilding, not yet completed. It was the 
 first edifice for the Chiu-ch of England erected in 
 the colony, and after many hindrances was opened 
 for divine service on Christmas day 1724. Its erec- 
 tion belongs to the influence and ministry of his pred- 
 ecessor, who, in one of his letters to the Society, as 
 a reason for its slow progress, said, the people " are 
 too closely fleeced by the adverse party to carry it on 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 53 
 
 with dispatch." It was described at the time as «a 
 neat, small wooden building, forty-five feet and a half 
 Jong, thirty and a half wide, and twenty-two between 
 jomts, or up to the roof"; and was built partly at the 
 expense of the members of the Church of En.^land 
 in Stratford, and "partly by the liberal contributions 
 of several pious and generous gentlemen of the iiei..-li- 
 boring provinces, and sometimes of travellers a\^io 
 occasionally passed tliroiigli the town." Mr. Pigot's 
 record of his ministrations shows him to have been a 
 man full of zealous and self-sacrificing labors. He 
 opened a Parochial Eegister in a good round hand, 
 winch was used by his successors for many years' 
 after^vards, and is still carefully preserved ; and to me 
 personally it is an interesting fact, that the fii-st and 
 only entry made by him under one of the licads in 
 this register, was the marriage of a kinsman of mine 
 to a descendant of William Jeanes, a warden of the 
 Church ; and the first entry under another head, by 
 Mr. Johnson, was the baptism of a child, the fruit of 
 that marriage. 
 
 The successor of Mr. Pigot accepted all his missioiJ:- 
 ary duties and trusts in Connecticut, and cared for 
 the scattered famiHes of the Church, as he found 
 them in Fairfield, Noiwalk, Newtown, Eipton, (now 
 Huntington,) West Haven, and other portions of the ; 
 province. In a letter, written to the Bishop of Loit 
 don soon after arriving at his station, referring to the 
 condition of the colony, and the popular prejudices 
 against the Church, he says: "This is come to pass 
 chiefly in, gix or seven towns, whereof this of Strata 
 ford where I reside is the pmicipal, and though I am 
 unworthy and unmeet to be intrusted with^such a 
 
 iV' 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 M 
 
 ( 
 
 i 
 
54 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 t--. 
 
 cliartre, yet there is not one clerc^yman of the Church 
 of England, besides myself, in this whole colony, and 
 I am obliged in a great measure to neglect my cure 
 at Stratford, (where yet there is business enough for 
 one minister,) to ride about to other towns, (some ten, 
 some twenty miles oif,) when in each of them there 
 is as much need of a resident minister as there is at 
 Stratford, especially at Newtown and Fairfield, so that 
 the case of these destitute places, as well as of myself, 
 who have this excess of business, is extremely un- 
 jiiappy and compassionable." And then he goes on 
 to renew his entreaty for the apostolic otiice, men- 
 tionmg that a considerable number of very promising 
 young gentlemen, five or six, and the best educated 
 here, declined the ministrv, and went into secidar 
 business, because they were "unwilling to expose 
 themselves to the danger of the seas," and the terri- 
 fying fate of Mr. Brown ; " so that," he continues, 
 "the fountain of all our misery is the want of a 
 Bishop, for whom there are many thousand souls in 
 this country," (meaning all the colonies,) "that do 
 impatiently long and pray, and for want of whom do 
 extremely suffer." 
 
 The parish at Stratford, when he came to it, num- 
 bered about thirty families; and forty more — to say 
 nothing of the few cliurchmen fiirther eastward — 
 might be included in the neighboring towns and dis- 
 tricts. From some of these places very urgent appeals 
 had already gone over to England, requesting Chris- 
 tian compassion in their behalf As early as Octo- 
 ber, 1722, in the midst of the events at Yale Col- 
 lege, which convulsed the whole colony, fourteen sub- 
 scribers, inhabitants of Newtown, including one from 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 55 
 
 Woodbury, and one from Chestnut Ridge, (Redding,) 
 returned their most hearty thanks for the ministra- 
 tions which Mr. Pigot had introduced among them, 
 and, " being cordially inclined to embrace the articles 
 and Liturgy of the Churcli of England, and to ap- 
 proach her communion, did humbly and earnestly re- 
 quest the Honorable Society to send them a lawfully 
 ordained minister." " We are," said they, " heads of 
 . families, and, with our dependents, shall appear the 
 major party here ; therefore, we intend to set apart for 
 our Episcopal teacher, whenever it shall please God 
 to inspire your venerable body to appoint us one, at 
 least two hundred acres of glebe for the support of a 
 church minister forever." 
 
 The same hands which carried this appeal, carried 
 another, (dated All Saint's Day,) from a larger num- 
 ber of subscribers in Ripton, - of long standing, in- 
 chned to the Church," and in which they expressed 
 a desire to enjoy a pastor of their own, and a wiU- 
 nigness to make provision for his maintenance. If 
 this favor could not be alloAved them, they entreated 
 the Society that the Missionaries settled at Stratford 
 and Newtown — anticipating the appointment of one 
 to the latter jDlace — might be instructed to officiate 
 for them as often as every third Sunday, since they 
 are conveniently located between these two stations. 
 Among the subscribers in Ripton was the name of 
 Daniel Shelton, a large landholder, and one of the 
 little band that w^elcomed the early visits of Muirson 
 and Heathcote, and who, thirteen years before, was 
 seized at his residence and barbarously hurried away 
 in mid-winter and lodged in the county jail until he 
 should pay over the amount levied by distress of his 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
56 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 estate for the support of the Congregational minister. 
 And there was anotlier name among these subscribers 
 (John Beardsley, Jr.) that bore abundant fruit in 
 subsequent times for the Church, thougli it shared 
 not precisely the same unchristian persecution. 
 
 Nathan Gold, the Lieutenant-Ciovernor of the colony 
 and a mortal foe to Episco[)acy, had his seat in Fair- 
 field, and carried his intolerant spirit to such an extent 
 as to propound to the Cfcneral Court a law to confine 
 Mr. Pigot to the exercise of his ministerial functions 
 within the limits of Stratford. But the churchmen in 
 Fairfield multiplied notwithstanding this; and chiefly 
 through the intluence of the Society's Missionary and 
 Dr. James Labarie, a French gentleman and physician, 
 licensed by Bishop Compton as a teacher and cate- 
 chist, the communion there })romised to be as laro-e 
 as at Newtown. Much attention in several towns 
 was uow directed to the Chin-ch. Prayer Books and 
 other religious publications were circulated, and the 
 eyes of mnny were opened to the great injustice of the 
 course piu\sued hy the more violeut or more rigid In 
 dependents. Their fears were naturally awakened foi 
 the security of their order, when they saw some of its 
 prominent supports (h-opping off; but certainly it was 
 no way to strengthen it to resprt to persecution. The 
 steady and finn mind of Johnson was equal to the 
 emergencies of the time, and though surroiuided on 
 all sides by bitter and watchful adversaries, he still 
 maintained his cahnness and benevolence of temper, 
 and mingled and conversed with those who had for- 
 merly been his friends, whenever tliey gave him an 
 opportunity, with frnnkness and Christiiin courtesy. 
 If they publicly branded him with the name of traitor, 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 57 
 
 and strove by unworthy acts to thwart his purposes 
 and render his situation intolerable, he preserved his 
 patience, and went on discharging his duties to the 
 Church, and sending home frequent reports of his 
 hopes and encouragements, of his fears and suffer- 
 ings, and of the trials, vexations, and despondencies 
 of his people. In a letter to the Secretary of the 
 Society, dated June 11, 1724, he spoke of haviii- 
 preached at New London, where he had sixty hearers', 
 and where there was a good prospect of increase, if 
 they could be supplied with regular services. - New- 
 town," he added, "is distressed for a minister, their 
 teacher being quite beat out; and the wliole' town 
 would, I believe, embrace the church, if they had a 
 good minister at Fairfield. I have a vast assendjly 
 every time I visit tliem, but though I have made ail 
 proper and modest applications to the government, 
 both privately and publicly, we have yet no abate- 
 ment of persecution and imprisonment for taxes, 
 which sundry people, and those of both sexes, have 
 unreasonably suffered since my last, and I fear that, 
 if we can't have some relief from the Honorable 
 Society, people Avill grow quite discourno-ed." He 
 repeated the same fears to the Bishop of^London a 
 few days later ; but while there was no redress of the 
 grievances complained oi; the Church continued to 
 advance and receive accessions. The Episcoi>alians 
 at Newtown and Kipton, by reason of the exactions 
 of the government, were unable to offer sufficient in- 
 ducements to encourage the Society to send them a 
 Missionary. Besides, the Independent ministers of the 
 colony, taking advantage of a vacancy in their own 
 pastorate at Newtown, and telling the people that if 
 
 / 
 
58 
 
 HISTOKY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 the Church of England were a true churchy and 
 thouglit bishops necessar}', they would have sent 
 over one before this, ''prevailed upon a very popu- 
 lar, insinuating young man to go among them ; " and 
 li'j •• pleased them so well, that many of them, i:r.p:i- 
 tient for the ministrations of reliu'ion," and thinkino- 
 him flivorably '^ affected towards the Church, because 
 he took some of the prayers out of the Liturgy," v.-ere 
 disposed to join in '^settling him Avith Presbyterian 
 ordhiation." We shall have much to say of this 
 '' popular and insinuating young man" — who was 
 none other than John Beach — in fr.ture chapters. 
 But in Fail-field, the chief seat of opposition to Epis- 
 copacy, a small church av as built, which was opened 
 |by Johnson with divine services, in the autumn of 
 11725, though in an unfinished state, and this was the 
 Second erected in the colony. Talcott, the Governor 
 of Coiuiecticut, writing to the Bishop of London in 
 1726, ia answer to an incpiiry into the true state of 
 the Church in his Majesty's government in the colony, 
 treated slightly both the system of taxation and 
 some of the complainants. " The law of this colony," 
 said he, '■'is such, that the major part of the house- 
 holders in every town shall determine their minister's 
 maintenance, and all within the precincts of the town 
 shall be obliged to pay their parts in an equal pro- 
 portion to their estates in said towns or societies; 
 and so in the precincts of each ecclesiastical society. 
 Under this security, all our towns and ecclesiastical 
 societies are supphed with orthodox ministers. We 
 have no vacancies at present. When the death of 
 the incumbent happens, they are quickly supplied by 
 persons of our own communion, educated in our pub- 
 lic schools of learning." 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 59 
 
 Governor Talcott was a Congregationalist, who had 
 no desire to see Episcopacy growing, or a bishop's 
 influence and prerogatives established in Connecticut. 
 He took good care to appear liberal, as the laws stood, 
 but no effort for their modification was promised or 
 intimated. The charter granted by Charles the Sec- 
 ond, and out of which all his authority flowed, did not 
 convey any right to set up a form of religion that 
 should thus exclude the Church of England, and for- 
 ever oppress her dutiful members. At least, it was 
 a forced construction which the civil magistrates put 
 upon it, when they assumed the liberty to boast 
 themselves an establishment, and to treat tlie Church 
 "as a despicable, schismatical and Popish Couunun- 
 ion." Surely the wrongs could not have been slight, 
 which induced Johnson to begin a letter to the Propa- 
 gation Society, in February 1727, with these words: 
 " I have just- come from Fairfield, where I have been 
 to visit a considerable number of my people, in prison 
 for their rates to the dissenting minister, to comfort 
 and encourage them under their sufferings. But, 
 verily, unless we can ha^e rehei; and be delivered 
 from this unreasonahle treatment, I fear I must give 
 up the cause, and our churcli must sink and come to 
 nothing. There are thirty-five heads of families in 
 Fairfield, who, all of them, expect Avliat these have 
 suffered ; and though I have endeavored to gain the 
 compassion and favor of the government, yet I can 
 avail nothing ; and both I and my people grow weary 
 of our lives under our poverty and oppression." 
 
 Some months later, in replying to several specific 
 inquiries of the Honorable Society, he presented a 
 succinct view of the history of Episcopacy in Strat- 
 
 
 II 
 
 / 
 
 I 
 
60 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 61 
 
 ford, from the commencement, and showed that he 
 had then in his parish fifty famihes, or aljout one 
 seventli of the whole number of flimih'es in the towi>. 
 The actual state of the Church in other parts of the 
 colony, and of his own duties and ministrations, cannot 
 be given in briefer and more graphic languagx' tlian he 
 himself used in the same sketch : " There is no church 
 westward within forty miles, only Fairfield, which 
 is eight miles off, where there is a small wooden 
 churcli built, and about forty families, who hope for 
 Mr. Caner to be sent them from the Society; and 
 there is no church eastward within one hundred miles, 
 only at New London, (djout seventy miles ofli; where 
 I sometimes preach to a good number of people, and 
 they are building a wooden church something larger 
 than ours, and hope for a Missionary, and have de- 
 sired me to recommend their case to the honoi-aljle 
 Society, that they may be supplied as soon as may 
 be, and there is there a good prospect of a large 
 increase. There is no church northward of us at all. 
 We lie upon the sea, (/. e. the Sound,) and directly 
 over against ns, southward on Long Island, lies Brook 
 Haven, about twenty miles over the water, where 
 I have often preached." This communication was 
 penned under date of Septem])er 20, 1727. 
 
 We have seen that the Church in Connecticut was 
 rooted amid storms and opix)sition. It Avas the tough, 
 strong, sai)ling of the forest, wdiich was bent and borne 
 down by the tempest, but never ))roken by its imy. 
 No schemes of her adversaries could crush out her 
 life; and the good cluiracter of those who bore the 
 standard of apostolic order and fuitli, their piety, their 
 meekness, their patient endurance of evils, w^ere as 
 
 sermons preached in the ears of the constituted au- 
 thorities of the land. The champions of civil and 
 religious liberty — that is, those who had always 
 avowed themselves to be such— undertook a profits 
 less task, therefore, when they attempted to set back 
 the stream of inquiry, or to turn again into the con- 
 tracted channel of their own thoughts the minds tliat 
 had been refreshed at the fountains of English theol- 
 ogy as well as at 
 
 " Siloa's brook tliat flowed 
 Fast by tlie oracles of God." 
 
 The treatment of the first churchmen of Connecticut 
 by the Puritans is a chapter which cannot be over- 
 looked in this histoiy; for it is an instructive com- 
 mentary on the purity and spirituality of their pre- 
 tensions, and on the tenderness of their consciences. 
 Let us thank God that we live at a period when these 
 old prejudices, with all their sharpness, are worn 
 away ; when religious persecution is unknown ; when 
 more charitable feelings prevail among all Christian 
 communions ; when Bishops, as successors of the Apos- 
 tles, are loved and honored for their godly works and 
 examples rather than for their office; and when, too, 
 the Church of our affections is not, others Ijeing judges,' 
 the fearful corrupter of ^^pure and undefiled religion," 
 which she unfortunately appeared to be to the "luirly 
 settlers and generations of New Eudand. 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
 f 
 
62 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE EFFECT OF CANDID INVESTIGATIOX, AXD THE ENACTMENT 
 OF A LAW IN CONNECTICUT TO RELIEVE CHURCHMEN. 
 
 A. D. 1727-1729. 
 
 It is a very common impression tliiit tlie first set- 
 tlers of New Englind emigrated to this country, not 
 only to escape direct persecution at home, but to 
 establish here, in all its freedom and fulness, the Puri- 
 tan faith, and to promote in every possible way its 
 peculiar interests. Under the intluence of such an 
 impression, questions like these have sometimes been 
 thrown out : " Why were they not permitted to enjoy 
 their religious liberty without molestation by the 
 Church of England ? Why did that liated hierarchy 
 pursue them into this New World, and seek to over- 
 throw their estn])lishment, and make confusion in 
 their churches, by introducing the Apostohc discipline 
 and a Liturgical form of worsliip ?" 
 
 The simple answer to these questions is, that their 
 own men — Puritans bv birth and education — beo-an 
 a distrirbance of the settled order of things, at least 
 as far as Connecticut is concerned. The little de- 
 spised band of freeholders at Stratford who first 
 professed their love for Episcopacy, and were fed, 
 though fed but poorly, through the efforts of Ileath- 
 cote, by the Society for the Propagation of the Gos- 
 pel, never would have grown into a formidable body, — 
 
 never would have made any progress in converting to 
 their views the strong-minded Congregationahsts"^ — 
 had not Providence sent a spirit of inquiry among 
 the officers of Yale College and the ministers in its 
 neighborhood. 
 
 Quincj^, in his "History of Harvard University,'! 
 referring to the conversion of Cutler and his asso- 
 ciates, makes an assertion and a comment in these 
 w^ords: "This event shook Coiigregationalism through- 
 out New England like an earthquake, and filled alfits 
 friends witli terror and apprehension. The eflbct of 
 the direct operations of tlie SSociety for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts/ was seen and 
 recognized in these conversions. They had occurred 
 in Stratford, or its vicinity; a place in which the 
 funds of the Society had been most lavishly ex- 
 pended ; and the fact that the head of one of the 
 mo^^t cherished seminaries of learning in New Eng- 
 land had yielded to its infliience, was indicative of its 
 power and ominous of Episcopal success." This state- 
 ment thus made is in strange opposition to the fiicts 
 which have been previously narrated. It gives quite 
 too much influence to the operations and money of 
 the Society. At that date, its "lavish expenditures" 
 for Stj-atford consisted in having provided for the sup- 
 port of Francis Philips during tlie five months of his 
 irregular and unprofitable ministrations, and for Mr. 
 Pigot who had tarried now a shorter period before 
 proceeding to the mission at Providence, in Ehode 
 Island. Only about four months had elapsed since his 
 arrival in Connecticut; and these gentlemen, without 
 any prompting on his part, had held a conference 
 with him prior to their public declaration, and indi- 
 
 n 
 
 H 
 
 / 
 
64 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 cated the cl.rcction of their thouglit.s and feelings 
 But long before this, tlie light had been ZX 
 U.an„ng „. o their „,ind.s through the window oJ 
 the College Library, and thev finally accepted it Z 
 t^^o ..„„plo reason that it was no longer to be UstSl 
 Cu ler, at the age of forty, with ^ wife a^,! se ^n 
 ch d.x.n. re h,,uished the highest literarv a: e e^ " 
 
 eX end',"""'' T- ' ""'" *'" '^^^^--^-" «f '»« 
 hi. ;' '"'' ^"' conscience wouhl not allow 
 
 . / -f^'igiand. Johnson was eqnally in^re nnrl 
 eonscenfous in his motives; and so were B own n 
 JWtmore, and all those who subsequently broke a "y 
 from the ranks of Puritanisnu and firndv resolv ^ o 
 
 JoiBkp God afrer the order of the Book of Comn.on 
 
 Mctn solar conmlotcd na tn u^ ,. i • • ^. 
 
 v^injjititd as to be opened with D vino 
 
 services in the autumn of 17'ir, - • '"® 
 
 tTmn^.f" "'''"'"' ' -^^^'^'^'^I'MiSarlr-tr 
 Ife. Heniv Caner,_a graduate of Yale in the class 
 
 1 ,•/' ^«"«equently a member of the Institn- 
 ^on while It was under the charge of Kector Cu e 
 He was a son of Henrv T-mor ti.-fi -i i T , ""'^*^- 
 collo.ro orliri. • 1-^ ^ ^ '""''^^'' ""^ ^''<^^ first 
 
 colkge edihce, mckiding a president's house, erected in 
 
 locah^v (Caners Pond) in the northern borders of 
 New Haven. The fother was from Englan.l, wh^e tL 
 
 kd I; and If he was originally a Congregationalist, ^e 
 [ early conformed to the Church, - for he is entered 
 
 65 
 
 I 
 
 upon the list of communicants by Mr. Pigot, in the 
 "Registry Book" at Stratford, September 2(1, 1722, 
 and his son is entered by Mr. Johnson, March 28th, 
 1725. He evidently went to that place to com- 
 mune — as many churchmen scattered in the neigh- 
 boring towns were accustomed to do — when the 
 only Episcopal clergyman in the colony Avas sta- 
 tioned there. He died at the age of sixty; and John- 
 son came to New Haven, September 24, 1731, to 
 attend his funeral, as he had been here six years be- 
 fore to attend the funeral of EHzabeth Caner. It is 
 an interesting fact, tliat, after his ordination in the 
 Church of England, so little were the services of 
 Johnson called for to baptize, marry, or bury the 
 dead, hi the immediate scene of his early religious 
 struggles, that for more than fifteen years the only 
 official acts of this kind in New Haven, with one ex- 
 ception, — of which there is any record, — were per- 
 formed for the Caner family. He appears, however, 
 to have been a frequent visitor at the College, to have 
 interested himself in its welfare, and to have rendered 
 it important aid, notwithstanding the change in his 
 religious feelings and attitude. It was shortly after 
 the annual Commenceuient in 1732 that he wrote to 
 the Secretary of the Honorable Society, using this 
 language : " I continue to preach with success at New 
 Haven, and I hope there will be a church there in 
 time ; though they labor under great opposition and 
 discouragement.^' from the people of the town, who 
 will neither give nor sell them a piece of land for 
 them to build a church on." 
 
 He had previously written in April of the same 
 year to the Bishop of London, thus : " I have lately 
 
 m 
 i 
 
 < 
 
66 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 67 
 
 been preaching at New Haven, "^-liere the College is, 
 and had a considerable congregatlpn, and among them 
 several of the scholars, avIio are vei^ inqui.sitive about 
 the principles of our church ; and, Vfter sermon, ten 
 of the members of the church there 'subscribed £100 
 towards the building a church in that town, and are 
 zealously engaged about undertaking ft; and I hope 
 in a few years there will be a large .congregation 
 there." 
 
 Mr. Johnson acted as the theological guide and 
 instructor of the young men whose attention was 
 drawn to the study of Divinity and Episcopacy; and 
 Henry Caner, Jr., for a period of three years after 
 he left college, lived under his eye, — and in all this 
 time assisted him and did good service for the Church 
 at Fairfield, in the capacity of a catechist and school- 
 master. When his age would permit him to receive 
 Holy Orders, he embarked for England, and took Avith 
 I him a letter from Johnson to the Honorable Society, 
 dated April 28th, 1727, in which he spoke of the 
 "great comfort" it would be to him "in his solitary 
 neighborhood" to have his young friend appointed a 
 missionary to Fairfield, where the churchmen knew 
 his good qualities and were ready to welcome him, as 
 their address, which he enclosed, would sufficiently 
 shoAv. He also expressed a desire, for the encourage- 
 ment of others who might undertake them, that the 
 " Society would be pleased to defray the expenses of 
 the voyages to England" for ordhiation, according 
 to a pledge previously given, and especially that 
 Mr. Caner might have the benefit of that pledge. 
 And then, with an eye to his own personal interest, 
 he added, "I should be very thankful if that char- 
 
 itable order of the Society might look back with a 
 J favorable aspect upon us, who first undertook this 
 difficult and dangerous expedition." Though Fair- 
 field Avas the chief seat of opposition to the Church 
 of England, and honored with the residence of Lieu- 
 tenantrGovernor Gold, — its eminent persecutor, — 
 yet there was something in the religious and public 
 affairs of the town at this period which assisted the 
 organization and gathering of an Episcopal parish. 
 Among the manuscripts on file in the office of the 
 Secretary of State at Hartford, may be found evi- 
 dence that the General Association of Congregational 
 ministers memorialized the Honorable Assembly "of 
 the infirmities of Rev. Mr. Webb, and the present cir- 
 cumstances of that Society of Avhich he is pastor," 
 thinking the " case called for a speedy visitation, and 
 that nothing less would attain the end designed and 
 so earnestly to be desired for that people than an 
 act " " requiring that one or more of the ministry from 
 the several counties or associations of this colon}' be 
 sent to convene at Fairfield, for the consideration of 
 their state and the application of proper expedients 
 for their united continuance in the faith and estab- 
 lished order of the church of Christ in this colony." 
 And thereupon the General Assembly, under date 
 of May 14, 1725, adopted a resolve, "that Fairfield 
 should call some other orthodox minister to help Mr. 
 Webb, that their sorroAvful and sinking circumstances 
 might be relieved." The last clause in this resolu- 
 tion has been partially erased, but without it there 
 is very little force in the response to the memorial 
 of the association. 
 
 When Mr. Caner arrived at his mission in Fairfield 
 
 1 
 
68 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 69 
 
 p' i 
 
 late in the autumn of 1727, he found "the heavy 
 taxes levied for the support of dissenting mmisters/' 
 joined Avith voluntary contributions for the mainten- 
 ance of their own services, so burdensome as to render 
 his parishioners almost incapable of carrying on and 
 completing their house of worship. All they could 
 raise for his personal support was not above ten 
 pounds sterling, and this, with the addition of sixty 
 pounds sterling, — the salary usually voted by the 
 Society to its Missionaries, though in his case the al- 
 lowance docs not appear at first to have been so large, 
 — constituted his living. But his presence among the 
 people freshened their zeal, and he sought out and 
 encouraged the churchmen scattered in the contigu- 
 ous villages, and penetrated with frequent ministra- 
 tions to Nonvalk, and even beyond, to Stamford and 
 Greenwich. In his first report to the Society, made 
 some three months after his return from Enirland, he 
 speaks of "'a viUage northward of Fairfield, about eigh- 
 teen miles, containing near twenty families, where 
 there is no minister of any denomiuation whatsoever ; 
 the name of it is Chestnut Ridge (Kedding), and where 
 I usually preach or lecture once in three weeks. New- 
 town, whicli is about twentv-two miles northwest of 
 Fairfield, Mr. Johnson and 1 supply between us, — it 
 being equally distant from us." He also visited Ridg- 
 field and Danl)ury, as often as liis duties would per- 
 mit, and stated that there were in most of these places 
 seven, ten, or fifteen families professing the Church 
 pf England, and severely taxed for the established 
 order. But his parisliioners increased notwithstand- 
 ing all discouragements, and he reported in the same 
 letter an addition of four families, one of which was 
 
 a Jew, whose wife only was a Christian; eighteen bap- 
 tisms, "one whereof was an Indian;" and eight com- 
 municants, — making his whole number forty -nine. 
 Here is evidence of strength almost equal to that at 
 Stratford, and no such body of earnest men could long 
 remain passive under the exactions and illiberality 
 of the Colonial government. They had moved even 
 while Caner Avas on his way to England for ordina- 
 tion. The first successful eflbrt towards a mitigation 
 of the trials of churchmen and a redress of their t^iev- 
 ances, came from Fairfield. The Church-wardens 
 and Vestrymen, in the name and behalf of all the 
 rest of their brethren, members of the Church of 
 England in that town, memorialized the General As- 
 sembly, at its May session in 1727, as follows : "Where- \ 
 as we are, by the Honorable Society in England and 
 the Bishop of London, laid under obligation to pay to 
 the support of the said established church, and have ! 
 accordingly constantly paid to it, and been at great , 
 charge in building a church for the Avorship of God, 
 we pray this Assembly would, by some act or other- 
 wise, as your wisdom shall think fit, excuse us here- 
 after from paying to any dissenting minister, or to 
 the building of any dissenting meeting-house. And^ 
 whereas we were, ten of us, lately imprisoned for our 
 taxes, and had considerable sums of monev taken 
 from us by distraint, contrary to his Honor the Gov- 
 ernor's advice, and notwithstanding solemn promises 
 before given to sit down and be concluded thereby 
 in this affair, we pray that those sums of money taken 
 from us may be restored to us again. If these griev- 
 ances may be redressed, we shall aim at nothing but 
 to live peaceably and as becometh Christians among 
 our dissenting brethren." 
 
 I 
 
70 
 
 fflSTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Moses Ward, the Senior Warden and first signer 
 to this memorial, " appeared, and by his attorney de- 
 clared to the Assembly that he should not msist on 
 the return of the money prayed for ; " but asserted 
 that the Independents or Congregationalists had " al- 
 ways esteemed it a hardship to be compelled to con- 
 tribute to the support of the Church of England, 
 where that is the church established by law ; " remind- 
 ing them that they should not exact from others what 
 they had never been willing to submit to themselves, 
 and urgmg also the passage of some law to oblige 
 Episcopalians to pay to the support of their own min- 
 isters. The petition was so for granted, that a law 
 w^as enacted, by which all persons of the Church of 
 England, and those of the churches established by 
 the'^Colonial government, living in the bounds of any 
 parish allowed by the Assembly, should be taxed by 
 the same rule and in the same proportion for the sup- 
 port of the ministry of said parish : But if a society 
 of the Church of England, with a clergyman settled 
 and abiding among its members, and performing di- 
 vine service for them, happened to be so near to any 
 who had declared themselves of this church, that they 
 could conveniently, and did attend its public worship, 
 then the collectors should deliver the taxes collected 
 of such persons to the minister of the Church of Eng- 
 land living near them, which minister should have 
 full power'^to receive and recover the same in order 
 to his support in his parish. But if such proportion 
 of taxes was insufficient to support the incumbent iu 
 any society of the Church of England, the members 
 of such society had power to levy and collect of them- 
 selves greater taxes, at their own discretion. By the 
 
 71 
 
 r 
 
 J 
 
 same enactment, the parishioners of the Church of 
 England were excused from paying any taxes to 
 build meeting-houses for the established churches of 
 the colony. Two years afterwards a law was adopted 
 and proclaimed by the General Court, with similar 
 exemptions, for the benefit of "soberly dissenting". 
 Quakers and Baptists. 
 
 Thus the early churchmen of Fairfield^ nearly one 
 hundred years after the settlement of the colon}^, 
 made the first effectual effort towards the establishment 
 of religious liberty in Connecticut; but so deej^ly 
 and extensively was the Puritan principle implanted 
 in the breasts of the people, and so thoroughly were 
 the civil and religious powers blended togetlier, that 
 it required almost another century to consummate 
 this effort. But the law, which the constituted au- 
 thorities "in their great wisdom as well as christian 
 compassion " had been pleased to provide, was found 
 insufficient for the relief sought after, and scarcely 
 had the year passed awaj^, before the Church-wardens 
 and Vestrymen again memorialized the Assembly for 
 an explanation of their act, and for permission to 
 govern their own affairs in future, according to the 
 book of canons in use by the Church of England, 
 gathering all needful taxes by this book, and not 
 through the Congregational collectors. Disputes had 
 arisen about the meaning of the law, and magistrates 
 had put upon it the construction, that, by " nearness " 
 to an Episcopal minister or church, was to be under- 
 stood a distance within a mile, or two miles. This 
 construction, of course, excluded from its benefit a 
 large number of the parishioners of both Caner and 
 Johnson, in Fairfield and Stratford; and as for church- 
 
72 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 73 
 
 men in other towns of the colony, who had no clergy- 
 man of the Church of England settled among them, 
 the law, as for as they were concerned, was an abso- 
 lute nullity, and they were as much annoyed and op- 
 pressed as ever. The object was to crush out the life 
 of Episcopacy, and discourage its further introduction 
 among the people, — an attempt aljout as hopeless as 
 to think of quenching the light of the stars by enact- 
 ino' that thev shall not shine. 
 
 It has been said, as an apology for this spirit, that 
 " what the Congregational ministers and churches 
 most complained of was, that New England was rep- 
 resented in the parent country as destitute to a great 
 extent of religious instruction ; whereas, they main- 
 tained, that no part of the empire was better sup- 
 plied with competent religious teachers."^ 
 
 It has also been said, that, wlienever a meeting- 
 house was to be built, or any extraordinary expense 
 to be incurred by a Congregational society, those 
 opposed to the measure would declare themselves 
 Episcopalians or Baptists, and claim exemption by 
 law from the payment of the new tax. 
 
 Governor Talcott, in his letter to the Bishop of 
 London, in 172G, after mentioning that "there is but 
 one Church of England minister in this colony," went 
 on to remark: "There are some few persons in an- 
 other town or two, that have stipulated Avith the pres- 
 ent ministers now living in said towns, (which persons 
 cannot be much reconnnended for their zeal for relig- 
 ion or morality,) who cannot well be judged to act 
 from any other motive than to appear singular, or to 
 be freed from a small tax, and have declared tliem- 
 
 1 Kingsley, ///*'. Dis. p. 95. 
 
 4 
 
 selves to be of the Church of England ; and some of 
 them that live thirty or forty miles from Avhere the 
 Church of England's minister lives ; these have made 
 some objections against their customary contribution 
 to their proper minister, under whose administration 
 they have equal privileges with their neighbors." 
 
 But the apologies thus offered by Congregation- 
 alists neither justify the spirit of persecution nor char- 
 itably allow for the conscientious impulses of "men 
 of like passions with themselves." Besides, as the 
 Episcopalians constituted but a weak and slender 
 body in the colon}^ at that time, and had the legal 
 power to tax their own members, those who joined 
 them certainly could not anticipate any real relief 
 from pecuniary exactions. 
 
 The memorialists assured the General Assembly 
 that they were bound in their consciences to adhere 
 to the Church of England in doctrine and discipline, 
 let their difficulties be ever so great; and, thanks be 
 to God, they did adhere, and to-da}^ we are reaping 
 the good fruits of their determination and firmness. 
 No explanation of the original act was vouchsafed by 
 the Assembly, and no further redress of the griev- 
 ances of churchmen was proposed. 
 
 Mr. Caner, whose chain of labors extended over 
 many towns in Fairfield County, suggested a scheme 
 to secure the revenues properly belonging to him, 
 and yet comply with the provisions of the law. It 
 was that the Honorable Society should appoint him, 
 under its common seal, a " Missionary to serve from 
 Fairfield to Byram river or the borders of the gov- 
 ernment westward," and then, by a residence some- 
 tunes in one place and sometimes in another, as the 
 
74 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 75 
 
 necessities required, the objection that his parish- 
 ioners were not near enough to take advantage of 
 the law would be set aside, and he would thus receive 
 what they were compelled to pay towards the sup- 
 port of the Independent teachers. The Society ob- 
 tained a legal opinion in England upon the scheme, 
 which was unfavorable to its adoption; inasmuch as 
 the Act plainly contemplated a permanent residence 
 in one place, and this course might be construed as 
 an attempt to evade its requirements, "only with a 
 view to the secular advantages of particular persons, 
 and might, perhaps, involve the church ministers in 
 greater trouble, and more to their detriment than 
 any benefit" to be directly gained. Nothing, there- 
 fore, was left for the memljcrs of the Church of Eng- 
 land but to submit to their condition and work pa- 
 tiently on under their burdensome annoyances. A 
 few families, less able, or less disposed to bear these 
 "difficulties and oppressions," withdrew from the 
 colony entirely; and eleven, for this reason alone, 
 are reported by Johnson, five years after his arrival, 
 to have removed from Stratford into the more lib- 
 eral province of New York. Other fomilies, however, 
 with greater Christian fortitude, rose up to take their 
 places, and the two Missionaries of the Church in 
 Connecticut continued their zealous and self-denying 
 eflbrts, and fed and supported their people at the 
 same time with the bread of life and the hopes of a 
 day of deliverance. 
 
 I In the autumn of 1729, Johnson, in a letter to the 
 Societv, mentioned that he had visited New London 
 and Westerly in Rhode Island, besides Wethersfield, 
 On the Connecticut River, where a considerable num- 
 
 ber of persons were subscribing towards the erection 
 of a church. The attempt in Wethersfield proved 
 an abortive one ; for fields of fairer promise elsewhere 
 attracted the main attention of the laborers, then few, 
 as in the time of our Saviour. In the same letter he 
 added: "I likewise still continue frequently to preach 
 at New Haven, Ripton, and Newtown, with success ; 
 though at the last of these places it must be confessed 
 that the Dissenters have of late got the advantage^x 
 of us, partly by the craft and assiduity of their teach- 
 ers, and partly by means of the removing of a con- 
 siderable man of our church, (whose influence used 
 to be great in that town,) from thence into New 
 York government." 
 
1 
 
 76 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF DEAN BERKELEY IX RHODE ISLAND; HIS BENEFAC- 
 TIONS TO YALE COLLEGE; AND NEW MISSIONARIES IN CON- 
 NECTICUT. 
 
 A. D. 1729-1734. 
 
 In the beginning of 1729 an event occiuTed which 
 deserves to be specially mentioned in this connection, 
 because of its influence upon the history of learning 
 and religion in the American colonies. The Rev. 
 George Berkeley, Dean of Deny in Ireland, whose 
 excellent character the satirist Pope, many years 
 later, drew in a single Hue, wdien he ascribed to hiin 
 
 . . . . " every virtue under heaven,'* 
 
 aiTived at Newport in Rhode Island, wath a charter 
 from the crown to found a college at Bermuda, the 
 object of w hich w as declared to be the instruction of 
 scholars in theology and literature, w ith a view to 
 propagate the Christian faith and civilization, not 
 only in parts of America subject to the British au- 
 thority, but among the heathen. The French, by the 
 treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, had ceded certain lands in 
 St. Kitts to the British crown, and the good Queen 
 Anne had designed these lands, to the amount of 
 £80,000, as a fund for the support of four Bishops 
 in America; but she died in the next year, and her 
 truly Christian design was forgotten or permitted to 
 slumber in neglect. Sir Robert Walpole, first lord of 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 77 
 
 the Treasury and prime minister in the reign of 
 George the Second, after much importunity on the 
 part of Dean Berkeley and his sui)porters, reluctantly 
 proposed to the House of Commons, and the proposal 
 was accepted, to apply out of the crown lands in St. 
 Kitts £20,000 to promote the object described in the 
 Royal charter for the college at Bermuda. This al- 
 lowance, with the noljle subscriptions of his friends, 
 and the amount realized from his private resources, 
 was sufficient to inspire confidence in the success of 
 the Dean's enterprise,— an enterprise which he had 
 projected and advocated from the first with singular 
 eloquence and enthusiasm, notwithstanding constant 
 opposition in high places, such as would have utterly 
 discouraged a less brave and cheerful spirit. At the 
 summit of fame and fortune, an object of attraction 
 in a society of distinguished and cultivated minds, 
 he offered to relinquish his rich and honoral^le pre- 
 ferment, and devote the remainder of his days, at a 
 salary of £100 per annum, to a benevolent work for 
 the good of this country. His arrival in Rhode Island 
 was followed by the purchase there of land at his own 
 cost, and the erection upon it of a farm-house, Avliere 
 he lived with his flimily, regarding this as a convenient 
 spot from which intercourse might be kept up with 
 the Bermudas, and supplies, to 'a hmited extent, se- 
 cured for the future college. ^^At one time;' says 
 Anderson in his "History of the Colonial Church," 
 "after his arrival at NcAvport, Berkeley thouglit that 
 Rhode Island possessed so many more advantages 
 than the Bermudas, that he entertained the thouirht 
 of transferring tlie college thither. But, fearhig lest 
 this change might throw some difficulty in the Vv ay of 
 
78 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 79 
 
 receiving the promised grant, and for other reasons, 
 he judged it best to adhere to the original design." 
 
 Willie waiting patiently for the government money 
 before he sailed to Bermuda and entered upon the 
 further prosecution of his cherished scheme, he turned 
 his attention to severe mental studies, and, to use his 
 language, " united in his own person the philosopher 
 and the farmer, two characters not so inconsistent 
 in nature as by custom they seem to be." His im- 
 mortal work, entitled "Alciphron, or the Minute Phi- 
 losopher," — aiming at the cavils of the prominent 
 freethinkers of that day, some of whom he had met 
 in their clubs, to learn the current of their thoughts, 
 — was composed wholly or in part while he enjoyed 
 " liberty and leisure in this distant retreat, far beyond 
 the verge of that great whirlpool of business, faction, 
 and pleasure, which is called the ivorUr Whatever 
 fears may have arisen in his mind with respect to the 
 cause of the delay in transmitting the promised grant, 
 it does not appear that he gave them utterance, or 
 that he believed it possible for the government at last 
 to violate its solemn pledge. But in trusting to such 
 a prime minister as Walpole, he was leaning upon a 
 broken reed. A sore disappointment awaited him, 
 for the Bishop of London (Dr. Gibson), after having 
 received many unsatisfactory excuses, begged the 
 favor of an interview with the minister, that he might 
 obtain, for the sake of Berkeley, a definite answer 
 to his application whether the grant w^ould be paid. 
 The interview w\as allowed, and Walpole gave this 
 characteristic reply: "If you put this question to me 
 as a minister, I must, and can assure you, that the 
 money shall most undoubtedly be paid as soon as 
 
 suits wdth public convenience ; but if you ask me as 
 a friend, wdiether Dean Berkeley should continue in 
 America, expecting the payment of £20,000, I advise 
 him by all means to return home to Europe, and to 
 give up his present expectations." 
 
 That w\as the treacherous bloAv which felled to the 
 dust what Sir James Mackintosh termed "a work of 
 heroic, or, rather, godlike benevolence." It was given 
 by the same prime minister to whom belongs the 
 deep disgrace of having defeated the two noblest 
 projects that ever w^ere formed for the benefit of the 
 American Church,— the one for the erection of four 
 Bishoprics in 1713, and the other for \\\^ establish- 
 ment of a Missionary College at Bermuda in 1729. 
 The whole amount of eighty thousand pounds arising 
 from the sale of the crown lands in St. Kitts, the oblf- 
 gation which rested upon a part of it having been thus 
 unjustly released, was bestowed as a marriage portion 
 upon the Princess Royal, and so the Government, 
 for reasons of state, consented to the robbery of the 
 Church. 
 
 Dean Berkeley had no alternative left him but to 
 submit to his disappointment and abandon ''a scheme, 
 whereon he had expended much of his private fortune, 
 and more than seven years of the prime of his life." 
 He embarked for his native country in September, 
 1731, just three years after his departure from it for 
 Ehode Island, not, however, without some consoling 
 anticipation of better things for the land where he 
 had sojourned. 
 
 " Westward the course of empire takes its way." 
 
 He was welcomed, upon his return, by Queen Caroline, 
 
 p 
 
80 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 and by tlie great and good of England ; and in the 
 metaphysical discnssions carried on in the court he 
 showed his Cliristian and philosophical mind, and 
 became "the distinguished coadjutor of Sherlock and 
 Smalridge against Clarke and Iloadley, touching the 
 principles of the Bangorian controversy." The influ- 
 ence thus gained among those who then occupied liigli 
 places, joined to his blameless and holy life, secured 
 him promotion, and he was consecrated in 1734 Bishop 
 of Cloyne in Ireland, a see which he filled ^Wtli con- 
 spicuous honor to himself and advantage to the 
 Church. This step on the part of the crown was some 
 atonement for the great trouble and mortification to 
 which he had been subjected in his scheme for a col- 
 lege at Bermuda. 
 
 But Berkeley's sojourn in Rhode Island was not 
 without benefit to the Church in its remoter results. 
 He distributed among his clerical friends the valualjle 
 books which he l)rouglit over with him, and '^made a 
 donation of all his own works to the library of Yale 
 College " before he departed for Europe. In the an- 
 niversary sermon which he i)reached at London soon 
 after his return, before the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, he gave his de- 
 liberate testimony in favor of the prudence tind piety 
 of the missionaries in the New-England colonies. He 
 was the first preacher on such an occasion who had 
 come from an actual survey of the distant fields of 
 duty and the laborers therein, and hence his words 
 seemed to have the impress of authority stamped upon 
 them, when he said, " I speak it knowingly, that the 
 ministers of the Gospel in those provinces which go 
 by the name of New England, sent and s^ipported at 
 
 I 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 81 
 
 the expense of this Society, have, by their sobriety of 
 manners, discreet behavior, and a competent degree 
 of useful knowledge, shown themselves worthy the 
 choice of those who sent them, and particularly in 
 living on a more friendly footing with the brethren 
 of the separation." 
 
 He had been an eye-witness of the evil fruits wdiich 
 sprung from seed sown in religious fanaticism; and 
 after stating in the same sermon that the bulk of the 
 people whom he had known in this country^ "lived 
 without the sacraments, not being so much as bap- 
 tized," he added, "and as for their morals, I appre- 
 hend there is nothing to be found in them that should 
 tempt others to make an experiment of their prin- 
 ciples, either in religion or government." Still he 
 had an influence wdiich was felt and remembered 
 among such a people ; for, wdienever he preached, as 
 he often did for the Missionary at Newport, he at- 
 tracted large and attentive congregations. "All sects," 
 we are told, "rushed to hear him; even the Quakers, 
 with their broad-brimmed hats, came and stood in the 
 aisles," to listen to this great dignitary of the Church 
 of Eng:land. 
 
 But Dean Berkeley exerted another influence which 
 bore more directly upon Connecticut. No sooner had 
 his arrival in America been publicly announced than 
 Mr. Johnson, who had read his " Principles of Human 
 
 1 " Bishop Barkley saw very little of New England, was hard'y ever off 
 Rhode Island, never in Connecticut; nor at Boston till he went thither to 
 take passage for London. Accordingly the Bishop confines the account 
 in his sermon almost wholly to Rhode Island, and I think he describes it 
 very justly. He does indeed say that some part of his description may 
 possibly be found to extend to other colonies." — Noah Ilobart's Second 
 Address to the Episcopal Separation in New England," p. 145. 
 
 6 
 
 ill 
 
82 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Knowledge," and formed a high opinion of his ability, 
 paid him a visit, and the acquaintance begun with 
 this interview ripened into a warm friendship and 
 correspondence, which the distinguished sons main- 
 tained long after the parents had gone to their final 
 rest. In many respects the minds of these two divines 
 were similarly constituted, and at that period their 
 thoughts and studies were turned in similar directions. 
 It was a bright spot in the life of Johnson that he 
 was permitted for two years and a half to have fre- 
 quent intercourse with a man of such genius, such 
 profound erudition, fine taste, disinterested benevo- 
 lence, and withal consistent and devoted piety. When 
 the Dean was about to leave America, he visited 
 him for the last time, and ventured on that occa- 
 sion to recommend to his friendly notice the Institu- 
 tion for which he still retained a deep interest and 
 loved as a dutiful son, ^^not having any further view," 
 as he himself notes, in his MS. autobiography, "than 
 to hope he might send it some good books." He rec- 
 ollected how largely he and his brethren in former 
 years had been profited by such books, and he felt 
 that by enriching the library of Yale College with 
 choice contributions, a like benefit would be extended 
 to other generations. Berkeley had already formed 
 a favorable opinion of the Institution from his ac- 
 quaintance with some of its chief managers, and upon 
 his return to England, " assisted by several gentlemen 
 who had been liberal subscribers to his o^vn intended 
 college," he sent over nearly a thousand volumes, 
 i valued at about five hundred pounds, — "the finest col- 
 f lection of books," according to President Clap, "which 
 I had then ever been brought, at one time, to America." 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 83 
 
 He also transmitted to Mr. Johnson a deed conveying 
 to the Trustees of the same institution his farm of \ 
 ninety-six acres in Rhode Island, which is still desig- 
 nated as the "Dean's Farm." His special object in 
 this grant was the encouragement of classical learn- 
 ing,— the conditions of the deed being that the net 
 income shall be appropriated to the maintenance of 
 the three best scholars in Greek and Latin, who shall 
 reside in New Haven at least nine months in a year, 
 in each of the three years between the first and sec- 
 ond degrees; the candidates annually sustaining a 
 public examination in the presence of the senior Epis- 
 copal missionary within the colony. "This premium," 
 says President Clap, in his history, "has been a great 
 incitement to a laudable ambition to excel in a knowl- 
 edge of the classics." Johnson mentions in his auto- 
 biography, that " the Trustees, though they made an 
 appearance of much thankfulness, were almost afraid 
 to accept the noble donation." They remembered 
 how the writings of some of the best divines of the 
 English Church had mfluenced a portion of their schol- 
 ars in times past, and they could hardly persuade 
 themselves that an evil design was not meditated 
 under the semblance of these benefactions. But bet- 
 ter counsels prevailed, the books and lands were re- 
 ceived, and Berkeley estabhshed a friendly corre- 
 spondence with the authorities, which was continued 
 to the latest period of his Hfe. In a letter written 
 July 25, 1751, less than a year and a half before his 
 death, he speaks of the " great satisfaction " which he 
 had derived in hearing through the President " that 
 learning continues to make notable advances in Yale 
 College." Some may have smiled, 
 
84 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 " That those, in him, themselves will glorify, 
 Who reap his fields, but let his doctrine die." 
 
 It was a singular mark of ingratitude that, at the 
 very next Commencement (1734) after these dona- 
 tions, Rector Williams, then at the head of the Insti- 
 tution, and whom Johnson says he knew to be "a 
 great enemy to the Church, and of an insidious tem- 
 per," plotted, with certain ministers in Massachusetts, 
 under the lead of his father, to deprive all the EjdIsco- 
 pal congregations here of their pastors, by dei^riving 
 the pastors of their salaries. This attempt was made 
 in a letter to the Bishop of London, through the hands 
 of Dr. Colman, full of abuse and groundless com- 
 plaints, but it failed for the very sufficient reason that 
 the Society would not entertain these complaints 
 unless they were accompanied by proof, and the proof 
 which was subsequently offered was lighter than van- 
 itj itself 
 
 A spirit of inquiry into the points of Scriptural dif- 
 ference between Congregationalism and the Church of 
 England was well extended as early as 1730, through- 
 out the Colony of Connecticut. Tlie construction put 
 upon the law which had been adopted for the relief 
 of Episcopalians, forced them to redouble their exer- 
 tions and renew their appeals to the Society for resi- 
 dent missionaries. And Providence opened a way to 
 satisfy the more urgent of these appeals. Sundry "in- 
 I habitants of New London, Groton, and places adjacent, 
 I who had petitioned once and again " to no purpose, 
 I renewed their requests in the spring of this year, stat- 
 |ing that the church which they had erected at much 
 expense "continues shut up, to the derision of its 
 enemies, but to our great grief and discomfort, with 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 85 
 
 this only abatement, that it stands a monument and 
 witness for us how earnestly we desire the blessing" of 
 a pastor. The Eev. James McSparran, the Missionary 
 in the Narragansett countrj^, visited them occasionally, 
 and officiated in the church before its comi^letion. He 
 was the nearest Episcopal clergyman, and appears to 
 have been mstrumental in laying its foundation; but 
 when, in his work entitled " America Dissected," he 
 speaks of the inhabitants of Connecticut and says, "I 
 myself began our Church by occasional visits anion cr 
 them at a place called New London, and that has given 
 rise to others, so that the Society maintain at this day, 
 and in this colony, eight Episcopal Missionaries," he 
 claims rather more than properly belongs to his eflbrts 
 or his influence. The Church was not introduced into 
 Connecticut from Rhode Island, but from the Prov- 
 ince of New York, as it has been shown in a former 
 chapter. Pigot and Johnson, while Missionaries at 
 Stratford, both visited New London and preached, and 
 baptized there each a child, the one a son and tlie^ 
 other a daughter, from the same famih^, and that, too, 
 prior to 1725, the year in which the first movement 
 towards the erection of a church was made.^ Mr. 
 Johnson, in a communication to the Society in that 
 same year, speaks of having obtained ^^considerable 
 subscriptions" to build a church in New London, 
 "and a piece of land to set it on," — the custom pre- 
 vailmg in those days, as it does in these, to solicit 
 
 1 April 25th, 1723, Mr. Pigot preached in New London, and baptized 
 John, infiint son of William and Mary Norton. October 25, 1724, Mr. 
 Johnson baptized in the same town Sarah, infant daujrhter of William 
 and Mary Norton. Mr. Johnson, in recording the baptism in his Parish 
 Register, makes this " N. B. — Mr. Talbot baptized Lauzerne, son ol 
 Richard and Elizabeth Wilson, at New London, Oct. 15, 1724." 
 
86 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 87 
 
 Christian charity from the strong and rich in behalf 
 of the weak and destitute. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Seabur}^, the father of Bishop Seabury^ 
 a graduate of Harvard University in 1724, to which 
 institution he transferred himself from Yale, after the 
 disturbance about Rector Cutler, was born in Groton, 
 and was the first preacher to "the Second Ecclesi- 
 astical Society," organized by permission of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly in the north part of that town. This 
 was in 1726. But after a few weeks, the Concrreira- 
 tional licentiate, who had come within the light of 
 Episcopacy, gave up his charge as stated supply in 
 North Groton, and finally, with letters dated in the 
 spring of 1730, recommending him to the notice of 
 Bishop Gibson, he crossed the ocean for valid ordi- 
 nation, and appeared before the Society on the 21st 
 of August in the same year.^ The New London peti- 
 tioners spoke of him as " a gentleman born and bred 
 in this country," and "therefore sure of a welcome 
 reception in whatsoever vacancy he is sent to fill in 
 New England ; " and so they begged with all earnest- 
 ness that their " destitute condition might come into 
 remembrance at the Board, when he applied for a 
 mission." Their prayer was supported by the clergy 
 here, and granted by the Society. lie returned to 
 New London, arriving there December 9th, 1730, and 
 began his services in the yet unfinished church to 
 about one hundred persons, of whom fourteen only 
 were communicants. He is recorded as having met 
 with his parishioners April 10th, 1732, when the first 
 Church-wardens and Vestrymen were chosen ; and thus 
 the third Episcopal parish, with a house of worship and 
 
 1 Hawkins, p. 294. 
 
 a resident minister, Avas fully established in the Colony 
 of Connecticut. 
 
 Thoi-gh the number of those who had actually con- 
 formed to the Church of England was small at this 
 period, still there was a large number that ventured 
 to look kindly on her services, and the grosser attacks 
 of her enemies did not check the disposition to hear 
 or read what was spoken or published in her defence. 
 Johnson, writing to the Society in the autumn of 1730, 
 after referring to the increase of "a good temper 
 toward the Church," added: "One thing I have par- 
 ticularly to rejoice in, and that is, that I have a very 
 considerable influence in the college in my neigh- 
 borhood ; and that a love to the Church gains ground 
 greatly in it. Several young men that are graduates, 
 and some young ministers, I have prevailed with to 
 read and consider the matter so far, that they are 
 very uneasy out of the communion of the Church, and 
 some seem much disposed to come into her service^ 
 and those that are best aflected to the Church are the 
 brightest and most studious of any that are educated 
 in the country." 
 
 John Pierson and Isaac Brown — brother of that 
 promising young man who accompanied Cutler and 
 Johnson to England for ordination, but died of the 
 small-pox before his return — graduated at Yale Col- 
 lege in 1729; and Pierson is entered in the Parish 
 Eegister of Stratford as making his first communion 
 on Christmas day, 1732. In due time these young 
 men went over for Holy Orders, but were returned 
 to fields of missionary labor in other provinces than 
 Connecticut,^ and the name of Isaac Brown appeared 
 
 1 Pierson was at Salem, N. J., where he died in 1747. 
 
88 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 89 
 
 in the list of the Society for a full half century. It 
 was considered a great hardship that the candidates 
 were thus subjected to the peril and expense of a 
 voyage to England to obtain Avliat the Church had a 
 right to demand should be given them here. The 
 want of a resident Bishop was one mighty obstacle 
 wliich stood in the way of a more rapid growth. It 
 aflbrded occasion for the opposers of the Church to 
 deride her members or charge them with inconsist- 
 ency in vindicating a threefold ministry and Apos- 
 toHc order, while they were practically Avithout Epis- 
 copal supervision. It embarrassed the clergy in a 
 portion of their work; so much so that the senior 
 Missionary in the colony, in the summer of 1731, ad- 
 dressed the Bishop of London, and "humljly pre- 
 sumed to beg his Lordship's directions" relative to 
 the exhortation, after baptism, to the sponsors, re- 
 quiring them to bring the child to the Bishop to be 
 confirmed. "Some," he added, "wholly omit this ex- 
 hortation, because it is impracticable; others insert 
 the words, ('if there be opportunity,') because our ad- 
 versaries object to it as a mere jest, to order the god- 
 fathers to bring the child to the Bishop, when there 
 is none within a thousand leagues of us, which is a 
 reproach that we cannot answer." Tliere was no dis- 
 position to vary from what was wisely established at 
 home, except in things confessedly indifferent and cir- 
 cumstantial in their own nature, and this, for the good 
 of the cause, that the Missionaries might have less 
 occasion to employ themselves in pleading among 
 the people about "the ceremonies and constitutions 
 of the Church," and more time to devote in " advanc- 
 ing the great essentials and vitals of rehgion." 
 
 Early in 1732 that "popular and insinuating young 
 man," whose settlement by the Independents at New- 
 town, eight years before, had been so acceptable to 
 all classes, pubhcly informed his people of a change 
 in his views, and declared his readiness to receive 
 orders in the Church of England. Mr. Johnson bap- 
 tized his infant son in February, and he himself is 
 entered as a communicant in the Parish Register at 
 Stratford, his native place, under date of April 9th in 
 the same year, wdiich w\as Easter day. A sagacious 
 Puritan mother of that time illustrated tlie ten- 
 dency of candid inquiry, when she predicted this re- 
 sult in her own mind, and told her son, after it w\as 
 accomplished, that she "knew Mr. Beach would turn 
 churchman, for she never heard of any one that kept 
 reading Church-books, but what always did." He w^as 
 a graduate of Yale in 1721, and cherished a high re- 
 spect for Rector Cutler, by wdiom, wdien a boy at 
 Stratford, his desire for a classical education Avas spe- 
 cially encouraged. He studied the great controversy 
 of the times with the best helps which he could 0I3- 
 tain before his settlement; but he reopened it with 
 Mr. Johnson, once his cohege Tutor, on the occasion 
 of that gentleman's periodical visits to Newtown, and 
 made " the various points of difference hitherto sup- 
 posed to exist between them " the " constant subjects 
 of inquiry, reflection, and prayer." Though much 
 esteemed for his scholarship, piety, and zeal, his decla- 
 ration for Episcopacy "was followed by the display 
 of greater bitterness and violence among his Congre- 
 gationalist neighbors than had been witnessed in any 
 of the former instances of defection from their ranks." 
 We shall reserve for another chapter a notice of some 
 
 M 
 
90 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 of the pamphlets published at that period, rudely and 
 maliciously attacking the Church in Connecticut. 
 
 No one went over from this country recommended 
 to the Bishop of London for Holy Orders with better 
 testimonials than John Beach. Johnson spoke of him, 
 from a long acquaintance, as " a very ingenuous and 
 studious person, and a truly serious and conscientious 
 Christian." Besides these testimonials, he bore with 
 him a petition from Lemuel Morehouse and others, 
 " members of the Church of England in Redding and 
 Newtown," renewing their request for a share in the 
 charities of the Honorable Society, and particularly 
 that Mr. Beach might be appointed a Missionary in 
 the town and vicinity where he was so well known 
 and respected and beloved. The petition was granted, 
 and the usual allowance for salary appropriated ; but 
 upon his return from England, in September 1732, he 
 found the affections of his old parishioners alienated 
 from him, and himself and his plans for the Church op- 
 posed with increased rancor. A tribe of Lidians, three 
 miles distant from Newtown, to whom he was charged 
 by the Society to extend his ministrations, had been 
 stirred up to resist him and treat him with indignity 
 and violence, under the ridiculous plea that he was 
 about to rob them of their lands and draw from them 
 money for his support. But none of these things 
 moved him away from his godly work. Because there 
 was no suitable place for assembling, he invited the 
 few professors of the Church of England to meet in 
 his own house, where for a considerable time he 
 conducted the public services. " He pressed on with 
 resolute and cheerful spirit ; conciliating many of the 
 Indians, and gathering around him large congrega- 
 
 m CONNECTICUT. 
 
 91 
 
 tions of his own countrymen." In his first report 
 to the Society, made six months after his arrival at 
 his mission, he says : ^' I have now forty-four commu- 
 nicants, and their number increases every time I 
 administer the Communion." And of his flock he 
 remarks : " The people here have a high esteem of f 
 the Church, and are now greatly rejoiced that they 
 have an opportunity of worshipping God in that way, 
 and have begun to build two small churches, the one 
 at Newtown, and the other at Redding." It is said 
 that the frame of the building in Newtown, twenty- 
 eight feet long and twentj^-four wide, was raised on 
 Saturday, the roof-boards put on the same evening, 
 and the next day the handful of churchmen assembled 
 for divine service under its imperfect protection, sit- 
 ting upon the timbers and kneeling upon the ground. 
 Thus we have reached, in and through the year 
 1734, the organization of the fourth and fifth Episco- 
 pal parishes in Connecticut, with church edifices and \ 
 settled ministers. By this time, the light was again 
 streaming up from North Groton, in the eastern part 
 of the State; for Ebenezer Punderson, the successor 
 of Samuel Seabury in the Congregational ministry 
 there, had declared for Episcopacy, and he was already 
 on his way to England for Holy Orders, and with a 
 petition to be returned to the scene of his former 
 labors. This change in the sentiments of their pastor 
 occurring for a second time, was a great discourage- 
 ment to the North Society; and in a memorial to the 
 General Assembly, May, 1734, asking that body to 
 interpose and enact something for their relief, men- 
 tion is made of their happiness under Mr. Punderson 
 for about two years and a half, when '' it pleased God 
 
92 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 93 
 
 in His Providence to leave him to believe and hold 
 some things they thought erroneous," and notwith- 
 standing " many private conferences, associations and 
 counsels of reverend ministers/' in the neighborhood, 
 " together with fasting and prayers for his recovery," 
 Mr. Punderson still persisted in his views, and ^' ten 
 or twelve of the people of the parish and heads of 
 families signed his paper and contributed money to 
 him to bear his expenses to England" for ordination. 
 Relieved of a portion of his cares by the appointment 
 of Mr. Beach to the mission at Newtown, Mr. John- 
 son directed his attention to other quarters, and in 
 the autumn of this same year he ascended the valley 
 of the Naugatuck as flir as Waterbury, and baptized 
 an infant son of Nathaniel Gunn. This was undoubt- 
 edly the first instance in that town of the dedication 
 of a child to God " by our office and ministry," and 
 the first occasion on which the forms of the Liturgy 
 were used there by a clergyman of the Church of 
 England. 
 
 Johnson at Stratford, Caner at Fairfield, the elder 
 Seabury at New London, Beach at Newtown and 
 Eedding, — foxir missionaries, with five houses of wor- 
 ship, — constituted the working clerical force of the 
 Church in Connecticut down to the end of the year 
 1734. The gain within the last lustrum had been the 
 greatest in new localities or stations. The rooted tree 
 was shooting upward and spreading out its salubrious 
 branches, and many were finding beneath tliem a kind 
 shelter for the refreshment of their weary souls. As 
 often as we look back to this day of small things, and 
 contrast it, in no spirit of vain boasting, vvith the 
 fidler prosperity of the Church in these times, we dis- 
 
 
 cern the footprints of the divine mercy marking a 
 perilous path, and recognize also the overruling Prov- 
 idence of God in ordering and governing the affairs 
 of that '' kingdom " which " is not of this world." If 
 we have evils now to contend with of a nature to 
 cause us sleepless solicitude, and if the Church, be- 
 cause she holds the trutlis of the Bible in their integ- 
 rity, is to be maintained as a bulwark against i\\e 
 modern forms of popular error and unbelief, let us 
 not forget the lessons of the past, nor the battles 
 which were fought in this colony, when our mustered 
 w^atchmen on the walls were fewer than the finoers 
 upon the right hand. When Gregory Nazianzen, 
 Bishop of Constantinople, bade adieu to his people 
 in the great church of St. Sophia, before an hnmense 
 auditory, his last words were : " My dear children, pre- 
 serve the Deposiinm of Faith, and remember the stones 
 which have been thrown at me, because I planted it 
 in your hearts." If we turn from " the stones which 
 were thrown at them," let us never forget the reso- 
 lute men who planted and watered the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church in Connecticut, looking in sure faith 
 to God for the increase. 
 
94 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY; AND THE GROWTH OF THE PARISHES. 
 
 A. D. 1734-1738. 
 
 Eeligious controversy has too often revealed the 
 bad passions of hmnan nature. Conducted in a spirit 
 which by no means comports with the work of our 
 Divine Saviour, it has been a fruitful source among 
 Christian denominations of alienation and bitterness, 
 of invective and reproach. He always gains an ad- 
 vantage over his opponent in every dispute, who, con- 
 scious of the justness of his cause and the strength of 
 his argument, preserves an equanimity of temper, and 
 avoids^ the use of harsh language and opprobrious un- 
 christian epithets. 
 
 It became necessary at an early period to defend 
 the Church of England in Connecticut against the 
 public attacks of her enemies, as well as to be vigilant 
 in regard to their secret stratagems. A worthy pa- 
 rishionerof Johnson, at Stratford, had been stoutly as- 
 sailed, in 1725, by Jonathan Dickinson, of New Jersey, 
 on the subject of Episcopacy; and not venturing to 
 measure lances with such an adversary, he made ap- 
 plication to his pastor for the draught of an argument 
 to meet this particular assault; which was furnished, 
 and which the parishioner sent in his own name. It 
 brought forth a reply, and a rejoinder soon followed. 
 At a later date, Mr. Dickinson was pleased to amplify 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 95 
 
 and put in print his own statements, and this of course 
 involved the necessity of pubUshing what had been 
 written on the other side. At this stage of the con- 
 troversy a new champion stepped into the arena,— 
 Mr. Foxcroft of Boston, — and took up the cause 
 against the Church, writing more largely and artfully 
 than the zealous NcAv-Jersey divine. But a single 
 pamphlet in reply from the pen of Johnson appears^o^ 
 have driven him entirely from the field. Fresh antag- 
 onists, however, frequently compelled that sturdy de- 
 fender of Episcopacy to reoccupy the original grounds 
 of controversy so thoroughly explored by him be- 
 fore he determined to witlidraw from his Congre- 
 gational brethren and seek for Holy Orders in "the 
 Church of England. In 1732, provoked, no doubt, by 
 the recent declaration of Mr. Beach at Newtown, John ^ 
 Graham, a Congregational minister in the south part \ 
 of Woodbury, now Southbury, published a most scur- ' 
 rilous and abusive ballad, misrepresenting and ridi- 
 culing the Church, her practices and her members, and 
 closing with these words, — words too indicative of 
 the unhappy spirit which reigned at that period, — 
 
 " They that do thus and won't reform these evils, 
 Are these Christ's Clmrch, pray, or be n't they the Devil's ? " 
 
 William Beach of Stratford, a wealthy gentleman, 
 and brother of the Rev. John Beach, had been charged 
 with the heinous sin of covenant^breaking, because he 
 left the Congregationalists and entered into the com- 
 munion of the Church; and not willing to allow such 
 a charge to go unnoticed, he persuaded Mr. Johnson, 
 both for his own defence and as an antidote to the 
 mahcious ballad of Graham, to draw up and publish 
 
96 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPxVL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 97 
 
 a tract, containing "Plain Reasons for Conforming to 
 the Church." Eeplies and rejoinders followed, and 
 the controversy reached down to the year 1736, when 
 it was closed by Johnson ; and Mr. Graham withdrew 
 from a contest in which he had won no honors for 
 himself and no advantage to his cause. The more 
 the subject of Episcopacy was publicly discussed and 
 the grosser the attacks upon it, the greater was the 
 increase in the number of its adherents. Popular at- 
 tention was drawn to the Church of England by the 
 animated controversies in which her missionaries were 
 mvolvecl, and the examination of her doctrines and 
 worsliip softened or removed in many instances the 
 prejudices of early education. A member of the Httle 
 iock of Mr. Beach at Newtown, returning one day 
 from service, accidentally dropped her Prayer Book, 
 which was picked up, and pronounced by the person 
 into whose hands it fell to be a Mass 3IanuaI, contain- 
 ing very wicked things. Curiosity was excited among 
 Ms neighbors to see the hereticjd and extraordinary 
 book, and several who looked over its pages were so 
 far from agreeing in opinion with him that they found 
 it contained a large portion of the Scriptures, besides 
 several of the excellent prayers which Mr. Beach had. 
 been in the habit of using while serving them accept- 
 ably as a Congregational or Independent minister. 
 The Society in England for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel had furnished its Missionary in this place, as 
 elsewhere, with a number of copies of the Book of 
 Common Prayer for gratuitous distribution, and these 
 were now put in circulation, and the result was, that, 
 in the course of twelve months, eight families were 
 added to the Churchy and as the increased congrega- 
 
 i 
 
 tion rendered a private dw elling inconvenient to meet 
 in, an edifice for public worship was called for and 
 speedily erected, as shown in the previous chapter. 
 
 In 1736 the communicants included in the mission 
 of Mr. Beach were 105, but he was not permitted 
 long to enjoy in quietness this measuro of prosperity. 
 The Rev. Jonathan Dickinson of New Jersey, the Pres- 
 byterian divine who had before appeared as a sharp as- 
 sailant of Episcopacy, again took up his pen to attack 
 the Church, and published in this same year a sermon 
 entitled, '' The Vanity of Human Institutions in the 
 Worship of God." It was in the spirit and style of sim- 
 ilar publications of that day, and evidenced that the 
 author not only misunderstood or purposely misrepre- 
 sented the nature and object of the Liturgy, but that 
 he fixed the sin of schism, the guilt of rendmg the 
 body of Christ, upon all who, from any motive, ^vere 
 led to conform to the Church of England. Copies 
 were freely distributed in Newtown among all classes 
 of people, and churchmen found them in their houses 
 without knowing the source to which they were in- 
 debted for the singular gratuity. Mr. Beach was 
 therefore compelled, in self-defence, to enter the field 
 of controversy, and wrote a little pamphlet called "A 
 Vindication of the Worship of the Church of Eng- 
 land," in which he met all the bold statements of the 
 sermon, and maintained the utility of forms of prayer 
 and their Scriptural sanction, without considering 
 them as of special divine appointment. One hundred) 
 pages in reply followed from Mr. Dickinson, reiterating^ 
 his former charges, and adding some new "misrepre- 
 sentations and slanders," with a zeal which would have 
 done credit to the heart of a Puritan in the times of 
 
 7 
 
98 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 \ 
 
 Oliver Cromwell. But scarcely had the printed sheets 
 become dry before the Missionary was ready with an 
 Appeal to the "Unprejudiced," in the course of which 
 he made this personal allusion, by way of justifying 
 his own withdrawal from Independency: "I have 
 evened the scale of my judgment as much as possibly 
 I could ; and, to the best of my knowledge, I have 
 not allowed one (/rain of worldly motive on either 
 side. I have supposed myself on the brink of eter- 
 nity, just going into the other world, to give up my 
 account to my great Judge ; and must I be branded 
 for an antichrist or heretic and apostate, because my 
 judgment determines that the Church of England is 
 most agreeable to the word of God ? I can speak in 
 the presence of God, who knows my heart better than 
 you do, that I would Avillingly turn dissenter again, 
 if you or any man living would show me reason for 
 it. But then it must be reason, (whereby I exclude 
 pot the word of God, the highest reason,) and not 
 sophistry and calumny, as you have hitherto used, 
 that will convince a lover of truth and right." 
 
 The immediate effect of this prolonged controversy 
 was to double the number of churchmen in Newtown; 
 and in New Jersey, also, some thanks were due to Mr. 
 Dickinson for the indirect benefit which he contrib- 
 uted to the very cause that he attempted to destroy. 
 
 The Church of England, in all this time, was stead- 
 ily gaining strength in other parts of the Colony of 
 Connecticut. The truly Christian deportment of the 
 clergy recommended her doctrines to the people, and 
 many of them would hear and read, notwithstanding 
 the repeated warnings of the Congregational minis- 
 ters to avoid the public services, the instructions and 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 99 
 
 the books of churchmen. Mr. Beach often officiated 
 and administered the sacraments at Eidgefield, dis- 
 tant from his residence about eighteen miles, where, 
 in 1735, there were nearly twenty "famiHes of very 
 serious and religious people, who had a just esteem 
 of the Church of England, and desired to have the 
 opportunity of worshipping God in that way." At 
 New London the usual attendance upon the stated 
 services of Seabury had greatly increased, in spite of 
 losses by death and other causes; and he had officiated 
 many times in Norwich, more frequently during the 
 absence of Mr. Punderson in England to' obtain "lloly 
 Orders, and once, in mid-summer of 1735, he held a 
 public service in the town of Windham. Here a con- 
 gregation of eighty people assembled, some of whom 
 lingered for hours after the service was closed, seek- 
 ing information in regard to the Church; and having 
 obtained it, they confessed that her doctrines had 
 been sadly misrepresented, and that henceforth they 
 should have a more favorable opinion of their char- 
 acter and tendency. In August of the next year he 
 reported to the Society his remarkable success at 
 Hebron, an inland town, which he had visited by the 
 importunity of the people six times, two of which 
 occasions had been on Sundays. More than twenty 
 families, there and in the neighboring places, already 
 conformed to the Church, and he had administered the 
 sacrament of the Lord's Supper to fourteen commu- 
 nicants. He was allowed afterwards ten pounds a 
 year for such ministrations, which became stated. 
 The secret of this success was, that a parish had been 
 formed at Hebron as early as 1734, when the first 
 minister of the town, the Eev. John Bliss^ ha\dng been 
 
98 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Oliver Cromwell. But scarcely had the printed sheets 
 become dry before the Missionary was ready with an 
 Appeal to the "Unprejudiced," in the course of which 
 he made this personal allusion, by way of justifying 
 Ms own withdrawal from Independency: "I have 
 evened the scale of my judgment as much as possibly 
 I could ; and, to the best of my knowledge, I have 
 not allowed one grain of worldly motive on either 
 side. I have supposed myself on the brink of eter- 
 nity, just going into the other world, to give up my 
 account to my great Judge ; and must I be branded 
 for an antichrist or heretic and apostate, because my 
 judgment determines that the Church of England is 
 mosl agreeable to the word of God? I can speak in 
 the presence of God, who knows my heart better than 
 you do, that I would wilUngly turn dissenter again, 
 if you or any man living would show me reason for 
 it. But then it must be reason, (whereby I exclude 
 not the word of God, the highest reason,) and not 
 sophistry and calumny, as you have hitherto used, 
 that will convince a lover of truth and right." 
 
 The immediate effect of this prolonged controversy 
 was to double the number of churchmen in Newtown ; 
 and in New Jersey, also, some thanks were due to Mr. 
 Dickinson for the indirect benefit which he contrib- 
 uted to the very cause that he attempted to destroy. 
 
 The Church of England, in all this time, was stead- 
 ily gaining strength in other parts of the Colony of 
 Connecticut. The truly Christian deportment of the 
 clergy recommended her doctrines to the people, and 
 many of them would hear and read, notwithstanding 
 the repeated warnings of the Congregational minis- 
 ters to avoid the public services, the instructions and 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 99 
 
 the books of churchmen. Mr. Beach often officiated 
 and administered the sacraments at Eidgefield, dis- 
 tant from his residence about eighteen miles, where, 
 in 1735, there were nearly twenty "families of very 
 serious and religious people, who had a just esteem 
 of the Church of England, and desired to have the 
 opportunity of worshipping God in that Avay." At 
 New London the usual attendance upon the stated 
 services of Sealjury had greatly increased, in spite of 
 losses by death and other causes; and he had officiated 
 many times in Norwich, more frequently during the 
 absence of Mr. Punderson in England to^ obtain Holy 
 Orders, and once, in mid-summer of 1735, he held a 
 public service in the town of AVindham. Here a con- 
 gregation of eighty people assembled, some of whom 
 lingered for hours after the service was closed, seek- 
 ing information in regard to the Church; and having 
 obtained it, they confessed that her doctrines had 
 been sadly misrepresented, and that henceforth they 
 should have a more favorable opinion of their char- 
 acter and tendency. In August of the next year he 
 reported to the Society his remarkable success at 
 Hebron, an inland town, which he had visited by the 
 importunity of the people six times, two of which 
 occasions had been on Sundays. More than twenty 
 families, there and m the neighboring places, already 
 conformed to the Church, and he had administered the 
 sacrament of the Lord's Supper to fourteen commu- 
 nicants. He was allowed afterwards ten pounds a 
 year for such ministrations, which became stated. 
 The secret of this success was, that a parish had been 
 formed at Hebron as early as 1734, when the first 
 minister of the town, the Rev. John BHsS; having been 
 
100 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 dismissed from liis pastoral labors hy an ecclesiastical 
 council, declared for Episcopacy, and was followed by 
 a number of his warmest adherents. A house of wor- 
 ship, the sixth in the colony, was erected the next 
 year, and Mr. Bliss for some time supplied them with 
 services as a lay reader. 
 
 Mr. Punderson, who went to England for ordination 
 in the spring of 1734, was returned by the Society 
 "as an itinerant Missionary, to take care of some 
 towns which had petitioned for ministers." North 
 Groton (now Ledyard) and NorAvich were especially 
 desirous of his services. His residence w^as among 
 the same people whom he had served in the capa- 
 city of a Congregational minister, and who still re- 
 tained for him a strong personal aflection. A parish 
 was soon organized, and a church erected in North 
 Groton, with whose history that of the present parish 
 at Poquetannock is blended. His ministrations in 
 New London County were abundant; and after the 
 removal of Mr. Sealniry to Hempstead on Long Island, 
 he was for a time the only Missionary in that region, 
 and breasted bravely the storms of flmaticism and the 
 spirit of uncharitableness towards the Church, which 
 nowhere in the colony were more furious and extrav- 
 ao^ant. He went bevond Hebron, even to Middle- 
 
 CD V 
 
 town, some forty miles from his home, and, at the 
 earnest solicitation of a considerable number, held a 
 public service there early in the summer of 1739, 
 and had a congregation of nearly one hundred sober- 
 minded people. While these things were going on 
 in the eastern part of Connecticut, the churchmen in 
 the westernmost, under Caner and Wetmore, w^ere 
 watching their opportunities and struggling against 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 101 
 
 the disadvantages of their position. Those hving in 
 the shore towns, (Greenwich and Stamford,) nearest to 
 the Province of New York, found it most convenient 
 to attend upon the ministrations of the Society's Mis-, 
 sionary settled in Rye, and they sought, according to 
 the tenor of the law of this colony, to turn the due 
 proportion of their taxes for the maintenance of re- 
 ligious teachers to the support of Mr. AVetmore. But 
 they failed entirely to accomphsh their object, even 
 though they went so for as to present "an humble 
 address to the General Assembly, praying for a redress 
 of this grievance." 
 
 The Missionary at Fairfield, worn down by the 
 arduous labors of his extensive field, took a voyage to 
 England, with the view of recruitmg his exhausted 
 powers; and the Bishop of Gloucester, writhig to 
 Johnson from London, under date of March 9th, 1736, 
 said, "I wish Mr. Caner, who has the character froin 
 you and every one of a very deserving man, might 
 acquire a better state of health by his journey hither." 
 He opened the same letter with a graceful reference 
 to that important subject which was never out of the 
 minds of the early clergy of Connecticut,— an Ameri- 
 can Episcopate. " You needed no apology for anf 
 application you could make to me in relation to any- 
 thing wherein you might think me capable of serving 
 the Church in America. I wish my capacity were 
 equal to my desire of doing it. No one is more sen- 
 sible of the difficulties in general you labor under in 
 those parts, and in particular of those you complam 
 of for want of a Bishop residing among you. My own 
 interest, to be sure, is inconsiderable ; but the united 
 interest of the Bishops here is not powerful enough 
 
102 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 _ effect so reasonable and right a thing as the send- 
 m(r some Bishops into America." " So reasonable and 
 i [right a thing ! " That was well said ; and had not the 
 'Ichurch of England been entangled with the power of 
 tiie throne, or had not the government been merce- 
 nary and afraid of taking any step which might dis- 
 please the colonies and be snpposed to interfere with 
 their temporal prosperity, or lead to their indepen- 
 dence, America would have been fovored with a 
 Bishop in the beginning of the eighteenth century. 
 
 Mr. Caner was back at his mission in the autumn of 
 1736, with an improved state of health. His brother 
 Eichard, who graduated at Yale College in that year, 
 and became a candidate for Holy Orders, rendered him 
 much assistance in his duties ; for besides teaching a 
 school in Fairfield, he walked over to Norwalk on Sat- 
 urday, and officiated there as a lay reader on Sunday, 
 —using '-a form of prayer extracted out of the Church 
 Liturgy, and some good practical sennon, or other 
 plain printed discourse of the Divines of the Church 
 of England." The gradual growth of the principal 
 parislAn Caner's mission — the parish where he had 
 his residence — led to the measure of erecting a new 
 and larger house of worship. The churchmen of Fair- 
 field had purchased, in 1727, half an acre of land as a 
 glebe, with a house standing thereon, in the centre 
 of the town, and had sent a deed of it to the Society 
 for Propagating the Gospel, by the hands of Mr 
 Henry Caner, when he went to England for ordina- 
 tion. It was an object of the Society, in all cases to 
 obtain from the people pledges of glebes and other 
 means of ministerial support, as a condition on which 
 its own assistance was to be rendered and continued, 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 103 
 
 and probably in no place in the colony were the do- 
 nations more liberal than in Fairfield. Men there 
 remembered the Church in their wills; and Dougal 
 McKenzie, the father-in-law of Rev. Henry Caner, en- 
 tailed for its benefit a levy upon the whole of his real 
 estate. It is true, all which was thus donated was 
 not secured; but enough was secured to give vigor 
 to the missionary enterprise of the Society, and'^to 
 gladden the hearts of churchmen, at the same time 
 that they felt an abatement of the persecuting spirit 
 and temper of the people. 
 
 ^ The old edifice, opened in 1725, and which was suffi- 
 ciently capacious to admit of galleries for a hundred 
 persons or more, had become, to quote a unique 
 l^hrase of that time, " much too little for the congre- 
 gation," besides being " near a mile from the centre 
 of the town." The second church was commenced in 
 1738; and at a town-meeting held July 27th of that 
 same year, a vote was adopted giving " Hberty to the 
 members of the Church of England" to build it, upon 
 certain conditions, "on the highway near the Old 
 Field gate," about eighty rods from the meeting- 
 house. With the aid of donations from New York 
 and the Society in England, it was completed in a 
 "very decent manner"; being fifty-five feet in length, 
 thirty-five in breadth, and twenty in height, " witli a 
 handsome steeple and spire of one hundred feet, and 
 a good bell of five hundred Aveight." 
 
 Thus the second parish organized in Connecticut 
 had so fixr outstripped in prosperity the mother-church 
 at Stratford as to be many years before it in the erec- 
 tion of its second and larger house of worship. 
 
 Several respectable families were added to the 
 
104 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Church of England at Nonvalk by the occasional min- 
 istrations of Mr. Caner, and the whole number there 
 was so great as to warrant the organization of a parish 
 in 1737, and the building of a small church about the 
 same time. The inHuence of his brother as a lay 
 reader undoubtedly contributed to this growth; but 
 the creneral attention to reliorion, awakened at that 
 period throughout New England, was an advantage 
 to the Episcopal Church, and a providence which its 
 few clergy, in all missionary stations, were diligent to 
 improve. Dr. Trumbull, in his ''History of Connec- 
 ticut," after speaking of the "dreadful disease called 
 the throat distemper," which was attended witli such 
 extraordinary mortality as to sweep off suddenly and 
 entirelv manv families of children, thus introduces the 
 spiritual condition of the colony : 
 
 " The country was filled with mourners and bitter 
 Jiflliction. But the people in general continued se- 
 cure. The forms of religion were kept up, but there 
 appeared but little of the power of it. Both the 
 wise and foolish virgins seemed to slumber. Profess- 
 ors appeared too generally to become worldly and 
 lukewarm. The young people became loose and 
 vicious, family prayer and religion were greatly neg- 
 lected, the Sabbath was lamentably profaned; the 
 intermissions were spent in worldly conversation. 
 The young people made the evenings after the Lord's 
 day, and after lectures, the times for their mirth and 
 company-keeping. Taverns were haunted, intemper- 
 ance and other vices increased, and the spirit of God 
 appeared to be awfully withdrawn. It seems also to 
 appear that many of the clergy, instead of clearly 
 and powerfully preaching the doctrines of original 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 105 
 
 sm, of regeneration, justification by fiiith alone, and 
 the other peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, contented 
 themselves with preaching a cold, unprincipled, and 
 lifeless morahty; for, when these great doctrines were 
 perspicuously and powerfully preached, and distinc- 
 tions were made between the morahty of Christians, 
 originating in evangelical principles, faith and love' 
 and the morality of heathens, they were oflfended, and 
 became violent opposers. 
 
 ''In this state of general declension and security it 
 pleased God, in sovereign mercy, to begin an extraor- 
 dinary work of conviction and conversion, such as had 
 never been experienced in New England before. It 
 began in several places in Massachusetts and Con- 
 necticut as early as the years 1735 and 1736, but 
 became more extraordinary and much more general 
 in 1740 and 1741." Johnson, writing to a frkmd in 
 London early in the autunui of 1739, says, "I should 
 be glad to know from you what is the general sense 
 of the clergy about Mr. Whitfield and his proceed- 
 mgs, of which our newspapers are generally filled. 
 There has been very much such a stir among the 
 Dissenters in some parts of this country as he makes 
 in England." 
 
 The Church was a gainer in those days of religious 
 excitement by the steady presentation of the truth 
 
 and the calm pursuance of her Scriptural course, 
 
 avoiding on the one hand the extreme of coldness 
 and indifference, and on the other the heats of fix- 
 naticism and uncharitableness. In the year 1736 an 
 accurate inquiry was made into the number of Epis- 
 copal families in the whole colony, and it was found 
 to be about seven hundred. 
 
106 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE CHURCHMEN OF CONNECTICUT PETITIONING FOR A REDRESS 
 OF THEIR GRIEVANCES; AND REACTION OF PUBLIC SENTI- 
 MENT. 
 
 A. D. 1738-1740. 
 
 In 1738 "the members and professors of the Church 
 of Englandj hvmg m Connecticut, being his Majesty's 
 most dutiful and loyal subjects, and sincerely well- 
 attached to the constitution of the Government/' as 
 "incorporated by Royal Charter," humbly addressed 
 the General Assembly, at its May Session, relative to 
 a matter which they apprehended to very nearly con- 
 cern their interests and welfare. They alluded to 
 the Act passed in 1727, whereby they were exempted 
 from contributing to the support of the ministers of 
 the Congregational or Presbyterian persuasion, which 
 were those that were peculiarly countenanced by the 
 laws of the government, and from paying towards 
 building meeting-houses; and from thence they con- 
 cluded, that, in the opinion of the Legislature, it was 
 "not only not right to compel people to the support 
 of that woi\<hip and ministry from which they solely 
 dissented, but also that it was just and right for every 
 one to have the benefit of his own way of worship, 
 and of his own labor and interest to support that way 
 of worship." 
 
 The particular occasion, therefore; of their humble 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 107 
 
 address was this. An Act had been passed in the pre- 
 vious assembly held at New Haven, respecting the 
 seven townships laid out in the western lands be- 
 longing to Connecticut, whereby the moneys to be 
 raised from the sale of those lands, amounting to 
 about £70,000, were appropriated either to tlie use 
 of schools or to the support of the ministers of the 
 Congregational or Presbyterian persuasion, to be di- 
 yided to the parishes in proportion to their several 
 lists, and in such a manner that the members of the 
 Church of England could lay no claim to any share 
 for the support of their ministers or schools ; and a 
 bill had been prepared and passed in the Lower 
 House of the same assembly, which might become a 
 law by further action, whereby the public moneys 
 arising from the Zast Emission (bills of credit) were 
 also to be appropriated to the support of the Con- 
 gregational ministers, and to the utter exclusion of 
 the ministers of the Church of England. Something 
 of this kind had been done on a smaller scale in 
 the towns, and certain sequestered lands had been 
 sold for the maintenance of the established rehgious 
 order. 
 
 The memoriaUsts were so for from envying their 
 Congregational brethren, or wishing to hincfer the 
 passage of measures in their favor, that they heartily 
 applauded the ''good and generous disposition" of 
 the Assembly ; but they claimed that " it would be a 
 manifest injustice for them to be denied their share 
 in the public moneys for the support of their minis- 
 ters"; and hence they recited no less than seven rea- 
 sons why the legislative action should be altered or 
 amended so as "to secure to them their proportion in 
 
108 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 the said public moneys as well as to their brethren of 
 any other denomination." 
 
 These reasons are as interesting as they are forcible, 
 and ought to be briefly noted in this place, as a part 
 of the history of the times. 
 
 The churchmen, therefore, pleaded for their rights, 
 to quote from the language of their memorial, — 
 
 ^' First; because the doctrines and priucipk^s of tlie 
 Church of England do professedly and most certainly 
 tend, (at least equally with those of any other per- 
 suasion,) not only to fit and prepare men for eternal 
 happiness in the life to come, but also to promote the 
 public good of society in this world by teaching them 
 to be sober, virtuous, and industrious in their callings, 
 serious and devout towards God, and just and chari- 
 ta1)le towards men, and in every respect to be good 
 Christians, kind neighbors, upright magistrates, and 
 dutiful subjects. 
 
 "Secondhj; because the Church of England is that 
 profession and persuasion which is established at home 
 in the mother- countrv, and wliich his most sacred 
 Majesty professes, and has bound himself by oath to 
 maintain, from Avhom the colonists received and under 
 whom they held their charter privileges, and who, 
 therefore, with those in the government and admin- 
 istration under him, would be apt to resent any un- 
 equal treatment which the mem1)ers of the Church 
 miglit receive from the provinces abroad under his 
 dominion and protection. 
 
 ^'■ThinUii; because the welflire and happiness of this 
 as well as all other governments depends upon the 
 union and joint endeavors of all its members, in pro- 
 moting one and the same common good and general 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 109 
 
 interest ; whereas an unequal treatment of different 
 denombations of Christians is apt to breed envies, 
 anunosities, and contentions, necessarily ten<lin.r to 
 weaken authority, to destroy the public peace, "and 
 to tonig ni Its train divers disadvantages. 
 
 "Fourthhj; because, in the opinion of the Attorney. 
 Creneral and Solicitoi-. and other gentlemen of the law 
 at home, there could be no such thing as a regular 
 establishment of any one denomination of Christians 
 m Connecticut, to the exclusion of the rest, witiiout 
 an explicit consent of the King's Majesty. 
 
 "FifthJj/; because they had equally a right in equity 
 to their proportion in the unoccupied lands with tlieir 
 brethren of any other denomination ; " since "all the 
 lands within the bounds of the government, beino- 
 purchased or conquered by their common progenitoi^ 
 or ancestors, Avere by the Boi/al Charter alike granted 
 and confirmed, according to their several proportions 
 ot right, to the whole corporation, consisting of the 
 body of the people. 
 
 "SIxihb/; because they bore an equal proportion of 
 tlic pubhc taxes for maintaining the governiiiont " 
 and It was presumable that "they had a right to an 
 equally proportionable share in the benefit accruino- 
 therefrom with those of any otlier denomination in 
 accordance with that just maxim in the law.— (?«/ 
 sentit onus scntire debet et commodiim ; —Be that feels a 
 share in the burden, ought also to enjoy his share 
 m the advantage." And, 
 
 Seveut% and lastly, they claimed consideration be- 
 cause the Act appeared to be manifestly inconsistent 
 with the intent of the law passed in 1727, for the 
 relief of members of the Church of England, and 
 
no 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 which exempted them from taxes for the support 
 of Congregationalism. It is true that law, said to 
 have been adopted at a time w^hen the colonists were 
 apprehensive of losing their charter, was strangely 
 frustrated ; and in some places it was contrived to 
 elude its intent, by comprehending the minister's sup- 
 port in the town-rate, and thereby obliging church- 
 men to contribute to the maintenance of the Congre- 
 gational pastors when they paid their town -rates. 
 Still it was some relief, and was growing to be more 
 and more so, as the Episcopal churches and mission- 
 aries increased. 
 
 Tlie memorial thus earnestly presented, and asking 
 equal privileges and protection, was signed by six 
 hundred and thirtij-dx males, all above sixteen years old, 
 resident in nine parishes or stations, and under the 
 charge of seven clergymen of the Church of England, 
 t. ^., Johnson, Caner, Beach, Arnold, Wetmore, Sea- 
 burv, and Punderson. The consideration of the me- 
 morial was referred to the October Session of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly, when the question was put whether 
 anything should be granted on it, and it was resolved 
 in the negative by both Houses. 
 
 So accustomed were they to such refusals, that the 
 result appears neither to have disappointed the me- 
 morialists, nor altogether to have disheartened them, 
 for the application was renewed by the clergy to the 
 General Assembly at its May Session in 1740; and 
 Johnson, writing to Bishop Berkeley in June of that 
 year, says, in reference to it, " Nothing has yet been 
 done ; next October will be the last time of asking, 
 I)ut I do not expect they will finally grant our peti- 
 tion. However, the Church greatly increases." When 
 
 k'. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Ill 
 
 October came, he wrote to Dr. Bearcroft, the Secre- 
 tary of the Society, thus: "The event is, that rather 
 than let the Church share in it," (the amount arising 
 from the sale of the seven new townships,) "the as- 
 sembly proposed to repeal that law that vested the 
 several Dissenting ministers in then- dividend of it, 
 exclusive of the Church; though I imagine they will 
 have some contrivance yet to serve themselves, and 
 exclude us, for the increase of the Church in the 
 country is very displeasing to those at the helm, and 
 disposes them to distress us all the way they can." 
 The proposition to repeal was adopted, and the pro- 
 ceeds of the sale by a fomier Act went to the main- 
 tenance of popular education. * 
 Connecticut may well remember with gratitude the 
 vigilance of these early churchmen in preventing the 
 threatened diversion to a purely sectarian purpose 
 of what afterwards became, in each of the towns in 
 the colony, a fund for the benefit of schools. 
 
 Jonathan Arnold, the successor of Johnson at West v 
 Haven in the Congregationrl ministrj^, declared for 
 the Chiu'ch of England in 1734, and was entered in 
 the Parish Eegister at Stratford as making his first 
 communion on Easter day of that year, April 14th. 
 An infant son of his was baptized into the Church 
 about the same time; and going to England afterwards 
 for Holy Orders, he w\as, at the earnest desire of Hiq 
 clergy of Connecticut, ordained and appointed an 
 Itinerant Missionary for the colony. The Society 
 was at that time pledged to the full amount of its in- 
 come, and as Mr. Arnold was possessed of some means 
 of his own, he expressed his willingness to serve with- 
 out any stipend or remuneration other than the very 
 
112 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 trifling allowance afforded by the people. His resi- 
 dence was in West Haven, and the chief places be- 
 yond it where he most freqnently officiated Avere 
 Derby and Waterbiiry. In writing to the Secretary 
 of the Society, under date of September 22, 1736, he 
 says: "I performed divine service last Sunday at Mil- 
 ford, one of the most considerable towns in Connec- 
 ticut Colonv, w^liere the use of the Lord's Praver, the 
 Creed, and the Ten Commandments, or the reading 
 the Scripture in di\-ine service, was never before known. 
 There was a very numerous auditor}', most attentive 
 and desirous to be instructed hi the worship of the 
 Church of England ; but those Avho are looking to- 
 wards the Church are commonly the i:)Oorer sort of 
 people ; for the staff of government being in the 
 hands of the Dissenters, who rule the Church with an 
 iron rod, those who receive honor one of another set 
 themselves at a distance, and allow their rage and 
 revenge to increase in proportion to the increase of 
 the Church." 
 
 If Johnson had previously held no pul^lic service 
 in Milford, he had at least, on three separate occa- 
 sions, in 1727, '32, and '34, officiated in baptizing in- 
 fluit sons of the same household. 
 
 A movement was made in 1737 to build a church 
 in Derby, but it appears not to have been finished as 
 late as 1745. The means of churchmen were lim- 
 ited, and all progress in the erection of houses of 
 worship was necessarily slow. Sometimes the parishes 
 were barely organized )jy the Missionaries, and left to 
 grow under their infrequent ministrations, without 
 attempting to build; in other words, left to be saluted 
 by theni; like "the brethren" of old "in Laodicea, and 
 
 \ 
 
 IN COXXECTICUT. 
 
 113 
 
 like Nynijihas, and the chiircli wliich was in lus house " 
 Hence we find it stated that a parish was formed at 
 ^ortli Haven in 1723, and another about the same time 
 at West Haven, but no churches were built in cither 
 of tliese places until many years after%vards, and no 
 records of these early organizations can now ))e traced 
 West Haven was originally a part of New Haven, but 
 m 1822 It was united with North Milford to form the 
 town of Orange. Proceedings to erect an Episcopal 
 church there were begun during the ministry of Mr 
 Arnold, and the frame of the edifice was raised in the 
 spnng of 1740, according to an account of the '• Bene- 
 dictions for the Building of a Church in West Haven- 
 and the Moneys laid out thereon." This account shows' 
 a very liberal expenditure for refreshments on that 
 occasion, in the shape of rum and molasses and mut- 
 ton, and other things deemed essential, in those times, 
 at such popular gatherings. Mr. Arnold, out of his 
 own means, and with the contributions solicited from 
 friends of the Church elsewhere, was by far the most 
 generous benefoctor to the enterprise; "but the edifice 
 was not completed during his continuance in the mis- 
 sion, nor probably Avas it made fit for use as a place 
 of public worship. When the clergy of New En^r. 
 land convened at New London in May, 1740, and sent 
 home to the Honorable Society a representation of 
 the state and desire of a considera))le number of 
 churchmen at Hopkinton and the parts adjacent, with 
 their names appended, that of Jonathan Arnold was 
 not among the signatures, because he had left, or was 
 about to leave, the colony. He attempted to get 
 possession of the land which afterwards Ijecame a°nd 
 is now, except the portion sold, the property of Trin- 
 
114 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 ity Parish in New Haven. This attempt was made 
 before any steps were taken to build a church in 
 West Haven, for Mr. Johnson, writing to Dr. Astry, 
 under date of November 3, 1738, says: "Mr. Arnold 
 lives about eight miles from me ; he is well, and gives 
 his hum])le service to you. He also meets with very 
 injurious treatment from the people of New Haven, 
 where one Mr. Gregson of London gave him a lot to 
 build a church on, which had descended to him from 
 an ancestor of his who was one of the first settlers of 
 that town. Mr. Arnold went the other day to take 
 possession of it, and was allowed, without molestation 
 from the person who had had it in possession, to enter 
 upon it, and ploughed in it till afternoon, when he 
 was mobbed off by one hundred and fifty people.-^ 
 This, with some other affairs, [may] oblige him to 
 take another voyage to England, and I humbly hope 
 he will meet with vour countenance and interest." 
 
 1 In a pamphlet entitled " A Vindication of the Bishop of LandafT's 
 Sermon from the orross misrepresentations and abusive reflections con- 
 tained in ^Ir. Wm. Livingston's Letter to his Lordship," published in 
 1768, the author, afler speaking, on page 40, of the treatment of the 
 Society's Missionaries in New England, gives the following passage : — 
 " Perhaps Air. Livingston may remember some instances of this himself; 
 once, especially, in a gallant exploit performed by the students of Yale Col- 
 lege, in which he was jnore than a spectator. The scene of this nohle action 
 was a lot of ground in the town o^ New Haven, which had been bequeathed 
 to the Church for the use of a Missionary. There these magnanimous 
 champions signalized themselves; for once upon a time, quitting soft dal- 
 liance with the muses, they roughened into sons of Mars, and issuing forth 
 in deep and firm array, with courage bold and undaunted, they not only 
 attacked, but bravely routed a yoke of oxfn and a poor Plowman, 
 which had been sent by the then Missionary o^ New Haven, to occupy and 
 plow up the said lot of ground. An exploit truly worthy of the renowned 
 Hud ibras hxmsdV." The pamphlet, though published anonymously, was 
 written by Dr. Inglis of New York, afterwards first Lord Bishop of Nova 
 Scotia. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 115 
 
 
 Writing again in May of the next year to Berkeley 
 Bishop of Cloyne, and referring to the influence of 
 his donations to Yale, he adds: «I am very sorry to 
 tell your Lordship how imgratefid New-Haven people 
 have been to the Church, after so many benefactions 
 their College hath received li-om that quarter, in rais- 
 ing a mob and keeping Mr. Arnold vi et armis from 
 taking possession of the land (which, as I told vour 
 Lordship m my last) one Mr. Gregson of Londoi/had 
 given him (in trust) to build a church on near the 
 College. 
 
 In a letter to a friend in London, (Mr. Sandford,) 
 dated September 12, 1739, he says: "I am obliged to 
 you for your kind offer of your good offices to Mr 
 Arnold. That gentleman was disappointed -of his 
 design of going last Fall, and now he seems to decline 
 It on account of the prospect of war, so that it is un- 
 certain wlien he will go." The clergy of Connecticut, 
 previous to the date of this letter, had united in a 
 representation of their grievances, and sent home the 
 complaint to the Society,- and Mr. Johnson, writin-. 
 to the Secretary April 5tl,, 1740, refers to the docu- 
 ment thus: "We laid before the Society a complaint 
 last spring, of the difficulties we sustained froin the 
 government here, and Mr. Arnold had leave to come 
 home to support our complaint, which he neglected to 
 f o, partly by reason of the unsteadiness of his own 
 c ispo.sition and the uncertainty of his continuance in 
 the mission here, and partly because we were flattered 
 by some of tiie members of our Assembly that they 
 would yet do something for our relief This they still 
 give us some hopes of, and we have concluded to wait 
 tdl their next session in May, in hopes that we shaU 
 
116 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 not liave occasion to trouble the Society any further 
 about it ; after which, if nothing be done in our favor, 
 we shall, at least, send to the Society the proper mate- 
 rials for the support of our complaint. But since Mr. 
 Arnold has left us, being removed to Staten Island, 
 it is very uncertain whether any of us shall incline 
 to go home on this aflair. This gentleman's leaving 
 his people will cast a great additional burden upon 
 me, on whom they will depend to administer to them 
 till they are >supplied again ; on which account I beg 
 the Society vnR favorably consider their address sent 
 last fall, and still think of continuing that Mission." 
 
 Twelve days later, in a communication to his 
 friend in London, he notes: "Mr. Arnold has been 
 in a very unsteady disposition of late, and is now 
 about moving to Staten Island, N. Y., so that I ques- 
 tion whetlier he will go home at all." He certainly 
 did BOt go home from his mission in the Colony 
 of Connecticut; for Mr. Johnson, in another letter 
 to Dr. Bearcrott, written in the autumn of this same 
 year, after referring to the old annoyances and diffi- 
 culties, says: "'The unsettled condition of some of 
 our churches with respect to their ministers is also 
 a great disadvantage to us. There is now a proposal 
 that Mr. Beach should change with Mr. Arnold and 
 go to Staten Island and Newark. He is indeed a very 
 worthy and useful man, and nobody could do more 
 good there than he, but then the loss of him would be 
 an unspeakable damage to us here. Mr. Morris is in 
 many respects a gentleman of good accomplishments, 
 but it does not seem likely that he will suit or be 
 suited with tlie disposition of tliis country i^cople, so 
 that I much doubt whether he will be happy in them 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 117 
 
 or they in him; and I wish tliat lie were better pro- 
 vided for, and that some young man previously ac- 
 quainted with the country, or that could suit his dis- 
 position to it, were provided for them." 
 
 The Rev. Theopliihis Morris, here mentioned, was 
 an English clergyman who succeeded Mr. Arnold in 
 the Mission, and had his residence at West Haven 
 In his first report made to the Society, September 13, 
 1/40, he says: "I was received by the church-people 
 with no small pleasure, for, upon Mr. Arnold ]ea^■il^^ 
 them, they seemed to despair of having another to 
 succeed him ; beside, the Dissenters used to jjoast 
 and aflmn confidently that the Society would never 
 send here another Missionary, which was some mor- 
 tification to them, who are a people not to be despised 
 and are ready enough to express their gratitude" 
 And farther on in the same letter he writes: -Should 
 1 give jou an account of the Geographv of my mis- 
 sion, you would find it large enough for a Diocese • 
 but I would not be understood to mean this l,v way 
 of complaint of the difficulty and length of the roads- 
 and if I may be allowed to complain of aiiyfhin.-- it 
 must be of the wretched fanaticism that runs so hio-h 
 ni this country, and a body would be apt to think 
 higher than it did in England in CromweU's time 
 which does not so well suit one of my complexion '; 
 yet I have been serviceable in the Church, and will 
 endeavor to be more so." 
 
 During his ministry and that of his successor, and 
 of course chiefly under their direction, the present 
 house of worship in West Haven was carried on to 
 completion. It was reported to the Society as almost 
 iinished in May, 1745, and it is remarkable amon- the 
 
118 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Episcopal churches of this State as being the oldest, 
 and, except the edifice at Brooklyn, the only one now 
 standing, of those which were erected in the lifetime of 
 him who has been styled the "Father of Episcopacy in 
 Connecticut." It is a fair specimen, without the mod- 
 ern improvements, of the architecture of the smaller 
 churches built in colonial times, and it stands in the 
 village on that very spot where the piety of the early 
 churchmen placed it, surrounded by their graves, and 
 by the graves of their '* children unto the third and 
 fourth generation." The members and professors of 
 the Church of England, living in New Haven, went out 
 there to attend the public services on Sunday and at 
 other times, and thus honored their Divine Master, 
 and nurtured their conscientious principles, until they 
 succeeded in building here a church of their own. 
 ^ During the period covered by this and the preced- 
 ing chapter, cluuThes have been erected or com- 
 menced in North Groton, Hebron, Norwalk, Derby, 
 pnd West Haven, besides the second and larger edi- 
 fice at Fairfield, and two Missionaries have been added 
 lo the li.st of the clergy, making the Avhole miinber 
 six. We look now into the stonny times of Whit- 
 field, but the Church has become a power in the 
 colony, and a fearless vindicator, as all along she 
 had been, of a jnu-e and Aiwstolic faith. The 
 clergy kept their eyes upon every spot where ftim- 
 Dies indicated a preference for Episcopacy, and they 
 visited them, and preached and baptized in their 
 houses, when no public or "upper rooms" could be 
 secured. In this way those feelings of attachment 
 to the Church, which had been revived in the hearts 
 of many of the mtelligent and thoughtful laymen of 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 119 
 
 Connecticut, were extended to their neighbors; and 
 as the months rolled on, new demands were niade 
 upon the services and ministrations of the clergy, and 
 they were called into distant towns and villacres to 
 cross some child in Baptism, or to read over^a de- 
 parted Christiaiythe beautiful Office for "the Buri-U 
 of the Dead." ^The penal laws of the colony were 
 enforced with the utmost rigor, in order to check this 
 growth of feeling in ilivor of the Church ; but neither 
 fines nor imprisonments were of any avail, for the 
 consciences of men were inwrought with their reli.-ion 
 and they would believe and worship in the li.>-ht of 
 reason and truth and Scripture. No mantle^is so 
 broad as that of charity, and let us confess that what 
 was done by the constituted authorities of the land 
 was not always done in obedience to the wishes of 
 the people. The reaction of public sentiment in many 
 places proved this, and from the first the Missionaries 
 and the Congregational ministers often maintained a 
 famdiar mtercourse with each other in private life 
 and showed on various occasions a mutual respect' 
 It was quite evident that a feeble reverence for the 
 Church of England lingered in the breasts of the de- 
 scendants of some of the sternest Puritans. In spite 
 of the political dissensions of the past, they could not 
 altogether forget the land of their ancestors, and the 
 common salvation which was there as well as here. 
 They sympathized with the sentiment of the excel- 
 lent Higginson of Salem, when he saw the shores of 
 his native country receding from view, and called his 
 chUdren around him on the deck of the vessel to utter 
 these truthful and touching words: «We will not say, 
 as the separatists were wont to say at their leavhitr' 
 
118 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Episcopal churches of this State as )3eing the oldest, 
 and, except the edifice at Brooklyn, the only one now 
 standing, of those which were erected in the lifetime of 
 him who has been styled the "Father of Episcopacy in 
 Connecticut." It is a fair specimen, without the mod- 
 ern improvements, of the arcliitecture of the smaller 
 churches built in colonial times, and it stands in the 
 village on that very spot where the piety of the early 
 churchmen placed it, surrounded by their graves, and 
 by the graves of their "children unto the third and 
 fomih generation." The members and professors of 
 the Church of England, living in New Haven, went out 
 there to attend the public services on Sunday and at 
 other times, and thus honored their Divine Master, 
 and nurtured their conscientious principles, until they 
 succeeded in building here a church of their own. 
 
 During the period covered by this and the preced- 
 ing chapter, churches have been erected or com- 
 menced in North Groton, Hebron, Norwalk, Derby, 
 |and West Haven, besides the second and larger edi- 
 fice at Fairfield, and two Missionaries have been added 
 to the list of the clergy, making the whole number 
 six. We look now into the stonny times of Whit- 
 field, but the Church has become a power in the 
 colony, and a fearless vindicator, as all along she 
 had been, of a pure and Apostolic faitli. The 
 clergy kept their eyes upon every spot where fam- 
 ilies indicated a preference for Episcopacj^, and they 
 visited them, and preached and baptized in their 
 houses, when no public or "upper rooms" could be 
 secured. In this way those feelings of attachment 
 to the Church, which had been revived in the hearts 
 of many of the mtelligent and thoughtful laymen of 
 
 l 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. II9 
 
 Connecticut, were extended to their neighbors; and 
 as the months rolled on, new demands were made 
 upon the services and ministrations of the clergy, and 
 they were called into distant towns and villages to 
 cross some child in Baptism, or to read over°a de- 
 parted Christian .the beautiful Office for "the Burial 
 of the Dead." ^ The penal laws of the colony were 
 enforced with the utmost rigor, in order to check this 
 growth of feeling in favor of the Church; but neither 
 fines nor imprisonments were of any avail, for the 
 consciences of men were hiwrought with their relicrion 
 and they would believe and worship in the li<.ht of 
 reason and truth and Scripture. No mantle'is so 
 broad as that of charity, and let us confess that what 
 was done by the constituted authorities of the land 
 was not always done in obedience to the wishes of 
 the people. The reaction of public sentiment in many 
 places proved this, and from the first the Missionaries 
 and the Congregational ministers often maintained a 
 fiimihar mtercourse with each other in private life 
 and shoAved on various occasions a mutual respect' 
 It was quite evident that a feeble reverence for the 
 Church of England lingered in the breasts of the de- 
 scendants of some of the sternest Puritans. In spite 
 of the political dissensions of the past, they could not 
 altogether forget the land of their ancestors, and the 
 common salvation which was there as well as here. 
 They sympathized with the sentiment of the excel- 
 lent Higginson of Salem, when he saw the shores of 
 his native country receding from view, and called his 
 chUdren around him on the deck of the vessel to utter 
 these truthful and touching words: "We will not say, 
 a« the separatists were wont to say at their leaviiig 
 
120 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 121 
 
 of England,— Farewell, Babylon! Farewell, Rome! 
 But we will say, Farewell, dear England! Farewell 
 the Cliurch of God in England, and all the Christian 
 friends there. We do not go to New England as sep- 
 aratists from the Church of England ; though we can- 
 not but separate from the corruptions in it ; but we 
 go to practise the positive part of Church reforma- 
 tion, and propagate the Gospel in America." ^ 
 
 1 Mather's Magnalia, Vol. I. p. 362. 
 
 CHRIST CIIlRril. WEST HAVEN, 
 Erected iu 1740. . 
 
 CHAPTER IX. ♦ 
 
 ARRIVAL OF WHITEFIELD IN NEW ENGLAND, AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 ENTHUSIASM. 
 
 A. D. 1740-1742. 
 
 In the autumn of 1740 the Rev. George Whitefield 
 arrived in New England direct from Charleston, and 
 produced an excitement never before known in our 
 religious history. He was a clergyman of the Church 
 of England, ordained, when he was in the 22d year of 
 his age, a Deacon by the Bishop of Gloucester. By 
 his fliithful and affectionate ministrations to those who 
 were sick or in prison, he so won the heart of that 
 amiable prelate, that, besides ordination, he gave him 
 " friendly counsel from his lips, and money from his 
 purse." In the lowest grade of the ministry, he vis- 
 ited America, and landed at Savannah in May, 1738 
 —having been attracted to Georgia by the account 
 which the Wesleys had given of its great destitution 
 of spiritual privileges. His wonderful powers as a 
 preacher drew multitudes to hear him; and because 
 the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury had approved his zealous labors, he was at first 
 received as an Episcopal clergyman, and encouraged 
 in his benevolent enterprise of establishing an Orphan 
 House in Georgia, ostensibly upon the model of that 
 founded by the celebrated Professor Francke in Ger- 
 many. Four months after his arrival in this country 
 
 / 
 
122 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 123 
 
 he felt himself " obliged," to use his own words, " to 
 return to England, to receive Priest's orders, and make 
 a beginning towards laying a foundation for the Or- 
 phan House." But he was not greeted upon his re- 
 turn with the cordiahty which he anticipated. His 
 erratic course had already begun to reveal itself; and 
 the extravagance which marked his movements, and 
 the manner in which he spoke of the Church, whose 
 doctrines, worship, and discipline he was ordained to 
 defend, excited the just susjjicions of the Bishops 
 and clergy in England, and many of them not only 
 refused him their sympathy and support, but openly 
 opposed his enthusiasm and irregularities. Remon- 
 strances and prohibitions, however, availed not to 
 check him in the path which he had chosen. He was 
 finally advanced to the Priesthood by his personal 
 friend, (Dr. Benson,) — the same Bishop who had 
 admitted hiui to the Diaconate ; and returning to 
 America, he travelled backwards and forwards be- 
 tween New York and Philadelphia, and Philadelphia 
 and Charleston, jjreaching, when he was not allowed 
 the use of a church or meeting-house, in the open air, 
 — a practice which he had inaugurated in England, 
 and justified by saying, "I thought it might be doing 
 the service of my Creator, who had a mountain for 
 his pulpit and the heavens for a sounding-board, and 
 who, when his Gospel was refused by the Jews, sent 
 his servants into the highways and hedges." The 
 arrival of Whitefield in Rhode Island was followed 
 by an enthusiasm which spread like a flame of fire 
 through the cities and villages of New England. 
 Growing more bold under the impulse of his successes 
 and excited feelings, he threw aside, as an oppressive 
 
 yoke, all reverence for the authority and teaching of 
 tlie Church; and thereupon the Independent" or 
 Congregational ministers opened wide their arms to 
 embrace him, and their sanctuaries to admit him, that 
 he might be heard by the vast throngs whiclx every- 
 where crowded to their portals. With few exceptions 
 they invited him into their pulpits,— and they could 
 not well do otherwise, for leading divines of Massa- 
 chusetts had solicited his visit, — and people of all de- 
 nominations attended his preaching, some from curi- 
 osity, but more from an awakened interest in religious 
 concerns. As he approached Boston, he was met on 
 the road by the sou of the governor and several minis- 
 ters and other distinguished gentlemen, who escorted 
 him to the city, and " hailed him as a special messen- 
 ger from Heaven, sent to awaken, alarm, and convert " 
 Here his voice was lifted in all the meeting-houses 
 and sometunes on the Common ; and day after day his 
 congregations still increased, and numerous instances 
 of remarkable conversion, througli his instrumentality 
 were reported. « It was Puritanism revived," said the 
 venerable Walker of Roxbury ; and Dr. Colman pro- 
 nounced the Sunday on which he officiated in his own 
 pulpit « the happiest day he ever saw in his life." At 
 Cambridge, the seat of Harvard University, as else- 
 where, the weak and timid were excited and terrified, 
 and tutors and students shared in the efl^ects of his' 
 bold theology and extraordinary eloquence. Wlien 
 he took his leave of Boston, it was supposed that 
 ttventy thomand permis assembled to hsten to his fare- 
 well sermon. 
 
 He had heard in England of Jonathan Edwards; 
 and having read his narrative of the rehgious interest 
 
124 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 awakened in Northampton five years before, he ear- 
 nestly desired an inter\'iew with that eminent divine, 
 and proceeded to visit him, leaving behind, in the 
 towns through which he passed, those surprising re- 
 sults which had attended his ministrations in Boston 
 and its vicinity. Late in October of the same year^ 
 he reached New Haven, and was affectionately wel- 
 comed and entertained at the house of Mr. James 
 Pierpont, a brother-in-law of Edwards, and a sympa- 
 thizer with his religious views. The General Assem- 
 bly wa^ then in session, and Whitefield improved the 
 occasion to fulfd his office of an itinerant preacher, and 
 meet the constant demands upon him for services and 
 sermons. People came in from the country a distance 
 of twenty miles to hear him, and many neighboring 
 ministers also sought the opportunity of personal 
 intercourse with a clergyman whose zeal and elo- 
 quence were so widely known. It is reported that 
 numbers, to his joy, were daily impressed; and tarrying 
 over the Sunday, he waited with courteous attention 
 upon Talcott, the Governor, who encouraged him with 
 the cheerful gratulation, " Thanks be to God, for such 
 refreshings in our way to heaven." 
 
 On Monday morning he set out upon his journey 
 southward, and preached with his usual attraction in 
 all the " sea-side towns" between New Haven and New 
 York. Writing from Charleston, in December, whither 
 he had returned, he thus remarked : " It is now the 
 seventy-fifth day since I arrived at Ehode Island. My 
 body was then weak, but the Lord hath much re- 
 newed its strength. I have been enabled to preach, 
 I think, an hundred and seventy-five times in public, 
 besides exhorting frequently in private. I have trav- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 125 
 
 elled upwards of eight hundred miles, and have gotten 
 upwards of seven hundred pounds sterling, in goods, 
 provisions, and money, for the orphans. "" Never did 
 I perform my journey with so little flitigue, or see 
 such a continuance of the divine presence in the con- 
 gregations to whom I have preached." 
 
 In this whole account of the earhest visit of White- 
 field to New England we have inserted not a line as 
 evidence of any public or ecclesiastical disapproba- 
 tion. Cautious divines of the standing order, with 
 calm judgment and sober reflection, might have looked 
 anxiously on and doubted the full propriety of his 
 course, but no voice of censure was raised, and it 
 hardly would have been heard amid the excitements 
 of the hour, and the transports of popular enthusiasm. 
 The sparks of religious discord, however, had been 
 kindled, and they soon burst forth into a flame which 
 burnt with prodigious fury. At first the strange and 
 vehement invectives of Whitefield against the Bishops 
 and clergy of the Church of England were welcomed 
 and encouraged by the Independent ministers of Con- 
 necticut, as calculated to check among their own 
 people the growing attachment to lier worship and 
 doctrines. But the extravagant demonstrations which 
 ensued, and the sobbings and swoonings under the 
 preaching of Gilbert Tennent; the many lay exhorters 
 who sprang up, especially in the eastern part of the 
 colony, and propagated the most "horrid notions of 
 God^ and the Gospel"; the imprudences and irregu- 
 larities of James Davenport, the bodily agitations and 
 outcries which he pronounced "tokens of divine favor," 
 his attempt to examine his brethren in the ministry as 
 to their spiritual state, and publicly to decide whether 
 
126 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 they were converted or not; the controversies that 
 arose upon doctrinal points, upon Calvinism and Ar- 
 minianism, dividing the people into two great parties, 
 called the New Lights and the Old Lights; the itiner- 
 ant preachers, who, without any charge of their o^\ti, 
 or without special invitation, left their appropriate 
 spheres of duty, and went up and down in the land, 
 promoting the popular excitement and casting "as- 
 persion on the schools of the proj^hets"; the "hideous 
 doings" at the night meetings of these revivalists, 
 their pretended power of reaching the human lieart 
 by some spiritual process peculiar to themselves, and 
 their severe denunciation of those who opposed them ; 
 all these thini>:s turned the relinrious assemblies into 
 scenes of disgraceful uproar, generated strife in every 
 quarter, and bade defiance to the most assiduous 
 efforts of spiritual or secular authority to restrain 
 them, so that the regularly constituted pastors soon 
 began to tremble for the strength and security of 
 their own prevailing ordei\ ,y In the midst of such 
 religious delirium, confusion, and ])eril, the ministra- 
 tions of the Church of England were continued with 
 unabated zeal and steadfastness, and many repaired 
 with gratitude to her commimion, as to the ark which 
 could alone carry them in safety over the raging 
 floods. 
 
 The prvidence, the watchfidness, and piety of the 
 clergy, and the personal influence of Johnson, still 
 the most distinguished among them, helped largely 
 to produce these gains and advance the cause of Epis- 
 copacy. "The duties and labors of my mission," said 
 Punderson, WTiting from North Groton to the Bishop 
 of London, towards the end of 1741, "are exceedingly 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 127 
 
 mcreased by the surprising enthusiasms that rage 
 among us, the centre of which is the place of my resi- 
 dence." And in the same letter he added: «The most 
 astonishmg effects attend the night meetings; screech- 
 mgs, famtmgs, convulsions, visions, apparent death 
 tor twenty or thirty hours, actual possession with evil 
 spirits, as they own themselves. The spirit in all is 
 remarkably bitter against the Church of En -Land " 
 The labors of that Missionary became so incessant in 
 consequence of the popular frenzy, that at one period 
 he was scarcely allowed the privilege of spending a 
 whole day in his study or with his family. Fruits of 
 uncharitableness and spiritual pride naturally thrive 
 in such a season, and the new-light preacher and his 
 followers in Groton declared Punderson and all those 
 imder him to be "unconverted, and going straight 
 down to hell." A like condemnation fell upon the 
 Missionaries of the Church in other quarters. Even 
 so earnest and good a Christian as Johnson did not 
 escape the harsh judgment of Hezekiah Gold, the 
 Congregational minister at Stratford, who pronounced 
 him and his people unconverted, and not only so, but / 
 intruders and workers of all manner of mischief In/ 
 midsummer, 1741, after waiting «a considerable time" 
 for a plain, personal admonition from the author of 
 these charges, promised through a friend, Johnson ad- 
 dressed to him a letter, in which these words occur: "I 
 thought it my duty to write a tew lines to you in the 
 spirit of Christian meekness on this subject And I 
 assure you I am nothing exasperated at these hard 
 censures, much less will I return them upon you. No, 
 sir! God forbid I should censure you as you censure' 
 me! I have not so learned Christ! I will rather use 
 
128 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 the words of my clear Saviour concerning those that 
 censure so, and say, ^Father, forgive them, for they 
 know not what they do.' " He closed the letter by 
 asking for the evidence of his not being converted, 
 sayingy "Bad as I am, I hope I am open to conviction, 
 and earnestly desirous not to be mistaken in an aflair 
 of so great importance ; and the rather because I have 
 not only my own, but many other souls to answer 
 for, whom I shall doubtless mislead if I am misled 
 myself In compassion, therefore, to them and me, 
 pray be so kind as to give us your reasons why you 
 think us in such a deplorable condition." People with 
 their eyes open could see that the fruits of faith, or 
 the constant and beautiful exemplification of Christi- 
 anity, was better than any mere theories of conver- 
 sion; and hence the increase of the Missionary's pas- 
 toral charge in Stratford was a very natural result 
 of the unhappy spirit of his restless opponent. The 
 anecdote is well authenticated, that, meeting a parish- 
 ioner one day, he was inquired of by him, whether 
 his Church was increasing. ''Yes," replied Johnson, 
 "it is increasing. I am a feeble instrument in the 
 hands of God; but thanks be to him, he has placed 
 my left-handed brother Gold here, who makes six 
 churchmen while I can make one." 
 
 By this time the rapid growth of Episcopacy was 
 visible in several of the interior towns of Connecticut, 
 and the erection of houses of worship was soon com- 
 menced. The Rev. Mr. Morris, writing to the Secre- 
 tary of the Society fron^ Derby, June 20, 1741, says: 
 "I have lately been at Shnsbury, where I found about 
 thirty fimilies of our communion ; they are in hopes 
 of having a minister at last, and have accordingly 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 129 
 
 prepared some timber to build a church. I remitted 
 their rates, which amount to about fifty pounds of 
 this currency, to help them forward with the build- 
 ing." And in the same letter he speaks of having 
 "taken another church into his care at Wallino-ford, 
 which consists of twelve families. I engaged to at- 
 tend them once a quarter, which tliey seem to be 
 satisfied Avitli, for they know it is as much as I can 
 do for them." Three months before this letter was 
 written, the members of the Church of England 'in- 
 habiting in Wallingford and the adjacent parts," North 
 Haven and Cheshire, (the latter place was a society 
 within the limits of Wallingford until 1780,) united 
 and formed a parish by the name of Umon Church; 
 and in the appeal Avhich they sent over to the Bishop 
 of London for assistance they stated: "With melan- 
 choly hearts we crave your Lordship's patience, while 
 we recite that divers of us have been imprisoned, and 
 our goods from year to year distrained from us for 
 taxes, levied for the building and supporting meeting- 
 houses ; and divers actions are now depending in our 
 courts of law in the like cases. And when we have 
 petitioned our governor for redress, notifying to him 
 the repugnance of such actions to the laws of England, 
 he has prov^ed a strong opponent to us; but when the 
 other party has applied to him for advice how to 
 proceed against us, he has lately given his sentence 
 ^to enlarge the gaol and fill it with them.'" 
 
 The demand for more Missionaries in the Colony of 
 Connecticut was urgent at this period. Caner early 
 wrote, that while the religious enthusiasm had made 
 no progress at Fairfield, it had spread at Norwalk, 
 Stamford, Ridgefield, and other places, and the efiects 
 
130 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 131 
 
 of it had been the means of ^^reconciling many sober, 
 considerate people to the communion of the Church." 
 At Ridgefield an edifice for public worship was built 
 as early as 1744. / 
 
 In the autumn of 1741, Mr. Richard Caner, his 
 brother, who has already been mentioned as doino- 
 good service for the Church at Norwalk in the capa- 
 city of a lay reader, went over to England for ordina- 
 tion, and among the letters which he bore with him 
 was one from Johnson, recommending hhn to the favor 
 of Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, and in which he took 
 occasion to speak of "the accession of the new Rector" 
 of Yale College, Mr. Clap, and to compliment him as 
 "a solid, rational gentleman, much freer from bigotry 
 than his predecessor." Referring to the enthusiasm 
 consequent upon the preaching of Whitefield and his 
 disciples, he added: "Many of the scholars have been 
 possessed of it, and two of this year's candidates de- 
 nied their degrees for their disorderly and restless 
 endeavors to propagate it. Indeed, Whitefield's dis- 
 ciples in this country have much improved upon the 
 foundation which he laid ; so that we have now pre- 
 vailing among us the most odd and unaccountable 
 enthusiasm that ever obtained in any age or nation." 
 
 The few churchmen in Waterl^ury, who for many 
 years, in addition to the labors of the itinerant Mis- 
 sionaries Arnold and Morris, were fed and cared for 
 by Johnson and Beach, had become so numerous, that, 
 in 1742, they resolved to erect a church, applied to 
 tlie town for land, and received a grant from the 
 treasury of twelve pounds, old tenor, "provided they 
 purchased a place of any particular person to set their 
 house on, and set it accordingly." The divisions and 
 
 V 
 
 animosities in the Congregational Society gave inter- 
 est and strength to their enterprise; and they went 
 before the General Assembly, in October, 1744, with 
 a petition signed by thirty-eight persons, "professors 
 of the Churcli of England and inhabitants of the town 
 of Waterbury," asking for corporate privileges and all 
 the powers (the school only excepted) usually enjoyed 
 by the parishes of the prevalent order, -^he petition, 
 like similar memorials from churchmen in other towns 
 failed, and for the simple rea.^on that the General Asi 
 sembly could not grant it Avithout revoking or aban- 
 doning the system of legislation which had made 
 Congregationalism the religion of the colony. But 
 the Church, notwithstanding, was soon completed, 
 "with galleries above and pews below," and stood and 
 was occupied for half a century, till a new one was 
 erected in 1795. 
 
 What constitutes the present town of Plymouth 
 formerly belonged to Waterbury. The first settlers 
 were from different parts of Connecticut, several from 
 North Haven ; and because they were distant from the 
 centre, nineteen petitioners, including one from West- 
 bury (now Watertown), applied, in 1737, for "winter 
 privileges," and were released from parish taxes an- 
 nually in the months of December, January, and Feb- 
 ruary, during a period of three years. At length they 
 were incorporated into a parish by the name of North- 
 bury, and an ecclesiastical society was formed in No- 
 vember, 1739. Before they were incorporated, they 
 united in the erection of an edifice with upper and 
 lower rooms, suited to all their public wants, which 
 appears to have been proprietary, and which they 
 called a schoolhouse. 
 
 H 
 
V 
 
 / 
 
 ^i 
 
 132 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 The establishment of Episcopacy there arose out of 
 the disorders of the time, and the sympathy of Samuel 
 Todd, the Iiidependeiit minister, with the great rehg- 
 j ions excitement. A Prayer Book, owned by the 
 wife of one of his parishioners, had much to do in 
 directing and enh'ghtening the minds of those who 
 disapproved of his course, until eleven out of eighteen 
 pr()])rietors, or principal men, declared for the Church 
 of England, took possession of the house which had 
 been used for public worship, and voted to exclude 
 the ministrations of Mr. Todd. They were under the 
 guidance of Mr. Morris, not always, it must be con- 
 fessed, the most prudent Missionary ; but in adopting 
 this action they assured the minority that they would 
 assist them in building another house to an extent 
 equal to the interest which they had thus appropri- 
 ated,— a promise said to have been faithfully redeemed, 
 and to the pecuniary satisfaction of the ejected Con- 
 gregationalists. The separation here mentioned oc- 
 curred soon after the settlement of Mr. Todd, and 
 towards the close of the year 1740. 
 
 In 1744, ^^the representation and humble petition" 
 of the churchmen in Northbury to the Honorable So- 
 ciety ran thus : '-We were all educated in this land, 
 under the instruction of the Independent teachers, or 
 (as they would be called) Presbyterians; and, conse- 
 quently, we were prejudiced strongly against the 
 Church of England from our cradles, until we had 
 the advantage of books from your Reverend Mission- 
 aries and others, whereby we began to see with our 
 own eyes that things were not as they had been rep- 
 resented to our view; and Mr. Whitefield passing 
 through this land, condenming all but his adherents^ 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 133 
 
 and his followers and imitators— by their insufferable 
 
 enthusiastic whims and extemporaneous jargon 
 
 brought in such a flood of confusion amongst us, that 
 we became sensible of the unscriptural method we 
 had always been accustomed to take in om^ worship 
 of God, and of the weakness of the pretended consti- 
 tution of the churches (so called) in this land; where- 
 upon we fled to the Church of England for safety, and 
 arc daily more and more satisfied we are safe, pro- 
 vided the purity of our hearts and lives be conform- 
 able to her excellent doctrines." 
 
 Johnson, in a communication to Dr. Bearcroft some 
 two years earlier, said : "Since my last, Ripton people 
 in this town have raised a church, (which is the four- 
 teenth in the colony,) and they hope in time the So- 
 ciety will be in a condition to send them a minister 
 entirely to themselves, where there will ere long be a 
 good congregation. Indeed, ministers are very much 
 wanted in several places, particularly at Simsbury and 
 Hebron." The sai^ie hands which bore this letter car- 
 ried another to a friend in London, in which, after 
 speaking of the effects of the popular enthusiasm, he 
 remarked: "It has occasioned such a growth of the 
 Church in this town (as well as in many other places) 
 that the church will not hold us, and we are obUged 
 to rebuild or much enlarge." 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 135 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A COMMISSARY FOR CONNECTICUT SOLICITED; AND THE INFLU- 
 ENCE OF WHITEFIELD'S PREACHING. 
 
 A. D. 1742-1747. 
 
 ^ The prudence of the senior Missionary in Connec- 
 ticut was only equalled by his learning and firmness, 
 to remedy, in some degree, the inconveniences and 
 difficulties which arose from the continued want of 
 Episcopal oversight, Commissaries for America were 
 ^pointed by the Bishop of London, who were under 
 his own special direction, and to whom a limited au- 
 thority was assigned. The Commissary for all New 
 England was the Rev. Roger Price, who resided at 
 Boston, and held the office for a period of twenty 
 ^ears. As the Church increased, and "enthusiasm 
 in its worst colors was daily gaining ground," the 
 clergy of Connecticut, in 1742, united in suggesting 
 the expediency of appointing a Commissary ^for this 
 colony, and stated, among other reasons, that their 
 distance from Boston was such as to make it "im- 
 practicable for them to attend upon the yearly con- 
 vention," and consequently to receive the full ben- 
 efit which the appointment was intended to aflbrd. 
 They stated, "There are now fourteen churches built 
 and building, and seven clergymen, within this col- 
 ony, and others daily called for." They "presumed 
 to mention the Reverend Mr. Johnson, of Stratford, 
 
 I 
 
 P 
 
 as a person from whose ability, virtue, and integrity" 
 they might hope to gain all advantages; and he, 
 though supporting their appeal, except as far as it 
 related to himself, assured his Lordship that it was 
 not from any influence of his, but from their own 
 motion, that his brethren had been pleased to name 
 him as fit to be appointed a Commissary in Connec- 
 ticut. He added strength to their argument b}^ say- 
 ing: "When I came here, there were not one hundred 
 adult persons of the Church in this whole colony, 
 whereas now there are considerably more than two 
 thousand, and at least five or six thousand young and 
 old, and since the progress of this strange spirit of 
 enthusiasm it seems daily very much increasing." 
 All the Missionaries of the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel, resident in Connecticut, signed or 
 supported this request for a Commissary, save one, 
 and he — the Rev. Mr. Morris — was an Englishman 
 by birth, who had little acquaintance with the state 
 of American society, and little disposition to recom- 
 mend the Church by meeting the prejudices of the 
 Lidependents in a spirit of kindness and conciliation. 
 He was instrumental in conveying to ^O'^txjn, as well 
 as to London, a complaint which touched the good 
 character of Johnson, and represented him as attend- 
 ing the meetings of the dissenting teachers, and suf- 
 fering his son to do the same. The degree of his 
 displeasure may be learnt by an extract from a pri- 
 vate letter which the senior Missionaiy wrote him in 
 midsummer, 1742: "I hope your conscience is now 
 entirely easy, having so efiectually disburdened it 
 at the Convention, and procured a chastisement to be 
 sent to me, which I have received. However, I should 
 
136 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 be glad to see jou once more, or to receive a few 
 Hnes that I may know whether you are yet easy or 
 not; and I hope you have not so entii-elv lost all 
 friendship for me as to deny me that favor. ^ At least, 
 I hope jou will prove so generous an enemy as not 
 to smite me secretly, but that you will tell me hon- 
 estly whether you intend, after all, to complain fur- 
 ther to the Society of my great wickedness in not 
 forhidding my son going to meeting now and then 
 which I must do or deny him any public education.' 
 .... Mr. Morris, I have not deserved this unfriendly 
 and unbrotherlike usage from you. I have endeav- 
 ored to use you in the most kind and friendly man- 
 ner I was able : what, therefbre, could tempt Vou to 
 begin tliis quarrel, and raise all tliis clamor against me 
 both at New York and Boston, I cannot conceive." 
 f^ No Commissary' was appointed for Connecticut, be- 
 e^uise the Bishop of London was imwilling to revoke 
 or change any part of the commission which he had 
 ghmted to Mr. Price, without his consent, or until his 
 deatli or resignation. But Johnson still continued to 
 fbe the leading light among the clergy of tlie colony 
 and to be consuhed and regarded as a safe adviser in 
 all matters relating to the prosperity of the Church 
 Mr. Morris, failing to be welcomed at New London, 
 to which mission he was appointed after the removal 
 of Mr. Seabury to Hempstead, L. L, finally returned 
 to Lngland, and was succeeded here at Derby, Water- 
 , bury, and the contiguous towns, in 1743, b/the Rev 
 j James Lyons, an Irishman, who, if he had genius and 
 zeal was another example of a tiller in the field that 
 needed a special Missionary to watch him and keep 
 hmi from running his plough upon the rocks. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 137 
 
 In justification of himself, and as due to the Society, 
 Johnson confessed that he ^-did go to hear Whitefieid 
 once," before he was under the ban of censure by the 
 Bishops and clergy of the Cluirch of England, that he 
 might be better enabled to present an antidote to iha 
 mischiefs which he apprehended from him and his 
 followers; and for the same reason, "with two or three 
 of his brethren of the clergy, he went one night, in 
 the dark, and perfectly iacofjnilo, among a vast crowd, 
 to see and hear" the managements and ravings of 
 James Davenport. He defended the true teachings 
 of Christianity, not with his voice only, but with hl^, 
 pen also. An excellent pamphlet, written and pub-, 
 lished by him, under the title of "A Letter ftom Aris-' 
 tocles to Anthades," designed to explain the script^ 
 ural doctrine of the divine sovereignty and promises, 
 brought out a third time that veteran controversialist, 
 Jonathan Dickinson, of New Jersey. The discussion 
 was closed in 1744; but in the previous year his la])ors 
 had so attracted the admiration of his friends in Eng- 
 land, that they recommended him to the University 
 of Oxford for the degree of Doctor in Divinity, and 
 that University publicly renewed, Avitli increased dis- 
 tinction, the honor which it had conferred upon him 
 just twenty years before. The hope expressed in the 
 Master's diploma, " Spowiles, illlns rnhmterlo, allam d 
 eandem, olim, iiascitumm Ecclesiam Am/Iicamun:' — that, 
 through his instrumentality, the Church of England 
 would rise up with new vigor in this country,— had 
 been partly fulfilled, and tlie signs of its advaiicing to 
 a further accomplishment were again grateftilly rec- 
 ognized; and hence Dr. Astrjr, in transmitting the di- 
 ploma, said, "I do not so much consider myself doing 
 
138 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 a good office to a private friend as promoting the 
 public interest of religion." ° 
 
 The second and larger church at Stratford, de- 
 hi/inded by the increased congregation, Avas opened, 
 though unfinished, on the 8th of July, 1744; and Dr! 
 Johnson. Mho contributed the bell, preached a sermon 
 ehtitled "The Great Duty of Loving and Delightiu- in 
 the Public AVorship of God," which was published, with 
 jbrayers for the family and closet appended. That 
 edihce, so rich in historic associations and the scene 
 of such a "bright succession" of pastors, served the 
 chddren of tlie righteous for more than a century, and 
 stood until six years ago, when it was replaced by an- 
 other, more capacious, more elegant, and more suited 
 to the advanced state of Christian architecture. It is 
 a curious fact that the Congregationalists in Stratford 
 belonging to "the Old or Prime Societ3-," moved at 
 the same time to build a meeting-house, not quite as 
 htrge as the church, but with a steeple ten feet higher. 
 A divisiun arose among tliem, and, after the General 
 Asstnuhh had "a])pointed, ordered, and affixed the 
 place whereon the meeting-house should be erected " 
 a memorial was served on the Society, in opposition 
 to the whole proceeding, and a committee appointed 
 to i)roceed to New Haven, where the Assembly was in 
 session, to show reasons why the prayer thus served 
 should not be heard. The erection of the building, 
 however, was not prevented by these movements. 
 v/ The Rev. Richard Caner, with an appointment from 
 the Honorable Society, reached NorAvalk, after his ordi- 
 nation, in June, 1742, at which time tlie church there 
 consisted of about thirty families. But so successful 
 were his nunistrations, and so rapid the growth of the 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 139 
 
 parish, that, in December following, the people re- 
 solved to build a new church, and provided with great 
 alacrity the means for its erection. The old one was 
 removed a short distance and converted into a par- 
 sonage. The transfer' of Mr. Caner from Norwalk 
 to Staten Island, in the autumn of 1745, a step which 
 was soon followed by his death, at New York, of the 
 small-pox, interrupted greatly the pro.sperity of the 
 parish, and left the bereaved people for several years 
 without a stated supply. At the date of Mr. Caner's 
 removal he had ninety lamilies under his charge; and 
 his brother, writing from Fairfield in the next year, 
 says: "The church of Norwalk is, I think, the largest 
 and most flourishing church in this colony, Mhicli 
 makes me the more solicitous to have some better 
 provision made for it than I am capable of bestowing 
 that Avay consistently Avith a proper care of other 
 churches." 
 
 A second church at Newtown, "a strong, neat 
 building, forty-six feet long and thirty-five wide," was 
 erected in 1746, and the Missionary, in giving an ac- 
 count of it to the Venerable Society, remarked, "It is 
 very certain that our people generally exj^end more 
 for the support of religion than their neighbors of 
 the dissenting persuasion." In consequence of the 
 public attention awakened to Episcopacy throughout 
 Connecticut, parishes were organized and chiu'ches 
 arose in new localities. The law, which for nearly 
 twenty years had but imperfectly served the j)urj)0ses 
 
 * In the abstract of the Society for 1744, this is said to be "a reward for 
 his fiiitliful service in the care of the churches of NorthfieUl," a misprint for 
 NorfieUl (now Weston), " Ridjrefiekl, and Norwalk, within the extensive 
 cure of his brother, the Rev. Mr. Henry Caner, the Society's worthy Mis- 
 eionary at Fairfield in Connecticut." 
 
140 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 of churchmen, was now beginning to work more to 
 their advantage. For, amid all the turmoils and dis- 
 sensions of Congregationalism, no new reli.rious so- 
 ciety of that oKler could be formed in any town and 
 yet clami exemption from taxation to support the first 
 or existnig society So wide had the breach become 
 between the New Lights and the Old Liahts, that at 
 JNew Haven, in the last days of the year 1741, a niove- 
 ment was made for a separate society, and its mem- 
 bers submitted long to be doidjly taxed to insure its 
 success. Governor Talcott, who welcomed the earliest 
 visit of Whitefield as a time of spiritual refreshiuo-, 
 baddescended to his grave ; and under the adminil 
 tration of Jonathan Law, his successor, the General 
 Assem1>ly. with a view to prevent further separations, 
 to suppress euthr.siasrn, and strengthen the confession 
 of fa.t.i agreed upon at Saybrook, enacted a "number 
 of .severe and persecuting laws," and repealed or inodi- 
 
 ^■.Ifr "^ 'u ^''V^ ^''' '^'•^•^'-^»<"'^' consciences. 
 
 ol he Old Liglits, or Arminians, both among the cler-v 
 and ,.,vd.ans, to suppress, as tar as possible, all the 
 zcalor.s and Calvinistic preachers; to confine them 
 entire y to their own pulpits; and, at the same time, 
 to put all the pubhc o.lium and reproach possible 
 upon them as wicked, disorderly men, unfit to enjoy " 
 the common rights of citizens." «It was," he adds 
 
 an outrage to every principle of justice," and "a pal- 
 pable violation of the Connecticut bill of ri-jits " The 
 
 . ^T^Tlf ''f ^?"''''"^ ^^■^•^•-^'""^l^-' -' it« May Session 
 m 1- 40, hough aimed directly at the same object, 
 struck a blow at the Cliurch, and exclu.le.l her niem-^^ 
 bers from voting in society meetings, and from havinc. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 141 
 
 any share in levying those taxes which they were^ 
 obliged to pay for the common support of religion. • 
 But these measures did not reallv check the prog- 
 ress of the Church of England in \he colony As 
 early as 1740, Mr. Beach was instrumental in gather- 
 ing an "Episcopal Society" in Woodbury; and a house 
 of worship was soon after erected, witliin the limits 
 of the town, "on the hill between a place called Tran- 
 sylvania and the present centre of Eoxbury." In 
 1743, chiefly through his. influence, a church was built 
 at New Milford; and on the 5th of November, 1745, an 
 organization was effected inl.itchfield, and four years 
 later a church was built, to which its principal bene- 
 fiictor, Mr. John Davies, an Englishman, gave the name 
 of St. iMichael's. For the most part, in all places, the 
 erection of houses of public Morshij), or the attempt to 
 erect them, speedily followed the parochial onrauiza- 
 tions. At iMiddletown thirty families, towards the end 
 of the year 1742, "earnestly de.sired to be mentioned 
 to the Venerable Society in hopes of their future fa- 
 vors." Ill the sea-side towns there was quite as much 
 progress to rejoice the hearts of churchmen. At the 
 opening of the year 1747, "the thirty conformists" in 
 Norwich, then, according to Punderson, "the largest 
 and most flourishing of any town in the colon \-," pro- 
 ceeded to build a house, "for the service of Ahuidity 
 God, according to the Liturgy of the Churcli of Eng- 
 land, as by law established, somewhere between the 
 town and the Landing-Pkce," and they collected sub- 
 scriptions for the purpose, not only from Norwich, Init 
 from Hhode Island and Boston. In Guilford, the birth- 
 place of Johnson, and where he had several times 
 administered the Sacrament of Baptism, a parish was 
 
142 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 formed m 1743, and another at .\orth Guilford in 1747 
 after a division and contention arose among the Con- 
 gregationahsts in that town on the question of set- 
 tlinga minister. At Stamford, inchiding Greenwich 
 and the adjacent places, "the confusions" of S d- 
 ism only made the Episcopalians more resolute, and 
 a church was so far finished in the spring of 17^7 as 
 to be fit for occupancy. Tliey liad previously assisted 
 Mr Eichardson Minor, a grad.uate of Yale CoIIe<^e 
 and from 1730 to 1744 pastor of the Congregation^' 
 Society m North Stratford (now Trumbull): to " 
 home for Holy Orders; but he was taken by the 
 J^rench upon his passage, with Mr. Lamson, and after 
 ns re ease from confinement, while on hi .-ay w th 
 his fello^v-sufferer from Port Louis in France to W 
 ^n, he died of a fever at Salisbury, to the great Tor- 
 row of his wa.tmg ilock and dependent familv Dr 
 Jolm^on, m alluding to the event, exclaimed, " AYould 
 to God we had a Bishop to ordain here, which wo Id 
 prevent such unhappy disasters." The Rev. Joseph 
 Lamson, his companion, a native of Stratford and a 
 
 graduate of Yale Collco-e returned tn +J • 
 
 ;„ 1-1- 11- ^. o' '*^™raea to this countrv 
 
 in l/4u, and ns friends welcomed him "as one risen 
 
 Ph" d liim '" t7%"'' -1"'" '''"''' ^'"^ ^^^ -'- t™« 
 placed him. The Society appointed him an Assistant 
 
 to the Rev^ Mr. Wetmore, the Missionary at Rye • and 
 
 his particular duties were to minister under h s di"c 
 
 tion " o the inhabitants of Bedford, North-Castle, . nd 
 
 a gratuity of the same sum, out of compassion to Mr 
 Lamson s suffernigs and necessities." It was a motive 
 
 : Ri^err '"^"^ ''-' - -'--' -- ^^-^^ ^-^^ 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 143 
 
 , . The multiplication of parishes and the erection of 
 y ,'ehurches ought to have been accompanied by a cor- 
 ^ ^responding increase in the number of Missionaries. 
 The Rev. Wm. Gibbs, a graduate of Harvard Univer- 
 sity, was sent to Simsbury; but with this exception, 
 no new stations had been taken and supplied, while 
 several of the old ones were vacant as late as the 
 spring of 1747. By this time the lie v. Henry Caner, 
 probably the most popular preacher of our Church 
 in the colony, and Avho for twenty years fulfilled so 
 well his mission at Fairfield, had removed to Boston, 
 and entered upon the Rectorship of King s Chapel. 
 Seabury had been transferred to Hempstead on Long 
 Island, and Punderson, as he wrote in the previous 
 year, was the only "laborer of the Episcopal order" 
 in that part of Connecticut. Mr. Ebenezer Thompson, 
 a native of West Haven, and a graduate of Yale Col- 
 lege, having for a long time served the Church most 
 faithfully as a lay reader in the Mission of Mr. Morris, 
 was recommended by the clergy for Holy Orders in 
 1743, with a request on their part that he might be 
 returned to a portion of his former field; but, with a 
 flmiily to support, he Avas given the aiipointment of a 
 better mission in Massachusetts. A year or two later, 
 Mr. Hezekiah Watkins, who had been a minister 
 among the Congregationalists, and Mr. Barzillai Dean, 
 for some time a lay reader at Heljron, both graduates 
 of Yale College and classmates, went over to England 
 for ordination; but one was appointed to a charge in 
 the Province of New York, and the other was lost 
 with the ship which was bringing him back to this 
 country, — a sad disappointment to the people of He- 
 bron, who were prepared to welcome him in the office 
 
144 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 w2e\f tStf '''" ^.'^""^^-^ ^' ^'-«'«^--l discord 
 were in ^ olent commotion, and not likclv to be soon 
 quieted: there wanted hut tl,„ to ue soon 
 
 mtvfr,^^iu / ,'"^" '-""t "le convenient opportu- 
 nity for others to break away from tbo «t.... r i 
 
 and be employed in tiie service of the Clunvb° Tl 
 
 mOandin;;hichthe^o;rh;Xt"r4^ 
 
 nn r '• , "^'^ American colonies, that we can 
 
 not be provided for with at least one or two Pi 1 
 I am nersiioflr.,! n+ +i • • , *^ i>ishops. 
 
 sent , r 1 '^*/'"«J""^ture there are several dis- 
 1>.„ ;^ "-''^"->* ^\iio Mould take orders, if thev conl.l 
 
 pacj, that I am afraid some will be te.n.>tp,l i,. 
 
 in +l.n nr„ • iimpteu to sjo over 
 
 to tlw Moravians on Ihat account, „],„ I„vc a R^ I 
 
 th^ I • ?• '-'ii'itn- i 1 have been nformed thnt 
 
 i the ch.et pretence against sending Bishops ns bee, 
 an apprehension of these colonies effecth^^ an Wle 
 pen cmey on our mother-country. This 1° i^de d t 
 ^^t groundless apprehension; but certaiiih^ a TuC 
 Episcopacy, even subordinate to the Bi.l.nn ^ t " 
 -^cl be so far from this tlj it'^ouM' i^oft' 
 most eflectual means to secure our dependency' 
 
 ao-a- n r"-"? '""^ ^■^-^■"*"^" «f the spirit to refer 
 agam and again to such records of fruitless entreatv 
 and ot repeated and unavailing remonstrances WJ^^ 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 145 
 
 the Missionaries were devoting themselves heartily to 
 their work, and sending home with renewed urgency 
 their prayers for that help which the presence of a 
 faithful Bishop could alone secure to them, the spirit- 
 ual authorities of England were refused the power of 
 granting it, simply because the policy of the State 
 must be identified with the Church and override its 
 prosperity. It was a time here when all the moral 
 force which our offices, seen in their completeness, 
 can supply, was needed. It was a time for church- 
 men not to be charged with inconsistency, and up- 
 braided for pressing the importance of things which 
 they were forbidden to enjoy. It was a time to open 
 the eyes of those who were blinded by prejudice, and 
 teach them to contrast the quiet walks of religion and 
 the beauty and harmony of government with the 
 convulsions and irregularities which evely^vhere pre- 
 vailed. No gloomier picture of the moral and relig- 
 ious state of the colony at this period can be drawn 
 than that which appears in the proclamation of the 
 Governor for a day of fasting in 1743. It is only 
 equalled by the "brief and sorrowful account" of 
 Samuel Niles, "a mournful spectator and sharer in 
 the present calamities, and pastor of a church of 
 Christ in Braintree." It deserves to be quoted in 
 this connection. "Neglect and contempt of the Gos- 
 pel and its ministers, a prevailing and abounding 
 spirit of error, disorder, unpeaceableness, pride, bitter- 
 ness, uncharitableness, censoriousness, disobedience, 
 calumniating and reviling of authority, divisions, con- 
 tentions, separations and confusions in churches, in- 
 justice, idleness, evil speaking, lasciviousness, and aU 
 other vices and iniquities abounded." 
 
 10 
 
146 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Whitefield, who had left behind him on his first 
 visit a legacy of enthusiasm, from which liad sprung 
 all this evil and discord, was now preparing to return 
 and itinerate again these Eastern colonies. °The cords 
 of union, which, at his ordination, bound him to the 
 Church of England, had become so loosened that he 
 was no longer held as one of her clergy, and he had 
 separated from Wesley, as Wesley finally separated 
 from the Church, because he coidd not unite with 
 him on his views of free grace, and bring him over to 
 his own Calvinistic doctrine of election. "Had he not 
 renewed his visit," said Dr. Cutler, in a letter dated 
 December, 1744, "enthusiasm might have subsided 
 sooner. He has brought town and country into 
 trouble. Multitudes flock after him, but without that 
 fervency and fury as heretofore. For some are ashamed 
 of what is past ; others, both of teachers and people, 
 make loud opposition, being sadly hurt by the ani- 
 mosities, divisions, and separations that have ensued 
 upon it, and the sad intermissions of labor and busi- 
 ness ; and observing libertine principles and practice 
 advancing on it, and the Church little ruffled by such 
 disorders, but growing in numbers and reputation." 
 / The association of Congregational ministers in the 
 / County of New Haven, convened in February, 1745, 
 fomially disapproved, in a pamphlet which was exten- 
 sively circulated, of his itinerancy, his doctrines, his 
 -whole course ; and declared, among other things, that 
 they could not "reconcile his conduct and practice in 
 publicly praying and administering the sacrament 
 among Presbyterians and Congregationalists in the 
 extempore way, with his subscription and solemn 
 promises and vows at the time of his Episcopal ordi- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 147 
 
 nation, nor see how his doing so was consistent with 
 moral honesty Christian simplicity, and godly sincer- 
 ity. They noted the "numbers of illiterate exhort- 
 ers swarming about as locusts from the bottomless 
 pit ; and after censuring the Boston ministers for "ca- 
 ressing, applauding, and following the said Whitefield " 
 they improved the occasion to "send their public 
 thanks to the Reverend and Honored Gentlemen of 
 Harvard College, the Reverend Associations and par- 
 ticular Minister,s, who had appeared so valiant for the 
 Truth against the errors, enthusiasm, and encroachin-. 
 evils of the present day." The General Association 
 of Connecticut divines followed their example, and a 
 few months later deemed "it needful to declare, that 
 It he should make his progress through this govern- 
 ment. It would by no means be advisable for any of 
 their ministers to admit him into their pulpits, or 
 tor any of their people to attend his administrations " 
 Ihere was harmony of sentiment at this period be- 
 Ween the two New-England colleges, Harvard and 
 lale, from both of which students were expelled who 
 sympathized with the New-Light Theology, and per- 
 sistently refused to have any yoke put upon their 
 consciences. -And at Yale, President Clap and the 
 lutors signed a declaration condemnatory of the 
 pnnciples and designs of Whitefield, which "offended 
 some, without effectually conciliating others." In that 
 declaration, prepared as a letter and printed, the sio-n- 
 ers thus referred to the effect of his "slanders up°on 
 tlie colleges," and especiaUy their own: 
 
 "Sundry of the students ran into enthusiastic errors 
 and disorders, censured and reviled their governors 
 and others i for which some were expelled, denied 
 
148 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 their Degrees, or otherwise punished ; and some wltli- 
 drew to that thing called the ShephcrcVs Tent. And 
 we have been informed, that the students were told 
 that tliere was no danger in disobeying their present 
 governors, because there would in a short time be a 
 great change in the civil government, and so in the 
 governors of the College. All which rendered the 
 government and instruction of the College, for a 
 while, far more difficult than it was belbre."^ 
 
 All these movements, so for from weakening the 
 Church of England, inspired fresh confidence in her 
 ^/ order, her doctrines, her worship. Care was taken 
 / tliMt her members should not increase in New Haven ; 
 and hence no students, except the children of pro- 
 fessed churchmen, were allowed to attend upon the 
 ministrations of the Society's Missionary. But the 
 good seed planted here in faith was already beginning 
 to germinate. In the spring of 1745, Dr. Johnson 
 wrote to the Secretary thus: "As there is such a 
 growing disposition among the people in many places 
 to forsake the tenets of enthusiasm and confusion, so 
 there is a like disposition increasing in the College, 
 where there are already ten children of the Church, 
 and several sons of dissenting parents, that are much 
 inclined to conform. I was there last week, and was 
 much pleased with the exercises; among the rest 
 there was one lajinan, a person of good character, 
 (besides Messrs. Marsh and Mansfield, mentioned in 
 my last,) who desired me to mention him to the So- 
 ciety as a candidate for iha ministry;" and more than 
 a year later he again wrote these most encourao-int,. 
 words: "A love to the Church is still gaining iifthe 
 
 1 TJie Declaration^ pp. 11, 12. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 149 
 
 College, and four more, whose names are Allen, Lloyd 
 Sturgeon, and Chandler, have declared themselves 
 candidates for Holy Orders; and there seems a very 
 growmg disposition toward the Church hi the town 
 of New Haven, as well as in the College, so that 1 
 there ^^^'' ^^'''^ ^'^ ^' "" flourishing church 
 
 Let it be said here that all honor and gratitude are 
 due, from us who share the benefit, to the lavmen of 
 those days, for keeping the fires of the Churdi burn- 
 mg m places where they had no steady watchmen for 
 tlieir souls save schoolmasters and catechists We 
 ought to grow more and more in love with a system 
 M'hich possesses the inherent elements of perpetuity 
 and which can live and flourish in the midst of ram-' 
 pant enthusiasm, while sects and theories chancre tot- 
 ter, and crumble from confusion into separation and 
 decay. The Church never substitutes inward, un- 
 thinkmg impulses for truth and reason and rio-ht 
 rules of conduct. Her scriptural formularies under 
 God are her safeguard. Whatever may be the Ian- 
 guage of ih^ pulpit, and the false or fanciful inter- 
 pretations put upon ih^ Divine Word, the plain truth 
 is a ways propounded from the desk. The Church 
 teaches her children to follow the well-worn track of 
 duty and thus to walk side by side in faith with those 
 who have entered it before them and passed on, claim- 
 mg the fulness of the promises, to their final reward 
 It ^vould be a sinful mistrust of the good providence 
 of God to fear that the help vouchsafed to her in 
 former days will not be continued in the time to 
 come. ^ Rather let us rejoice that the Church recog- 
 nizes m every difficulty and danger a fresh caU to 
 
150 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 watchfulness and prayer ; that even when the fearful 
 anxieties and desolations of civil war bow down the 
 hearts of the people with sorrow, she yet invites her 
 children aU the more earnestly to remember the hope 
 still set before them, and to fulfil, as best they may, 
 the simple yet solemn obligations which the posses- 
 sion of this hope requires. Personal piety, the adorn- 
 ment of the individual man with all the graces of the 
 Christian character, never fails to win the tribute of 
 public admiration, and to command some respect for 
 the very body to which he belongs. Hence it was 
 not only a right and sound fiiith, but a right and con- 
 sistent practice, on the part of the members of the 
 Church, that so contributed to her rapid advancement 
 amid the vast disorders and dissensions which followed 
 the first visit of Whitefield to New England. It is 
 the same combination of a right faith and a right 
 practice that now and always must contribute to her 
 prosperity, and send through the land her richer and 
 larger influences. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 151 
 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE EPISCOPAL CLERGY KEEPING ALOOF FROM SECTARIAN 
 CONTROVERSIES; AND THE GENERAL PROSPERITY OF THE 
 CHURCH. 
 
 A. D. 1747-1752. 
 
 An undue excitenient on religious subjects is natu- 
 rally followed by a season of spiritual declension. The 
 popular mind, yielding to the pressure of outward cir- 
 cumstances, accepts that which, in calmer hours, it is 
 quite ready to throw off, and the return to quietude 
 and contentment is often no more than the sinking 
 down into a state of barrenness and indifference. It 
 is but the motionless, unrippled expanse of waters 
 which follows the raging of the angry storm. 
 
 The enthusiasm, kindled by the repeated visits of 
 Whitefield to New England, having consumed, like a 
 fire in the woods, all that was light and inflammatory, 
 now began to subside, and the religious body which 
 had been most affected by it looked with sorrow, not 
 only upon its own distractions and disorders, but upon 
 the decay of vital godliness. The Episcopal clergy 
 of Connecticut, in all the stations at which they were 
 placed, watched narrowly the progress of events, and 
 both in their public and private ministrations pre- 
 sented the discriminating marks between true and 
 false religion, and thus won over to the Church many 
 who had else been lost in the mazes of infideUty or 
 
152 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 in the depths of despair. They pursued a wise policy 
 
 4 \\^ in the midst of the popular discontents, and kept aloof 
 
 from the sectarian controversies and from the pro- 
 longed contentions which most commonly arose out 
 ^ of the settlement of pastors over divided Hocks. They 
 were ever ready to defend tlieir own faith and prac- 
 tice. They allowed no misrepresentations of tlie doc- 
 trine, discipline, and worship of the Church to go un- 
 noticed; but they could not forget that, so far from 
 finding tlieir sphere of usefulness in strife and theo- 
 logical dispute, it was a prominent injunction of the 
 Society to all its Missionaries, "That the chief subjects 
 of their sermons should be the fundamental doctrines 
 of Christ ianitv, and the duties of a sober, iwhteous, 
 and godly life, as resulting from such doctrines." 
 Hence, the Church grew luider their wise and pru- 
 dent ministrations; and those who at first came from 
 curiosity witliin reach of tlieir lessons, abated their 
 prejudices, and were soon found, with Prayer Books 
 in their hands, joining in the respousive notes of the 
 Liturgy, and feeling that they had missed much in 
 coming so late to the knowledge of its preciousness. 
 
 The Church would have grown much more rapidly 
 had there been more Missionaries. Writing to the 
 Bishop of London in the spring of 1747, and referring 
 to the vacancies in Connecticut at that time, Dr. 
 Johnson said: "I am now alone here on the sea-coast, 
 without one person, in orders, besides myself, for more 
 than one hundred miles; in which compass there is 
 business enough for six or seven ministers; and those 
 northward have their hands fall; so that my burden 
 is at present insupportable ; nor have we yet leave for 
 any to go home, though there are five or sLx valuable 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 153 
 
 candidates. Unless, therefore, the Society can pro- 
 vide, or your Lordship can think proper to ordain on 
 such titles as can be made here, (which in some places, 
 though not without much hardship, may, I believe, 
 be made equal to thirty pounds sterUng per annum,) 
 the Church must soon decay apace; meantime it is 
 really aflecting to hear the cries and importunities of 
 people from several quarters, and not have it in one's 
 power to help them." 
 
 But it was not long before some of these importu- 
 nities were heeded. In the year 1747, the Rev. Joseph 
 Lamson, who encountered so many perils in ol)taining 
 Holy Orders, and returned to this country with the 
 loss of his companion and fellow-suflerer, was added 
 to the list of the Society's Missionaries in Connecticut, 
 succeeding the Rev. Mr. Caner at Fairfield. His fir.st 
 appointment, as we have seen in a former chapter, 
 was to act as an assistant to the Rev. Mr. AVetuiore 
 at Rye, whose daughter he afterwards married; and 
 he was charged with the special duty of officiating to 
 the people in Bedford, North-Castle, and RidgehYdd. 
 The latter place, though in the Colony of Connecti- 
 cut, and geographically "within the bounds of the 
 parish or mission of Fairfield," had been for some 
 time under the care of Mr. Wetmore, as had the mem- 
 bers of the Church of England living in other locali- 
 ties bordering on the Province of New York. There 
 was now no Missionary stationed between Fairfield 
 and Rye ; and Mr. Lamson, after his removal to Con- 
 necticut, continued to officiate at intervals, as his con- 
 venience would allow, in the church at Ridgefield. 
 He is also mentioned, in the proceedings of the So- 
 ciety for 1748, as "serving Norwalk," then with the 
 
154 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 neighboring villages grown to be a parish "of one 
 hundred and five families, which exceeded the num- 
 ber of any other church in the government, except 
 the church in StratfoFd." The scarcity of laborers 
 and the plenteousness of the harvest unposed addi- 
 tional duty upon the clergy of Connecticut at this 
 period. The Episcopalians in Stratfield (now Bridge- 
 port) had become so numerous that they proceeded, 
 under the guidance of Mr. Lamson, in 1748, to erect 
 a house of worship, w^iich was called St. John's 
 Church, and opened, as usual, for services before it 
 was completed. It w^as the eighteenth church built , 
 in the colony; and among the seven principal proprie- 
 tors w^hose names have been preserved, w\as Colonel 
 John Burr, a man of eminent abilities, and possessed 
 of a large estate. He w as educated in the faith of 
 Congregationalism, and zealously promoted its inter- . 
 ests until the extravagances of Whitefield and his 
 followers appeared, when he turned his attention to 
 the Episcopal Church; and finding her doctrines and 
 government to be consistent with the Word of God, he 
 embraced them, and passed the remainder of his days 
 in her communion, — as generous now in the sup- 
 port of Episcopacy as he had before been in the sup- 
 port of Congregationalism. In w^riting to the Secre- 
 tary of the Society, in the autumn of this year, Mr. 
 Lamson says: "I have formerly mentioned a church 
 built at Stratfield, a village within the bounds of Fair- 
 field, in which they are very urgent to have me offi- 
 ciate every third Sunday, because we have large con- 
 gregations when I preach there. The people Hving 
 in the town and westward are very much against it, 
 because Mr. Caner used to keep steadily to the church 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 155 
 
 in town, but then there was neither church nor con- 
 gregation at Stratfield." Mr. Lamson supplied this 
 viUage, however, with stated ministrations; for in 
 1764 he reported to the Society that he had offici- 
 ated in the church at Stratfield ^^one Sunday in four 
 for several vears." 
 i/ Mr. Ebenezer Dibblee, a native of Danbury, a grad- 
 uate of Yale College, and for some time a hcentiate 
 among the Congregationalists, returned from Eng- 
 land late in October, 1748, whither he had been for 
 Holy Orders. After the disappointment occasioned by 
 the melancholy death of Mr. Miner, he had acted as 
 a lay reader "in the united parish of Stamford and 
 Greenwich"; and so acceptable had been his services 
 to the people, that they "humbly entreated the Ven- 
 erable Society to compassionate their circumstances 
 and admit him to be their missionary, with such sal- 
 ary as they might think fit to allow." Besides as- 
 sisting to defray the expenses of his voyage to Eng- 
 land for ordination, they had pledged themselves to 
 contribute liberally towards his maintenance; and when 
 there was a prospect that the vacant parish at Nor- 
 w\alk might share in his ministrations, they interposed 
 objections, and claimed that the churchmen there had 
 neither manifested any interest in favor of Mr. Dib- 
 blee, nor borne their part in providing the means for 
 his subsistence. 
 
 The "poor petitioners," as they termed themselves, 
 ''in the towns of Stamford and Greenwich," finally 
 obtained their missiona ry ; and the churchmen in Nor- 
 w^alk and Ridgefield united in an unsuccessful attempt 
 to secure the appointment of Mr. John Ogilvie, a 
 native of New York city, and a graduate of Yale 
 
156 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 College in the same class with Bishop Seabuiy. He 
 for a time, "with the approbation of the Connecticut 
 clersry, read the Lituro-y and sermons amoni!: them to 
 their onth-e satisfaction." He also officiated for them a 
 lew Sundays after his ordination in 1749; but thoujrh 
 welcomed by the people, and greatly admired by them 
 as a preacher, they were thrown into fresh commo- 
 tion when they found that he was about to remove 
 to Albnny, in the Province of New York, a step which 
 the Honorable Society might have been less reluctant 
 to authorize, had not the Norwalk people been guilty 
 of -unprudence in their conduct" relating to a pre- 
 vious appointment for their Mission. They Avere un- 
 fortunate in their next effort to secure the ministra- 
 tions of a permanent pastor; for the gentleman who, 
 in 17-31, was sent, throuo:h their instrumentalitv, to 
 Eno'laud for Holy Orders, Mr. John Fowle of Boston, 
 a graduate of Harvard College, proved not to be 
 "an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile." After a 
 ministry of several years' continuance among them, 
 he was dismissed, for misconduct, from the service of 
 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and 
 returned to Boston, where he died.^ The vacant par- 
 ish was again thrown upon the generosity of Mr. 
 Dibblee at Stamford, and others of the neifrhborino- 
 clergy, for occasional services, and what had hitherto 
 been, under the ministry of the Caners, the most 
 flourishing church in the colony, was checked in its 
 growth by these unpropitious events. 
 
 In the same vessel which brought Mr. Dibblee ])ack 
 to this country came the Rev. Richard Mansfield, a 
 
 1 " Mr. Fowle, my predecessor," said Learning, '' sold the library belong- 
 ing to the Mission, and put the money in his own pocket." 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 157 
 
 classmate of his, and a graduate of Yale College in 
 1745. He was a native of New Haven, the son of 
 Congregational parents ; and it illustrates iXxi, degree 
 of Puritan bitterness whicli prevailed at that time 
 against the Church, that even his own sister, upon 
 heanng that he had sailed for England to receive or- 
 dination from her Bishops, prayed that he might be 
 lost at sea. Another classmate, the Rev. Jeremiah 
 Leaming, born at Middletown, had arrived safely a 
 few weeks before them, and was sent as an assistant 
 to the venerable Honeyman at Newport; but he sub- 
 sequently returned to Connecticut, and was long one 
 of her most honored and learned ministers. 
 
 Mr. Mansfield was appointed to tlie Mission lately 
 served by Mr. Lyons; and he followed the exam])le of 
 his predecessor in selecting Derby for his residence, 
 which was about the centre of his extensive charo-e, or 
 midway between Waterbury and West Haven. Being 
 "one of the holiest and most guileless of men," he dis"- 
 armed enemies of their prejudices against the Church, 
 and gained over many to her excellent ways, hy com- 
 bining in his own character the good Christian and 
 the fiiithful minister. We shall have occasion to spejik 
 of him and his labors in future periods of our historv. 
 Dr. Johnson, in a letter to the Society, under djite 
 of September 29th, 1748, glances at \\\q progress of 
 Episcopacy in Connecticut, and thus rellrs^'to tlie 
 prosperity oiMiis own parish: "As to i\i^ Church in 
 this town, it is in a flourishing condition, one fanrily 
 having I)een added, and uiore looking forward, and 
 thirty-one have been baptized, and eiglit added to the 
 conununion, since my last; our new church is almost 
 finished, in a very neat and elegant manner, the archi- 
 
158 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 tectiire being allowed in some things to exceed any- 
 thing done "before in New England. We have had 
 some valuable contributions, and my people ^ have 
 done as well as could be expected from their circum- 
 stances, which are generally but slender; but there 
 is one of them who deserves to be mentioned in par- 
 ticular for his generosity,— Mr. Beach, brother of the 
 Reverend Mr. Beach, who, though he has a consid 
 erable family, has contributed above three thousand 
 pounds, our currency, to it already, and is daily doing 
 more, and designs to leave an annuity, in j^erpetuum, 
 toward keeping it in repair." 
 
 The worthy Missionary at Stratford, though dis- 
 abled for a time by the fracture of a limb, was most 
 industrious at this period in his sacred vocation. He 
 kept his eye upon other places, but especially upon 
 his native town, and improved all his visits among 
 his kindred and friends to the advantage of the 
 Church. The record of his ministrations in Guilford 
 for a quarter of a century is more frequent than in 
 any place of New Haven County except West Haven. 
 In the same letter from which the above extract was 
 taken, he writes: "Scarce ever was there a people 
 in a more bewildered, confounded condition than those 
 in this colony generally are, as to their religious af- 
 fairs, occasioned by the sad effects of Methodism, still 
 in many places strangely rampant, and crumbling 
 them into endless separations, which occasions the 
 most sensible of them to be still everywhere looking 
 toward the Church as their only refuge. I have this 
 summer been solicited to visit several places. I have 
 rode as much as I could, particularly to Guilford and 
 Branford, where I have preached to great numbers, 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 159 
 
 ! 
 
 which Mr. Graves also has done, and I believe those 
 two towns Avill in a little time be prepared to make 
 a mission ; at the former they are building a church, 
 and designing it at the latter. 
 
 ^'Middletown and Wallingford are also joining, in 
 order to another mission in due time; and they are 
 going forward Avith their church at Middletown, where 
 a sensible, studious, and discreet young man, one Mr. 
 Camp, bred at our College, is reading service and ser- 
 mons, and begs me to mention him to the Society as 
 a candidate, and that he may hope in due time to be 
 employed in their service." 
 
 Nine Episcopal clergymen were present at the an- 
 nual Commencement of Yale College in 1748, and 
 meeting together, "consulted the best things they 
 could" for the interests of the Church. It was in that 
 year that Seabury graduated, and the younger son of 
 Dr. Johnson; and among the candidates for the higher 
 degree of Master of Arts were five who belonged to 
 the Church, in which number was included Thomas 
 Bradbury Chandler, afterwards the distinguished ad- 
 vocate for an American Episcopate. He w\as the son 
 of a farmer, born in Woodstock, Ct. ; and the predi- 
 lections of his childhood were for Congregationalism, 
 a system of faith in which he had been educated, and 
 which he seems to have renounced for the apostolic 
 order of the Church wliile yet he was a student in 
 College. He went to England for ordination in the 
 spring of 1751, bearing with him a letter from Dr. 
 Johnson, to the Bishop of London, and also a copy 
 of the joint answer of the clergy to a paper of pro- 
 posals in reference to the objections of Dissenters to 
 sending Bishops to America. The Connecticut clergy 
 
 \ 
 
160 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 aimed to secure these educated youths for the vacant 
 missions within the colony, and for any new ones 
 which might be created. They had found by experi- 
 ence that the natives of the soil w ere its most suc- 
 cessful cultivators, and, therefore, as ilist as these 
 young men declared for Episcopacy, appeals went 
 over to the Bishop of London and the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel to receive them into their 
 care and consideration, and to allow the representa- 
 tions and desires of churchmen in the most promising 
 localities to ])e their title to Holy Orders. "I am de- 
 sired;' said Dr. Johnson, Avriting March oOtli, 1750, 
 "by sundry of l)oth people and candidates, to beg the 
 direction of the Society how to proceed; whether 
 £30 from the people can be accepted for a title, and, 
 if so, to whom they can apply for orders, since they 
 can have no title from the Society for a long iime. 
 Thev would, however, in the mean time, do as they 
 best can; and I beg to be under the Society's direc- 
 tion and control, that if no Bishop should come over 
 into these parts, we may be advised time enough for 
 theui to go home in the fall, whether orders can be 
 had upon sucli a title, and from whom." 
 
 The Kev. Matthew Graves, the Missionary at New 
 London, reported early in the autumn of 1748, "I 
 have visited and spent a fortnight at Hebron, in which 
 time I read prayers and preached nine sermons in the 
 church, and at the houses of the people;" and on ''my 
 return," he remarks, "I did dutv in the new church 
 at Norwich, baptized a child, and churched its mother. 
 The parent used many arguments to stand surety, but 
 I told him the canons and rubrics, and the practice 
 of others, was my rule. Tlie week before 1 went to 
 
 IN COXNECTICUT. 
 
 161 
 
 Hebron I received an earnest invitation from the in- 
 habitants of Branford, which is about forty miles 
 hence. I happily, on my way thither, met Dr. John- 
 son, ten mdes this side, at a place called Guilford 
 where he read prayer.s, and baptized three children' 
 and I preached to a large congregation. Two days' 
 a t,er, I performed service at Branford to a most agree- 
 able sight of auditors, who behaved very well and 
 some of the chief of the Presbyterians came to my 
 lodgings and returned me thanks. As for the people 
 of ^ew London, I am afraid they will never be unani- 
 mously reconciled to a regular minister. I despair 
 though I shall continue to act in the best manner I 
 can for the glory of God and their edification " 
 
 Six months later, March 28th, 1749, Dr. Johnson, 
 alter communicating to the Honorable Society the 
 great growth of Episcopacy in Guilford and Branford 
 where forty-.seven families had conformed to the 
 Church of England, went on to say: "I have already 
 mentioned the desires of Mid.lletown and Wallin-ford 
 where the Church has further increased since my last' 
 and Mv. Camp has continued to read there with o-ood 
 success, and, I think, will be a worth v and useful per- 
 son; and he and they are al)out addressing the Society 
 for leave for him to go home for them next sprin^r 
 and would be humbly thankful if leave would be o-iven 
 him to go by next fall, that he may embark early in 
 the spring. They are near raising their church, and 
 two more new churches are building, namelv, at Nor- 
 wich and Litchfield. The Church is very "'consider- 
 ably increasing at New Haven, where the Colleo-e is 
 and a considerable sum is already subscribed toward 
 building a church, and it is not doubted but between 
 
 II 
 
162 
 
 HISTORY* OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 that tovm and West Haven (a village within four miles, 
 where there is already a neat little church) there will 
 soon be forty or fifty families. My younger son has 
 read all the last fall and winter, chiefly at West Ha- 
 ven, and sometimes at Branford and Guilford, as well 
 as Ripton; but as he lives at the College, the chief 
 place of his usefulness is there and at West Haven." 
 
 The elder son of Dr. Johnson, so eminent in the 
 future history of his country, as a diplomatist and 
 statesman, occasionally performed the office of a lay 
 Ireader; and the Church-wardens at Eipton, in thank- 
 ing the Society for his scanty services, and soliciting 
 the presence of an ordained minister, mentioned that 
 they "were laughed at by the Dissenters for having 
 a lawyer for their priest, which discouraged many of 
 the people, so that they would not go to hear him." 
 In spite of obstacles in the way of her advancement, 
 lit was a season of general prosperity for the Church 
 throughout the colony. The mission of Dibblee at 
 Stamford and Greenwich was gathering within it 
 "the inhabitants of all sorts," and under his auspices 
 a small chapel had been erected on one of its out- 
 skirts (Horse Neck), to accommodate the increased 
 number of churchmen. The cure of Beach, "like the 
 house of David, was waxing stronger and stronger." 
 Mansfield, at the close of the year 1749, reported that 
 he had, in Derby and Waterbury alone, one hun- 
 dred and forty-six communicants, notwithstanding his 
 people had been sharers in the great oppressions aris- 
 / ing from the system of colonial taxation. At Sims- 
 
 I bury, it is true, the prospects of the Church were 
 scarcely so encouraging; for the Missionary, Mr. Gibbs, 
 
 ^ and some of his parishioners, were drawn into conflict 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 163 
 
 with the civil authorities, and both for a time had 
 lodgings in the Hartford jail, because the costs of 
 court and the demands of the tax-collector were not 
 promptly met. In the eastern part of the colony, 
 Punderson encountered like difficulties, and failed to 
 recover by process of law what he claimed to be justly 
 his due. The Missionary at New London, Matthew 
 Graves, with the peculiar habits and prejudices of a 
 foreigner, did not readily coalesce with his brethren 
 in all their movements to protect and further the in- 
 terests of the Church. In one of his letters to the 
 Bishop of London he says: "All Europeans, especially 
 ministers, meet with a very ungracious reception here; 
 and certain I am that there is a plan already formed 
 to extirpate us entirely; a plan which, in its embryo, 
 I zealously opposed, and, by the help of God, liitherto 
 have been enabled to defeat it; a plan which, I doubt 
 not to affimi, would shake the foundation of these in- 
 fant churches by casting us absolutely upon the mercy 
 of the populace, and reduce us into a Presbyterian, 
 servile dependence." When the members of the 
 Church of England in Hebron exerted themselves 
 to provide for the support and secure the ordination 
 of their lay reader, Mr. Jonathan Colton, a classmate 
 of Leaming and Chandler, and who was sustained by 
 the recommendation of Dr. Johnson, Mr. Graves fol- 
 lowed their earnest entreaty with a letter to the Ven- 
 erable Society, in which he objected to his appoint> 
 ment, and used this vituperative language: "I must 
 add that 't is my conscientious opinion Mr. Colton is 
 quite unfit for Holy Orders, unless a covetous man, a 
 farmer, an apothecary, a merchant, and a usurer is 
 qualified for the ministry, for such and all these he 
 
164 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 surely is; but I solemnly declare there are more and 
 more notorious reasons why such a man should never 
 be ordained. All that I shall add about Hebron is, 
 that inasmuch as they are very wicked, they have the 
 greater necessity for a good resident nnnister." 
 
 The presence of one in the highest grade of the 
 ministry would have tended to prevent or restrain 
 such ill-natured interference, and the Bishop of Lon- 
 don, writing to Dr. Johnson in the spring of 1752, 
 says: ^'I thhik myself at present in a very bad situar 
 tion: Bishop of a vast country, without power or in- 
 fluence, or any means of promoting true religion; se- 
 questered from the people over whom I have the care, 
 and must never hope to see ; I should be tempted to 
 throw ofr all this care quite, were it not for the sake 
 of preserving even the appearance of an Episcopal 
 Church in the plantations. 
 
 " Your letter of the 20th of October last, sent by 
 Messrs. Camp and Colton, came but lately to hand. 
 I thank vou for it, and particularly for givmg me 
 some light into the quarrel between Mr. Graves and 
 Mr. Cofton. Mr. Graves wrote to me a very bad 
 character of him, but could not conceal his passion 
 and resentment, charging him with very hemous 
 crimes. His letter gave me great offence, as he will 
 find when he receives my answer." 
 
 Mr. Colton was admitted to Holy Orders, but died 
 on his returning voyage to this country in 1752, and 
 was buried in the depths of the sea,— the second af- 
 flictive disappointment which the church at Hebron 
 experienced in its efforts to obtain a resident Mis- 
 sionary. His companion, the Rev. Ichabod Camp, was 
 appointed to Middletown, his native place, with the 
 care of Wallingford and Cheshu-e. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT 
 
 165 
 
 I 
 
 # 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MEMORIALS OF CHURCHMEN IN CONNECTICUT TO THE GENEKa 
 ASSEMBLY; AND ORGANIZATION OF TRINITY PARISH, NE\^ 
 HAVEN. 
 
 A. D. 1752-1753. 
 
 It has been stated in a previous chapter that the 
 enactment of the General Assembly, at its May Ses- 
 sion in 1746, though aimed directly at the suppression 
 of enthusiasm and the preservation of the standing 
 order, struck a blow at the Church, and "excluded 
 her members from voting in society meetings, and 
 from having any share in levying those taxes which 
 they were obliged to pay" for the common support of 
 religion. This exclusion was manifestly so unjust, 
 that the Wardens of the several societies, except that 
 at New London, acting in behalf of all the members 
 of the Church of England in Connecticut, memorial- 
 ized the General Assembly, in 1749, to take into con- 
 sideration their state, and pass an act granting to them' 
 full parish privileges, and power, within themselves, 
 to meet and tax themselves, as they might think 
 proper, for the support of their ministers or the "main- 
 tenance of catechists or candlJ-tes for Holy Order^ 
 according to the practice allowed and approved of by 
 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel"; and | 
 to choose persons to collect their taxes, who should 
 
 L 
 
IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 167 
 
 166 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 be governed and directed by the same laws as other 
 collectors of society rates in the colony. 
 
 This memorial, like all the previous memorials of 
 
 (churchmen to the General Assembly of Connecticut, 
 iwas drawn up by Dr. Johnson, but, ''by reason of the 
 violent opposition of the Rev. Mr. Graves, it was not 
 brought to trial" at the May Session. The clergy met 
 in the autumn, when he objected to the draught that had 
 been made, and agreed with the rest, as they thought, 
 to allow a new form, omitting any mention of cate- 
 chists or candidates; "but as the attorney (who was 
 now the sole draughtsman) petitioned for taxing and 
 collection powers," he appeared at the October Session 
 and entered his protest against it, as what he called 
 a "spurious address." He subsequently proposed to 
 petition for a law in accordance with a memorial of 
 t his own, and gave his brethren notice that he should 
 resist personally any application for a different law; 
 i and Dr. Johnson, in communicatino- the result to the 
 \ Society, said: "Rather than have an open opposition 
 before the Assembly, we thought it best to drop the 
 w^iole affair, and still be at the mercv of the dissent- 
 ers, as we were, though our case is very difficult." 
 
 In 1750 the labors of Mr. Punderson as an itiner- 
 ant Missionary in Connecticut were extended, and the 
 members of the Church of England at Middletown, 
 North Guilford, Guilford, Wallingford, and other places, 
 submitted themselves to his pastoral care ; and what- 
 ever ministerial taxes they had been assessed to pay, 
 he ordered to be entirely applied toward building their 
 churches and maintaining readers among them, with- 
 out appropriating any part thereof to himself On 
 the 18th of October, in the same year, he sent a letter 
 
 V 
 
 to the Secretary of the Society, which contains this 
 summary of his ministrations in one of his journeys: 
 "The 5th of September rode to Middletown, and 
 preached there the next day; the day following, at 
 East Haddam; on Sunday, at Middletown, in their 
 town-house, it being quite full; administered the two 
 sacraments; their church is a beautiful timber build- 
 ing, and will soon be fit to meet in; a folio Bible and 
 Common Prayer Book would be very acceptable to 
 them ; the next day, in a small church in Wallingford ; 
 the day following gave private baptism to a poor, 
 weak child, as I went to my native place. New Haven ; 
 the Sunday after the Commencement, preached in the 
 State House in that town, to a numerous assembly, not- 
 withstanding Brother Thompson preached the same 
 day in the church at West Haven ; the day following, 
 at Branford ; upon Tuesday, in the church at Guilford, 
 to abundance ; the next day, at Cohabit [North Guil- 
 ford] ; upon Friday, at Millington [a part of East Had- 
 dam], added there two more to our communion; the 
 next day christened three children. I travelled in 
 this journey about one hundred and sixty miles; 
 preached eleven sermons; christened seventeen chil- 
 dren; the Sunday before last was at Charlestown, and 
 the last at Norwich; the Church greatly increases at 
 both these places." 
 
 From this record it appears that there was "a small 
 church in Wallingford," built many years before ap- 
 plication was made to the town and granted, for lib- 
 erty to erect an edifice nearer the centre, "on the 
 west side of Mix^s lane." In that application, the 
 members of the Church of England speak of having 
 *^ assembled together for divme worship near Pond 
 
168 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IX CONNECTICUT. 
 
 169 
 
 Hill/' and it was here that the i^arishioners of Wal- 
 lingford and North Haven, after being united, in 1741, 
 in one church, by the name of Union Church, erected 
 the temporary edifice in which Punderson officiated. 
 
 More than twenty churches had been built in dif- 
 ferent parts of the colony before a spade was taken 
 to dig for the foundations of an Episcopal house of 
 worship in New Haven, a town, then as now, leading- 
 all others in the number of its inhabitants. The Col- 
 lege was constantly furnishing candidates for the min- 
 istry, and fi'om time to time there were indications 
 that famihes in the place were leaning to the Church 
 of England, and desirous of her services. Dr. John- 
 son was here on a Sunday, May 6th, 1750 ; and it was 
 an interesting feature of the services which he per- 
 formed at that time, according to the entry in his 
 parocliial Register, that he baptized six male children, 
 all the sons of Daniel and Mehetabel Trowbridge, i e., 
 . Joseph, Newman, Thomas, Rutherford, Stephen, and 
 John. 
 
 The first vigorous and decided movement to estab- 
 lish the Church in New Haven Avas made by the 
 
 ^ Rev. Jonathan Arnold, the Society's itinerant. Mis- 
 
 ' sionary in the colony. While in England, Avhither 
 he went for Holy Orders, he obtained from William 
 Gregson — of the city of London, great-grandson of 
 
 t Thomas Gregson, one of the original settlers of this 
 place, and through whom, as the only surviving male 
 descendant, he claimed to be seized in fee-simple — a 
 
 'deed or "indenture," dated March 26, 1735, convey- 
 ing to him one acre and three quarters of land or 
 thereabouts, situate in the town and county of New 
 Haven, and now knoAvn as the glebe property, on the 
 
 I \ 
 
 corner of Church and Chapel streets. The deed was 
 for the consideration of "five shillings lawful money 
 in hanc^ and out of "piety towards God." and "zeal 
 for the Protestant religion and the Church of Enoland 
 as by aw established," and the convevance m°xs to' 
 Jonathan Arnold and his heii-s in trust; nevertheless, 
 fo. the budclmg and erecting a church thereupon for 
 he worslnp and service of Almighty God according to 
 the practice of the Church of England, and a pai^on- 
 agc or dwelhng-h„u,se for the incumbent of the said 
 intended church for the tin>e being; and also for a 
 churchjard to be taken thereout for the burial of the 
 poor, and the residue thereof to be esteemed and used 
 as glebe land by the minister of said intended church 
 ior the time being forever"; to be applied to these 
 uses, mtcrest, and purposes," and no other The 
 ms^^nnnent was duly stamped, though it lacked^ the 
 proper acknowledgment ; and one of tlie witnesses to 
 
 arj a Fairfield then on a visit to London for the 
 benefit of as health. Mr. Arnold returned to thi! 
 conntiy :„ 1736, and found other parties, as they had 
 been for many years, in possession of the land Ho 
 appears to have made no legal efibrt to claim it" until 
 September 6, 1738, when a true copy of the oricnna 
 deed was recorded in the Land Records of New ILnen 
 About the same tinie he attempted to take possession,' 
 
 ha ploughed m the field for the best part of a day 
 without mo estation from the occupant or claimant." 
 A statement of tins resistance Avas sent home to the 
 Honorable Society, signed by the six Episcopal clerc^y- 
 men in Connecticut, and Mr. Wetmore of Rye who 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \iX 
 
170 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 from nearness to this colony and sympathy with them, 
 always cooperated as far as he might with Dr. John- 
 son and his associates in their eflbrts to advance the 
 prosperity of the Church. The testhnony of such wit- 
 nesses is reliable, and proves that there was some 
 foundation in equity for the claim under the deed of 
 William Gregson. Had the title held or been un- 
 disputed, it will be seen that the gift was for the pur- 
 pose of erecting and maintaining a church in New 
 Haven, and upon that particular spot, and no other. 
 Failing to accomplish his original intention of first 
 erecting an edifice here, the Missionary started the 
 project some time afterwards of building a church at 
 West Haven, and no successful efforts were again 
 made for New Haven until 1752. In a letter, dated 
 April Sth, of that year. Dr. Johnson wrote to the Sec- 
 retary of the Society thus: "The condition of the 
 Church within the whole of this colony hath not much 
 altered, save that it hath so far increased at New 
 Haven (with West Haven at about four miles dis- 
 tance), that they have this winter got timber to build 
 a church of the dimensions of sixty feet by forty, be- 
 sides the steeple and chancel ; and as this is a place 
 of very great importance on account of the College 
 being there, it would be very happy for them if the 
 Society were able to assist them in providing for a 
 minister, as I doubt they will not be able to do more 
 than £25 sterling per annum themselves, especially 
 while building. The Church is also gaining at Guil- 
 ford and Branford, which, being but twelve miles 
 asunder, propose to join for the present in procuring 
 a minister, to whom they would also engage about 
 £25 per annum, and therefore stand in like need of 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 171 
 
 assistance ; and there are two worthy candidates likely 
 to offer for these places, but if the Society be not able 
 to assist them, they must perhaps be content for the 
 present to have but one over them all." 
 
 There are no records to show the exact time of the 
 formation of Trinity Parish; but as the movement to 
 build a church was generally preceded by the paro- 
 chial organization, or simultaneous with it, it is fair 
 to presume that the common practice was not de- 
 parted from in New Haven. Churchmen were de- 
 barred from erecting an edifice upon the Gregson 
 land, but they established themselves in sight of it, 
 and as near as they well could; for on the 28th of 
 July, 1752, Samuel Mix, for the consideration of £200 
 old tenor, executed a deed conveying to Enos Ailing 
 and Isaac Doolittle one certain piece of land, "in 
 quantity twenty square rods," "at the southeast cor- 
 ner of the Market place opposite to the corner known 
 by the name of Gregson' s Corner," "for the building 
 of a house for public worship, agreeable and accord- 
 hig to the establishment of the Church of England." 
 
 This deed, like that of William Gregson to Jonathan 
 Arnold, was defective in the required acknowledg- 
 ment; and the grantor dying soon after its execution, 
 the General Assembly, at the October Session in 1756, 
 upon the memorial of the grantees, gave them liberty 
 to record it in the records of the town of New Haven, 
 and thus completed and confirmed the title. Enos 
 Ailing and Isaac Doolittle were influential members 
 and supporters of Trinity Parish, and though not de- 
 scribed as such in this instrument, were afterwards 
 for many years its chief officers, bringing them into 
 the trials and conlUcts of the War for American In- 
 
V T 
 
 172 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 dependence. Mr. Doolittle, who was a native of Wal- 
 IhMonl and came to reside in New Haven at a very 
 eaiiy age, was more liberal than any of his contem- 
 poraries in contributing for the erection of the church, 
 and tradition has assigned to him the privilege of 
 being the first man to strike his spade into the earth 
 when the ground was broken for its erection. Mr. 
 Ailing was one of the twelve graduates of Yale Col- 
 lege In 1746, and besides his zeal for Episcopacy m 
 New Haven, he was a member of the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel, and deeply interested in 
 all its operations. The church was built of wood, upon 
 the land Avhich these sagacious and Christian men had 
 purchased; and when the frame of the edifice was 
 raised, it is said that the heads of all the Episcopal 
 flxmilies then in New Haven sat dowm upon the door- 
 sill and spoke hesitatingly of their future growth. 
 Ei^dit years later, according to a statement of Presi- 
 dent Stiles in his ^-Itinerary," they had only increased 
 to the num])er of twenty-five families, comprising 
 ninety-oue souls. There is another agent to be men- 
 tioned in the successful enterprise of estaljlishing the 
 Church in New Haven, the Rev. El^enezer Punderson, 
 ilready spoken of as an itinerant missionary in Con- 
 aecticiit. It cannot precisely be determined when he 
 removed with his fiunily from Groton to this place ; 
 but, in a letter w ritten not long before his death, he al- 
 ludes to the fact that he had been in the Society's ser- 
 vice upwards of nine years, "at New Haven, Guilford, 
 and Branford," which would bring him to his charge 
 in this vicinity before the close of the year 1752. 
 The proceedings of the Society for 1753 contain the 
 following record, wdiich throw^s light upon his influ- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 173 
 
 ence and generosity: "The Kev. Mr. Punderson, the 
 Society's itinerant Missionary in Connecticut, having 
 petitioned the Society to be settled Missionary, with 
 only part of his present salar}', (which is seventy 
 pounds per annum,) to the members of the Church 
 of England in New Haven, the place of his nativity, 
 (where a new church is built, to which Mr. Punderson 
 gave the greatest part of the timber,) and to those of 
 the neighboring towns of Guilford and Branford, the 
 Society have granted his request." 
 
 This brings the history forward to 1753, and within 
 the last six years the list of Episcopal clergy in the col- 
 ony has been increased by the addition of the names 
 of Joseph Lamson, Ebenezer Dibblee, John Fowle, 
 Richard Mansfield, and Ichabod Camp; and churches 
 have been opened or built at Stamford, Strat field j 
 (now Bridgeport), Guilford, Norwich, Litchfield, Mid- / 
 dletown, and New Haven. A second and larger church, i 
 to take the place of the first, was built at Redding in 
 1750. The pen of controversy in this same period 
 has been again wielded, and Mr. Beach, the faithful 
 Missionary at Redding and Newtown, has calmly and 
 dispassionately vindicated the Church of England, 
 and defended it against the uncharitable attacks of 
 "Mr. Noah Hobart, pastor of a church of Christ in 
 Fairfield." That Congregational divine published a 
 first and second "address to the members of the Epis- 
 copal separation in New England," as he was pleased 
 to denominate churchmen; and wrote, according to 
 his OAvn acknowledgment, "under a full conviction 
 that tlieir separation w^as unjustifiable in itself, and 
 in its effects very hurtful to the country, and to the 
 cause of practical reUgion in it, and that it would, if 
 
 
 i 
 
174 HISTORY OF THE EriSCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 it prevailed, prove pernicious to their posterity."^ He 
 is by no means the first prophet of modern times 
 whose predictions have foiled of fulfdment. Moses 
 Dickinson, another Congregational divine, ministering 
 at Norwalk, wrote an appendix to the Second Ad- 
 dress; and Mr. Wetmore, Dr. Caner, and Dr. Johnson, 
 were all drawn into the controversy, and bore their 
 mrt in correcting the misrepresentations and virulent 
 Aspersions of the adversaries of the Church. These ad- 
 versaries in this particular effort, among other things, 
 charged the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 in Foreign Parts w'ith a departure from the true de- 
 sign of their charter, and from their own professed in- 
 tentions, because they did not confine themselves to 
 sending and supporting Missionaries among those 
 who were either in a state of absolute heathenism, or 
 at least unprovided with any sort of Protestant min- 
 istrations. But it was well said, in answer to this 
 point, that the Society never sent Missionaries to 
 convert Protestants to Episcopacy, but to minister to 
 destitute members of the Church of England ; and as 
 to the argument about the heathen, Mr. Beach re- 
 ferred to his own experience with the tribe of Indians 
 near Newtown. He was early instructed to have a 
 care for their spiritual welfare ; and in attempting to 
 carry out his instructions, he found his labor profit- 
 less, for the Indians "refused to hear anything about 
 reUgion from him ; and to show how much they defied 
 the thoughts of the Church of England, they called 
 him Churchman^ Churchman, out of contempt, which 
 they had learned from the neighboring Dissenters." ^ 
 
 1 Noah Hobart's Second Address, p. 6. 
 
 2 Examination of Mr. Hobart's Second Address, p. 70. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 175 
 
 This, like all the previous controversies, proved an in- 
 dirrict means of furthering the progress of Episcopacy 
 in » Connecticut. Between ninety and one hundred 
 communicants were reported in each of the churches 
 iiu Newtown and Redding, and in that same year 
 (175ij, the year of the controversy, the Missionary 
 concluded a letter to the Society with these touching 
 words: "If I know my own heart, I desire above all 
 things to promote the eternal good of souls; but all 
 I can now do, is, to minister to these two congregar 
 tions, of which I hope the generality are very good 
 and understanding Christians. And as they can 
 give a very good reason why they adhere to the 
 Church of England, so they adorn their profession 
 by a good life. I continue to perform Divine service, 
 and preach twice every Sunday and some other holy- 
 days, although I labor under much bodily weakness 
 and pain, and am in continual expectation of my de- 
 parture out of this miserable life, which event will, 
 I hope, be very welcome when it shall please God to 
 order it." 
 
^i 
 
 176 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 177 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 EDUCATION, AND THE REMOVAL OF DR. JOHNSON TO NEW 
 YORK, TO ACCEPT THE PRESIDENCY OF KING'S COLLEGE. 
 
 A. D. 1753-1756. 
 
 The strength of Episcopacy in the Colony of Con- 
 necticut was increased by the addition of each house 
 of worship and each devoted clergyman. Eesolutely 
 bent on serving God in the way of their forefathers, 
 the scattered churchmen in some of the larger towns 
 grew bold under the repeated attacks of their adver- 
 saries, and met them by renewed and greater exer- 
 tions to procure for themselves the blessings and priv- 
 ilec^es which thev had so long desired. The foothold 
 gained in New Haven, and the establishment of a Mis- 
 sion in this place, from which to radiate as a centre, 
 proved to be an important advance, and helped the 
 interests of the Church in all the surrounding locali- 
 ties. The attitude assumed at this period by the con- 
 troversial writers among the Congregationalists was 
 not of that gentle and benevolent kind which wins 
 over opponents, or weakens the resolution to vindi- 
 cate and sustain a flivorite cause. The more these 
 desperate divines urged ^'the awful guilt" of separa- 
 tion from the standing order, and "deterred their 
 hearers from such a dangerous communion" as the 
 Church of England, the more they were troubled with 
 questions which they could not readily answer, and 
 
 with citations from ecclesiastical history which stood in 
 the way of their theories and declarations. Governor 
 Hunter's description of the churchmen of Stratford, 
 as far back as 1711, would apply very well to those 
 in all parts of the colony about the middle of the 
 eighteenth century. They showed the influence of 
 the example and teaching of their Missionaries, and, 
 like them, courted knowledge and invited investi- 
 gation. Books were not as plentiful then as now; 
 but they read all they could reach in favor of the 
 Church, and entered into the controversies of the 
 times with a spirit which proved that they knew how 
 to defend and preserve the truth. Some of them 
 were as useful, if not as great theologians, as their pas- 
 tors, and not only became fomiliar with Doctrinal 
 treatises, but with works on Practical Religion. They 
 could cope with tliose who echoed the opinions of 
 their ministers, and find reasons for "separation" from 
 Independency, both sound and scriptural. 
 
 Education was a matter which had been almost 
 wholly retained in the liands of what Mr. Wetmore 
 called "one domineering sect." The few parish schools 
 estaljlished by the Missionaries in Connecticut, and 
 taught for the most part by those anticipating admis- 
 sion to Holy Orders, were imperfectly supported, or 
 completely overshadowed in their influence, by the 
 ample provisions of the colony for public education. 
 Dr. Johnson, in one of his communications to the So- 
 ciety, mentioned this fact, and ceased thereafter to 
 press the appointment of schoolmasters and the main- 
 tenance of separate instruction for the children of 
 churchmen. He was widely known as the friend and 
 patron of classical learning, and he watched its prog- 
 
 12 
 
176 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CllUPvCIi 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 177 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 EDUCATION, AND THE REMOVAL OF DR. JOHNSON TO NEW 
 YORK, TO ACCEPT THE PRESIDENCY OF KING'S COLLEGE. 
 
 A. D. 1753-1756. 
 
 The strength of Episcopacy in the Colony of Con- 
 necticut was increased by the addition of each house 
 of worship and each devoted clergyman. Resolutely 
 bent on serving God in the way of their forefathers, 
 the scattered churchmen in some of the larger towns 
 grew bold under the repeated attacks of their adver- 
 saries, and met them by renewed and greater exer- 
 tions to procure for themselves the blessings and priv- 
 ileges which they had so long desired. The foothold 
 gained in New Haven, and the establishment of a Mis- 
 sion in this place, from which to radiate as a centre, 
 proved to be an important advance, and helped the 
 interests of the Church in all the surrounding locali- 
 ties. The attitude assumed at this period by the con- 
 troversial writers among the Congregationalists was 
 not of that gentle and benevolent kind which wins 
 over opponents, or w^eakens the resolution to vindi- 
 cate and sustain a favorite cause. The more these 
 desperate divines urged '4he aw^ful guilt" of separa- 
 tion from the standing order, and "deterred their 
 hearers from such a dangerous communion" as the 
 Church of England, the more they were troubled w itli 
 questions wiiich they could not readily answ^er, and 
 
 I I 
 
 with citations from ecclesiastical history which stood in 
 the w^ay of their theories and declarations. Governor 
 Hunter's description of the churchmen of Stratford, 
 as far back as 1711, w^ould apply very well to those 
 in all parts of the colony about the middle of the 
 eighteenth century. They showed the influence of 
 the example and teaching of their Missionaries, and, 
 like them, courted knowledge and invited investi- 
 gation. Books were not as plentiful then as now; 
 but they read all they could reach in favor of the 
 Church, and entered into the controversies of the 
 times with a spirit w hich proved that they knew how 
 to defend and preserve the truth. Some of them 
 were as useful, if not as great theologians, as their pas- 
 tors, and not only became familiar wdth Doctrinal 
 treatises, but with w^orks on Practical Religion. They 
 could cope with tliose wlio echoed the opinions of 
 their ministers, and find reasons for "separation" from 
 Independency, both sound and scriptural. 
 
 Education was a matter which had been almost 
 wdioUy retained in the hands of wliat Mr. Wetmore 
 called "one domineering sect." The few parish schools 
 established by the Missionaries in Connecticut, and 
 taught for the most part by those anticipating admis- 
 sion to Holy Orders, w^ere imperfectly supported, or 
 completely overshadow^ed in their influence, by the 
 ample provisions of the colony for public education. 
 Dr. Johnson, in one of his communications to the So- 
 ciety, mentioned this fact, and ceased thereafter to 
 press tlie appointment of schoolmasters and the main- 
 tenance of separate instruction for the children of 
 churchmen. He was widely known as the friend and 
 patron of classical learning, and he watched its proo-- 
 
 12 
 
178 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 ress at Yale College, under the impetus of Berkeley's 
 donations, with an interest and a minuteness which 
 he failed not to communicate to that generous bene- 
 factor. His writings had won for him respect and 
 confidence, wherever his name was extended; and 
 "when Franklin was about to establish a colleere at 
 Philadelphia, there was no man whose counsel he 
 sought more eagerly, or whose authority, as its future 
 Provost, he was more anxious to secure, than that of 
 Johnson." But he refused this distinguished honor, 
 only to be importuned to accept the offer of another 
 of a like character, the Presidency of King's (now 
 Columbia) College, New York. A number of gentle- 
 men in that citv, chieflv of the Church of Endand, 
 but who associated with themselves others of the 
 Dutcli and Presbyterian congregations, influenced by 
 the example of Philadelphia, engaged in concerting 
 measures for founding this Institution, and in the be- 
 ginning of 1753 obtained an Act of Assembly, ap- 
 pointing Lieutenant-Governor De Lancy, then the Ex- 
 ecutive of the Province, and other gentlemen Trustees 
 or Commissioners, for carrvino; this desic^n into effect. 
 Dr. Johnson, who had been all along consulted, and 
 who in turn applied for advice and direction to his 
 friend Bishop Berkeley, was chosen President in Jan- 
 uary, 1754; and though he removed, without his fam- 
 ily, as soon as possible to New York, that he might 
 further their generous design, yet he begged the Trus- 
 tees not to require his final decision upon their offer 
 until the charter should ])e passed, and the question 
 of his successor at Stratford had been determined. 
 The charter asked for by a majority of the Trustees 
 was wannly opposed by those unfriendly to the 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 179 
 
 Church of England,^ and much discontent ensued. 
 But it was finally granted; and among its provisions 
 was embodied the condition upon which the Corpora- 
 tion of Trinity Church gave a portion of the King^s 
 Farm to build the College on and for the use of the 
 same, namely, that the President, "forever, for the time 
 being," should be "in communion with \\\q Church 
 of England," and that "the Morning and Evening ser- 
 vice in the College should be the Liturgy of the said 
 Church, or a collection of prayers from her Liturgy." 
 The following extract from a letter of the Vestry 
 to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, com- 
 mending the new institution to their patronage and 
 regard, will furnish the reasons for adhering strictly 
 to this provision of the charter: — 
 
 "The Dissenters have already three seminaries in 
 the Northern governments. They hold their synods, 
 presbyteries, and associations, and exercise the whole 
 of their ecclesiastical government to the no small ad- 
 vantage of their cause; whilst those churches which 
 are branches of the National establishment are de- 
 prived, not only of the benefit of a regular church 
 government, but their children are debarred the privi- 
 
 1 " The Gentlemen Trustees had no other than an extensive and benev- 
 olent design to make the College a common blessing to all denominations, 
 and therefore only desired that the Church, being much the majority, should 
 however have no other preference than that the President should always 
 be a member in full communion of the Church of England, and that the 
 religious service should be a collection out of the Liturgy of the Church. 
 To this all the Dutch gentlemen entirely agreed. But Mr. W. Livin^-- 
 ston, a violent Presbyterian, (joined with other leading Presbyterians am] 
 Freethinkers,) violently opposed it, and raised a hideous clamor against 
 it, and printed a paper of 20 reasons to disaffect the Assembly against 
 granting the money raised by Lotteries, which then amounted to about 
 £3000." — MS. Autobiography of Dr. Johnson. 
 
 \ 
 
 ■■■„ 1 
 
 4 
 
180 
 
 HISTORY OF TFIE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 181 
 
 lege of a liberal education, unless tliej will submit to 
 accept of it on such conditions as Dissenters require 
 winch, in Yale College, is to submit to a fine as often 
 as they attend public worship in the Church of Eno-- 
 land, communicants only excepted, and that only on 
 Christmas and sacrament days. This we cannot but 
 look upon as a hard measure, especially as we can, with 
 good conscience, declare that we are so far from' that 
 bigotry md narrowness of spirit they have of late 
 been pleased to charge us with, that we would not, 
 were it in our power, lay the least restraint on any 
 man's conscience, and should heartily rejoice to con- 
 tmue in brotherly love and charity with aU our Prot- 
 estant Brethren."^ 
 
 In connection with the Presidency of the College, 
 Dr. Johnson was chosen to be an assistant Minister 
 of Trinity Church, an office which he accepted with 
 diffidence, fearing that his "advanced years, vero-incr 
 towards the decline of life," might render him unequal 
 to the expectations of the people. The whole project 
 of removing to New York involved him in painful 
 perplexities. He loved the quiet of rural life, and for 
 thirty-one years the churcli at Stratford had been as 
 happy in the enjoyment of his ministrations as he 
 had been in tlie endearing and responsible relations 
 bf a Pastor. One principal objection in his own mind 
 to the change was his dread of the small-pox, a disease 
 to which he must often be exposed in the city, and 
 which had already shaded with sorrow the remem- 
 brance of an eventful passage in the history of his 
 pilgrimage. Having taken an affectionate leave of 
 his people, he transferred his family to New York, 
 
 i 1 Berrians IIi:i(. Trinity Church, p. 103. 
 
 and entered vigorously upon his new duties, reconcil- 
 ing his* mind and conscience to the step by the hope 
 of rendering himself more extensively useful to the 
 Churcli in a matter of so much importance as Christian 
 education. 
 
 Thus Episcopacy in Connecticut lost for a time its 
 leading light, but the clergy did not cease to con- 
 sult him in all their troubles, nor he to be deeply in- 
 terested in all their labors. There were measures 
 adopted about this time, by the authorities of Yale 
 College, to "maintain in their soundness the fiiith and 
 church theory of the Puritans," which operated hardly 
 upon Episcopal students, and gave importance to the 
 position of Dr. Johnson as the head of the more lib- 
 eral Institution in New York. The establishment of 
 a separate religious society and church in Yale Col- 
 lege was, at first, unacceptable to a large portion of 
 the standing order; but the resolution of the Fellows 
 in 1753, "requiring that members of their own body, 
 with the President, the Professor of Divinity, and 
 Tutors, should give their assent to the Westminster 
 Catechism and Confession of Faith, and should re- 
 nounce all doctrines and principles contrary thereto, 
 and pass through such an examination as the corpora- 
 tion should order," ^ though designed to secure ortho- 
 doxy, was a step backward rather than forward, and 
 not calculated to quiet the fears of those whose pre- 
 dilections were for the Church of England. The theo- 
 logical controversy which sprung up at this time be- 
 tween the Congregationalists, and the pamphlets 
 published on both sides, kept the popular feeling in 
 a state of excitement, and were no help to charity. "^ 
 
 1 President Woolsey's Hist. Dis. 1850, p. 40. 
 
 
182 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 The number of graduates who became Episcopal 
 clergymen during the administration of Presidcmt 
 Clap, which covered a period of nearly thirty years, 
 was scarcely greater than the number during the ad- 
 ministration of his predecessor, which embraced less 
 ^iiian half the same period. Bishop Berkeley, in one 
 of his letters to Dr. Johnson, shortly before his death, 
 referring to the progress of learning in Yale College, 
 expressed the "hope that virtue and Christian charity 
 might keep pace with it." We can forgive the rigor- 
 cfus enactments of a period when there was but one 
 way of thinking in the colony, and when it was the 
 fault of the times to take a narrow view of the rights 
 of conscience and of Christian liberty. We can al- 
 most forgive — for we are persuaded that no one will 
 defend them, looking back from the point of time 
 on which we stand — those penal laws, dictated in a 
 spirit of undisguised intolerance, and designed for 
 the manifest perpetuity of the Puritan faith. Bat 
 after the number of Episcopal families in Connecticut 
 had reached into thousands, and after a parish had 
 been formed, a church built, and a Missionary of the 
 Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 had been stationed in New Haven, it would seem that, 
 out of respect for their wishes, and out of gratitude to 
 clergymen of the Church of England for important 
 services and benefactions, some relaxation of the rigor 
 of these laws should have appeared, at least so far as 
 not to fine Episcopal students for preferring their own 
 mode of worship on the Lord's day, and not to require 
 the classes, through the whole term of their College 
 life, to recite the Westminster Confession of Faith, 
 received and approved by the churches in the colony, 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 183 
 
 together with Wollebius's Theology, or Dr. Ames's Me- 
 dulla and Cases of Conscience. 
 
 While, therefore, in the matter of religious belief, 
 the college regulations showed no more tenderness 
 for the churchman than for the disciple of Whitefield, 
 it was natural to turn to Johnson, opening the doors 
 of his new Institution, and modestly inviting attention 
 to the prescribed course of study. Many, especially 
 of those looking forward to the Episcopal ministry, 
 gathered around him, in preference to being shut up 
 under an inexorable system with which they had no 
 sympathy; and several such, who had graduated else- 
 where, received from King's College the higher de- 
 gree of Master of Arts on the occasion of its first 
 Commencement. With the sanction of the Trustees, 
 he took to aid him in his classes his younger son, 
 William Johnson, a graduate of Yale, and a candidate 
 for orders, "of fine genius and amiable disposition, 
 and an excellent classical scholar." But this son, on 
 the 8tli of November, 1755, embarked for England 
 for the purpose of being ordained, and with a view 
 to assist and succeed the Missionary at Westchester, 
 (Mr. Standard,) now worn out in the service of the 
 Society. Two months only had elapsed before the 
 father followed him with an affectionate letter, "hop- 
 ing in the Almighty's protection" that he had safely 
 reached "our old mother country," and desiring him, 
 because the troubles on our frontiers were ripening 
 into war, to use all possible dispatch and secure or- 
 dination, that he might be ready to embrace the first 
 good opportunity to return. He had been welcomed 
 and honored in England, both for his own sake and 
 that of his father. The same kind friends who, thirty- 
 
 
 ^ \ 
 
184 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 185 
 
 three years before, had entertained Dr. Johnson and 
 his fellow-travellers, when they were at Canterbury 
 on their way to London, received him with the warm- 
 est hospitality; and Archbishop Seeker, to quote the 
 parent's grateful words, "treated him like his owti 
 son." He had been admitted to Holy Orders in the 
 list week of March, had preached several times "with 
 good acceptance," and was preparing to return to 
 America, when he was seized with the small-pox, and 
 died on the 20th of June, 1756, — a sad loss to the 
 Church, and a sore affliction to his bereaved father. 
 When the news reached him, on the 12th of Septem- 
 ber, the shock was indeed terrible, for he had fixed 
 his heart upon having one son who might succeed 
 him in the priesthood. But he uttered no murmurs 
 at the great disappointment. "The will of God," said 
 he, "is done, and I have nothing to say on this un- 
 happy event, but to bear it with as much patience 
 and resignation as I am able." In answering some 
 of the man}' aflfbctionate letters of condolence which 
 came to him from his friends in England, lie took oc- 
 casion to speak in the most earnest and pathetic terms 
 of that abiding want of the Church — an American 
 Episcopate. "I confess," said he, writincr to an Eno-- 
 lish clergyman in December, 1756, "I should scarce 
 have thought my dear son's life ill bestowed (nor I 
 believe would he) if it could have been a means of 
 awakening this stupid age to a sense of the. necessity 
 of sending Bishops (at least one good one) to take 
 care of the Church in these vastly wide extended 
 regions. But, alas ! what can be expected of such an 
 age as this! Dens hone in qiice tenipom rcservasiis nos! 
 This is now the seventh precious life (most of them 
 
 *s. 
 
 I 
 
 -') 
 
 the flower of this country) that has been sacrificed 
 to the atheistical politics of this miserable, abandoned 
 age, which seems to have lost all notion of the neces- 
 sity of a due regard to the interest of religion, in order 
 to secure the blessing of God on our nation both at 
 home and abroad. As to us here, as things have 
 hitherto gone, we can scarce look for anything else 
 but to come vmder a foreign yoke." 
 
 In a letter to Dr. Bearcroft, twelve months later, 
 after alluding to his affliction and the sympathy of 
 the Society, he said.- "There are now four or five va- 
 cancies in these parts, but such melancholy events 
 are so discouraging that there are httle hopes of any 
 of them being supplied from hence, and yet they are 
 all solicitous, if possible, that they may be supplied 
 with such as they have previously known. The small- 
 pox has been so prevalent in New York for eight or 
 ten months, that my friends thought it not best I 
 should reside there, having two good Tutors to take 
 care of the pupils. On this occasion I have retired 
 to Westchester, the place where I desired my son 
 might have been stationed, — where his service is ex- 
 tremely wanted, and whose loss they sadly lament. 
 Dr. Standard lives at Eastchester, another parish of 
 his, where he makes a shift to officiate now and then ; 
 but he is so infirm that he scarce ever expects to see 
 this parish again. Wherefore that I might not be use- 
 less in this interim, I have been officiating for him 
 here, and I hope not without some good eflect. Relig- 
 ion was sunk to a ver}^ low ebb indeed. There were 
 but five communicants at the first communion, one 
 man and four women; at the last, there were five 
 men and seven women, and the congregation is much 
 increased." ^ 
 
 
 1^ 
 
186 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 It is proper in this place to open the Parochial 
 Eejrister ^'belono-ino; to the church at Stratford," and 
 glance at the entries in the handwriting of Dr. John- 
 son. From November 5th, 1723, the date of his 
 arrival at the Mission, to November 10th, 1754, the 
 dke of his final departure for New York, he had bap- 
 tized eighty-one adults and nine hundred and thirteen 
 infants; and had admitted to the Holy Communion 
 four hundred and forty-two ; fourteen of this number 
 being gentlemen who afterwards crossed the ocean 
 for Holy Orders. In this period of thirty-one years, 
 his ministrations had reached into all parts of the col- 
 ony, and of the Baptisms and admissions to the Com- 
 munion many were in other towns tlian Stratford. 
 Sk parishioners, as those of all the Missionaries, were 
 chieliy European settlers and their descendants; but 
 the record of his pastoral labor shows that neither the 
 American Indians nor the poor Africans were neg- 
 lected. " 1 have always," said he, in one of his letters 
 to the Society, "had a catechetical lecture during the 
 summer months, attended by many negroes and some 
 Indians, about seventy or eighty in all ; and, as far as 
 I can find, where the dissenters have baptized one, we 
 have baptized two, if not three or four negroes or 
 Indians, and I have four or five communicants." 
 
 The humble petition of the Mohegans, of whom 
 there were about four hundred, living equidistant 
 from "the church at Norwich" and "from the Groton 
 church," called for the continuance at the Landing 
 of one Mr. Cleveland, an English clergyman, from 
 Salem, Mass., who appears to have officiated occa- 
 sionally at an early day m a small church, erected 
 under the auspices of private benevolence, upon the 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 187 
 
 Green in Norwich Town. The poor tribe of Mohe- 
 gans had no money to bestow, but they were ready, 
 according to their primitive occupations, to give of 
 their luck something to "a good, true-hearted mmis- 
 ter, that w^ould teach them the right path to heaven, 
 and not cheat them by showing them the WTong path." 
 This was in 1756; and while there is no evidence that 
 the petition was granted, its very transmission to the 
 Society proves that these Indians had some hope as 
 well as claim to be considered m the interests of the 
 Church and of Christianity. 
 
 I' 
 
 I 
 
 X 
 
188 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 189 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SUCCESSOR TO DR. JOHNSON AT STRATFORD, AND THEOLOGICAL 
 DISPUTES BETWEEN THE OLD LIGHTS AND NEW LIGHTS. 
 
 A. D. 1756-1760. 
 
 Dr. Johnson had recommended as his successor in 
 Stratford the faithful Missionary at Newtown. The 
 infirm health of Mr. Beach called for some contrac- 
 tion of his extensive labors, and riding so much and 
 so far had become wearisome to him; but he was so 
 attached to his people and they to him, that the pro- 
 posal for a change was mutually disagreeal)le, and 
 therefore the Society appointed the Rev. Edward 
 Winslow; and Dr. Bearcroft, the Secretary, in com- 
 municating his appointment to the Vestry of the 
 church, under date of May 2d, 1755, said, we "hope 
 from the very good character, both for morals and 
 learning, transmitted of him by Governor Shirley, Dr. 
 Cutler, and many other gentlemen of Boston, and con- 
 firmed upon his appearance here, and on his examinar 
 tion for Holy Orders, into which he has been received, 
 that he in a good measure will supply the loss of your 
 late most Avorthy Pastor, and after his example go 
 before in those paths of righteousness, holiness, and 
 truth, which lead to eternal happiness in Christ in 
 heaven." Mr. Winslow was born at Boston, a grad- 
 uate of Harvard College in the class of 1741, and a 
 
 clergyman who, it was afterwards said, besides "ex- 
 celling all in the colony as a preacher," was "behind 
 none of them in discretion and good conduct." Among 
 his earliest movements was one to secure an organ 
 for the church; and thirty-three persons bound them- 
 selves to Mr. Gilbert Doblois of Boston, Merchant, 
 in the aggregate sum of sixty pounds sterling, to be 
 paid within six years, "in six equal payment! of ten 
 pounds sterling per annum, without any demand of 
 interest." The organ Avas to be delivered by the last 
 of April, 1756, and "Mr. Doblois was to take upon 
 himself the risk of transporting it from Boston to 
 Stratford." It is believed to have been the first in- 
 strument of the kind used in a house of public wor- 
 ship^ in Connecticut. In the summer of the year 
 1755 the Rev. Christopher Newton, an Alumnus of 
 Yale, was sent to the long waiting parish at Ripton, 
 and Solomon Palmer, a native of Branford, another 
 Akunnus, and for fourteen years the Congregational 
 minister at Cornwall, greatly surprised hi.^ people on 
 a Sunday in March, 1754, by "declaring hiuLself to be 
 an Episcopalian in sentiment." He soon after went 
 to England, was ordained by the Bishop of Bangor 
 (Dr. Pierce), and returned to this country with The 
 appointment of an itinerant Missionary for the dis- 
 trict surrounding New Milford and Litchfield. 
 
 The Society had twelve Missionaries in Connecti- 
 cut at the beginning of the old French war in 1756, 
 namely, Edward Winslow at Stratford, Joseph Lam- 
 son at Fairfield, John Beach at Newtow^n and Red- 
 ding, John Fowle at NorAvalk, Christopher Newton 
 at Ripton (now Huntington), Ebenezer Dibblee at 
 Stamford, Matthew Graves at New London, Richard ^ 
 
 PIt 
 
 p 
 
190 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 191 
 
 Mansfield at Derby and Waterbury, Ichabod Camp at 
 Middletown and Wallingford, Ebenezer Punderson in 
 New Haven and neighboring towns, William Gibbs at 
 Simsbury, and Solomon Palmer in Litchfield County. 
 Twelve laymen from Roxbury and the adjoining towTis 
 formed themselves and their families into a parish 
 about the year 1753, and first met for worship at a 
 private house in Roxbury, as being the most conven- 
 ient and central place. In the full persuasion that 
 God would bless their undertaking, because the Church 
 was an institution of his own, and having no prospect 
 of soon securing a person in Holy Orders to minister 
 among them, they made choice of a prominent lay- 
 man. Captain Jehiel Hawley, to be their reader,— a 
 choice which was repeated for eleven successive years, 
 and within which time an edifice had arisen that 
 was consecrated by the occasional services of Mr. 
 Palmer, the itinerant Missionary stationed at New 
 Milford. A year later another church arose at Sharon, 
 in the remote corner of the State; and Mr. Palmer, in 
 communicating to the Society, in 1760, the state' of 
 his mission, represented his labors to be "successful 
 beyond expectation, having now four good timber 
 churches, subscriptions for another, and two in private 
 houses." This language will be explained by an ex- 
 tract from another letter, written by the Missionary in 
 the same year, as follows: "Besides the three congre- 
 gations to which at first I was particularly appointed, 
 I have three more, namely, at Roxbury, Cornwall, and 
 Judea. The two last consist of fifteen flimilies each, 
 and there are subscriptions raising for the building 
 a church in Kent, (which they design to forward as 
 fast as they can,) at a place convenient for about fifty 
 
 families, to meet from several different towns. These 
 are all in Litchfield County; and since April 16, 1758, 
 I have baptized an hundred and twenty-two children.'' 
 Mr. Newton, under date of June 25th, 1760, commu- 
 nicated to the Society the increase of his charge, and 
 the eflfect of his ministrations upon a number of fam- 
 ilies "living at the distance of about eight, and some 
 ten miles from Ripton," to whom he had frequently 
 preached. "Of late," said he, "they have been more 
 ready to hear than formerly, and seem to be relig- 
 iously disposed, and sensible of the importance of at 
 tending public worship, and, accordingly, have built a 
 church thirty-six feet long and twenty-six feet wide; 
 and in about six weeks from the beginning so far fin- 
 ished it that we met in it for public woit^hip, and a 
 large congregation attended, it was supposed upward 
 of three hundred people. These people live at a great 
 distance from any public worship, and many of them 
 are so poor that they have not horses to carry their 
 families to worship if they would; and others, it seems 
 by their conduct, choose to spend the Sabbath in 
 hunting and unnecessary visits, and are not only dila- 
 tory in rehgious matters, but in secular aflfairs. Many 
 live but little above the Indian, and are destitute of 
 the comforts of hfe." Some persons of ample means 
 were influenced by this gloomy prospect to erect the 
 church at Tashua. One gentleman, for years an Epis- 
 copalian, declared that he felt it to be his duty to 
 expend a part of his estate in providing what, with 
 the divine blessing, would prevent the people from 
 becoming heathens. The enterprise was rewarded 
 with success, and those Avho had hitherto been so neg- 
 lectful in religious matters, seemed highly to prize 
 
 I 
 
 
 It 
 
 liil 
 
 • ...prir 
 
192 IIISTOUY OF THE EPISCOPAL CFIURCH 
 
 the privilege of public worship, and desired Mr. New- 
 ton to take them under his care,— a desire to which 
 he yielded, "preaching to them every fourth Sunday." 
 The growth of the Church in some localities was 
 affected by the war carried on, at this period, for the 
 protection of our frontiers from the invasions of the 
 French and Indians. Diljblee wrote to the Society in 
 the autumn of 1759: "The sound of the trumpet and 
 the alarms to war, together with a concern for the 
 events thereof, principally engross the attention of 
 the people. Indeed, the church of Stamford is rather 
 weakened than strengthened of late, by enlistments 
 into public service, and by the surprising removal of 
 a number of heads of families, through a very malig- 
 nant disorder that has prevailed among my people. 
 In less than a year past I have buried twelve heads 
 of families, seven males, some of them the best orna- 
 ments of religion and zeal for the Church, and the sup- 
 port of it among us, and of good esteem among our 
 dissenthig brethren." In the same letter he ""men- 
 tioned the fact that he had preached several times to 
 the people in Salem, N. Y., once, "upon a special fast 
 apponited in that province, to implore the smiles of 
 Divine Providence to attend his Majesty's arms the 
 ensuing campaign." The feithful Beach at Newtown, 
 later in the autumn, also reported: "My parish is in a 
 flourishing state in all respects, excepting that we have 
 lost some of our young men in the army; more, in- 
 deed, by sickness than by the sword, for this country- 
 men do not bear a campaign so well as Europeans." 
 
 Public attention continued to be drawn to the 
 Church of England by the controversies of the times, 
 and especially by the sharp theological disputes into 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 193 
 
 ( 
 
 which the Congregationalists were plunged. "Arian 
 and Socman errors," said Mr. Beach, "hy means of 
 some books written by Dissenters in England, seem 
 of late to gain ground a great pace in this country 
 among Presbyterians, as they choose to be called, and 
 some of our people are in no small danger from that 
 infection. I have, therefore, at Dr. Johnson's des:re 
 and advice prepared a small piece for the press, beinc 
 an a tempi to nndicate Scripture Mysteries, parimaarly the 
 Doctnnes of the Iloly Trinity, the Atonen,ent of aris( and 
 the Renovation by the Holy Spint ; also of the EterniUj of 
 tlie Future Pmmhment, reith mne Strietures vpon roj Mr 
 O. lay lor hath advanced on those points:' This he deliv 
 ered in the shape of a discourse, before the clergy in 
 1/60, and It was afterwar.ls published, with a pieface 
 by Dr. Johnson, recommending it as a fit corrective 
 ot the latitudmarian spirit of the times. The clero-v 
 also testified their approbation of it; and Mr. Winslow 
 in a letter to the Society, thus speaks of the whole 
 affair: «At a late Convention of the clergy of our 
 Church in tins colony, at x\ew Haven, a sermon was 
 preached by the Eev. Mr. Beach, wherein, much to 
 his own reputation, and, I trust, by the Divine bless- 
 "ig, to the credit of religion and advantage of the 
 Church here, he has with great zeal and faithfulness 
 endeavored to vindicate and establish the important 
 fundamentals of the Sacred Trinity, and the divinity 
 ot our blessed Saviour; his atonement and satisfac- 
 tion; the necessity of the renewing and sanctifying 
 influences of Divine Grace, and the eternity of future 
 punishment; and to expose the falsehood and danger 
 of the contrary pernicious errors, which, by means of 
 spreadmg bad books and other industrious arts of too 
 
 IS 
 
 li' 
 
 h 
 
194 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 many men of bad principles in these parts, have been 
 successfully propagated. The clergy have unitedly 
 taken the occasion of the pu])lication of this discourse 
 to give their testimony against these errors, and to 
 recommend the doctrines therein inculcated as the 
 prime truths of the Gospel, and the foundation on 
 which the whole structure of the Articles and Liturgy 
 of the Church is framed. I hope Mr. Beach has, by 
 this service, atoned in some measure for the ill eflects 
 of his former unhappy mistake, and that it may prove 
 a seasonable means to preserve our people in their 
 steadfostness, and to guide our dissenting brethren to 
 that refuge from their various distractions among 
 themselves, both about doctrines and discipline, which 
 they must needs wish to find." 
 
 These "various distractions amon<i: the dissentinsr 
 brethren " sprung from the seeds sown by Whitefiekl. 
 It was an inglorious harvest of strife and contention, 
 and the reapers in the fields were "upon bad ex- 
 tremes." The great controversy between the Old 
 'Lights and the New Lights culminated in the Wal- 
 lingford case, a case which more than all others be- 
 came a matter of public concern, and opened a dis- 
 tinct era in New-England theology, and in the history 
 of the "liberties of the churches." For six years, the 
 first church and society in Wallingford had not only 
 been vacant, but in an imhappy, broken, and divided 
 state. After many fruitless attempts to unite in the 
 settlement of a pastor, James Dana of Cambridge, 
 and a graduate of Harvard College, was set apart to 
 the ministry by an Old-Light council, in the fiice of 
 a protest from a respectable minority, and against the 
 solemn interdict of the " Consociation of New Haven 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 195 
 
 County," which had met in Wallingford to forbid the 
 ordmation of a candidate charged with doctrinal un- 
 soundness, even with Socinian or Arminian proclivi- 
 ties. The consociation and the council met, either 
 by accident or design, on the same day, a day mem- 
 orable in the annals of CongregationaUsm. The bold 
 procedure of ordaining in spite of the prohibition was a 
 triumph of the principle for which the New Lic^hts had 
 long contended, and the pens of the time were alive 
 m its censure or in its defence. It was a triumph also 
 over the powers of the "ecclesiastical constitution of 
 the dissenters "; and Noah Hobart, aided by President 
 Clap and other leading divines of the colony, proved 
 to be a champion no more successful here for the 
 fcaybrook Platform than he had been in his Addresses 
 to the members of the Episcopal separation in New 
 England. Those on the other side found support for 
 their action in the popular voice, as well as in the 
 voice of a body of ministers trained under the influ- 
 ence of Whitefield's teachings. The pamphlets pub- 
 lished by both parties stirred up such an acrimonious 
 spirit, and threw so unsatisfactory a light upon the 
 real questions involved, that many among the people 
 escaped from these controversies to find peace and 
 enjoyment in the communion of the Church The 
 Independent Society in Wallingford became divided 
 and when the dissentients proceeded to erect a new 
 meeting-house, called the "Wells," an attempt was 
 made to arrest their work, and a fight over the 
 trenches dug for the foundations brought together 
 the inhabitants for miles around to participate In the 
 scene, or to witness its issue. 
 
 The Episcopal Clergy, as it has been already stated, 
 
196 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 took no part in the theological disputes which the 
 Independents carried on among themselves. They 
 quietly watched the progress of events, and seemed to 
 feel, as Chandler expressed himself in writing to Dr. 
 Johnson on a later occasion, "If these dissenters will 
 but confute one another, it will save us the trouble." 
 Tliey were accused to the Society, and to their friends 
 in England, with attempting to make proselytes; and 
 this accusation was urged in order to depreciate their 
 services, and prevent them from securing the boon 
 they had so long implored — an American Episcopate. 
 But Johnson denied this, and vindicated his brethren 
 when he wrote to Archbishop Seeker from New York; 
 an:l after referring to liis experience of thirtj'-one years 
 in Connecticut, said: "I never once tried to proselyte 
 dissenters, nor do I believe anv of the other ministers 
 did; we never concerned ourselves with them till 
 they came to us; and when they did, we could do 
 no other than give them the best instructions and 
 assistance we could in making a right judgment for 
 themselves. And so far were we from promoting or 
 taking advantage of any quarrels that happened among 
 themselves, that in many instances we obliged them 
 to accommodate matters with their former brethren, 
 or at least do all they could toAvards an accommoda- 
 tion, before we would receive them to our commun- 
 ion." Winslow, in a communication to the Society, 
 after referring to the Wallingford case, said: "What- 
 ever advantages in favor of the Church are to be made 
 from this disturbed state of religion among the dis- 
 senters, I hope our clergy, and the people of our com- 
 munion, will be enabled to manage with such pru- 
 dence as to keep ourselves from being unnecessarily 
 entangled in their disputes." 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 197 
 
 _ « 
 
 In the summer of 1758 the parish in Waterbury 
 through the Vestry, voted to give Mr. James ScoviU 
 £20 sterhng per annum, and the use of the glebe, 
 provided he should get no appropriation from the So- 
 ciety «at home"; and also to allow him a gratuity 
 sufficient to take him to England for ordination. 
 Ho was a native of that place, and graduated at Yale 
 College in 1757, when he was in the twenty-fifth year 
 of his age. He was to relieve Mr. Mansfield, l)y takino- 
 charge of that portion of his Mission which embraced 
 Waterbury and the districts within the former limits 
 of that town. But the addition of his name, in 1759, 
 to the list of Connecticut clergy was balanced by the 
 loss of that of Mr. Camp. Dr. Johnson wrote to the 
 Society in 1760 thus: "I wish Mr. Camp could have 
 had £40 or £50 at xMiddletown, for partly his neces- 
 sities and partly the invitation of Governor Dobbs 
 put him on removing to North Carolina; but such is 
 the case of those that go from the northward to these 
 southward colonies: he has lost his health, and doubts 
 whether he can hve till he gets moved northward 
 again, which he earnestly desires, and I have put his 
 old people upon inviting him back." But in a sub- 
 sequent letter he mentioned, "Middletown people 
 are so displeased at his leaving them, that they will 
 not invite him back, but have pitched on a promis- 
 ing candidate, one Jarvis, who is not yet of age, for 
 orders; so Mr. Camp must e'en take the fruit of his 
 doings." 
 
 In 1760 the Episcopalians in that part of WalHng- 
 ford called Cheshire "built themselves a small church 
 for their greater convenience in the winter season, 
 when then- famihes could not well attend at the 
 
198 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 199 
 
 other." It was opened in December of the same year, 
 with services and a sermon, by the Rev. Mr. Scovill. 
 A parish organization was formed, with a Clerk, Church- 
 wardens, and Vestrymen, and the people continued 
 to meet on Sundays, and to be thankful for the 
 privilege of lay reading, until another Missionary had 
 been provided to take the place of Mr. Camp. A 
 parish arose at North Haven in 1759, and a house of 
 worship was, in the succeeding year, erected, under 
 the guidance of Mr. Punderson, to whose '' pastoral 
 care and charge" the people submitted themselves. 
 Guilford, Branford, Derby, and Oxford were receiving 
 frequent accessions to their numbers; and thus, while 
 the Church was growing in other places, at New 
 Haven, the centre of Punderson's Mission, there was 
 not the life or prosperity which had been hoped or 
 expected. It is true, he had strong prejudices among 
 the people to overcome, and sleepless vigilance to 
 meet. For eight years he toiled patiently on, and his 
 families, according to the note of Stiles, in his "Itin- 
 erary," had only increased to the number of twenty- 
 five, comprising ninety-one souls. Dr. Johnson lets 
 us into the secret reason of this slow growth, when, 
 in writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the 
 summer of 1760, he said: '^Mr. Punderson seems a 
 very honest and laborious man; yet the church at 
 New Haven appears uneasy, and rather declining 
 under his ministry, occasioned, I believe, partly by 
 his want of politeness, and partly by his being absent 
 so much, having five or six places under his care. I 
 wish he was again at Groton, and some politer person 
 in his place, and another at Guilford and Branford." 
 Through fear of being unnecessarily minute, we 
 
 may have passed over some topics which deserve con- 
 sideration, and touched upon others with too slight 
 a comment. The list of the Missionaries of the So- 7 
 ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel within the '' 
 last seven years has been lengthened by the nam^s 
 only of Christopher Newton, Solomon Palmer, andP 
 James Scovill. But the appeals have become more-^ 
 frequent and urgent for clergymen in other places, 
 though the prospect of securing an American Episco- 
 pate, so long and so earnestly prayed for, is still as 
 dim and distant as ever. It is a contrast, to be con- 
 templated with grateful emotions, that in a place 
 where a century ago twenty-five famihes gathered 
 in an incapacious wooden edifice to lift their hearts 
 and voices to God, and to praise him in the forms of 
 the Liturgy, there are now to be found at least a 
 thousand families, and nearly two thousand commu- 
 nicants, cherishing the same venerable faith, and wor- 
 shipping the same Triune Jehovah, in larger, loftier, 
 and more enduring or more costly temples. 
 
 I 
 
 I 'I 
 
 I 
 
 » \ 
 
200 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 201 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PROSPERITY OF THE CHURCH IX LITCHFIELD COUNTY, AND 
 ALONG THE SHORE FROM NORWICH TO GREENWICH. 
 
 A. D. 1760-1762. 
 
 The Church, though bitterly opposed, was steadily 
 progressing in the northern part of the colony under 
 the energetic ministrations of Solomon Palmer. At the 
 date of his appointment as an itinerant, the Society 
 had no resident Missionary in Litchfield County, and 
 his labors, therefore, reached over a wide circuit into 
 all the towns and villages where scattered families of 
 churchmen dwelt. He even penetrated beyond the 
 lines into the provinces of New York and Massachu- 
 setts, and was the pioneer of the Church in several 
 places where it early gained a firm footing. His long 
 residence at Cornwall as "a teacher in the dissenting 
 way" had made him familiar with the region; but hi's 
 right to the lands, granted by the government as an 
 encouragement to the first minister settling on that 
 frontier, was not agreeable to the PresbyteHans, and 
 they brought an action for damages against him for 
 breaking his covenant and conforming to the Church 
 of England ; and, strange to say, so httle regard was 
 paid to the sanctity of conscience that they recovered 
 £15 with the costg. In a communication to the So- 
 ciety, referring to this matter, he said: "By my settling 
 among them as a teacher, I became, by act of the As^ 
 
 sembly, a proprietor in common wiih the other pro- 
 prietors, and the same patent was and is absolute and 
 unconditional; so that even the power that gave it 
 could not legally, and I am sure not justly, reassume 
 or require damages; for so great were the expense, 
 fotigue, and hardship that I endured for the three first 
 years, that I would not suffer them again for the 
 whole towmship. 1 continued with that people, before 
 and after my settling among them, fifteen years, till 
 I had spent an estate of my own, of more value than 
 the right of land, and till the people had got through 
 all the difficulties of settling a new town, and they 
 and I began to live pretty w^ell." 
 
 But his conscience would not allow him peace in 
 this condition; and when he had returned from Eng- 
 land, whither he went for Episcopal ordination, nothing 
 would satisfy his now alienated flock but prosecution 
 and damages. The remembrance of all former toils 
 and privations had disappeared, and he was compelled 
 to stand forth in the attitude of a defender at once 
 of his personal rights and of the rights of the Church. 
 To add to his distress and make his case still more 
 perplexing, the rates of the Episcopalians at Cornwall 
 were w^ithholden from him, and ^vent to the mainten- 
 ance of the dissenting minister, and no relief could 
 be obtained from these exactions until, by his own 
 request, his Mission Avas made to embrace only the 
 limits of Litchfield County. Familiar as he was with 
 the management of the CongregationaHsts in raising 
 money for the support of their religious teachers, he 
 strongly urged upon the Society the duty of making 
 larger demands upon the liberality of churchmen, 
 since many of them were as able to contribute as 
 
 I 
 
202 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 their poor benefactors at home. Notwithstanding the 
 bitter spirit of persecution, he saw the good effects 
 which the Liturgical services produced, and in one 
 of his letters to the Society mentioned an instance 
 where a neighboring congregation of Dissenters, "ob- 
 serving our regular method of reading the Scriptures 
 in church, had, in their last parish meeting, voted 
 that a new foHo Bible be bought for them, and that 
 their teacher shall read lessons out of it every Sunday 
 mornino: and evenini:!:." 
 
 Mr. Beach, always careful to note the temper of the 
 times, writing from Redding under date of April 6th, 
 1761, concluded his letter with a testimony to the 
 growth of the Church and the influence of the Society, 
 too strong not to be quoted in this connection: "My 
 "weak and painful state of body admonishes me, that, 
 although this may not be the last time of my writing, 
 yet tlie last cannot be afar oft'; therefore I take this 
 opportunity to return my humble and hearty thanks 
 to the Venerable Society for the charitable support 
 they have given me for twenty-nine years, in which 
 tune I have faithfully, though Aveakly and imperfectly, 
 endeavored to propagate true religion; and I think I 
 have not been imsuccessful, for the number of the pro- 
 fessors of the Church of England in these parts in this 
 space of time is increased more than from one to ten, 
 and, what is of much greater importance, their con- 
 duct for the most part is a credit to their profession, 
 and thev are constant and devout attendants on the 
 worship of God, according to the Church. Indeed, 
 were it not for the Venerable Society's charity, I 
 know not what would become of many thousands in 
 these parts who have so great a love and esteem of 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 203 
 
 our Church, and so great an aversion to the Indepen- 
 dent methods; yet, if they were deprived of that 
 which they admire, they never would join with the 
 others; nay, the venerable Society's charity to us 
 has proved no small advantage to the Independents, 
 for they who live near to the Church of England ac- 
 quire juster notions of religion, and become more 
 regular in their worship." 
 
 The church at Litchfield, to which place Mr. Palmer 
 removed, after residing in New Milford for five years, 
 was composed of "a body of religious, sober, and order- 
 1}^ people, steady in their principles, and constant in 
 their attendance upon public worship." In those days, 
 the privileges of the sanctuary were prized by devout 
 men, and sacrifices to enjoy them, little thought of by 
 the present generation, were readily made. The dis- 
 tance Avhich some fxmilies were obliged to travel 
 before they reached the house of God, and their in- 
 convenient and slow modes of conveyance, seem 
 hardly credible to Christians accustomed to the ease 
 and luxurious habits of our time. Frequently the 
 family was mounted, the parents upon one steed, with 
 a child in the arms to be christened, and the older 
 branches upon another, or else the whole were clus- 
 tered together in a rude vehicle used upon the farm; 
 and in this way they were "glad to go up to the 
 house of the Lord, and to give thanks unto his name." 
 If the customs of those times, so far as they related 
 to church-going, were simple and primitive, there was 
 yet a spirit, a heartiness in them which it would be 
 pleasant to see infused into the more genteel fash- 
 ions of the age in which we live, at least infused into 
 the minds of those who are governed in their worship 
 
204 HISTORY or THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 of God more by comfort and convenience than by 
 duty and principle. 
 ^ Early in the sprhig of 1761, Thomas Davies, Sam- 
 uel Andrews, and John Beardsley embarked for Eng- 
 land to receive Holy Orders, carrying with them 
 letters from the clergy of Connecticut in testimony 
 of their learning, good character, and fitness for the 
 sacred ministry. They were all reared in the colony, 
 and the two first were graduates of Yale College. Of 
 the other. Dr. Johnson, who baptized him in^'his in- 
 fancy, his parents being among his original parishion- 
 ers in Stratford, thus wrote in a letter to Archbishop 
 Seeker: "As to Mr. Beardsley, he had been t^vo years 
 educated at Yale College, since which he was here 
 under my direction in his studies, and has conducted 
 very seriously and industriously, and, 1 believe, will 
 be a very useful person. The gentlemen that recom- 
 mend him speak of him as having been graduated 
 here, as he would have been if he could have stayed a 
 few days, as they expected, till our Commencement,— 
 which he could not do, being ol)liged to embark.sooner • 
 but he will certainly be admitted A. B., though thus 
 necessarily absent,— as will likewise the othei^two to 
 the Master's degree." They were absent less than a 
 year, and on their return to this country proceeded 
 immediately to the respective stations to which they 
 had been appointed. ' Mr. Davies was sent into Litch- 
 field County, near his own friends, and to places 
 which had applied and provided for him previous to 
 his departure, and where he had for some time served 
 as a lay reader. He fixed his residence at Xew Mil- 
 ford, and went as an itinerant over much of the 
 ground traversed by Mr. Palmer, reheving that de- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 205 
 
 voted Missionary of a large share of his burden, and 
 giving his own zeal, the dew of his youth, and the 
 strength of a robust constitution to the service of 
 the Society and the advancement of the Church. He 
 was in reality appointed a successor to Mr. Palmer, 
 who, on account of bodily infirmity, had been desirous 
 of a less extensive charge, and already designated for 
 Amboy, N. J.; but the people there were averse to 
 receiving him, having fixed their hearts upon an- 
 other clergyman ; and he was equally averse to going. 
 ^'I herewith send you," said Dr. Johnson, \niting 
 April 12th, 1762, ^^an earnest address to the Society 
 from Litchfield, a county town in Connecticut, desir- 
 ing that their minister, Mr. Palmer, who is ordered to 
 Amboy, may be continued with them; and another 
 from him, that he may be continued there, or sent to 
 Eye, Avhich is vacant." Mr. Davies could not well 
 resist the importunities of the people, who, in distant 
 places, loathing the rigid Calvinism of their dissenting 
 teachers, invifed him to come among them; but that 
 he might spare himself the inconvenience of frequent 
 visits and still keep the leaven of Episcopacy at work, 
 he encouraged them to assemble at stated times for 
 lay reading. In 1762, before the leaves of the trees 
 had begun to put on their autumn tints, he went to 
 Great Barrington, Mass., upon the invitation of a few 
 families there; and writing, in Christmas week, to the 
 Secretary of the Society an account of his visit, he 
 said: "I chose a clerk, a very regular and pious man, 
 long acquainted in the church, to read prayers with 
 them, as they could not in conscience go to meeting. 
 One of the most steady among them was imprisoned 
 last summer for non-attendance 3 and they all would 
 
 'I 
 
206 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 be if thev did not meet amono- themselves. There are 
 near forty familievS^ conformists, in this town, — people 
 of worth and good fome." Mr. Andrews, the youn- 
 gest of eight sons, and born within the limits of the 
 present town of Meriden, was appointed to WalUng- 
 ford, with the addition of Cheshire and North Haven. 
 The prophet had honor in his own country. Walling- 
 ford was the chief seat of those prolonged controver- 
 sies which had thrown the standing order into such 
 confusion and disquietude ; and Winslow, the accom- 
 pHshed Missionary at Stratford, had been frequently 
 requested to officiate to the churchpeople there, com- 
 posed of a very considerable number of substantial 
 persons, and who prudently avoided entangUng them- 
 selves in the religious disputes of the Independents, 
 and thus gained the affection of both parties. 
 
 Mr. Beardsley was sent to the long waiting people 
 at Norwich and Groton. They had been doomed to 
 repeated disappointment in their efforts to secure 
 a successor to Mr. Punderson, after his removal to 
 New Haven; but notwithstanding this, divine ser\ice 
 was kept up in both the churches, and the eldest son 
 of Punderson, a graduate of Yale College, had read 
 gratuitously in Groton for nearly six years. For some 
 time before he embarked for England, John Beards- 
 ley "read prayers and sermons" in the vacant Mis- 
 sion "to very good acceptance," and the people bound 
 themselves in a stated sum for his support, when he 
 should return to them clothed with authority to exe- 
 cute the office of a Priest in the Church of God. Mr. 
 Punderson, whose daughter he afterwards married, 
 commended him in a special letter to the Society, and 
 said of liim, he "is a person of unspotted character, 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 207 
 
 and of an excellent temper and disposition; sound in 
 his principles of religion, firmly attached to our most 
 excellent Church, and bids fair for doing good service 
 in the same, if life is spared and the Venerable Society 
 show him favor." Nowhere in the provinces did the 
 Missionaries more faithfully and conscientiously obey 
 the "instructions" of the Society than in the Colony 
 of Connecticut. Placed in the midst of a community 
 where Puritanism, with all its prejudices, was deeply 
 rooted, and knowing themselves to be constantly 
 watched by their opponents, they prayerfully watched 
 their own course; and besides presenting "in their 
 whole conversation patterns of the Christian life," they 
 "avoided all names of distinction," and "endeavored 
 to preserve a Christian agreement and union one Avith 
 another, as a body of brethren of one and the same 
 Church, united under the Superior Episcopal order, 
 and all engaged in the same great design of propa- 
 gating the Gospel." The churchmen in Hebron made 
 three unsuccessful attempts to secure a Missionary, 
 and each time thought they were near the accom- 
 phshment of their cherished object; but the candidates 
 whom they assisted to go Iiome for orders, all by a 
 mysterious Providence, either died in England or 
 were lost at sea on the returnin(r voyas-e. At len<rth 
 the Rev. Samuel Peters, a native of the place, noto- 
 rious afterwards for his eventful career as a clergy- 
 man, and his extravagant and incredible statements 
 as a historian, appeared among them, and in his re- 
 port to the Secretary, dated April 13, 1761, he wrote: 
 "The people belonging to the Church at Hebron seem 
 religiously attentive to my instructions, and desire 
 me, in their behalf, to say they return all thanks that 
 
208 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 hearts filled with gratitude are able, to you and to 
 the honorable Society for your gracious notice in 
 sending them their desire in a worthy Missionary; 
 and, to enlarge their minds and fit them for a better 
 world, a number of books also, which (by God's bless- 
 in*'*) shall meet with their desired effect." As fast as 
 the vacant missions were filled, other places, at this 
 period, called loudly for the services of the Church of 
 England. Occasionally a faithful Missionary was re- 
 moved to a distant and more promising field of labor; 
 and the veteran Gibbs at Simsbury was overtaken 
 by indisposition and a melancholy which became so 
 deeply fixed that for three years he was wholly inca- 
 pable of exercising his clerical functions. He went 
 to his rest with the cloud upon his mind which had 
 hung over it so long; but Roger Viets, a native of 
 the town, and a graduate of Yale College, supplied 
 his place as a lay reader, and, chiefly under his influ- 
 ence in this capacity, another small church was built 
 in a remote part of the township. When he proceeded 
 to England to receive Holy Orders, he carried with 
 him the desire of the people, and the evidence of their 
 provision, besides the recommendation of the Connec- 
 ticut clergy. "I had thought," says Dr. Johnson, 
 writing to the Secretary, December 1, 17G2, ''ilmi 
 Hartford and Simsbury might be joined in one mis- 
 sion, but I find it will not do; for Mr. Viets would 
 have his hands full in the care of three distinct dis- 
 tricts; and besides the Church has so increased at Hart- 
 ford, not by means of any parties or contentions, but 
 by the still voice of reason and benevolence, that they 
 are likely to have a flourishing church, consisting of 
 a number of good families, many hy accession. Thev 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 209 
 
 have founded and are zealously carrying on a consider- 
 ably large and decent church, and think they shall un- 
 doubtedly raise £100 per annum, proclamation-money, 
 for a minister. However, it being the metropolitical 
 town of the province, they cannot well do without 
 £50 sterling at least, if it could be obtained, in order 
 to support him in a manner suitable to such a station. 
 They are extremely desirous, and purpose, in a few 
 months, earnestly to apply to the Society for Mr. Wins- 
 low of Stratford to be their nnnister, who is indeed 
 by much the most suitable person they could have; 
 and his condition is such, having a large, expensive,' 
 and growing family, that he cannot tolerably subsist 
 at Stratford, though they do their utmost for him." 
 
 The chain of parishes, running through the shore 
 towns from Norwich to Greenwich, was now for the 
 most part in a prosperous state. Mr. Graves, the 
 Missionary at New London, in his communication to 
 the Society in midsunnner, 1701, exclaimed, with an 
 ecstasy of delight: "Blessed be God, my parishioners 
 increase so that I am amazed to think whence they 
 come; several have lately been added, not only ex- 
 ternally, but practically; they are doers as well as 
 hearers, and those of the better sort to whom, I trust 
 in^ God, others now under preparation will soon be 
 joined. I think my catechumens last Sunday were 
 above forty, growing, I hope, in love and fevor with 
 God and man." 
 
 The churchmen in Guilford, becoming almost wholly 
 neglected by Mr. Punderson in consequence of the 
 urgent demand for his services in other places, applied 
 to the Society to be erected into an independent Mis- 
 sion, including Killingworth and North Guilford- and 
 
 u ^ 
 
210 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Mr. Hubbard, "a hopeful youth, bred at Nevy TIaven 
 Colle-e " and who for some time prosecuted h.s .t mUcs 
 in Hebrew and Divinity under the dire^^tion ol Dr. 
 Johnson in New York, was selected to be tlien- clergy- 
 xnan, as he had been their reader so soon .< he should 
 be permitted to go home for Holy Orders. \ he he 
 went, in the autumn of 1763,-accompan.ed bv Ah.a- 
 ham Jarvis, in after-life his intimate frK.Kl auu _^.^- 
 panion,-he bore with him a letter from his d.ustnous 
 teacher to the Archl)ishop of Canterbury, contammg 
 h^e earnest and affectionate words: ."What makes 
 me mv Lord, the more solicitous m this case s, that 
 Guilfonl is my own native town, where I have a 
 brother (who is Mr. Hubbard's father-m-law), and sis- 
 ters and sundrv nephews, who are all very dear to me, 
 under whose influence the Church for twenty years 
 has been laboring to emerge, through many d.fhcul les 
 and discouragements. I lately made them a visit, and 
 preached th;re. I found fifty families and as many 
 communicants, and there are at least ten more withm 
 ten miles, and probably many others that would ap- 
 near if they could )je sure of a minister." 
 ^ Mr Winilow reported of his parish at Stratford, in 
 July 1762: "It is with pleasure I can yet say, m be- 
 half of the people of my particular charge that they 
 are in general regular and well disposed attached to 
 the communion of the Church from solid principles, 
 and from a proper sense of the happy tendency of the 
 means therein afforded for all needful improvement, 
 in Christian knowledge and practice ; that they are 
 careful to preserve harmony among themselves, arid 
 peace and charity with their brethren of the other 
 persuasions. The number of communicants now Uv- 
 
 IN CONNECncUT. 
 
 211 
 
 mg is-'more than 150, and we have usually between 
 90 and 100 at the stated monthly celebration of that 
 Holy Sacrament." Mr. Newton, besides havin<r added 
 another church to his charge in North Stratforf, at a 
 place now called Tasliua, the erection of which has 
 been already mentioned, found himself straitened for 
 room in his parish cluircli at Ripton, and his people 
 therefore, proceeded to construct galleries therein, to 
 accommodate the increased congregations. At North 
 Fairfield, (now Weston,) within the limits of the Mis- 
 sion of Mr. Lamson, a cluirch was built, and so far 
 completed as to be ready for occupancy in the sum- 
 mer of 1763. It was forty feet long, thirty wide, and 
 two stories higli, with galleries. About the same 
 time another church, of larger dimension.s, arose at 
 Danbury, which was ojiened, on its partial completion 
 with services by the Rev. Mr. Dibblee, a native of 
 that town, and supplied with occasional ministrations 
 by Leaming, who seems to have been the pioneer, 
 and by Beach, the unwearied Missionary at Newtown! 
 Danbury was the seat of a heresv called Sandema- 
 nianism, from Robert Sandeman, tlie name of its first 
 propagator; and "our Cluirch," said one of her clergy, 
 referring to the direct influence of liis erroneous' 
 teachings, "seems at present to be a sanctuary from 
 infidelity on the one hand, and enthusiasm on the 
 other." 
 
212 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 213 
 
 ItM" 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MR. ST. GEORGE TALBOT; BITTER OPPOSITION TO THE Cn.i..,u; 
 DR. JOHNSON'S RETURN TO STRATFORD. 
 
 A. D. 1762-1763. 
 
 A CHARITABLE layman, Mr. St. George Talbot, residing 
 in the Province of New York, had assisted the people 
 in Danljiny towards the erection of their church, and 
 he wiis one of the gratified congregation who wit- 
 nessed the opening services, and favored with his 
 patronage the eflbrt to plant the seeds of Episcopacy 
 in a eoinnuinity of divided religious sentiments. He 
 dedicated the energies of an active life and the re- 
 sources of an ample fortune to strengthen its influ- 
 ence in New York and Connecticut, and his liberal 
 benefactions are associated witli the early history of 
 several important parishes in Fairfield County. In 
 1762 he made a tour of observation into a section 
 of New York with the Piev. Mr. Dibblee, of whom he 
 reported that he was "indefatigable in his endeavors 
 to serve the interests of true rehgion and our holy 
 Church, whose services I find universally acceptable, 
 and his life agreeable to his public character." A year 
 later he took a journey into Connecticut, and was 
 present at the Convention in Ripton, a sketch of 
 which he connnunicated to the Society in these words: 
 "The Rev. Dr. Johnson, being requested to preach, 
 delivered an excellent, pathetical, spirited sennon 
 
 adapted to the occasion, and acceptable to the clergy 
 and all who had the pleasure to hear him. pressing 
 them to the utmost fidelity and dihgence in doing the 
 duties of their respective cures. Twelve Mis.sion!aries 
 were present, who appear to be ornaments to their 
 ecclesiastical profession, and very usefully employed, 
 havmg had the opportmiity to acquaint myself with 
 the state of most of their respective Missions." He 
 mentioned the attendance also of four or fixe promis- 
 ing young gentlemen, candidates for Holy Orders. 
 
 The candidates throughout the colony did not in- 
 crease as rapidly as the members of the Church of 
 England. The flocks in difierent localities "were 
 troubled because there was no shepherd." Li vain 
 did they plead for those ministrations which they had 
 begun to cherish in their liearts, and with which 
 alone their consciences could be satisfied. "The 
 people of this parish," said the pure-niinded Leamino- 
 writing to the Secretary of the Society from NorwaJk 
 m the spring of 1761, "have completely finished their 
 church, and purchased a good bell of 600 l])s. weight; 
 they give constant attendance upon public worJiip' 
 and appear to do it from a sense of duty, by their 
 behavior in the house of God. I have told the So- 
 ciety that I have taken care of Ridgefield, sixteen 
 miles from this place; the number of heads of fami- 
 lies there is eighty-seven, who entreat the Society to 
 allow them a Mission of £20 per annum, and they will 
 bind, themselves to raise an addition sufficient to sup- 
 port a Missionary, if the Society think proper to do 
 so. I shall gladly relinquish the ministerial rates of 
 that parish, which now belong to me, as it will advance 
 the Church of Christ; I hope and beg it may be done. 
 
 i 
 
'1 
 
 \ 
 
 214 HISTORY OF THE KPISCOPAL CHURCll 
 
 I am fully persuaded that the Society, if they knew 
 the religious state of this government, would be of 
 opinion that there is no part where Missionaries miglit 
 do more good than here, for the division of those who 
 do not join in our connnunion is very great. Some 
 nm wild with enthusiasm, while others, to avoid that 
 extreme, run into another as bad or worse." 
 
 With a mind full almost to bursting of the great 
 subject, he said, in a communication to the same o-en- 
 tleman two years afterwards: "All I now desire is 
 that those under my care may be Christians indeed; 
 then there would be no fear of the future growth of 
 the ChiuTh, notwithstanding the great opposition we 
 meet with from the dissenters. I hope there will be 
 means found out to support the Chui-ch in this gov- 
 ernment; otherwise I fear there will be no reli|ion 
 here in the next generation. In order that it niTght 
 be supported in the purity of it, there is much need'^of 
 a Bishop to confirm, ordain, and govern. Every body 
 wants a head, and when we have one, may we have 
 a sound head and a reU(jlous heart:' 
 
 As indicated in the above extract, there was at this 
 period a bitter hostility to Episcopacy. "Never," said 
 Winslow, ^-did a malignant spirit of opposition to the 
 Church rage with greater vehemence than of late. 
 The most indecent reflections upon the Venerable So- 
 ciety and the General Constitution of the Church, and 
 the most flagrant misrepresentations of the state of 
 the Church in these colonies, and the most folse. and 
 abusive personal invectives against the clergy, have 
 lately appeared in print among us, and all "this at a 
 time when there has not been the least particular 
 cause to provoke such a temper; on the contrary, 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 215 
 
 wherever the Church has been planted, the conduct 
 of its ministers and members has been so charitable 
 as at least to give no just occasion of oflence. No 
 cause has, in truth, excited all this virulence, but that 
 the Church has everywhere grown and increased, 
 and the prospect is continually enlarging of its still 
 further and substantial increase ; and its condition is 
 such in these colonies as that, since the glorious con- 
 clusion of the war, and the happy establishment of 
 peace, Avith such an accession of territory on this con- 
 tinent, the dissenters are from hence jealous the 
 Church may meet with some further encouragement, 
 and, perhaps, enjoy those essential parts of her wor- 
 ship and discipline which we have hitherto been desti- 
 tute of; and they know not how to bear the thoughts 
 of our having the same complete exercise of religion 
 in our ways as they have in theirs. They may really 
 thank themselves for no small part of the growth of 
 the Church, at which they are now so enraged. Their 
 continual disputes and endless dissensions have drawn 
 sensible people and serious persons to take refuge in 
 our glorious constitution. They know they cannot 
 charge the Church professors or clergy with having 
 made use of any of their own arts to withdraw their 
 people, and that we have been wholly unconcerned, 
 and in no instance intermeddled with their disputes 
 and contentions. The increase the ChiuTh has re- 
 ceived by means of these confusions has been by its 
 obvious superior worth and excellence." 
 
 It was true, also, that a large part of the more se- 
 rious and thinking Congregationalists detested the 
 course of their ministers, and in some instances their 
 injustice and gross misrepresentations had the efiect 
 
 BiB 
 
216 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 to produce a more favorable impression of the claims 
 of the Church, and really excited a curiosity to be 
 informed of them, so that "the mischief designed by 
 the heated leaders and instigators of the opposition 
 to Episcopacy did but recoil upon their own heads, 
 and lessen tlieir influence even among their own sect." 
 From the death of his wile, in the summer of 1758, 
 with whom he had been happily united for more than' 
 thirty-two years, Dr. Johnson began to look towards 
 Stratford as the place where he might pass, in retire- 
 ment, the evening of his days. He sighed for its fresh 
 and healthfid air. While he plied all the energies of his 
 vigorous mind to give permanent shape to the plans 
 of the College and to advance its prosperity, he yet 
 so dreaded that contagious disorder, which reappeared 
 from time to time in the city and drove him from its 
 limits, that he longed to be released from his official 
 cares and restored to his rural residence. During the 
 periods of his forced absence, his thoughts w ere inces- 
 santly upon the welfare of the Institution, and though 
 he had every confidence in the abihty and fidehty of 
 his fellow-laborers, yet he knew that his own presence 
 was needed to guide their movements and inspect the 
 general operations. It was not his intention so soon 
 to sever himself from the concerns of the College. 
 He expected not to take this step until the new man, 
 sent out by the Archbishop of Canterbury, had been 
 well tried, and found worthy to be his successor. But 
 with the pressure of declining age, there was suddenly 
 added another w^eight to the heavy burden of domes- 
 tic sorrow. Three years after the death of his first 
 wife, he married the widow of his old friend and pa- 
 rishioner m Stratford, William Beach, and the mother 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 217 
 
 of his son's wdfe. W^ith her he returned to New York 
 at the close of the summer vacation, and industriously 
 renewed his efforts to promote the prosperity of the 
 College. But, alas! at the expiration of eio-liteen 
 months that destroyer, tlie small-pox, wiiich had al- 
 ready deprived him of one son, reentered his house- 
 hold and fell with fatal violence upon this beloved 
 companion. Out of tender regard for his welfare, she 
 urged him away from her sick-chamber, and com- 
 mending her to God, he retired to the country-seat 
 of a friend three miles distant, and awaited, with pain- 
 ful anxiety, tidings of the result. When the intelli- 
 gence of her death had reached him, he wrote to his 
 son with exquisite tenderness: "The thincr which I 
 feared is come upon me! God's will is done! Your 
 good mother died on Wednesday evenhig the 9th 
 This event, my son, is indeed a most shockincr disap* 
 pointment to me, as we reckoned (perhaps too'much) 
 Avitliin three or four months of retiring to-ether 
 and spending the remainder of our days Tmono. 
 our chddren and theirs with much tranquillity but 
 now if I hve, I must come alone." It was, indeed, 
 the blow which made him powerless for any further 
 oversight of the Institution. It broke him up at once, 
 and forced him into immediate retirement. In his 
 truly compassionable circumstances, "and with a heart 
 torn by grief," he sent in his resignation to the Gov- 
 ernors, and "hired an able hand with a slei-h" to 
 bring him to Stratford, where he arrived February, 
 ^oth, 17G3, sixteen days after the death of his wife. ' 
 Bemg now advanced in years, and resolved not to be 
 drawn from this retirement, he took up his residence 
 with his son, who "built him an elegant apartment" 
 
 ii 
 
 / 
 
218 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 attached to his oayii mansion. Writing from Strat- 
 ford to the Secretary of the Society, in May follow- 
 ing, he said: "I shall, for the future, date from hence, 
 as I am retired hither to reside here the little time 
 that remains to me, being sixty-seven. Indeed, I 
 thank God that I am in perfect health, only that the 
 tremor in my hand increases much with my years; 
 but the care and labor of the College grew very tedi- 
 ous to me, and I was wearied of ni}^ manner of living 
 in that populous town and public station, and wanted 
 retirement." And then referring to the death of his 
 wife, and its effect upon his resignation, he added: 
 "This unhappy event makes me the more indifferent 
 whether I take any public charge again. If, indeed, 
 there were anv mission to be had that could better 
 the worthy Mr. Whislow's circumstances, I would will- 
 ingly have taken this and no other; but as none ap- 
 pears, I am content to live here, and will do what 
 little good I can in a private capacity." 
 
 Very soon, however, the opportunity was offered of 
 replacing him in duty at Stratford. Thus he exer- 
 cised in the decline of life all the offices of Christian 
 love and watchfulness for the same parish to which he 
 first came in the freshness and buoyancy of his youth 
 forty years before. Mr. Winslow had repeatedly ex- 
 pressed a desire to be transferred to a field where his 
 income might be adequate to his expenses. "I have no 
 cause," said he, in a letter dated July, 1763, "for any 
 uneasiness here, but for the insufficiency of my support, 
 which would make it needful for me to embrace an 
 opportunity of being nearer my friends, under some 
 better circumstances, for the benefit of my family. As 
 you are pleased, in so kind a manner, to ask me to be 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 219 
 
 explicit on this head, I would acquaint you that, besides 
 the \enerable Society's bounty, I receive £30 ster- 
 ling per annum from this congregation, arising from 
 an assessment on the ratable estates, made by virtue 
 of a law of the colony, which obliges the professors of 
 the Church to pay their proportion of this assessment 
 to the minister under whose care they are. We are 
 also provided here with a decent house, and two acres 
 of land adjoining, and about as much more at a little 
 distance; these articles make the whole advantao'e of 
 this Hving, which, I believe, may at the extent be 
 estimated at £100 sterling value. But this I find 
 too unequal to the unavoidable charge of a fiimily of 
 ten children, and the expense of absolute necessities 
 to support the reputation of the Church, and of my 
 office, in a place of so much resort as this; though I 
 endeavor at as thrifty a management of my hicoiife as 
 possible; and, were it not for the dependence 1 have, 
 and the assistance I receive from my friends in Bos- 
 ton, I could not live without much difficulty, or with 
 proper decency. It appeared probable I might be 
 under some better advantages at Hartford, and°I was 
 m hopes from the general desires of the people there, 
 joined to the opinion and advice of my brethren of 
 the clergy and other friends, for my removal, that, if 
 my life has hitherto in any degree been useful to the 
 purposes of my office, I might not be less so there; 
 and it would have brought me sixty miles nearer 
 Boston. But I cheerfully resign myself to the con- 
 duct of God's good providence, and fully rest in the- 
 Society's wisdom." 
 
 Pie was finally appointed to the vacant Mission at 
 Bramtree, Mass.; and in communicating to the Society - 
 
220 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 his acceptance of it and the relinquishment of his sal- 
 ary at Stratford, from Christmas 1763, he felt that it 
 was an occasion of gratitude to God that he could 
 leave the Mission with the general affection of the 
 people, and return it to the Doctor in the like reputa- 
 ble condition in which he had received it, with perhaps 
 some increase of its strength. "As to Hartford," said 
 Johnson, "the clergy think to take turns there onc-^ 
 a month, that they may not be quite discouraged." 
 
 In the spring of 1760, the Eev. James AVetmore, 
 one of that little band who nobly stood up for Epis- 
 copacy in the Library of Yale College, and who had 
 so long acted with the clergy of Connecticut, sharing 
 m their joys and in their sorrows, died of the small- 
 pox, at his Mission in Rye, "a worthy, learned, and 
 faithful minister," greatly lamented. A division arose 
 among the people about his successor. The legal 
 constitution of the Parish was such that the minister 
 must be called by the Vestry, and inducted into office 
 by the Governor. After two unsuccessful attempts to 
 obtain a Pastor, the Vestry, in 1762, extended an in- 
 vitation to the Rev. Ebenezer Punderson of New 
 Haven, which he accepted; and about the same time 
 the Society, withouf any knowledge of this action, 
 appointed the Rev. Mr. Palmer of Litchfield to fdl the 
 same post. Here was a conflict of appointments or 
 authorities. Both gentleuien had their claims; but 
 Mr. Punderson was the choice of the Parish, and was 
 desired by the people because he had been the means 
 of uniting them, and thus of healing the unhappy 
 spirit of discord which had prevailed since the death 
 of their late Rector. It was an additional reason 
 why Mr. Punderson should go to Rye, that the Church 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 991 
 
 in hew Haven was declining under his ministrations. 
 Dr. Johnson, who had previously encouraged the ap- 
 pointment of Mr. Pahner, wrote to the Society in De- 
 cember, 1762, thus: "You have herewith a letter from 
 the Church-wardens and Vestrymen of Rye, prayincr 
 that Mr. Punderson may be appointed their Mission- 
 ary, which also I earnestly desire, as they are (after 
 much contention) happily united in him, and his re- 
 moval from New Haven is rendered highly expedient 
 by an unhappy controversy about a house with a 
 dissenter of some note there, by whom he has been 
 very injuriously treated, whereby his life has been 
 most uncomfortable, and the Church has much suf- 
 fered j but I hope it may soon be provided with some 
 other worthy incumbent not liable to the like diffi- 
 culties. The clergy thought it advisable, though he 
 continues this winter at New Haven, that he should 
 as frequently as might be visit the people at Eye." 
 
 The matter was at length adjusted, not without 
 some chagrin and disappointment on the part of Mr. 
 Palmer, by an exchange of places between the two 
 gentlemen, and he was formally invited by the Church- 
 wardens and others in New Haven to succeed Mr 
 Punderson; and the Venerable Society, rather than 
 erect a new mission at Litchfield, allowed his trans- 
 fer and continued their appropriation. In his report 
 of June 8th, 1763, after mentioning that the people 
 had purchased a glebe near the church, and were 
 completing a house for his accommodation, he added, 
 they have "engaged to give me an annuity of £30, 
 ""ll^i is as much as they are at present able to do, 
 m number but sixty families, and more than 
 )f them in low circumstances; yet, after all, 
 
2^2 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 223 
 
 though New Haven is a pleasant situation, and would 
 be quite agreeable to me, I should, upon my own ac- 
 count, be content to go to Rye ; and if, all things con- 
 sidered, the Society shall order me there, I shall be 
 well suited. But then, I should be concerned for the 
 Church in New Haven, which, in the latter part of 
 Viv, Punderson's time there, was really in a pining 
 i -id languishing state; and should he return to them 
 again, (though he obtains a good character, and is 
 really a valuable man,) I fear he would have the mor- 
 tification of seeing it expire in his hands." 
 
 Some months later, he wrote again from New Ha- 
 ven, and referring to the embarrassments which had 
 grown out of the action of the people at Rye, he said, 
 "As matters now stand, and as Mr. Punderson's return 
 would certainly prove fatal to this Church, which was 
 even panting for breath, and just ready to expire 
 when he left it, I shall be well pleased with the So- 
 ciety's approbation and consent to succeed him, though 
 Rye would have suited me better." The exchange 
 of places between the two gentlemen proved bene- 
 ficial to the interests of the Church. As vigor is 
 added to the tree by transplanting it in a new and 
 stronger soil, so years and influence are sometimes 
 added to the life of a clergyman by changing his as- 
 sociations, and permitting him to breathe in a dif- 
 ferent atmosphere. Mr. Punderson was eminently 
 blessed in his ministry at Rye; and we leave Mr. 
 Palmer in New Haven, at the close of the year 1763, 
 engaged in the zealous discharge of his pastoral office, 
 and toiling successfully to bring back the scattej 
 members of the Church, 
 
 % 
 
 CHAPTER XVH. 
 
 CHURCH IN NEW HAVEN; DEFENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROP- 
 AGATING THE GOSPEL; AND AN AMERICAN EPISCOPATE. 
 
 A. D. 1763-1764. 
 
 A CENTURY ago, the river which divides New Haven 
 from East Haven was crossed by an inconvenient 
 ferry. Mr. Punderson found it difficult at some sea- 
 sons, and impossible at others, to pass over into the 
 towns of Branford and Guilford for the purpose of 
 discharging the duties of his office. This was one 
 reason which led to i\\^ ultimate discontinuance of 
 his stated services ui those towns; but a stronger lay 
 in the desire of the churchmen in New Haven for i\\^ 
 constant presence of their Missionary. The erection 
 of a "handsome" house of worship, the purchase of 
 land for a glebe, and the generous provision of the 
 people, according to their ability, for the support 
 of a clergyman, added to the peculiar demands of 
 the place as the seat of the College, and the centre 
 of strong Congregational influences, encouraged the 
 hope that New Haven might be formed into a dis- 
 tinct Mission, and permitted to enjoy, what was so 
 necessary to the prosperity of the Church there, unin- 
 terrupted ministrations. It was with this hope that 
 Mr. Palmer removed from Litchfield, and assumed 
 pastoral responsibilities in the vicinity of his native 
 town. Writing to the Society, May 6, 1764, after hia 
 
 if 
 
 i 
 
 
224 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 family had become settled in New Haven, he said: 
 ''The state of this Church is pretty much the same as 
 when I last wrote, flourishing and increasing. Divers 
 straying members have returned and steadfastly ad- 
 here to us, and several respectable heads of fimilies 
 have been newly proselyted, and, from the present 
 view of things, there seems to be a foundation of 
 hope for still greater increase. The churchpeople 
 here have been wanting in nothing that their abili- 
 ties could do for the honor of their profession. They 
 are but few in number, and most of them of but mod- 
 erate fortunes." 
 
 Anxious to secure the land which lay over against 
 their house of worship,^ and which was designed in the 
 indenture, made, thirty years before, by William Greg- 
 son, for the use and benefit of the Church of Englaml 
 in New Haven, Enos Ailing purchased it of the party 
 in possession, and obtained a ^Mvarranty deed," Septem- 
 ber 12th, 1765. Towards the end of the succeedino- 
 month he conveyed it to - Timothy Bonticou and Isaac 
 Doolittle, Church-wardens, and Christopher Kilby and 
 Stephen Mansfield, Vestrymen of Trinity Church in 
 New Haven, and the rest of the members of the said 
 Episcopal church," '^for the consideration of two hun- 
 dred and seventy-one pounds five shillings lawful 
 money, the same consideration which had been named 
 in the instrument of his own purchase." The title of 
 the grantor ran ])ack to a great-grandson, in the fe- 
 male line, of Thomas Gregson, the first proprietor, 
 and this descendant with his fiither had been in pos- 
 
 1 The first Episcopal chiircli In New Haven stood on the east si<le of 
 Church Street, on ground now occupied by the block of three stores next 
 north of the Odeon buildin*^. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 225 
 
 / 
 
 session more than forty years, and therefore claimed 
 exchisive ownership. 
 
 Thomas Gregson was one of the original and most 
 nifluential planters of the New Haven Colony,— « a 
 colony," to quote the words of Cotton Mather, "con- 
 stellated with many stars of the first magnitude." He 
 signed the fundamental agreement formed in a gen- 
 eral meeting, that church -members only shouhf be 
 free burgesses and have the power to choose from 
 among themselves magistrates and officers to trans- 
 act all public business. He was an active merchant, 
 and held those high trusts and responsibilities in the 
 colony which indicated the confidence of the planters 
 in his wisdom and integrity. He was the first white 
 settler m East Haven, making his settlement at a 
 place called "Solitary Cove." When the colonists 
 foimd then- commercial enterprises threatened with 
 disaster, and their large estates fast melting away, 
 they attempted to retrieve their fortunes by a new 
 effort; and "gathering together almost all the streno-th 
 ^yhlch was left them, they built one ship more, which 
 they freighted for England with the best part of their 
 tradable estates; and sundry of their eminent per- 
 sons embarked in her for the voyage." In the month 
 of January, 1646, when the harbor was completely 
 frozen over, "a passage was cut through the ice with 
 saws, for three miles," and the "great ship," with 
 George Lamberton for the master, and Thomas Greg- 
 son as a commissioner "to procure a patent from the 
 Parliament for those parts," floated out amid the pray- 
 ers and benedictions of the people, assembled to wit- 
 ness the departure of their friends. That ship, with 
 "the divers godly persons, men and women," who em- 
 
 15 
 
226 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 barked in it, was never heard of again. Month after 
 month elapsed, and finally a year, and still no tidings 
 were received of their fate. Tradition has preserved 
 "the apparition of a ship in the air/' "the mould" of 
 Lamberton's vessel, coming up the mouth of the harbor 
 after a great thunder-storm in June, long subsequent 
 to the sailing, first appearing with "her main-top blowTi 
 off, but left hanging in the shrouds," then with "all 
 her masting" gone, and finally with the keel only, 
 which quickly "careened" and vanished out of sight. 
 And thus "the afflicted spirits" of the colonists were 
 quieted, because they supers titiously believed that 
 God had in this way condescended to give an "ac- 
 count of His disposal of those for whom so many pray- 
 ers had been offered." When all hope of their re- 
 turn had ceased, their estates were legally settled. 
 "The inventory of the estate of Mr. Thomas Gregson, 
 deceased," amounting to nearly £500, "was delivered 
 into the court; and being viewed, was delivered to 
 the Secretary to be recorded," under date of Decem- 
 ber 7th, 1647. He left no will, and his property, by 
 the existing laws, went to his family. His only son 
 Richard and one of his daughters returned and re- 
 sided in England, but his widow and the other seven 
 daughters lived and died in this country. It was in 
 the line of descent from his son that a claim was set 
 up to the land which subsequently came into the pos- 
 session of Trinity Church. 
 
 By the English law of entails, the eldest son in- 
 herited, and by the colonial enactments of New Ha- 
 ven and Connecticut, where a man died without a 
 will, one third part at least of his estate went to the 
 widow, if he left a widow, and the remaining two 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 227 
 
 thirds were divided among the children, "with due 
 respect to the elded son," who was to have a child^s 
 double portion of the whole estate, real and personal, 
 unless the General Court, upon just cause and grounds^ 
 should judge otherwise, either for dividing the estate' 
 or for the portion of the first-born. The final settle- 
 ment and distribution of Thomas Gregson's estate did 
 not take place until April 3, 1715; and then, when the 
 son was dead, there was set off, with other propertj^, 
 to "the heirs of Eichard, the oldest and only son of 
 the deceased, 1 acre f and 24 rods of the Home lot. 
 North part;"i and this is the land which was after' 
 wards conveyed to Mr. Arnold. 
 
 Thus, by both the English and colonial laws, as 
 well as by the division of the estate, the claim might 
 have been asserted; and to extinguish forever any 
 title of this sort, Mr. Ailing, three years after he had 
 deeded it to the parish, obtained from William Greo-- 
 son, the same greatrgrandson of Thomas Gregson, 
 who had once conveyed it in trust to Mr. Arnokl, a 
 release of all his right, title, and interest in the land, 
 and "for the consideration of five shillings money re- 
 ceived." The release, like the deed of Mr. Ailing, was 
 made to "Timothy Bonticou, Isaac Doolittle, and the 
 rest of the professors of the Church of England and 
 members of Trinity Church for the time being, and to 
 their successors," and it was dated October 26th, 1768; 
 but fourteen years elapsed before it was entered upon 
 the records in New Haven, and by that time Sir Guy 
 Carleton, commander of the British armies in America,, 
 had communicated to General Washino-ton that neo-o- 
 tiations for peace had been commenced in Paris, and 
 
 1 New Haven Probate Records, pp. 397, 398. 
 
228 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 229 
 
 that the independence of the colonies would be con- 
 ceded as a preliminary step. 
 
 Bitter assaults were commenced upon the Church 
 by her adversaries throughout New England shortly 
 before the esta])lishment of the second Missionary in 
 New Haven. The Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel in Foreign Parts was attacked, and the Mis- 
 sionaries accused of gross misrepresentations. "The 
 invidious Dr. Mayhew," said Palmer, "of base princi- 
 ples, and it is to be feared a dishonest heart, has 
 raised a dust to blind men's eyes, and stir uj) a popu- 
 lar clamor. They are very liberal in their satires, 
 and impute faults where there are none." On this 
 account he thought it would be well "if the Society 
 had a large number of upright, honest-hearted, faith- 
 ful memljers here," and in one of his letters recom- 
 mended as worthy of this honor, both for his "liberal 
 education and afHuent circumstances," Mr. Enos Ai- 
 ling, at the same time adding: "He is truly catholic 
 in his temper, has been the greatest benefactor to 
 this church, [New Haven,] and would, I doubt not, 
 do all he could for the interests of the Society, and 
 the furtherance of their pious and charitable designs ; 
 and as he is childless, though a married man, would 
 at least leave them a legacy." The controversy re- 
 specting the Society for Propagating the Gospel w^as 
 conducted principally by Majhew on the one side, 
 and Apthorp of Massachusetts, Johnson, and Beach 
 on the other. It reached across the Atlantic, and 
 w^as resumed in England, Archbishop Seeker taking 
 up his pen and nobly, yet temperately, vindicating 
 the Society from- the aspersions of its enemies, and 
 from the many injurious reflections cast by Mayhew 
 
 i 
 
 in hi« pamphlet on the Church of England, and on the 
 design of appointing Bishops in America. Dr. John- 
 son, writing to the Archbishop, September 20, 1764, 
 thus referred to his defence: "I was almost oveijoyed, 
 after our feeble efforts, to find one who, I did not 
 doubt, was the ablest hand in the kingdom, had con- 
 descended to undertake our mighty giant, and, in the 
 opinion of our people, had wholly disarmed him; nor 
 had any of the dissenters, that I can hear of, a word 
 to say, except Mayhew himself, who, upon its being 
 immediately reprinted here, directly advertised an 
 answer preparing, contrary to the advice of his best 
 friends. I had it from a good hand, that a man of 
 the best sense among them told him he was com- 
 pletely answered, and advised him by no means to at- 
 tempt a reply." ^ 
 
 He was possessed with the idea that the Society 
 had been established with the secret intent of usurp- 
 ing authority over the various Christian communities 
 already settled in America, and that real Missionary 
 work among the heathen was not thought of or re- 
 garded. But he overlooked the fact that the charter 
 had distinctly declared the design to be to provide 
 "an orthodox clergy" for the "loving subjects" of the 
 British Crown in the plantations, and, also, to make 
 "such other provision" as might "be necessary for the 
 Gospel in those parts." It was clear that this "other 
 provision" meant a care for the Indian tribes, and it 
 was clear, moreover, that the avowed purpose of the 
 Church, and of the Society through which she acted, 
 was to proclaim the Gospel to the heathen in and 
 nea^ all her colonial possessions. The fulfilment of 
 
 1 Johnson MSS. 
 
 I 
 
230 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 this purpose was the symbol engraved upon the offi- 
 cial seal of the Society; its difficulties and require- 
 ments had been minutely described in the pa^es of 
 the first Annual Report, and no suitable opporkinity 
 of furthering it had ever been designedly omitted 
 
 Because the growth of the Episcopal Church 
 throughout New England was attributed by the Inde- 
 pendents or Congregationalists to the influence of the 
 Crown, and especially to the patronage of the Society 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel, the establishment 
 of every new mission was viewed with fresh jealousy 
 and hence the founding of one at Cambridge, in the 
 immediate neighborhood of Harvard College, and the 
 appointment of so able and accomplished a Missionary 
 as Apthorp, appears to have been regarded by May- 
 hew as a part of what he called -a formal design to 
 carry on a spiritual siege of our churches, with the 
 hope that they will one day submit to a spiritual sov- 
 ereign."^ Nothing could be more dignified than the 
 reply of Archlushop Seeker to this charge, when he 
 said that "several members of the Church of En-land 
 send their children to Harvard College, and such a 
 place of worship as their parents approve may be 
 reasonably provided for them, without any desicrn of 
 proselyting others. There is, indeed, a college in 
 New England, where students have been forbidden 
 to attend Episcopal service, and a young man has 
 been fined for going to hear his own father, an Epis- 
 copal mmister, preach. But in Harvard Collecre it 
 seems, a better spirit prevails; and it is more likely 
 to flourish, both for that moderation and the new 
 church built near it." 
 
 t Observations on the Charter and Conduct of the Society, &c., p. 56. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 231 
 
 The college in New England to which the Arch- 
 bishop referred, was undoubtedly Yale, and the young 
 man was a son of Punderson, who might have been 
 fined in obedience to a law of the Institution, for ab- 
 sence from the chapel, when the reason of his absence 
 was unknown to the Faculty. The law which required, 
 at that time, under such a penalty, all students to at- 
 tend public worship in the College chapel, except Epis- 
 copal students on communion Sundays, was in accord- 
 ance with the spirit of the age, and of course entirely 
 indefensible on the principle of religious liberty.^ 
 
 One great and efficient cause of the rapid increase 
 of the Church lay m the divisions and controversies 
 of the standing order. Some among them saw this, 
 and, for a time at least, sharp and undisguised at- 
 tacks on the doctrines of Calvin were pemiitted by 
 their stoutest advocates to pass unnoticed. They 
 rather turned with complacency and approbation to 
 the zeal and force with which Episcopacy was assailed 
 in high quarters, and they seem to have anticipated 
 its overthrow when such champions as Hobart of 
 Fairfield, Welles of Stamford, and Mayhew and Chaun- 
 cey of Boston, asserted the Divine right of Presby- 
 terian ordination and the primitive equality of Gos- 
 pel ministers. Mr. Welles, in a discourse of seventy- 
 eight closely printed pages, published in 1763, "at the 
 desire of the hearers, with some enlargements," said, 
 in his preface: "As it is probable that few of you are 
 possessed of any of the books heretofore published, in 
 vindication of our ministerial power, while j^our Epis- 
 copal neighbors, perhaps, are generally supplied with 
 the arguments commonly offered on the other side 
 
 1 Appendix B. 
 
 M 
 
232 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 of the question, and so are better prepared to dis- 
 course upon the subject, the same reasons which in- 
 duced me to preach upon it have at length prevailed 
 upon me to consent to its publication." 
 
 The Independents were constantly frightened by 
 the apparition of the English hierarchy. An un- 
 founded alann was spread throughout New England, 
 and an apprehension created, that all the evils which 
 inhered to the Church in the Old World would b 
 transplanted to this, and hence the appointment oi 
 Bishops for America was strenuously resisted, and bit- 
 terness added to the controversy from a fear that iho 
 accessories of wealth and temporal power would attend 
 their arrival. The dignified and temperate reply of 
 Archbishop Seeker to Dr. Mayhew, published in Lon- 
 don in 1764, and afterwards reprinted in this country, 
 presents the whole argument in so clear and concise 
 a view, that it deserves to be quoted at length. 
 
 ^^The Church of England is, in its constitution. Epis- 
 copal. It is, in some of the plantations, confessedly 
 the established Church; in the rest are many congre- 
 gations adhering to it; and through the late exten- 
 sion of the British dominions, it is likely that there 
 will be more. All members of every church are, ac- 
 cording to the principles of liberty, entitled to every 
 part of what they conceive to be the benefits of it, 
 entire and complete, so far as consists with the wel- 
 fare of civil government. Yet the members of our 
 Church in America do not thus enjoy its benefits, 
 having no Protestant Bishop within' three thousand 
 miles of them,— a case which never had its parallel 
 before in the Christian world. Therefore it is desired 
 that two or more Bishops may be appointed for them, 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 233 
 
 to reside where His Majesty shall think most conven- 
 ient; that they may have no concern in the least with 
 any persons who do not profess themselves to be of the 
 Church of England, but may ordain ministers for such 
 as do; may confirm their children, when brought to 
 them at a fit age for that purpose; and take"" such 
 oversight of the Episcopal clergy as the Bishop of 
 London's Commissaries in those parts have been em- 
 powered to take, and have taken without offence. 
 But it is not desired in the least that they should hold 
 courts to try matrimonial or testamentary causes; or 
 be vested with any authority now exercised either 
 by provincial governors or subordinate magistrates; 
 or infringe or diminish any privileges or libc'rties en- 
 joyed by any of the Lait}^, even of our own commun- 
 ion. This is the real and the only scheme that has 
 been planned for Bishops in America; and Avhoever 
 has heard of any other, has been misinformed throucdi 
 mistake or desio:n."i ° 
 
 Dr. Mayhew was so completely disarmed on read- 
 ing this statement that he confessed in his Rejoinder, 
 that, if it were true, he "had been misinformed him- 
 self, and knew of others who had been so in common 
 with him; and that, if such a scheme as this were car- 
 ried into execution, and only such consequences were 
 to follow as the proposer had professedly in view, he 
 could not object against it, except on the same prin- 
 ciple that he should object against the Church of 
 England in general."^ He, however, considered him- 
 self at liberty to treat it as the imaginary scheme of 
 a private individual and without authority, because it 
 
 A Answer to Dr. Mayhew's Observations, &c., p. 59. 
 8 Rejoinder^ p. 79. 
 
 I 
 
 H' 
 
234 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 was published anonjTnously. His Rejoinder contained 
 so much reproachful language and so many misrep- 
 resentations that it was very sensibly reviewed by Mr. 
 Apthorp, which put an end to that particular contro- 
 versy. But Mayhew, dying the next year, left his 
 mantle, as we shall see hereafter, to Dr. Chauncey. 
 
 ) 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 235 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 HOSTILITY TO THE CHURCH; PASSAGE OF THE STAMP-ACT, AND 
 
 THE COURSE OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 A. D. 1764-1766. 
 
 Though the public mind was charged with a feelino- 
 of intense hostility to the Church, yet she still con- 
 tinued to increase, especially in Connecticut, and her 
 Missionaries relaxed none of their fidelity and zeal in 
 the perfonnance of their duties. The want of accom- 
 modation in some places was a hindrance to her 
 growth, and the enlargement of certain houses of 
 worship was only prevented by a lack of pecuniary 
 ability. Mr. Beardsley, in the summer of 1764, re- 
 ported the prosperity of his Mission at Groton 'and 
 Norwich, and "blessed God that those who were 
 grounded in the doctrine and discipline of the Church, 
 appeared more and more zealous and attentive to her 
 excellent form of worship," notwithstanding the great 
 disorders among the "different denominations," and 
 the "prodigious flood of wild enthusiasm" which had 
 lately broken out in those parts from the visits of 
 Whitefield. Mr. Graves, at New London, who had in- 
 curred the displeasure of his brethren by the course 
 he had formerly pursued, wrote, a little later: "Four 
 new pews have been built; they were engaged as 
 soon as they were laid out, and so would°a°dozen 
 
236 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 237 
 
 more have been." In his next communication to the 
 Society, dated April 20, 1765, he touched upon a 
 point which occasionally troubled the Missionaries, 
 and caused charges to be preferred against them for 
 departing from the Liturgy when holding service in 
 a private dwelling where not one member of the 
 Church of England was present to make the usual re- 
 sponses. "God forbid," said he, "that we should vary 
 from the ru])ric when officiating in our churches; 
 but in houses I himibly presume it might be some- 
 what winked at, in order to wean the dissenters from 
 their prejudices for the present, in hopes of winning 
 them over to our more reasonable service in time. 
 But in this I submit to the direction of my superiors, 
 which I shall always observe. How acceptal3le I am 
 to tlie dissenters of all sorts appears from their send- 
 ing for me in their illness, and desiring my spiritual 
 advice in the most necessitous times, which I always 
 compl}' with. My prayers, without books, earnestly 
 engage their attention, and gradually wear away their 
 prejudices, when they find we can pray witliout a 
 form, as well as their own formal teachers." The 
 church at Hebron, under the ministry of Peters, was 
 by this time finished, through the aid of a legacy 
 which should have been earlier secin^ed, and Mr. Hub- 
 bard had returned from England and fixed himself 
 in his native place, where he was imbedding himself 
 in the affections of a grateful people, spread out into 
 other towns than Guilford. The long vacant post on 
 the Connecticut River was filled by his friend and 
 companion on the voyage for Holy Orders; and Mr. 
 Andrews, the self-denying Missionary at Wallingford, 
 North Haven, and Cheshire, who had statedly ren- 
 
 dered gratuitous services to the Church in Middle- 
 town, was permitted henceforth to apply himself to 
 the duties of his own tiouri.hing cure. In a letter to 
 the Secretary of the Sobiety, dated July 5, 1766 Dr 
 Johnson wrote: "The Church has of late so nuich 
 increased at Branford (Mr. Palmer's native place) 
 tliat they hope without the Society's assistance (there 
 being there some wealthy persons) to make it worth 
 his while, within about a year, to quit the Societv's 
 service and move thither, and he inclines to hearken 
 to their proposal, and I wish it may succeed to his 
 mmd. In the mean time he proposes to continue the 
 care of JSew Haven another year, till they have built 
 a church at Branford." 
 
 This project, for some reason, was unsuccessful. 
 perhaps because Mr. Palmer, who alwavs appears to' 
 have retained an afl^ection for the scene of his earliest 
 mmishittions, was soon recalled to the Mission in 
 Litchfield County, already made vacant by the la- 
 mented death of that young, accomplished, and labori- 
 ous servant of Christ, Thomas Davies. He had lived 
 long enough to see, in 1765, a new church erected 
 under his charge at New Milford, but the next year 
 he died. Mr. Palmer, who complained that he could 
 not support his large family in the expensive town 
 01 iNew Haven on his salary, removed to Litchfield 
 111 the autumn of 1766, and after ^ye years of contin- 
 nous service in that region, amid manv infirmities, he 
 also was laid to his rest in the grave. 
 
 Through the abundant lahovH of Mr. Scovill the 
 churchmen within the limits of his Mission had so 
 greatly increased as to warrant the fonnation of a 
 separate parish in Westbury, (now Watertown,) and 
 
 I 
 
238 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 several individuals were active in the movement, and 
 entered mto an agreement, as early as 1764, "to hold 
 ptiblic worship there on those Sundavs when there 
 was no preaching at Waterbury." By the month of 
 October in the next year, a church, thirtv-seven by 
 forty-five feet, was so comfortably finished that the 
 people asseml)led in it for the fi\-st time to hear a 
 "dedicatory discourse" from the Rev. Samuel Andrews, 
 and to worship Tlim who had put it into tlieir hearts' 
 and enabled them to build a temple to the honor and 
 glory of His holy name. 
 
 A parisli was fomed in Milford in 17G4, thirty-one 
 families participating in the formation; and by the 
 assistance of that charitable layman, Mr. St. George 
 Talbot, a small wooden church was begun in the spring 
 of the next year, but it proceeded towards completion 
 with a singular degree of moderation. A period of 
 ten years elapsed before it was even enclosed and made 
 fit for occupancy; and then, when the number of Epis- 
 copalians in the town had been reported to be one 
 hundred and fifty-three, it was opened with relio-ious 
 services by the Rev. Mr. Hu))bard, aided by the nei-h- 
 bormg Missionaries at Stratford and Derby. " 
 
 In Fairfield County, it could be said of the Church 
 that the place of her tent is enlarged, and the curtains 
 ofher habitations are stretched forth. Writino- from 
 Stratford, in the autumn of 1764, Dr. Johnson said: 
 "Here are now about one hundred families, and one 
 hundred and forty actual communicants; it may seem, 
 perhaps, to the Society and others, difficult to account 
 for It. that there are no more, here and in many other 
 places, especially on the sea-coasts, after so many ac- 
 counts, as have been given from time to time, of the 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 230 
 
 increase Of our numbers." And then he went on to 
 are in t^st ""?• "'''''' '^^^^^^'^ "^^^ ^-^^^H the ^ 
 
 lo./jo u , ^^^"^o^«t« to the inland parts, where 
 land IS much cheaper, and where many of our people 
 particular y the youth, have from time to time re! 
 
 ormed to the Church, with their descendants con 
 tmued here hitherto, instead of one hundred, I beli^Te 
 there wou d be two hundred families." tL paLh 
 loners of Mr Beach at xVewtown frequently assemWed 
 to the niiniber of four or five hundred, and T was 
 most careful to fortify them as .veil by 1 is printed ' 
 
 ^^^Jr-'- '^=-^- ^oth^AntinLiaiit:: 
 
 pro.^enty. It has been mentioned in a f^f h,^ 
 ter that one of the reasons urged with the British 
 ministry to prevent the establishment of an In "n 
 Episcopate was the fear that it would lead to the T 
 
 rtSr '' *^ T^^"^^^^- ^'- ^I---ies ittei'y 
 repudiated any such tendency, and insisted that the 
 commercial interests of the home Government to 
 w.yds which she always turned a jealm,reye couw" 
 no and ought not to be in the lealt affected by tS 
 ecclesiastical provision. The first step which led to 
 «^ independence of the colonies was tlie passage by 
 Paihament, March 22, 1765, of the Stamp-Act, and the 
 n ™ iiction of a Bill soon after, authoriLg the u^! 
 
 ra^ed to the Stamp-Act, as unjust in itself A Gen- 
 eral Congress of the colonies met for the first time 
 
240 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 at Is ew 1 ork, and the son of Dr. Johnson was chosen 
 bj the Assembly one of the number to represent Con- 
 necticut in tliat Congress. In order to procure a 
 repeal of the Act, they adopted a declaration of rio-hts 
 and grievances, asserting taxation by themselves !.nd 
 tnal by jury to be the inherent privilecre of the sub 
 jec^s of the British mdm, in all her dependencies. 
 The Colonial Assemblies adopted shnilar measures- 
 and popular gatherings throughout the land, heated 
 essays in the newspapers, and more elaborate, but not 
 less inflammatory pamphlets, served to set the whole 
 country m a blaze. In some places the stamp-officers 
 and their supi.orters were exposed to personal vio- 
 lence; and on the first of November, the day designated 
 for the Act to go into operation, neither stamps nor 
 oflicers were to be found in the colonies, and business 
 ot aU kinds was therefore transacted without the aid 
 ot stamped paper. 
 
 But what was the course of the poor, persecuted 
 (Church of England here amid these popular discon- 
 tents and taunults? Always teaching her children to 
 honor and obey the civil authority," she was loyal 
 then, as now, to the rightly constituted government 
 and seven of her Missionaries in Connecticut, acci- 
 dentally convened in September of this same year, 
 sent an addres.s to the Venerable Society, to the ef- 
 fect, that "although the commotions and disalTec- 
 
 IT ''l. ^J'V''""*'^.''"'" ^''y ^'^^^ •••^''^tive to what 
 was called the imposition of the Stamp-Act," yet they 
 had the .^tisfaction of stating that the people of the 
 Church of England m general in this colony, as they 
 were able to assiu-e the Society, and those partici 
 laxly under their own respective charges, were of "a 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 241 
 
 contrary temper and conduct, esteeming it nothino- 
 short of rebellion to speak evil of digi^ties and o 
 avow opposition to this last act of Pariiament" 
 _ Uv. Leaning, not among these subscribers, but wrif> 
 nig from .Norwalk in the same month, said: '-I h^ 
 the satisfaction to assure the Society, that Missionaries 
 bemg placed m this colony, is not only very se v e 
 able m a religious, but in a civil sense In the o tt 
 east part of this colony there have been most reb ll 
 ous outrages committed, on account of the Stamp-Act 
 while those towns M-liere the Church has got footing 
 have calmly submitted to the civil authority. TlS 
 has been remarked, and by the dissenters themselves 
 to the honor of the Church. It is said that Mayhew 
 the day before the mob pulled down the Deputy^Gov- 
 ernors house, preached sedition from these words- I 
 ^imld ke^ were even ad off that trouble you. He has 
 a^sed the Church with impunity, and^ perha; Z 
 ^nnks he may escape in abusing the State also." Mr 
 Beach, a day or two after, followed this letter of Dr" 
 Leaming with another, describing the feeling in his 
 own charge:-«I have, of late, taken pains to warn 
 my people against having any concern in the sedi- 
 tious tumults with relation to the Stamp-duty, enjoined 
 i|pon us by the Legislature at home; Jnd I 'can .vith 
 tiuth and pleasure say, that I cannot discover the 
 east inchnation towards rebellious conduct in any of 
 tiie churchpeople here, who remember, with the sin- 
 cerest gn.titu.le, the favors we have received from the 
 mother-,-ountry, and we esteem ourselves under the 
 strongest obligations of all dutiful obedience to the 
 Government at home. I wish I could say the same 
 01 all sects m these parts." 
 
 IG 
 
242 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 The patient and worthy Mr. Lamson, at Fairfield, 
 ]^enning his communication six months later, said: 
 "In a time of anarchy and disloyalty in this country, 
 the professors of the Church of England have in gen- 
 eral, throughout the Province of New England, distin- 
 guished themselves by a peaceable submission and 
 quiet deportment. The Missionaries have exerted 
 themselves upon the occasion in exhorting their own 
 congregations and others to peace, and a due sub- 
 mission to authority; by which means w^e have been 
 exposed to the calunmy and insult of the enemies of 
 the Church and State. Some of us have been threat- 
 ened with having our houses pulled dovm over our 
 heads, though as yet they have kept themselves, in 
 !this part of the country, from acts of open violence. 
 I pray God to send us better times." 
 
 These extracts are selected to show that the Mis- 
 sionaries sought to guide their flocks to peace and 
 quietness in the midst of the popular tumults. Nor 
 did they stop with this, for while they were thus 
 teaching, they were using their influence with their 
 friends in England to procure a relaxation of the 
 obnoxious policy of the home Government. When 
 Franklin was about to cross the ocean as a special 
 agent for Pennsylvania, the Eev. Dr. Johnson wrote 
 to him and said: "Would to God you were charged 
 with pleading the same cause in behalf of all the gov- 
 ernments, that they might all alike be taken into the 
 King's more immediate protection." The wish was 
 so far realized that Franklin soon became actively and 
 conspicuously interested in the affairs of all the col- 
 onies, and took every step in his power, first to pre- 
 vent the passage of tlie Stamp- Act, and then to pro- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. ^ .^ 
 
 cure its reneal fir* t^i 
 
 tl^e supreme irnporan'eTtheT ""^T'^^^^ ^^"^''^ 
 that on tke velv day^XtT"" •'^^"'^^P*^*^' 
 at their aecident.;i nZtlJJt ^«""^;^^^"'t clergy, 
 Venerable Society ^ . f\ ""'^ "" ^^*'*^^ ^« the 
 Canterburv, ^t^^^^T . ' '''' "^"^^^^P ^f 
 
 nents of hi; ^^^er^a^J::^^'''^:'' "T 
 will stick at notliing to ^i\n Z ■ ^ ^''"'P^'' 
 
 ^hey make gentlenfen bCe Z7""\ '' '"^^'^^^ 
 tieths of America ire wh.ii- ">"eteen twen- 
 
 tbat it ^roumZZltol'r'"'' '' '"^""^''^'^■^' -d 
 content than the Str^rct /T/T ''''""^^' '''' ^"- 
 ean be more fie gfd il T ' ''T "'"^'^ "«^'""S 
 (when tbe dissenters ^r^J:::'^^^' ^^ 
 else.) and fhp ^fo,^^ a ^ ^-^pected nothuio- 
 
 ™uW Lave bee" rrf'- ""T'" "" "" "«. S 
 believe one l»Tf „ L p it/l' ™"""' "^ "» ' 
 been m„ch, if „, ,„, ,1^7,7" ''""'' '^'" 
 
 of January 15th 17r.fi f '"*'*•>'' ""^e"- ^^ate 
 
 an tmivei 'p ti of!:r""S" '^^^'^'""gVsaid: "Such 
 
 of madne^a^Tlt aZ- *• "' t""^^"^' ""'^ •^'-r^ 
 
 throughou tl" clonitr' T rr^^^'^"~"' P^^-"« 
 ^^een on any occasion in T "' ^""^ ''''''^y '^^' 
 
 itseemstoitrZ^nliZn^^^^^ '''''■ ^"^^ 
 
 -St people, from I^r "rVeo; '^^^^^^ 
 even of death and destrncfinn . ''"''*'■'''' 
 
 what they e.teem J T '■ "''''"" *° '"^'"^^ to 
 essential ritr" slf oT , ", ^^'"^^--4 of their 
 Parliamentr *' ^"*' '"^^^^ «^ *^^« British 
 
 ve^ijVoirr;.:? ""' '''-"' "^ ^-'- -"• ^■-■-^•^y b. the n„. 
 
 il 
 
244 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 1*"*%. ^ 
 
 "Every friend, therefore, to the happiness of the col- 
 onies, or even of Great Britain, who is acquainted with 
 the case as it really is, must wish that the Parliament 
 would relax of its severity; which yet, it must be con- 
 fessed, will be no easy thing after such provocations 
 as have been lately offered on the part of the colonies. 
 But good poliej-, I humbly apprehend, will rather put 
 up witli almost anything than drive matters to a dan- 
 gerous extremity. Most probably the Parliament is 
 able (although most people here pretend not to be- 
 lieve that they are) to enforce the Stamp-Act; yet 
 should they resolve to do it, a disafl'ection of the col- 
 onies, of which there have been no visible svinptoms 
 before, will be undoubtedly established; the"' Govern- 
 ment must be put to a great expense, and the com- 
 merce of the colonies, so beneficial to England here- 
 tofore, will sink eonlparati^'ely to a mere trifle. For 
 none will dare import anything but the bare neces- 
 saries of life, and. upon the examination that has been 
 made, it is found that almost every real want can be 
 supplied from ourselves. 
 
 "England has always );een benefited nearlv in pro- 
 portion to the wealth and commerce of her colonies. 
 Whether therefore any measures that directly tend to 
 lessen that wealth and commerce can finally be of 
 service to Great Britain, is a question which may not 
 be unwortliy the attention even of those who are the 
 guardians of her interests. The Parliament has un- 
 doubtedly been misinformed. For that the colonies 
 m general abound in wealth, and are able to pay any 
 considerable tax to the government after providing 
 for their own necessary expenses, is just as true, in 
 my opinion, (and indeed we understand is founded on 
 
 IN CONJJECTICUT. gie; 
 
 A little farther on In the sit)ip Unr. ^i 
 !« -a.e, ^-If the interestrofTe I^J^lf^Tl 
 
 coLies, bySime '*^"^"^*'«-^ ^^^-^ ^^ave had 
 
 efforts than dutiful Loits :L: ^Jh^, "" f''''' 
 expected, not only for wrath W ? "''^^K^'''''^ ^een 
 And who can )/cei tj^ t "t^if ^^^^^^^^ 
 disposition of the colonies is no Jnt idTd bfp "" 
 deuce as a punishment for that neglec™ ' '"" 
 
 had StCTf :5 '•"' '""'f P"-^^""^' ^' 1-- I^ave 
 cerely at W .^d T." ";' *^" ^'^"^'^^^ ^^^ -- 
 it or-^not suncW on ? '"' "^"''"^' ^^"^'^^ «f 
 
 Society wiio;;;tvS-^;::j:t^^^^^ 
 
 agate the Gospel and assist the On hi f7' 
 same time and thereby secured to rtte • s'f 
 then- influence could be extended 7t,r' , '*'' 
 Rdehty of her American cl-ldren"' ' '^''''' '^"'^ 
 
 erableT^T t''"'^ ' ""P-^ °^^^"« ^-^^ract to the ven- 
 
 ^l^r'^2:''''''^ '^ affectionately regard 
 
 constandT^' !h 'Z "It '-"^ P^^^-t counsels he 
 
 "Here a;! PoS' - tt '' "PP'"''*-^*^ '^'' ^^^'-d^, 
 farT .^11 I \ ^'^''^ '^ Patriotism! But how 
 
 Bit itt ''.t'"''' '"' ^^^'^-' I — t fore r 
 avl "'•^' '" ^possible, when I was writinrto 
 
 abo e :^;^! r '"'^t'-^^ r • ^^e subject, and I said^ihe 
 aoove m the anguish and simphcity of my heart.- 
 
 ^ Johnson MSS. 
 
246 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 The Stamp-Act was repealed by Parliament, to the 
 honor of the Rockingham ministry and the great joy 
 of the colonies, just one year after its passage, and the 
 voices of such men as William Pitt and Edmund Burke 
 were nobly lifted up in defence of the healing measure. 
 But, as if fearful of conceding too much, the repeal 
 was accompanied by a Declaratory Act, in which it 
 was affirmed that "Parliament had a right to bind the 
 colonies in all cases whatsoever;" an act said to have 
 been prompted by the indiscreet warmth of Pitt, but 
 which Lord Mansfield, who was against the repeal, 
 pronounced in the House of Lords to amount to 
 nothing, and that it was a poor contrivance to save 
 the dignity of Parliament. But whatever may have 
 been its origin or design, the declaration was looked 
 upon by the colonists as a sober reality, and it never 
 ceased to rankle in their breasts. The whole and 
 remoter effect of it has been so well and concisely 
 described by New England's greatest statesman, that 
 no apology need be offered for introducing his words 
 in this connection: — 
 
 ''The Parliament of Great Britain asserted a right 
 to tax the colonies in all cases whatsoever; and it 
 was precisely on this question that they made the 
 Revolution turn. The amount of taxation was trifling, 
 but the claim itself was inconsistent with liberty; and 
 that was, in their eye^, enough. It was against the 
 recital of an act of Parliament, rather than against 
 any suffering under its enactments, that they took up 
 arms. They went to war against a preamble. They 
 fought seven years against a declaration. They poured 
 out their treasures and their blood like water, in a 
 contest against an assertion, which those less saga- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 247 
 
 (I 
 
 cious and not so well schooled in the principles of 
 civil liberty would have regarded as barren phraseol- 
 ogy, or mere parade of words. They saw in the claim of 
 the British Parliament a seminal principle of mischief, 
 the germ of unjust power; they detected it, dragged 
 it forth from underneath its plausible disguises, struck 
 at it; nor did it elude either their steady eye or their 
 well-directed blow till they had extirpated and de- 
 stroyed it, to the smallest fibre. On this question of 
 principle, while actual suffering was yet aflir off, they 
 raised their flag against a power to which, for pur- 
 poses of foreign conquest and subjugation, Rome, in 
 the height of her glory, is not to be compared : a power 
 which has dotted over the surface of the whole globe 
 with her possessions and military posts ; whose morn- 
 ing drum-beat, following the sun, and keeping com- 
 pany with the hours, circles the earth Avith one con- 
 tinuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of 
 England." ^ 
 
 Such is the eloquent description of the memorable 
 struggle which involved at once so many precious 
 hopes and interests for the mother-country and her 
 American possessions. At this point of time thei-e 
 are trials and disasters preparing for the Church in 
 Connecticut, greater and sadder than any she has yet 
 experienced. The course which lier Missionaries pur- 
 sued in reference to the immediate causes that led to 
 the Revolution, and ultimately to the Independence 
 of the colonies, did not save them and their flocks 
 from the bitterness of future persecution. But we 
 will not anticipate the events of history. We believe 
 that, without foreseeing the violence of the storm, 
 
 1 Webster's Works, Vol. IV. pp. 109, 110. 
 
248 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHUPtCH 
 
 IX CONNECTICUT. 
 
 249 
 
 God strengthened tliem for its approach, by keeping 
 them to their proper work. The faithful Beach at 
 Newtown, not without fear of personal alnise from 
 the lawless, ^^for no other reason than that of endeav- 
 oring to cherish in his people a quiet submission to 
 the civil government," and who implored the Venera- 
 ble Society in their wisdom to direct him how he 
 ought to conduct himself "in this new and melan- 
 choly affliir," was not unmindful of his duty as % 
 preacher of the everlasting Gospel and a " watchmau 
 on the walls." He would not be drawn aside from 
 the old path which he had so long and so well trod- 
 den. For we find him, in the midst of his daily pas- 
 toral toil, standing forward before the public as the 
 firm and triumphant opponent of the many religious 
 extravagances which then prevailed in various parts 
 of New England. "Though my health," said he, in a 
 letter written just after the passage of the Stamp-Act, 
 but before the news of it had reached or been spread 
 in this country, "is small, and my abilities less; and 
 though I make it a rule never to enter into any dis- 
 pute with them (the Independent ministers) unless 
 they begin, yet now they have made the assault, and 
 advanced such monstrous errors as do subvert the 
 Gospel, I think myself obliged by my ordination vow 
 to guard my people (as well as I can) against such 
 doctrines, in which work, hitherto, I hope I have had 
 some success." Other Missionaries were alike vio-i- 
 lant, though not so widely known nor possessed of 
 so much official and personal influence. Born and 
 educated in the colony, as they all had been, with 
 one exception, they expected to share its fortunes; 
 and in the full persuasion that the Church of Eng- 
 
 land was modelled after the Apostolic order, and 
 taught and preserved the truth, they could not and 
 they wovdd not consent to have her doctrines pub- 
 licly nnsrepresented and her rights infringed without 
 sendmg forth in all places a voice of solemn remon- 
 strance. Their good and Christian lives caused them 
 to be respected, even when they stoutlv refused to 
 sacrifice any of their principles to gain' the popular 
 lavor. it they complained occasionally of the sedi- 
 tious tumults and lawlessness of the people here they 
 complained much more of the policy of tlie home Gov- 
 ernment, and of "the spirit of indifference to the real 
 character and duties of the Church, so unhappily 
 manifested by some of the leading Statesmen of that 
 day."^ 
 
 1 Anderson's Colonial Church, Vol. III. p. 436. 
 
250 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 251 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 APPEAL OF THE CLERGY OF CONNECTICUT FOR A BISHOP; DR. 
 CHANDLER'S PUBLICATIONS, AND THE REPLIES OF HIS ' AN- 
 TAGONISTS. 
 
 A. I). 1766. 
 
 i On the 8th day of October, 1766, a Convention of 
 the clergy of the Church of England in the Colony 
 of Connecticut was held at Stratlbrd, where twelve of 
 their number, including Dr. Auchinuty of New^ York, 
 were present. At this meeting, a formal address 
 to the Bishop of London Avas prepared and signed 
 by them, in which they "bitterly lamented the de- 
 ploral)le condition" of the home Government, because 
 for political reasons it refused a Protestant Bishop to 
 the colonies, but allowed the Romanists in Canada 
 and the Moravians elsewhere to have the full enjoy- 
 ment of their ecclesiastical privileges and discipline. 
 It was quite beyond the conception of these signers 
 that such partiality should be shown, especially as the 
 Crown niiglit well be supposed to favor the interests 
 of a communion which were so closely blended with 
 its own prosperity. "The more the Church spreads in 
 this country," wrote Mr. Beach from Newtown, in the 
 sprmg of 1767, "the more we feel and groan under 
 the want of a Bishop. And I am full in the opinion, 
 that, if those great men, upon whose pleasure it de- 
 pends to grant us such a blessing, did but know as 
 sensibly as w^e do that the churchpeople here are 
 
 the only fast friends to our subjection to, or connec- 
 tion with England, as hath lately appeared, they would, 
 even upon political reasons, grant us the favor which 
 we have so long wished and prayed for ; and would 
 strengthen that cause which, compared with the dis- 
 senters of all denominations, is very weak. It is some 
 satisfaction to me to observe, that in this io\m, of 
 late, in our elections, the churchpeople make the 
 major vote, which is the Jirst instance of that kind in 
 this colony, if not in all New England." 
 
 But a timid regard to the objections of the dis- 
 senters, and of those colonies at the South which were 
 not heartily desirous of Bishops, prevailed above every 
 other consideration, and even aifected the action .of 
 good and prayerfid men. In consequence of the 
 clamors which arose from the passage of the Stamp- 
 Act, the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel dechned to estabhsh any more missions in 
 New England, a step which filled the clergy of the 
 Church with real grief and concern. "God have 
 mercy upon us," wrote Dibblee to the Secretary about 
 this time, "if the Provinces here should throw off their 
 connection, dependence, and subjection to the mother- 
 country, for how much soever they are divided in relig- 
 ious sentiment among themselves, they yet can unite 
 heart and hand to oppose and check, if possible, the 
 growth and progress of our holy Church, which, like 
 rising Christianity, springs up and flourishes out of 
 their religious confusions." "I wish it were in my 
 power," said Leaming, seven months later, "to paint 
 in lively colors the necessity there is, both in a civil 
 and religious view, of our superiors giving attention 
 to the affairs of the Church of Endand in America. 
 
 I 
 
252 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 If the Cliuroli is neglected at this juncture, America 
 is totally ruined ; and those of us who have been faith- 
 ful to give notice of the true state of afflxirs will be 
 the first victims that will Ml in the sad catastrophe." 
 
 The effort to secure the appointment of Bishops for 
 the American colonies, which had been renewed from 
 time to time with more or less spirit since the begin- 
 ning of the century,^ was now made in a somewhat 
 different shape. Private appeals had proved unavail- 
 ing. The frequent and earnest letters of the Mis- 
 sionaries to their friends and patrons in England had 
 only brought back the same evidence of "hope de- 
 ferred which maketh the heart sick." "It appears to 
 us," said Chandler, writing to Dr. Johnson on this sub- 
 ject, "that Bishops will never be sent us until we are 
 united and warm in our applications from this coun- 
 try, and we can see no reasons to expect a more fa- 
 vorable time by waiting." As far back as 1754, Seeker, 
 then Bishop of Oxford, wrote to the Missionary at 
 Stratford in this despondent tone: "We have done all 
 we can here in vain, and must wait for more favorable 
 
 1 The Rev. Jolin Talbot, the associate of l\Ir. Keith in his mi.-sionary trav- 
 els, and afterwards stationed at Burlin;;ton, N. J., visited En^rland in 1720. 
 While there, he, with the Rev. Dr. Welton, was consecrated to the Epis- 
 copal office bv the non-juring Bishops, and returned to Burlington. Wel- 
 ton came to Flilladelpliia, having been invited to Christ Church in that 
 city. " Such a step," says Hawkins, " admits of nojustification, but we may 
 well suppose that he [Talbot] was led to take it by no personal ambition, 
 but by that strong and earnest conviction of the absolute necessity of an 
 Episcopate for the welfare of the Church in America, of which his letters 
 atTord such abundant testimony. It appears that he occasionally assumed 
 the Episcopal dress, and that he administered the ordinance of Confirma- 
 tion. Whatever confusion or schism might have arisen by the irregular 
 exercise of the Episcopal office was prevented by an order from the Privy 
 Council for Welton's return to England, and by the death of Mr. Talbot, 
 which occurred in 1727." 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 253 
 
 times; which I thmk it will contribute not a little to 
 bring on, if the ministers of our Church in America, 
 by friendly converse with the principal dissenters, 
 can satisfy them that nothing more is intended or de- 
 sired than that our Church may enjoy the full benefit 
 of its own institutions, as all theirs do. For so long 
 as they are uneasy and remonstrate, regard will be 
 paid to them and their friends here by our ministers 
 of state. And yet it will be a hard matter for you to 
 prevent theu^ being uneasy, while they find you gain- 
 ing ground upon them." But when a decade of years 
 had passed away, the "more flivorable times" were still 
 in the future. 
 
 Conventional addresses of the clergy to the King, 
 the Archbishops, and other dignitaries of the Church 
 of England, were as unsuccessful as the private letters. 
 The mini.stiy had never refused to acknowledge the 
 reasonableness and propriety of establishing an Amer- 
 ican Episcopate, but still no decisive steps were taken 
 in that direction. "The Parliament is rising, and 
 nothing will be done this session, if ever," wrote Dr. 
 Burton to Chandler, under date of May 26th, 1760; 
 and the latter, in communicating this statement to Dr. 
 Jolfnson some time afterwards, made these sensible! 
 comments: "I do not know that we ever desired them 
 to do anything. What reason can there be for con- 
 sulting the Parliament? How, in the name of good- 
 ness, does it concern them whether an astronomer or 
 a poet should come over to America ; for he is to re- 
 ceive no powers or perquisites from them. If they 
 are disposed to countenance or declare in a public 
 manner their approbation of American Bishops, we 
 are so far obliged to them; but if not, all that we de- 
 
254 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 sire is, that they will not oppose us, and we will prom- 
 ise never to molest them." 
 
 Dr. Johnson, in a letter to the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, written in the same month, said: "I have the 
 great mortification and grief to inform your Grace, 
 that those two hopeful young gentlemen who were 
 ordained last^ had the misfortune to be lost on their 
 arrival on the coast, the ship being dashed to pieces, 
 and only foiu- lives saved out of twenty-eight. These 
 tw^o make up ten valuable lives that have now been 
 lost, for want of ordaining powers here, out of fifty- 
 one, (nigh one in five,) that have gone for Orders 
 from hence, within the compass of my knowledge, in 
 I little more than forty years, which is a much greater 
 loss to the Church here, in proportion, than she suf- 
 fered in the time of Popish persecution in England. 
 I say this because I can consider the Church here, 
 for want of Bishops, in no other light than as being 
 really in a state of persecution on this account. Pray, 
 my Lord, will our dear mother-country have no bowels 
 of compassion for her poor depressed, destitute chil- 
 dren of the established Church, (probably a million 
 of them,) dispersed into these remote regions? How 
 long, Lord, holy and true! .... If such a thino- as 
 sending one or two Bishops can at all be done for us, 
 this article of time, now that all America are overflow- 
 ing with joy for the repeal of the Stamp-Act, would 
 be the happiest juncture for it that could be, for I 
 believe they would rather twenty Bishops were sent 
 than that Act enforced." 
 
 It was in this letter that the writer referred to a 
 Synod of sixty Presbyterians assembled at New York, 
 
 I Mr. Giles of New York, and Mr. Wilson of Philadelphia. 
 
 I 
 
 A 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 255 
 
 with the design of applying, through the General As- 
 sembly of Scotland, to the Parliament of Great Britain 
 for a charter; and the rejection of their application, 
 which they charged to "prelatical influence," was said 
 to have stung them with disappointment, and to have 
 caused their future assaults upon the Church to be 
 more acrimonious. The Synod made an overture to 
 the General Associations of the ministers in the Col- 
 ony of Connecticut to unite with them, and the first 
 convention of Delegates to form a plan of union was 
 held at Elizabethtown, November 5th, 17CC. 
 
 A letter, prepared and approved at this meeting, 
 was addressed to the "Brethren of the Massachusett^ 
 New Hampshire, and Ehode Island governments, and 
 the Dutch churches," showing how greatly the Dele- 
 gates "desired that the imion should extend through 
 all the colonies," and inviting them to join in pro- 
 moting "the important design" of their General Con- 
 vention. 
 
 At the annual Commencement of the College in 
 New Haven, the next year, there was a Convention 
 of the Episcopal clergy; and Dr. Johnson, in mention- 
 ing it to his Grace, said: "There was also here an- 
 other meeting of Delegates from the Presbyterians 
 southward and the Congregationalists this waj^, in 
 further pursuance of their grand desim of coalescino- 
 or union, but Avhat they have done we know not. It 
 is said there was much disputing, and therefore we 
 suspected they did not all agree." These meetings 
 were continued annually for a period of nine years, 
 until the distracted situation of public affliirs inter- 
 rupted them ; and it has since come to light that the 
 prominent object of them was to concert measures for 
 
256 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 preventing the introduction of Bishops into this coun- 
 try, and for "guarding the liberties of the churches 
 against all encroachments." 
 
 The new form in which the effort to secure the 
 Episcopate was pushed at this season was by an "Ap- 
 peal to the Public/' written by Dr. Chandler, and pub- 
 lished at New York in 1767, with a courteous dedi- 
 cation to the Primate of all England, the saintly 
 Seeker. 
 
 Previous to its appearance, however, the Bishop of 
 Landaif (Dr. Ewer), in his anniversary sermon before 
 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, deliv- 
 ered in the beginning of the year, had referred to the 
 state of religion in some of the colonies as not much 
 above infidelity and heathenism, and there were those 
 who, without sufficient reason, imagined his reference 
 to be particularly to New England. Among this 
 numljer was Dr. Charles Chauncey of Boston, a Con- 
 gregational divine of considerable celebrity, who pub- 
 lished an ingenious "Letter to a Friend," containing 
 remarks on certain passages in the sermon, and rep- 
 resenting the injurious consequences of sending Bish- 
 ops to this country, besides stating the sole design of 
 the Society to be "to Episcopize the colonies." He 
 stirred up the old fears about religious persecution, 
 and, for eflect in England, said: "It may be relied on, 
 our people would not be easy, if restrained in the 
 exercise of that liberty wherewith Christ hath made 
 them free; yea, they woidd hazard everything dear 
 to them, their estates, their very lives, rather than 
 suffer their necks to be put under that yoke of bond- 
 age, which was so sadly galling to their fathers, and 
 occasioned their retreat into this distant land, that 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 257 
 
 they might enjoy the freedom of men and Chris- 
 tians." 
 
 He was followed, a little later, by another cham- 
 pion on the same side, Mr. William Livingston, a law- 
 yer of ^ New York, who adopted his arguments and 
 embellished them with the flowers of rhetoric, but 
 added no strength or interest to the controversy, ex- 
 cept that he drew forth "A Vindication of the Bishop 
 of Landaff's Sermon," in a pamphlet of eighty-two 
 pages, published anonymously, and characterized by 
 thorough research, a fidl knowledge of the subject in 
 all its parts, manly argument, playful sallies of wit, 
 and sharp and pungent criticism. 
 
 The "Appeal to the Public," by Dr. Chandler, was 
 not undertaken on the sole judgment of the author. 
 It "was requested by many of his brethren," and par- 
 ticularly imposed upon him by his venerajjle friend at 
 Stratford, who for more than forty years had been 
 the distinguished advocate of the Church of England 
 in the colonies, and who, therefore, seemed to be the 
 most proper person still to plead the cause of an 
 American Episcopate. But a tremor in the hand 
 rendered it extremely difficult for Dr. Johnson to use 
 his pen, and so he applied to one whose learning, ac- 
 complishments, and ability he well knew, and whom 
 he freely counselled in the Avhole plan and prosecu- 
 tion of the Avork.i The clergy of New York and New 
 Jersey, with a few from the neighboring provinces, 
 bemg assembled in a voluntary Convention, favored 
 
 » " We are greatly obliged to my Lord of LandafT for so strenuously plead-- 
 ing our cause in his anniversary sermon. As I doubted whether anything 
 would be done at home on that subject, I urged and assisted Dr. Chandler 
 to publish an appeal to the public in its behalf, which I think he has well 
 done." — MS. Letter of Johnson to Seeker, September 25, 17G7. 
 
 17 
 
258 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 the suggestion of the Connecticut divine; for, after a 
 thorough discussion of the propriety and expediency of 
 making the appeal, "they were unanimously of opin- 
 ion, that, fliirly to explain the plan on which American 
 Bishops had been requested, to lay before the public 
 the reasons of this request, to answer the objections 
 that had been made, and to obviate those that might 
 be otherwise conceived against it, was not only proper 
 and expedient, but a matter of necessity and duty." 
 
 After the controversies and publications of former 
 years, it was hardly to be expected that any attrac- 
 tive novelty woidd be thrown around the suljject. 
 The most which the author could hope to accomplish 
 was to satisfy the American public that the appre- 
 hensions of evil to grow out of the estal)lishment of 
 an Episcopate were groundless; that it was no part 
 of the plan to interfere with the rights and privileges 
 of other religious bodies, much less to encroach upon 
 the powers of the State; and that it was but simple 
 justice to churchmen to allow that want to be sup- 
 plied, which, as the Bishop of Landaff well said, "hath 
 been all along the more heavily lamented, because it 
 is a case so singular that it cannot be paralleled in 
 the Christian world.'^ 
 
 The publication circulated but slowly, and found its 
 way with difficulty into the southern provinces. The 
 author, in speaking of this in a letter to Dr. Johnson, 
 said: "But I have had most amazing success with one 
 sent to the northward, which has occasioned an offer 
 from Sir William Johnson of an estate, that in a few 
 years will of itself be a sufficient support for a Bishop. 
 His letter to me on the occasion I have transcribed, 
 and herewith send you a copy. He has offered 20,000 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 259 
 
 acres of excellent land, well situated, towards the sup 
 port of an American Episcopate, and written in a 
 most pressing manner to the Lords of Trade and Plan- 
 tations in its behalf" 
 
 The Appeal, which seems to have been regarded by 
 candid men among all denominations as a^moderate 
 and reasonable thing, had been issued from the press 
 scarcely six months before it was furiously and si- 
 multaneously attacked from various quarters. The 
 1^ American Whig" appeared in the New York Gazette, 
 in a series of unmanly and virulent essays,^ while a 
 twin-brother of his started up in a Philadelphia jour- 
 nal, under the name of the "Sentinel"; and the alarm 
 thus sounded reached to Boston, and was instantly 
 echoed from the presses of these three principal cities, 
 as if they had entered into a combination to crush out 
 every atom of popular sympathy with the plan pro- 
 posed in the pamphlet of Dr. Chandler. 
 
 It is not in poor human nature to receive such at- 
 tacks with indifference. Gross personahties and rail- 
 ing accusations are seldom met in the spirit which 
 betrays no infirmity, and hence those on the other 
 side, in answering their adversaries, often dipped their 
 pens in the same bitterness, and wrote with unsparino- 
 severity. The newspaper productions of that day were 
 too much steeped in rancorous feelings, and some of 
 them descended to that low wit and scurrility which 
 never fiil to weaken or defeat the very best cause. 
 It is due, however, to the author of the Appeal to 
 
 1 "The frst Whiff was written by Livingston; the second, by Smith; 
 the third, by — ; and the fourth, by Smith, as far as to the thunder 
 guli; and then Livingston went on in his high prancing style." -- MS. Letter 
 of Chandler to Johnson. 
 
260 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 state, that, in all his writings on the subject, he main- 
 tained his dignity, and showed himself alike the Chris- 
 tian and the scholar. lie directed his principal atten- 
 tion to one huge pamphlet of more than two hundred 
 pages, entitled "The Appeal to the Puljlic Answered," 
 written })y Dr. Charles Chauncev, the same divine be- 
 fore mentioned, and a tried combatant in the field 
 of religious controversy, having measured lances 
 twenty years before with Jonathan Edwards, in oppo- 
 sition to manv of the Calvinistic doctrines and views 
 of theolofi'v. Though he wrote with ability, Dr. Cliaun- 
 cey contributed no new arguments to his side of the 
 question, but made some statements which betrayed 
 his ignorance of the Church, and his unfairness as an 
 advocate of the broad principles of Christian liberty. 
 In his concluding section there is this strange asser- 
 tion, all the appeals and remonstrances and petitions 
 of tke Missionaries for nearly half a century to the 
 contrary notwithstanding: "We are as fully per- 
 suaded, as if they had openly said it, that they have 
 in vicAV nothing short of a complete Church Hierarchy 
 after the pattern of that at home, with like oihcers in 
 all their various degrees of dignity, with a like large 
 revenue for their grand support, and with the allow- 
 ance of no other privilege to dissenters but that of a 
 tare toleration." 
 
 Dr. Chandler, in reply to this production, published 
 *'Tlie Appeal Defended," which breathed a truly Chris- 
 tian, becoming, and charitable spirit, and Avitli the 
 former pamphlet was reprinted in England, where it 
 seemed to be necessary to plead the cause as well as 
 in the colonies. A second production from the pen 
 of his antagonist followed; and writing jDlay fully to a 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 261 
 
 friend in reference to it, he said: "The thanks of his 
 brethren in smoJcing convocation for this last exploit 
 were formally voted him,^ and the vote circulated 
 through the country in all the newspapers. This last 
 circumstance, more than its real qualities, has made it 
 necessary, in the opinion of my friends, that I should 
 write again." And so he published, in 1771, his third 
 pamphlet, entitled "The Appeal Further Defended," 
 which closed the controversy, and the general struo-- 
 gle for an American Episcopate was ended. 
 
 In this same year the Rev. Dr. Cooper, President of 
 King's College, New York, went to England, bearing 
 with him several addresses from the clergy and their 
 Conventions; and Dr. Chandler, writing to his vener- 
 able friend and adviser at Stratford, concerning the 
 object of his visit, remarked: "He goes partlyas a 
 3Il8stonari/ from us. in order to convert the guardians 
 of the Church from the error of their ways. I think 
 our sending Missionaries among them almost as ne- 
 cessary as their sending Missionaries to America. 
 But I fear the difficulty of proselyting such a nation 
 will be found greater than that of converting Wiq 
 American savages. Notwithstanding, I never yet have 
 despaired; and considering the reasonableness of our 
 request, and that all the motives of equitj^, honor, 
 and sound policy conspire to favor it, I never can 
 despair." 
 
 1 A General Association of the Pastors of the consociated churches in 
 Connecticut met at Coventry, June 21st, 1768, and voted their thankg 
 "to the Rev. Dr. Chauncey of Boston, for tlie jrood service he had done 
 to the cause of relinrion, liberty, and truth, in his judicious answer to the 
 Appeal for an American Episcopate, and in his defence of the New-Eng- 
 land churches and colonies against the unjust reflections cast upon them 
 m the Bishop of Landaff's sermon before the Society for the Propatration 
 of the Gospel." ° 
 
 / 
 
 i 
 
262 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 263 
 
 Before leaving this subject, it will be proper to go 
 back a little and gather up some things which have 
 been left behind. It must not be supposed that the 
 whole controversy was confined to clergymen, or that 
 all the impediments to success were presented by di- 
 vines of the Puritan order. Wliile the discussion was 
 pending, and at its height, the General Court, or Legis- 
 lature, of Massachusetts, in a printed instruction to 
 their agent at London, among other things, directed 
 him to use liis utmost interest with the ministry that 
 no Bishops be ever sent into America. The Legisla- 
 ture of Virginia, which was composed chiefly of church- 
 men, was equally decided in opposition, though on 
 different grounds, and in a diflerent way. Tliere it 
 took the forai of a vote of thanks to certain clergy- 
 men for resisting, in a thin Convention, the formal 
 sanction of the movement to secure an American 
 Episcopate, — a movement which was judged to be in- 
 expedient at that time for various reasons, and espe- 
 cially because nothing should be done "to weaken 
 the connection between the mother-country and her 
 colonies," or "to infuse jealousies and fears into the 
 minds of Protestant dissenters," but everything "to 
 preserve peace, heal divisions, and calm the angry 
 passions of an inflamed people." 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON A SPECIAL AGENT TO ENGLAND 
 FROM THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT; DEATH OF ARCH- 
 BISHOP SECKER; AND CLOSE OF THE PUBLIC CONTROVERSY 
 CONCERNING AN AMERICAN EPISCOPATE. 
 
 A. D. 1766-1771. 
 
 The day before Christmas, 1766, William Samuel 
 Johnson, the only surviving son of Dr. Johnson, de- 
 parted for England as a special agent from the Colony 
 of Connecticut, in a cause of great importance, depend- 
 ing before the Lords in Council. One Mason had com- 
 plained, in behalf of some Indians, relative to the title 
 of a large tract of land, and he was sent to defend the 
 colony against the complaint, and to establish its 
 chartered rights. His sojourn in the mother-country, 
 much to the displeasure and grief of his friends, was 
 prolonged for nearly five years, during which period 
 other matters, both of a public and private nature, 
 were committed to his care. 
 
 The extensive correspondence of his venerable flither 
 with the highest dio;nitaries of the Church, and the re- 
 spect which they uniformly entertained for his zeal 
 and learning and character, gave the son access to 
 the best society and the best means of information on 
 topics of vital interest to America. While, therefore, 
 the general struggle to secure the Episcopate was 
 going on in this country, and the Missionaries were 
 
264 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 pleading and writing in defence of the measure, he 
 was in England watching the signs of favor shown 
 to it by the Bishops and the Ministry, at the same 
 time that he narrowly watched those Parliamentary 
 proceedings which were beginning to shape the des- 
 tiny and lead to the independence of the American 
 colonies. He kept his father siipphed with all the 
 facts, encouraging and discouraging, that came within 
 his reach, and in one of his earliest letters to hui 
 said: "The Appeal you mention, however well drawn 
 up, will, I fear, have very little effect. Perhaps the 
 more you stir about this matter at present, the worse 
 it will be." But as the controversy proceeded, he en- 
 tered into its spirit, and was pleased to observe the 
 approbation bestowed upon Dr. Chandler's effort by 
 the most active and distinguished prelates, though 
 still himself doubting its beneficial effects in that 
 critical posture of national aflairs. In the summer 
 of 1760, Avhen the war of pamphlets was almost over, 
 he wrote to his flither these prudent words: "I can- 
 not but say I am glad your controversy about Amer- 
 ican Bishops seems to be near its end, since I am 
 afraid it can have no very good eflects there, and it 
 produces none at all here. It is surprising how little 
 attention is paid to it. Perhaps it may in some meas- 
 ure be accounted for by considering that they are 
 so used here to warm controversial pul^lications upon 
 almost every subject, that they are become a sort of 
 Bnitum fulmen, which nobody much regards ; unless 
 you will impute it rather to the universal pursuit of 
 wealth and pleasure, in wliicli they are all absorbed, 
 so that nothing else appears to be of any consequence, 
 which is perhaps the better reason." The father 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 265 
 
 also appears to have become despondent as to the 
 issue, for in the same year he said: "I will only add, 
 for the sake of the best of Churches, that, thouirh I 
 am sensible nothing can be done as to providing an 
 American Episcopate, in the present unhappy condi- 
 tion of things, yet I do humljly hope and confide that 
 the Venerable Society will never lose sight of that 
 most important object till it is accomplished ; for, till 
 then, the Church here must be so flir from tlourishin'>* 
 that she must dwindle and be contemptible in the 
 eyes of all other denominations." 
 
 As the agent of the Colony of Connecticut, Dr. 
 Johnson^ was concerned for the peace of its people 
 not less than for the good of the Church ; and when 
 Governor Trumbull wrote to him to know what were 
 the intentions in England relative to American Bish- 
 ops, his answer was just such an one as a cautious and 
 Christian statesman might be expected to give, who 
 looked into the future and foresaw ilia iratherins" 
 storm. 
 
 "It is not intended, at present, to send any Bishops 
 into ihfi American colonies; had it been, I certainly 
 should have acquainted you with it. And should it 
 be done at all, you may be assured it will l)e in such 
 manner as in no degree to prejudice, nor, if possible, 
 even give the least offence to any denomination of 
 Protestants. It has indeed been merelj^ a religious, 
 in no respect a political, scheme. As I am myself of 
 the Church of England, you will not doubt that I 
 have had the fidlest opportunity to be intimately 
 acquainted with all the stages that have ever been 
 
 ^ At the instance of Archbishop Seeker, he received the Diplomatic 
 Degree of Doctor of Law from the University of Oxford in 1766. 
 
266 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 taken in this affair, and you may rely upon it that it 
 never was, nor is, the intention, or even wish, of 
 those who have been most sanguine in the matter, 
 that American Bishops should have any the least 
 degree of secular power of any nature or kind what- 
 soever, much less any manner of concern or connec- 
 tion with Christians of any other denomination, nor 
 even any power, properly so called, over the Laity of 
 the Church of England. They wish them to have 
 merely the spiritual powers which are incident to the 
 Episcopal character as such, which, in the ideas of that 
 Church, are those of Ordination and Confirmation, and 
 of presiding over and governing the clergy; which 
 can of course relate to those of that profession only 
 who are its voluntary subjects, and can affect nobody 
 else. More than this would be thought rather disad- 
 vantageous than beneficial, and / cmurc you would he 
 opposed by no man with more zeal than myself, even as a 
 friend to the Church of England. Nay, I have the stron- 
 gest grounds to assure you that more would not be 
 accepted by those who understand and wish well to 
 the design, were it even offered."^ 
 
 On tlie 3d day of August, 1768, died the Primate 
 of all England- according to Bishop Lowtli, "the 
 greatest, the best, and the most unexceptionable char- 
 acter that our ecclesiastical annals liave to boast." 
 During the long period of his Episcopate he held an 
 unremitting correspondence with Dr. Johnson, and 
 not only kept himself minutely informed of the state 
 of the Church in this country, but wrote largely, vig- 
 orously, and earnestly in defence of her interests and 
 her claims to favor. His letters upon that measure, 
 
 1 Johnson MSS. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 267 
 
 which was one of the dearest wishes of his heart, and 
 upon all subjects connected with the welfare of the 
 Church which he was permitted to superintend and 
 bless with his influence, breathe throudiout the «:en- 
 tlest wisdom and the purest charity; and "the volumes 
 which contain them," says Anderson, "are among the 
 most precious treasures to be found this day among the 
 manuscripts of Lambeth Library." Archbishop Seeker 
 "kept up the noble uniformity of his character to the 
 end," and, Hke Tenison, one of his predecessors in the 
 Primacy, evinced his regard for the scheme on which 
 his thoughts and prayers had so long hung, by leaving, 
 to the Society, in his will, a legacy of a thousand 
 pounds sterling, "towards the estabUshment of a Bisliop 
 or Bishops in the King's dominions in America." Had 
 the Duke of Newcastle, who was then at the head of 
 the Ministry, and who for nearly thirty years was one 
 of the two Secretaries of State, seen, as others saw 
 them, the real wants and situation of the colonies 
 which were intrusted to his keeping, he might have 
 warded off some of the evils and disasters which after- 
 wards befell the British Government. But as he was 
 slow to provide the means of temporal defence, so he 
 had little disposition to sanction the supply of spiritual 
 help. "Gibson might seek for powers to define more 
 accurately the commission by which he and his pred- 
 ecessors in the See of London were authorized to 
 superintend the colonial Churches, and the terms of 
 Avhich, in his judgment, were wanting in the clearness 
 which was necessary to make the superintendence ef- 
 fectual. Sherlock might present to the King his ear- 
 nest memorial that Bishops might forthwith be sent out 
 to the plantations, and receive for answer that it was 
 
^ 
 
 2C8 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 referred to the Officers of State. Seeker might exert 
 towai-ds the same end all the influence which he had 
 so justly gained whilst he was Rector of St. James's 
 and afterwards while Dean of St. Paul's and Bishop 
 o Oxkml He might renew it with increased zeal 
 t^irough all the ten years in whicli he was Primate 
 i3ut the mass of inert resistance, presented in the 
 ottico of Secretary of State responsible for the col- 
 onies, was too great to be overcome. The utmost 
 which the repeated exertions of all these men could 
 obtain was promise after promise that ministers would 
 'consider and confer about the matter,'" >— promises 
 which were left unfulfilled until those who received 
 them were ready to confess (hat new events liad 
 changed the relation of thing.s, and rendered it inex- 
 pedient to urge the immediate accomplishment of 
 what before was so desiral^le. The fear of oflendincr 
 the dissenters in this country, and of inclining the 
 people to independence, had stood in (he wa>°of a 
 measnre, right in itself, and only postponed from (inie 
 to time fur reasons of national policv. But it may 
 be remarked, before dismissing the point, that the in- 
 dependence of the colonies was finally achieved, and 
 they "were lost to England, not less through her neo-- 
 ect of them in matters spiritual, than her oppressiv^'e 
 treatment of them in matters temporal." 
 
 The xMissionaries throughout the colony, dnriiK^ (he 
 period while the last great struggle foi- the Episco- 
 pate was going on, were diligent in the performance 
 ot their duties, and alive to all the opportunilies for 
 extending the Church. Some were removed to other 
 spheres of labor, and their places supplied by those 
 
 » Anderson's Colonial Church, Vol. III. p. US. 
 
 4 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 269 
 
 who had been recently ordained. Ebenezer Kneeland, 
 a graduate of Yale College in 1761, who went to 
 England for ordination three years later, had re- 
 turned to this country, and having served for a time 
 as chaplain in a British regiment, had become settled 
 at Stratford as an Assistant to Dr. Johnson. That 
 venerable divine had conceived the plan of "holdino-" 
 in the place of his retirement '-a little Academy, or 
 resource for young students of Divinity, to prepare 
 them for Holy Orders;" and Mr. Kneeland, wlio mar- 
 ried his granddaughter, aided him both in the parish 
 and in giving classical and theological instruction. 
 Many were thus guided and improved in their knowl- 
 edge of Hebrew, and in the study of systematic Divin- 
 ity. Wri(ing to the Secretary of the Society, June 
 11th, 1770, Dr. Johnson said : ''I have several times 
 directed one or more in tlieir studies, and have now 
 four here;" of which number, John Eutgers Marshall, 
 born in New York city, of parents who belonged (o 
 the Dutch Reformed persuasion, and a graduate of 
 King's College, crossed the Atlantic for Orders in mid- 
 summer of the next year, and returned in the autumn 
 with the appointment of a Missionary to Woodburj-. 
 John T^ler, a native of Wallingford, and a graduate 
 of Yale College, also passed under his instruction in 
 Hebrew and Divinity, some two years earlier, and pro- 
 ceeded to England with the desire of being ordained 
 and appointed for Guilford, made vacant by (he re- 
 moval of Mr. Hubbard to New Haven ; a removal, to 
 quote the language of the Chm-ch-wardens in their 
 appeal to the Society, "so distressing to the people, 
 that words cannot express it." Dr. Johnson, in a 
 communication bearing date September 27, 1707, has 
 
 V 
 
 1 & 
 
270 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 this paragraph: ^^The affair of Mr. Hubbard leaving 
 Guilford was so tender and difficult that he was 
 obliged to hold it in some suspense, till he could have 
 the advice of the Convention we had lately at New 
 Haven, when we counselled him to remove thither; l)ut 
 we advised the New Haven people to be content 'that 
 he should visit Guilford two or three times in a year, 
 which they seemed to acquiesce in; but I am humbly 
 of opinion that it would be well for the Society to 
 order this, and to order me to take care of Milford." ^ 
 Shortly before his removal, Mr. Hubbard reported up- 
 wards of eighty famines belonging to his cure in these 
 three places, Guilford, North Guilford, and Killing- 
 worth, and eighty communicants. He could "decentfy 
 support himself with a small paternal interest of his 
 own," without calling largely upon the people; but if 
 Mr. Tyler was appointed his successor, Guilford must 
 be erected into a distinct Mission and have a generous 
 appropriation, which the Venerable Board, in the pres- 
 ent aspect of things, and in the present state of their 
 finances, were unwilling to allow. Mr. Tyler, therefore, 
 was sent to Norwich, his second choice, a mission re- 
 cently vacated by the transfer of Mr. Beardslev, at his 
 own request, to Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In 1767, Abra- 
 ham Beach, born in Cheshire, and Richard Samuel 
 Clarke, born at West Haven, both Alumni of Yale Col- 
 lege, em])arked for England to receive ordination; and 
 while one of them, on their return, found his work 
 within the limits of another province, Mr. Clarke pro- 
 ceeded to New Milford, and was occupied in that ex- 
 tensive region, where "the harvest was truly plente- 
 ous/' though "the laborers were few." In 1769, the Hst 
 
 1 Johnson MSS. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 271 
 
 of Missionaries of the Society actually resident in Con- 
 necticut had reached to seventeen, and to this list 
 the name of Marshall only Avas added in the next 
 two years. 
 
 The fliithful pastor at Newtown, reporting his occa- 
 sional services in the newly erected church at Dan- 
 bury, an edifice "with a decent steeple," and large 
 enough to "accommodate from 400 to 500 people," 
 said with much feeling: "Alas! it is but little that so 
 few of us can perform, to what is so greatly wanted. 
 It is really melancholy to observe how many serious 
 and very religious people of late, in these parts, pro- 
 fess themselves of the Church of England, and ear- 
 nestly desire to worship God in that way, yet are as 
 sheep without a shepherd." A church appears to 
 have been erected earlier than this at Oxford, then 
 a parish or district in the town of Derby, into which 
 Mansfield had carried his ministrations. 
 
 Some of the Missionaries went beyond the colony, 
 and made occasional visits to those wide tracts of 
 country which were wholly unsupplied with the min- 
 istrations of our Church. Andrews, at the earnest 
 and repeated solicitations of several members of our 
 communion, undertook, in 1767, a long journey into 
 "diflerent towns and governments to the northward," 
 preaching, lecturing, and administering the sacraments 
 as he passed from village to village. What had been 
 uncultivated districts at the conclusion of the late war, 
 were now surprisingly filled up with inhabitants, and 
 the blossomino* of the rose was be^innino: to show 
 itself in "the wilderness and the solitaiy place." He 
 penetrated to Allington, in New Hampshire, one hun- 
 dred and fifty miles from his home 3 and though he 
 
272 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 was the fir.st clergyman who had appeared amonc' 
 the settlers, he found that a hiynian from Connecticu't 
 had been tliere before liim with the services of the 
 Church of England, and had read prayers for thorn 
 ni his own house, constantly on Sunda\s, ever since 
 then- entrance into the region. In tlie next year 
 Mansfield of Derby followed his ))rother Missionary 
 over nuich the same ground, and, like him, was em- 
 ployed on the journey nearly three weeks. "The 
 people," he said, in his report to the Society, "ex- 
 pressed themselves very thankful to me for comino- 
 among them; but being new settlers, and genoralh- 
 poor, were not able to contribute to me half enough 
 to defray the expenses of my journey. On my way 
 homewards. I preached at New Concord, within the 
 Colony of New York, about twenty miles distant from 
 Albany, where there are about twenty families of the 
 Church of England, who hope that Mr. Bostwick a 
 candidate for Holy Orders, will be ordained and settled 
 among them." 
 
 At this time there was but one Episcoi)al church 
 m the Province of New Hampshire, and that was at 
 Portsmouth, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Ar- 
 thur Browne. A few conformists to the Church of 
 England and inhabitants of Clareinont, a newly settled 
 town in the same province, memorialized the cler<ry 
 of Connecticut, "convened at New Milford in Trini'ty 
 week," 1760, reciting their state of spiritual destitu- 
 tion, and asking to be represented to the Venerable 
 Society as desirous, if they could have nothin<r more 
 of the appointment of a Catechist and Schoolmaster 
 among them for a few years, until they had passed 
 "the hrst difficulties and hardships of a wild, unciilti- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 273 
 
 ' 
 
 vated country." The individual for whose appoint- 
 ment they asked was Samuel Cole, Esq., a graduate 
 of Yale College in 1731. He had followed the voca- 
 tion of a gchoolmaster for many years, and was at 
 that time an inhabitant and proprietor of Claremont, 
 where he died in 1777. The inscription upon his 
 tombstone says: "He followed the work of the Min- 
 istry for a number of years, and was the founder of 
 several churches in Connecticut," — a remark which 
 has reference to his services as lay reader in Litchfield 
 County. It was by the advice of the same Conven- 
 tion, assembled at Litchfield in June of the next year, 
 that the Rev. Mr. Peters began a more extended jour- 
 ney into the northern provhices, penetrating farther 
 and Avider, baptizing many children, and ^-preaching 
 as often as every other day." He closed the minute 
 report of his journey with the exclamation, ^'God be 
 praised for my preservation, and that I am alive to 
 pity and to pray for those in the wilderness." 
 
 The Missionaries had under their charcre a laro-e 
 number of iamilies, though scattered and spread over 
 a great extent of territory; and some of them ])ap- 
 tized from fifty to one hundred children in each year. 
 A second and larger church arose at Cheshire in 1770, 
 to take the place of the first edifice; but the only fresh 
 ground broken in the last lustrum w\as in the north- 
 eastern part of the colony, where the Missionaries 
 had sometimes penetrated, but where the doctrines 
 of the Chiu'ch of England had not hitherto taken root 
 and spread. In 1766 Godfrey Malbone, a gentleman 
 of fortune from Newport, who had been educated at 
 Queen's College, Oxford, and had returned to his na- 
 tive land with all the tastes of a polished scholar and 
 
 18 
 
274 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 with an increased attachment to the rites and cere- 
 monies of the established Church, retired to an ex- 
 tensive estate in that part of Ponifret which is now 
 called Brooklyn; and about the same time John Aplin 
 an eminent lawyer of Providence, and a zealous church- 
 man, removed to live on his estate in the adjoinino- 
 town of Plainfield. Each soon felt the want' of the 
 delightful and sublime service to which he had been 
 accustomed, a want that could not be supplied with- 
 out going to NorM^ich, a distance of twenty-two miles 
 The immediate origin of a movement for a church 
 was the vote of a majority of the inhabitants, in that 
 district of the town where Mr. Malbone resided, to re- 
 build the Congregational meeting-house, and to levy 
 for that purpose, a tax upon the people in proportion 
 to their estates. So great were the possessions of this 
 gentleman, that about one eighth part of the whole ex- 
 pense must m to his share; and because no such new 
 edifice was needed, and having no sympathy with the 
 teachings of Congregationalism, never havin- entered 
 one of Its houses to worship, he firmly detennined not 
 to submit to the demand, but rather from his own 
 pui^e, and witli the assistance of his friends, to erect 
 an Episcopal church on the confines of Ponifret Can- 
 terbury, and Plainfield. About forty families' sub- 
 scribed to this proposal in 1769, some of them doubt, 
 less his own tenants, but the main expense devolved 
 on Malbone who bore it cheerfully; and the church, 
 whose foundations were laid in the next year was 
 neatly finished and opened for Divine service on the 
 12th of April, 1771, by Mr. Tyler, the Missionary at 
 Norwich, and the sermon which he preached on that 
 occasion was published. Few laymen in the colony 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 275 
 
 •1 
 
 had sharper opposition to contend with in upholdino- 
 the distinctive religious faith of their fathers than 
 Malbone. Quitting Newport, the place of his nativ- 
 ity, to escape the noise and tumults which then pre- 
 vailed in the large American towns, he promised him- 
 self, in his rural retirement, calm and settled repose. 
 He was not without eccentricities of character, but he 
 endeared himself to those who were capable of appre- 
 ciating his excellent qualities; and in the opinion of 
 his most uncharitable Congregational adversaries, he 
 was a very good man, except that he was "a church- 
 man, and sometimes swore a little." The parish grew 
 under his fostering care, and the church which he 
 built is still standing, though inconveniently located 
 to gather the people. 
 
 All the parishes in Connecticut were now in a pros- 
 perous condition. Hubbard, in a letter to the Society 
 dated July 8, 1771, said: "The number of families in 
 New Haven is now, I beheve, nearly one hundred, 
 and in the parish of West Haven about thirty-five. . . . 
 I continue occasionally to preach and give the Sacra- 
 ment at Guilford, and have performed Sunday services, 
 in parishes adjoining New Haven, to people well af- 
 fected toward the Church." The venerable Beach, 
 three months afterwards, reported in his cure three 
 hundred and twenty-seven actual communicants; and 
 in reference to the inhabitants of Newtown, he ob- 
 served : " Though, at the first setting up of the Church 
 in these parts, the dissenters discovered a very bitter 
 spirit, yet now we live in more friendship and amity 
 with them than they do among themselves." 
 
276 HisToiir OF the episcopal church 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 277 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 SUPPORT OF THE CLERGY; RENEWAL OF THEIR APPF4L FOR A 
 
 A. D. 1771-1772. 
 
 _ The support of the clergy of tlie Cluirch of En.^land 
 in the Colony of Connecticut was never .o libeml as 
 to excite the envy of their Congregational brethren. 
 The annual stipend allowed to each one by the So- 
 «ety was usually from £40 to £G0 sterling. Ll unless 
 the people provided a suitable parsonage and glebe, 
 and contributed an equal amount yeari; towards his 
 maintenance the clerical office was hardly surrounded 
 m any place by a degree of dignity and decency suffi- 
 cient to command public respect. Few of the Mis- 
 
 rrr ?; "^' ^"■"■'^'' ""'""' --'"'^ ^^^-'s^ they 
 
 ived frugally, in conformity with the habits of the 
 
 1-3'' ^'^7 J*-^^^ /^l'«-- J occasionally to state their 
 J^ants and he disadvantages of an inadequate sup- 
 port. '• Clothe the office of Christ in nu^s " said J.rvis 
 and t vill smk into neglect and di.honoi- and be aJ 
 -Icrable as He hin.elf wa. Expenene^ gives l.:^ 
 too nielancholy a proof of this, exemplified in the 
 Church among us, as more or less respected in par- 
 ticular congregations, according as its maintenance is 
 respectable. ' 
 
 Mr. Jar^as had not yet been taken into the service 
 ol^the Society, but he had ministered fliithfull^^ to the 
 people at Middletown for eleven years, receiving only 
 what they could raise for liini, which was 1;)ut a 
 meagre support. In view of labors thus unrequited, 
 Mr. Leaming, who ^^gave them all the lime with which 
 they built their church, and £7 10s. towards purchas- 
 ing a house and glebe," wrote in behalf of the Conven- 
 tion in Connecticut, assembled September 8, 1773, 
 and earnestly requested the Venerable Board to 
 "order one half of the salary formerly given the late 
 Mr. Lamson, at Fairfield, to Mr. Jarvis,\at Middletown." 
 In the beginning of 1772 Mr. Lamson had contem- 
 plated removing to a new Mission, which he was de- 
 sirous that the Society should establish in Duchess 
 County, in the Province of New York, a region which 
 he had visited during the previous summer in his 
 official capacity; but his scheme was not readily en- 
 tertained or carried into effect, probably for the rea- 
 son already stated, that the Board was\]isinclined at 
 that period to undertake the care of additional sta- 
 tions. Mr. Lamson died the next year, and was suc- 
 ceeded at Fairfield, in 1774, by the Eev. John Sayre, 
 who was transferred from Newburg, New York, where 
 his ministry had received the commendation of his 
 patrons and been eminently successful. 
 
 The Libraries of the clergy, furnished, to some ex- 
 tent, by the Society for the Propagation of the Gos- 
 pel and by individual munificence in England, w^ere 
 small. That of Viets at Simsbury was one of the 
 largest and best selected in the colony; and though 
 an excellent scholar, and a man of considerable cul- 
 ture and refined taste, yet his salary was so slender 
 
 m 
 
278 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 279 
 
 that he was compelled, besides his clerical duties, tto 
 attend to agricultural pursuits in the summer, and c/^c- 
 cupj himself in teaching a sort of parochial school 'in 
 the winter. The people among whom his lot was cast 
 were for the most part poor, but "honest and well- 
 behaved"; and being the only Missionary in what now 
 constitutes Hartford County, he had a wide field to 
 watch and cultivate, and was, therefore, like St. Paul, 
 "in labors abundant." The Congregational ministry 
 around him was intellectually strong, and the oppo- 
 Bition with which he was forced to contend was 
 charged with all the bitterness which had been mani- 
 fested in other parts of the colony. As the storms 
 which preceded the Revolution gathered in blackness, 
 he continued, like his brethren, to devote himself to 
 his sacred duties, and found occasion to support the 
 hopes of his parishioners living within the limits of 
 adjoining towns, because "of late they had been dis- 
 trained of their goods, and some of them imprisoned, 
 for dissenting taxes or rates." But so much did the 
 people under his pastoral care multiply, that, with the 
 exception of Newtown and New Haven, the number 
 of Episcopalians in Simsbury in 1774 was greater 
 than in any other town of Connecticut. 
 
 The effort to establish the Church in Hartfoixl was 
 not attended with the same measure of prosperity. 
 There disaster befell the enterprise begun in 1762; 
 for after the lot had been secured, and the foundations 
 of an edifice in which to worship God had been laid, 
 the work languished, and was finally suspended. One 
 of the committee "of the associated brethren of the 
 Episcopal Church, commonly called the Church of 
 England," having the matter in charge, was a surgeon 
 
 of considerable eminence, who had advanced funds 
 for its prosecution, but he became embarrassed in his 
 pecuniary afEiirs, and "was visited with mental de- 
 rangement." In this condition of mind, he appears 
 to have "believed himself at liberty to dispose of what 
 he had assisted to purchase," and so the stones passed 
 into the possession of a neighboring proprietor, who 
 used them as the foundation of his own dwelling. The 
 land was transferred to one of his creditors, Avho held 
 and occupied it until after the Revolution. The Rev. 
 Mr. Dibblee, "at the earnest request of the Church- 
 wardens," visited Hartford and preached there on 
 Trinity Sunday in 1770; and writing to the Society 
 in the autumn of the same year, he thus referred to 
 the embarrassments of the peojile: "They have ap- 
 plied for advice and assistance, being involved in a 
 contentious lawsuit, in defence of the rights of their 
 Church; an encroachment having been made on a 
 piece of land lately bought and sequestered to build 
 a church upon, and a beautiful foundation of hewn 
 stone laid in place of the one removed. It appeared 
 to us in Convention to be a wicked design of a pow- 
 erful family so to demoHsh the Church there that it 
 might never rise; and as we judged the claimant had 
 no right, in law or equity, and as such conduct, as 
 we were told, was disapproved of by many of the 
 dissenters, we could not but approve of the professors 
 of the Church seeking a redress of such a sacrilegious 
 alienation. In the mean time, to support their eflbrts, 
 the Rev. Mr. Leaming preached there Sunday after 
 Convention, and the clergy in general engaged to 
 take their turns; but we particularly recommended 
 them to the care of the Rev. Mr. Peters." 
 
280 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHUECH 
 
 The suit was prolonged until after the Eevoh.tlon 
 when the Superior Court pronouneecl the Z^^^ 
 
 eral Assembly, actnig as a Court of Chancery, and ob- 
 tained a decree in his favor of about sixty ,Cds 
 -the value of an establishe.l lien upon the pruZt ' 
 &gns of nicreased interest in the service of ^ 
 Church appeared in otlier places. Mr Grave, .t ivi 
 London where his parishioners increasS'b ^ ot^ 
 had not on y long watclied to promote the spiriUnI 
 vrelfare of the Indian tribes i„ his vicinitv but he W 
 frequently gone to the borders of the' Coulee J;' 
 Ru-er; au.l at Middle Haddan. and Chatham d in 
 termediate towns, he had officiated in private die 
 n.- and gamed adherents to Episcopacv. The no 1' 
 ho was hmdered and opposed in these Missionary ex 
 curs.ons. the more his .eal was excited, anl li^C 
 lut'on n,v,gorated to persevere and obey the conT 
 mands of his Divine Master. «I cannot " ', '""■ 
 a letter to the Society, dated A^^y ^ 's d^ \'ir^ 
 fight long under His banner; but while I exit'l viU 
 by grace, redeem tlie time and do„).]« r • ' 
 
 in Hi. viu<.v.,r,l T .' ^ '"•>" ^liligence 
 
 ui.^mtyxul I must not conceal the ChW.tJnn 
 resolution of m V henrer* I'n PI. *i /. ^""''™ii 
 
 Dhces- th. " •^t'''^'^'*^'.' "' Cliatham and the adjacent 
 
 a e no't H Tf'Z '"'''''''' ''''"•>•• Tl.ough they 
 trect a ia.ge shell of a house .among themselves T 
 l^ope, should my life be spared, to send ou -n ' J 
 count of a church beino- erected nf T 1 „ ,' 
 
 Colchester, about twelve udlesfilrr H "' "f'^ 
 
 on o mi .f ^T r'^' ' ^'='" ^^'-^^'^ ^ '-^- »-» er of 
 comoruusts added to our Zion." 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 281 
 
 The new church opened at Pomfret, now Brooklyn 
 m the spring of 1771, of wliich mention lias alrea'^dy 
 been made, received its first resident xMissioiiary in 
 the succeeding year, the Society havin<r departed from 
 Its resolution and extended assistance, in consi.leration 
 of the peculiar circumstances of this case The Mis- 
 sionary was the Eev. Richard Mosolv, who "came out 
 of England chaplain to the Salisbury man-of-war" 
 and was allowed £.30 sterling per annum from the 
 date of commencing his duties in the parish. But 
 after a continuance in it of only eight months, he 
 relinquished his position, which he seems not to have 
 desired, or intended to retain, even if the people had 
 wished it, and by a new order of the Board was trans- 
 ferred to Litchfield, then recently vacated by the 
 death of that veteran ilissionary, the Rev. Solomon 
 Palmer. His ministrations in this place were at- 
 tended with but little success, for a misunderstanding 
 arose between him and the parishioners, which, bed- 
 sides speedily separating him from the Mission, caused 
 a suspension of the usual appropriation by the ■\"en- 
 erable Society. The suspension was removed after 
 the lapse of twelve months, upon the earnest entreaty 
 of the people, their "offence in the ill reception" of 
 Mr. Mosely forgiven, and the Mission at Litchfield 
 revived under the charge of another clergyman with 
 a diminished stipend. 
 
 The Rev. Daniel Fogg, a graduate of Harvard Uni- 
 versity in 1764, who had spent some time in North 
 Carolina, was appointed, at the request of Mr. Mal- 
 bone, to the pastoral care of Pomfret, and entered upon 
 his duties in May, 1772, when the number of families 
 
282 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 composing the congregation did not exceed twenty- 
 five. The other Missionaries in the eastern part of the 
 colony remained at their posts, and toiled steadily on 
 in the midst both of the popular uneasiness and of the 
 religious disi^utes and contentions ot the dissenting 
 churches The hope of securing an American Epi^ 
 copate stdl hngered in the prayers of all the clerl^v 
 and mention was occasionally made of it in the letters' 
 which they wrote home, even after the struggle to 
 obtam ,t hacl been given up for the present as entirely 
 unsuccessM "The blessing of a Bishop," said Graves^ 
 with overheated zeal, ni a postscript to his letter of 
 New Years day, '-would make true religion and loy- 
 al y overspread the land. Hasten, hasten. Lord! 
 a truly spiritual overseer to this despised, abused per- 
 secuted part of the vineyard, for Christ Jesus' sake 
 Amen! Amen!" The clergy of Connecticut, in vol-' 
 untary Convention, assembled May 29th, 1771 ncroJn 
 addressecl the Eishop of London on the'sub,L't,° d 
 after stating that the plan had been so fully expl lined 
 
 who did It out of malice or mere wantonness," con- 
 cluded the argument of their paper thus: '-Should our 
 application be judged unreasonable, we doubt not it 
 wm be remembered that necessity has no law. We 
 believe Episcopacy to be of divine origin. We judge 
 an American Episcopate to be essential, at least to 
 the wel being of religion here. We therefore tliiiik 
 It our duty to exert ourselves, in every proper way, 
 to bring 1 into effect: and as we know of no way 
 more harmless, nor any more likely to insme success, 
 than importunate prayer to our God, to our Kin./ 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 283 
 
 and to our superiors, we believe it our duty to pray 
 without ceasing, and hope our request will be an- 
 swered in due time, if we faint not."^ 
 ^ The Missionaries, though aware of sleepless oppo- 
 sition, were not fully acquainted with the nature of 
 all the influences brought to bear against them, nor 
 with all the obstacles to the success of their prayers. 
 Eeference has been made to a Convention of Dele- 
 gates from the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, 
 and from the Congregational Associations of Connec- 
 ticut, held annually from 1766 to 1775, inclusive. 
 These delegates met alternately at EHzabethtown, 
 N. J., and in different towns of this colony; and while 
 they professed to have in view the spread of the Gos- 
 pel and the promotion of Christian friendship between 
 the meml)ers of their respective bodies, the great ob- 
 ject which rose above all others in their considera- 
 tion was the prosecution of measures for "preserving 
 the religious liberties of their churches," which they 
 imagined to be threatened at that time by the vigor- 
 ous efforts of the friends of the Church of England in 
 this country and in Great Britain to secure an Amer- 
 ican Episcopate. They had "Deputies for managing 
 the affairs of Dissenters in England," with whom Siey 
 opened a correspondence, and at each annual gathering 
 a letter was prepared, read and approved, and tlien sent 
 over as an expression of the feelings, the fears, and 
 the opinions of this grave body convened, to use their 
 own words, "on the most catholic foundation!" It 
 is curious to note how they anticipated "unmerciful 
 rigor and persecution" to follow the introduction of 
 Diocesan Bishops into the colonies, and what a strip- 
 
 1 Church Documents, Vol. 11. p. 177. 
 
284 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHUPvCH 
 
 ping from the magistrates of all just civil power was 
 to take place immediately after their arrival. In the 
 excess of loyalty to the home Government, they pre- 
 tended to see danger of another kind, even separation 
 and independence, if this oflfensive measure was ac- 
 complished. '"Nothing," is a statement in one of the 
 earliest letters, "seems to have such a direct tendency 
 to weaken the dependence of the colonies upon Great 
 Britain and to separate them from her; an event 
 which would be ruinous and destructive to both, and 
 which we, therefore, pray God long to avert. And we 
 have alnuidant reason to believe that such would be 
 the jealousies and uneasiness of all other denomina- 
 tions of Christians among us, that we cannot but 
 tremble at the prospect of the dreadful consequences 
 that could not be prevented from taking place upon 
 the establisliment of an American Episcopate. We 
 have so long tasted the sweets of civil and religious 
 li])erty, that we cannot be easily prevailed upon to 
 submit to a yoke of bondage which neither we nor 
 our fathers v^ere able to bear." ^ 
 
 The object of writing in this way to the Committee 
 of Dissenters in London, was to enlist their active 
 efforts on the side of their brethren in this country, 
 and to have them use what little influence they pos- 
 sessed with the men in place and power to prevent 
 the estjiblishment of Diocesan Episcopacy here. "We 
 now stand in need, if ever," was the message of the 
 Convention, sent over in the autumn of 1771, "of the 
 assistance of all our friends, to use their utmost skill 
 and interest to avert this impending blow that so 
 surely threatens our civil and religious liberties, and 
 
 1 Minutes of Convention, p. 23. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 285 
 
 which, if not prevented, must again inflame all our 
 colonies, that have so lately regained the blessino-s of 
 peace." They professed not to be opposed to Bishops 
 having simply the spiritual oversight of the members 
 of their own communion, — the only thing which had 
 ever been asked or desired ; but they seemed to think 
 it impossible that the Episcopal office should be 
 clothed in this character, or divested of the power to 
 encroach upon the rights of other denominations. 
 "No Act of Parliament," they said in the same letter 
 from which we have just quoted,^ "can secure us from 
 the tyranny of their jurisdiction, as an Act of Parlia- 
 ment may, and no doubt will be repealed at the im- 
 portunate solicitations of the Bishops and others; nor 
 can we have any security against being obliged in 
 time to support their dignity, and to pay taxes to 
 relieve the Society in paying their Missionaries; and 
 the governors of our several colonies must either be 
 submissive in all things to their will and pleasure, or 
 be harassed and persecuted with continual complaints 
 to all in power on your side of the water. In a word, 
 we think Ecclesiastics vested with sucli powers dan- 
 gerous to our civil and religious liberties; and it seems 
 higlil}' probable that it will in time break that strong 
 comiection which now happily subsists between Great 
 Britain and her colonies, who are never like to shake 
 off their dependence on the mother-country until they 
 have Bishops established among them." 
 
 The tone of these letters varied slightly according 
 to the prejudices of the writers, the temper of the 
 Convention, and the state of the times; but in none 
 of them was there any friendliness manifested to the 
 
 1 Minutes of Convention, p. 34. 
 
286 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Church of England. An accurate and toilsome col- 
 lection of statistics, relative to the number of Epis- 
 copalians in the Colony of Connecticut, and their pro- 
 portion to non-Episcopalians, was early undertaken by 
 the Rev. Elizur Goodrich of Durham, a Concrrogational 
 dmne, acting by appointment of the Convention of 
 Delegates. A similar thing was attempted with ref- 
 erence to other provinces. After mentionin<r this 
 census of the Episcopal tribes, in the letter to° their 
 London friends, of 1773, they added these mysterious 
 words: «We beg leave also to inform you that we 
 are collecting the state of religious liberty in the sev- 
 eral colonies on this continent, and its progress in 
 each of them from their first settlement, which may 
 be capable of important uses in the grand struo-o-le 
 we or posterity may be called to make in this o-fori- 
 ous cause, in which the happiness of thousands" yet 
 unborn is so deeply interested. 
 
 "Your known zeal against the unjust encroachments 
 of Episcopal domination supersedes the necessity of 
 our repeating our requests that you will continue 
 your wonted care on this head." At one time they 
 thought of sending a special agent to rx)ndon to pro- 
 mote their desigiLS, but the Committee whom they 
 first consulted replied, that if a suitable person could 
 be found, he would not have any additional influence 
 with the Ministry; "for, whatever he might at any 
 time say, they would look upon him as an agent for 
 the colonies and under their influence, whereas no 
 such bias could be imputed to the Committee." 
 
 In this connection we recall the purport of a paper 
 laid before the General Association of Congregational 
 ministers in Connecticut, assembled at Stamford in 
 
 I 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 287 
 
 1773. This paper appears to have met with their 
 approval ; and the following extract, if sincerely em- 
 bracing the Episcopal Church, is, to say the least, not 
 in unison with the spirit of the elect body from whose 
 Minutes we have quoted. "We have, indeed, a re- 
 ligious establishment; but it is of such a kind, and 
 with such universal toleration, that the consciences 
 of other sects cannot be affected or wounded by it, 
 while every one is at perfect liberty to worship God 
 in such Avay as is most agreeable to his own mind. 
 Whatever oppressive measures have been heretofore 
 adopted, we recollect with regret and disapprobation. 
 We rejoice that these have ceased, and that there is 
 such freedom of religious inquiry and worship, that no 
 man need be in bondage. We desire not the aid of 
 other sects to maintain our churches; and while we 
 stand fast in the constitution we have chosen, and 
 tliink it in doctrine and discipline most agreeable to 
 the Scripture, the unerring standard of faith and Avor- 
 ship, Ave woidd not oppress others, nor be oppressed 
 ourselves, but exercise good-Avill and charity to our 
 brethren of other denominations, Avith fervent prayers 
 that peace and holiness, liberty, truth, and purity, may 
 be established more iind more among those that name 
 the name of Christ, and be universally diffused among 
 mankind." * 
 
 ' Kingsley, Hist. Dis. p. 97. 
 
288 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 ENUMERATfON OF EPISCOPALIANS IN CONNECTICUT; ITS INFLU- 
 ENCE; AND THE DEATH OF DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 A. D. 1772-1774. 
 
 The systematic Jind careful enumeration of tlie Epis- 
 copalians, and the Convention of Delegates from the 
 Synod and Congregational Associations, held annually 
 mitil the disturbed state of public affairs prevented 
 the gatherings, indicate the common apprehensions 
 of the time, that the growth of the Church was hos- 
 tile to the spirit of civil and religious liberty, and 
 favorable to the ultimate establishment here of a 
 '' monarchical government with a legally associated 
 hierarchv." In readino- over now the accounts and 
 proceedings of that period, one cannot . but regret 
 that so many mistakes w^ere made, and that there was 
 such a deplorable misunderstanding of the real object 
 sought after by the Missionaries of the Venerable So- 
 ciety. 
 
 The estimate of Episcopalians in Connecticut may 
 be found printed in an appendix to the '^ Minutes of 
 Convention." It w\as not complete, many important 
 towns having been omitted in the report, such as 
 Stratford, Fairfield, New London, Norwich, Middle- 
 town, Waterbury, Woodbury, and New Milford; but, 
 as fiir as it went, it gave one Episcopalian to twelve 
 non-Episcopalians, nearly; or, to quote the w^ords of 
 
 IN COXNECTICUT. 
 
 289 
 
 Mr. Goodrich in closing his report, September 5, 1774, 
 it "makes the Episcopalians about one in thirteen of 
 the whole number of inhabitants; and probably there 
 would be no great difference from this proportion w^ere 
 the account of all the towns come in, which I hope 
 soon to gain."^ Nowhere in the colony was the 
 Church so strong, according to this estimate, as in 
 Fairfield Count v, where it embraced about one third 
 of the people; and at Newtown there was an equal 
 division, the Episcopalians and non-Episcopalians being 
 1084, in either case. New^ Haven, which then in- 
 cluded within its territorial limits West Haven, East 
 Haven, North Haven, Hamden, and a part of Wood- 
 bridge, came next to Newtown, and the number of 
 Episcopalians in it w^as reckoned to be 942 at that 
 date. 
 
 The public controversy concerning an American 
 Episcopate, described in a former chapter, was some- 
 thing to be met and managed upon its own merits; 
 but here was a secret influence in opposition to the 
 Church, wdiich was felt without being reached. The 
 strong representations that w^ent over to London from 
 this body, based on the statistics whicli were collected 
 and on inquiries into the progress of civil and relig- 
 ious liberty in the colonies, had the effect, with 
 other things, to delay action until "the bigoted Epis- 
 copalians," as they were termed, "on this side the 
 water," were compelled by the events of the Revolu- 
 tion to suspend entirely their efforts. One movement, 
 as calculated to overcome all obstacles, was suggested 
 to the Missionaries by their friends in England, and 
 that was to procure the request of the colonial as- 
 
 1 P. 62. 
 19 
 
290 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 semblies for the introduction of Bishops into this coun- 
 try. Good men named this plan to leading church- 
 men in Connecticut. Lowth, then Bishop of Oxford, 
 writing to Johnson, the statesman, in May 1773, and 
 speaking of the American Episcopate, said: "You 
 may be assured that it is not in our power to do 
 anything in it. Matters must be prepared on your 
 side. Nothing less than a strong and well supported 
 application from your colonies in general, or at least 
 from the principal colonies, will have any effect."^ 
 The son of Bishop Berkeley, who inherited the genius 
 and the noble spirit of his honored father, and was, 
 therefore, deemed fit to wear the mitre in a land 
 which had been blessed with the paternal presence 
 and benefiictions, wrote to the same gentleman, in a 
 Mke strain, some months earlier, and "thinking aloud 
 mi the subject," confessed to him that he should re- 
 joice to devote his life to the Episcopal interest in 
 America. "Seriously," said he, "turn it over in your 
 mind, whether an application could not be obtained 
 from some assembly in your new world for an Amer- 
 kan Bishop, — a Bishop who by law should be incnpa- 
 citated from accepting a Bishopric in England or Ire- 
 land." And this is a part of the answer which wns 
 returned: "Do not, my dear friend, lose sight of the 
 American mitre which j^ou mention to me, but realize 
 it, if it be possible. You cannot conceive how much 
 good you would be able to do in this country in that 
 gituation. I do not think it probable that any of our 
 assemblies could be induced to ask such a thing. 
 They have all been industriously taught to apprehend 
 the most terrible evils from such a measure. But 
 
 1 Johnson MSS. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 291 
 
 j 
 
 N 
 
 why should Government wait to be asked for a thing 
 BO just and reasonable in itself, so evidently benefi- 
 cial for them?"^ Johnson penned a reply to the 
 Bishop of Oxford, couched in still stronger terms, 
 and, for the present, gave up with sorrow all hopes 
 of attaining the object of his wishes, because he was 
 persuaded that if the plan depended upon an official 
 application from the colonies in general, or any one 
 in particular, it would be long indeed before it would 
 take effect. 
 
 We have seen the spirit which animated the Con- 
 vention of Delegates in reference to this matter; and 
 without questioning now the propriety and the neces- 
 sity of the course which led to American indepen- 
 dence, we must acknowledge that Johnson spoke truly 
 when he said that the "colonies have all been tauo:ht 
 to apprehend the most terrible evils" from the intro- 
 duction of Bishops into this country. The work of 
 numbering the Episcopalians, so extensively and sys- 
 tematically carried on, appears to have had its hiflu- 
 ence, if not in expediting, at least in aggravating the 
 war of the Revolution, and among the causes of that 
 war was the fear of a Church hierarchv. The elder 
 Adams bore testimony to this, when, in 1815, he wrote: 
 "The apprehension of Episcopacy contributed, fifty 
 years ago, as much as any other cause, to arouse the 
 attention, not only of the inquiring mind, but of the 
 common people, and urge them to close thinking on 
 the constitutional authority of Parliament over the 
 colonies. This, nevertheless, was a fiict as certain as 
 any in the history of North America." 
 
 But the question of the Episcopate has received 
 
 1 Johnson MSS. 
 
r^ 
 
 292 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 293 
 
 ample consideration, and both sides of the struggle/ 
 have been sufficiently, and we trust fairly, reviewed]. 
 Let us now resume our inquiries into the labors of 
 the Missionaries, and the success of 'their pastoral carfi. 
 Hubbard indicated a ])etter feeling towards the Church 
 in New Haven when he thus wrote to the Society, in 
 April 1772: "I am pleased and happy in my situa- 
 tion; kindly treated and respected by my own people 
 and the dissenters in this growing and populous town, 
 many of whom occasionally attend our service on 
 Sundays; and I have the happiness to see the great- 
 est unanimity reigning amongst us and the denomi- 
 nations with whom we live. My congregation, in 
 something less than five years, has increased one third 
 in number. The souls, white and l)lack, belonging 
 to the Church in New Haven, are 503; and in my 
 church at West Haven there are 220.'' Connecticut 
 had already been sending forth emigrants into the 
 new settlements, to such an extent as to retard the 
 natural growth of the Church in some parts of the 
 colony; and but for frequent accessions from the de- 
 nominations, a few parishes would have been nearly 
 ruined in this way. Churchmen from the Missions 
 of Beach and Yiets, Andrews and Mansfield, pene- 
 trated into the uncultivated regions of Massachusetts, 
 Vermont, and New Hampshire, and were favored at 
 different times with visits from their former pastors. 
 They welcomed with grateful hearts these occasional 
 ministrations, aud looked to them ibr comfort in their 
 spiritual need. Those in some of tlie older townships 
 had long turned in this direction for counsel and 
 succor; and the region far up the valley of the Housa- 
 tonic had been, from the time of Thomas Davies, more 
 
 than ten years, under the oversight of the Connecti- 
 cut clergy. Gideon Bostwick, a native of New Mil- 
 ford, and a graduate of Yale College in 1762, pro- 
 ceeded to England for ordination when of suitable 
 age, and became, on his return in 1770, the Missionary 
 of the Yenerable Society in Great Barrington, having 
 read prayers in that place while a candidate for Holy 
 Orders. 
 
 But as the Board had decided not to estabhsh any 
 new Missions at this period, the utmost which the 
 people could expect to see accomplished was the sup- 
 ply of places vacated by death or removal. 
 
 James Nichols, born in Waterbury, and graduated 
 at Yale College in 1771, was, three years later, the 
 minister of the Church of England in Northbury and 
 New Cambridge, now Plymouth and Bristol. He was 
 the last of those who went from Connecticut on the 
 perilous and expensive voyage across the ocean for 
 Holy Orders. The troubles of the country were 
 thickening, and the candidates prudently preferred 
 to wait. 
 
 Public affairs began to wear a melancholy aspect, 
 and the deepest anxiety for the welfare of the Church 
 pervaded the breasts of her members. To add to 
 their sorrow, one great and guiding light, placed aloft 
 in the providence of God to conduct their move- 
 ments, was about this time stricken from its eminent 
 position. The death of the Rev. Solomon Palmer, 
 at Litchfield, on the 2d of November, 1771, was fol- 
 io v*ed, two months afterwards, by that of "the learned, 
 pious, and most benevolent Dr. Johnson of Stratford." 
 Thus the senior Missionary in the colony, and the 
 'argest participant in the early struggles of the Church 
 
294 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 295 
 
 here, passed to liis glorious reward just as the clouds 
 of the Eevolution were gathering and rolling up in 
 thicker folds. Perhaps it was providentially ordered 
 that he who saw so much of the former trials should 
 be spared, in his declining age, the bitterness of those 
 which were now approaching. He had lived to wel- 
 come the return to this country of his long absent 
 son/ and to hear him describe the varied events of 
 his sojourn in the Old World, and his intercourse with 
 leading statesmen and heads of English nobility, al- 
 ready devismg schemes to irritate and oppress the 
 American provinces. How must his spirit, still fresh 
 and buoyant, have been elated as he listened to his 
 beloved son repeating his frequent interviews Avith 
 Seeker and Sherlock and Lowth, men whom his eyes 
 had never beholden, but who had come near to him 
 in the living impress of their characters, through the 
 medium of an extended correspondence, — a corre- 
 spondence upon matters intimately affecting the co- 
 lonial Church, and the vindication of her Apostolic 
 
 1 The return of Dr. William Samuel Johnson was welcomed also by his 
 friends and neighbors. He consented, at their recfuest, to a public re- 
 ception ; and on the day designated, people from hill-side and shore, and 
 all the region round about, all ages and all conditions, flocked to his man- 
 sion in Stratford. The wide green in front of it was filled with horses 
 and lumbering vehicles, the common modes of conveyance in those times, 
 and the apartments of his dwelling were crowded with an unusual as- 
 semblage, eager to pay their respects to the honored agent of Connecticut, 
 and to learn from his own lips the chief events of his prolonged stay in 
 England. His full court-dress, with deep Mechlin lace ruffles upon his 
 shirt-frills and falling over his hands; his long, slender dress-sword swing- 
 ing loose at his side ; his powdered locks flowing gracefully, and his charm- 
 ing intonations of voice iis he stood in his spacious parlor and proceeded 
 to describe the scenes through which he had passed, all combined — ac- 
 cording to the account from an eye-witness — to give interest to the occa- 
 sion, and to impress the gathered multitude with the dignity of his character 
 and the importance of his mission. 
 
 Order! Archbishop Seeker always began his letters 
 to him with the gentle compellation "Good Dr. John- 
 son," and closed them affectionately with "Your loving 
 brother." The acceptable assistance of Mr. Kneeland, 
 who assumed the outward and laborious duties of the 
 parish, had made him easy in his retirement and 
 decline, but his active mind yet worked amid his 
 bodily inlirmities, and apparently all the more so, as 
 he saw the distance between earth and "the mark for 
 the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" 
 fast lessening. Slightly indisposed on the morning 
 of Epiphany, 1772, a bright and glorious morning, he 
 was conversing with his family respecting his own 
 death, and calmly expressing the conviction that his 
 strength was about to fail, and that he was soon, to 
 quote his own words, "going home." One friend, at 
 that moment, whom he had greatly loved, the sainted 
 Berkeley, rose upon his lading vision, and he sighed 
 for the tranquillity of his departure, and humbly de- 
 sired that his own impending change might be like 
 his. Heaven vouchsafed to grant his wish, for scarcely 
 had he given utterance to it, when, like the good 
 Bishop, he instantaneously expired in his chair, with- 
 out a groan or the least convulsion. 
 
 His character has been Avoven into the thread of 
 the previous chapters, but an eventful and consistent 
 ministry in the Church of England of nearly half a 
 century could not be thus wound up Avithout great 
 lamentation on the part of his brethren. They buried 
 him wi\th all the respect due to his memory, and one 
 of their number, "the worthy Mr. Leaming," preached 
 a funeral sermon, though that office had been assigned 
 to his particular friend at Newtown, the Eev. Mr. 
 
 • 
 
296 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 297 
 
 BeacL Illness prevented liim from i)erforming it, 
 but the discourse which he had jirepared was after- 
 wards delivered in the church at Stratford and pub- 
 lished by request of the congregation. Dr. Johnson 
 left an Autobiography, which, with other manuscripts 
 and letters, were put into the hands of Dr. Chandler 
 of EUzabethtown, who had sustained confidential re- 
 lations to him, and was therefore a very suitable per- 
 son to compile his Life. He completed his task early 
 in the simimer of 1774, and submitted it to the inspec- 
 tion and judgment of his friends; but there were <>'ood 
 reasons why the publication was withholden at that 
 time. Mr. Beach, whose opinion was sought by the 
 son, without denying tliat a time might come when it 
 could be published to advantage, as showing the origin 
 and growth of the Church in Connecticut, said: ^^Dr. 
 Chandler has omitted some things which I should 
 have thought to have been as important as some 
 others which he has related. As to the good ends 
 to be obtained by the publication, may they not be 
 obtained by his works published in his lifetime? Is 
 not overdoing, sometimes undoing? However, of this 
 we are sure, his character now stands, and his mem- 
 ory is hke to remain quite unblemished, as well as 
 amiable and exalted. But if ill-natured Mai/lmvs un- 
 dertake to fling dirt, (and they are not all dead,) being 
 excited by our excess, in that case I should fear that 
 the love and labor of his friends could not perfectly 
 wipe off all, so as to leave it as clear and brilliant as 
 now it is. Why should we run the venture without 
 a necessity? . . . Dr. Hodges, in his oration, represents 
 Dr. Johnson as employed in converting Indos Occiden- 
 tales, I am not sure if our adversaries will not trans- 
 
 late it the Western Indians; and eagerly catch at it, as 
 a full proof that we cheat the nation, and by lies 
 obtain donations."^ 
 
 The original manuscript of Dr. Chandler fell at 
 length into the hands of Bishop Hobart, his son-in- 
 law, who sent it to the press more than thirty years 
 after its preparation, without aj^pearing to know any- 
 thing of this secret history. 
 
 Mr. Kneeland succeeded to the Mission in Stratford, 
 with all the emoluments of his veneralde predecessor. 
 The Church-wardens and others, in requesting his ap- 
 pointment, gave these reasons for claiming a continu- 
 ance of the Society's bounty: "As Stratford is sit- 
 uate upon the great road from Boston to New York, 
 Mr. Kneeland must inevitably be at a greater expense 
 than any Missionary in the interior towns; so that 
 from the decline of trade, the death and failure of 
 several of our principal members, from the increasing 
 price of the necessaries of life, the scarcity of money, 
 and the extraordinary expenses a Missionary must be 
 here at, we may truly say we have not needed the 
 assistance of the Venerable Society more for fifteen 
 years past than we do at present. . . . We are now 
 endeavoring to raise money to enlarge the gle])e, but, 
 for the reasons before mentioned, fear we shall meet 
 with but little success; however, our best endeavors 
 shall not be wanting to complete the same." 
 
 Mr. Beach, next to Dr. Johnson, was the ablest de- 
 fender of the Church in the Colonv of Connecticut. 
 In some respects he rose above him, and was scarcely 
 inferior to him in strength of intellect, in knoAvledge of 
 the Church, and in the toils and trials of his vocation. 
 
 1 Johnson MSB. 
 
 If 
 
298 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPxVL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 299 
 
 He kept his eye upon every rood of ground where 
 the seed had been sown, and, as fearless as faultless, 
 travelled by night and by day, amid storms and snow- 
 drifts, and across deep and rushing streams, to preach 
 the word, to visit and comfort the sick, and to bury 
 the dead. He still lingered at the post Avhere he had 
 been in the employment of the Society now forty 
 years; and, giving a brief account. May 5, 1772, of the 
 manner in which he had spent his time and improved 
 the charity of his benefactors, said: "Every Sunday 
 I have performed divine service, and preached twice 
 at Newtown and Eedding, alternately. And in these 
 forty years I have lost only two Sundays through 
 sickness, although in all that time I have been af- 
 flicted with a constant colic, which has not allowed 
 me one day's ease or freedom from pain. The dis- 
 tance between the churches at Newtown and Eeddincj 
 IS between eight and nine miles, and no very good 
 road, yet have I never failed one time to attend each 
 place according to custom, through the badness of 
 the w^eather, but have rode it in the severest rains 
 and snow-storms, even wlien there has been no track, 
 and my horse near miring down in the snow-banks; 
 which has had this good effect on my parishioners, 
 that they are ashamed to stay from church on account 
 of bad weather, so that they are remarkably forward 
 to attend public worship. As to my labors w^ithout 
 my parish, I have formerly performed divine service 
 in many towns where the Common Prayer had never 
 been heard, nor the Holy Scriptures read in public, 
 and wiiere now are flourishing congregations of the 
 Church of England; and in some places where there 
 never liad been any public worship at all, nor any ser- 
 
 mon preached by any preacher of any denomination." 
 He followed the emigrants from his parishes into the 
 northern provinces, as he found it convenient, until 
 age and the public disturbances confined liim to the 
 limits of his own cure. 
 
 These disturbances had become so great in 1774, 
 that fears began to prevail above hopes, and the 
 terrors of civil war to be seen in the distance. Even 
 as early as August in that year, Berkeley, of Can- 
 terburv, wrote to Dr. William S. Johnson thus: "I 
 have suffered greatly in my own mind on American 
 affiiirs. I see nothing but clouds in the American 
 sky, and I feel unfeignedly for that country to which 
 I bear an hereditary love."^ In the same letter he 
 said: "The clause in one of the late American Bills, 
 subjecting persons accused of crimes alleged to be com- 
 mitted in America, to a removal for trial to England 
 at the will of the Governor^ is extremely odious to the 
 unprejudiced part of the people of the island. If I was 
 retained at present as an American advocate, I would 
 dwell very much on that arhitrarij clause. I do sup- 
 pose that it is resolved to support the claim of power 
 to raise a revenue in America, and I do suppose that 
 any long continued and consistent abstinence from 
 importation w^ould drive the ministry to their wits' 
 end. If the Americans have public virtue enough 
 to carry this scheme into execution, they may carry 
 several material points; but I verily believe that the, 
 servants of Government judge rightly as to the im- 
 probability of such an event." 
 
 A few days before the opening of the drama in Lex- 
 ington, wdiere the first British blood was shed in armed 
 
 1 Johnson MSS. 
 
300 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 resistance to the King's troops, Dibblee wrote to the 
 Society these dismal words, — words as fall of truth as 
 they were of fear and feeling: "We view with the deep- 
 est anxiety, affliction, and concern the great dangers 
 we are in, by reason of our unhappy divisions, and 
 the amazing height to whicli the unfortunate disputes 
 between Great Britain and these remote provinces 
 have arisen, and the baneful influence they have upon 
 the interest of true religion, and the wellbeing of the 
 Church. Our duty, as ministers of religion, is now at- 
 tended with peculiar difficulty: faithfully to discharge 
 the duties of our office, and yet carefully to avoid 
 taking any part in these political disputes; as I trust 
 my brethren in this colony have done as much as 
 possible, notwithstanding any representations to our 
 prejudice to the contrary. We can only pray Al- 
 mighty God, in compassion to our Church and nation, 
 and the wellbeing of these provinces in particular, 
 to avert these terril)le calamities that are the natural 
 result of such an unliappy coutest with our parent 
 State, to save us from the hori'ors of a civil war, and 
 remove all groundless fears and jealousies, and what- 
 soever else may hinder us from godly union and 
 concord." 
 
 LV CONNECTICUT. 
 
 301 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION, AND THE ADHERENCE OF THE 
 CLERGY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND TO THE CAUSE OF 
 THE CROWN. 
 
 A. D. 1774-1776. 
 
 No sooner had the war of the Revolution commenced 
 than the clergy of the Church of England with their 
 flocks, especially in the northern provinces, became 
 the objects of public suspicion and vigilance. Their 
 ministerial fidelity, and the part which they had borne 
 in the struggle to secure an American Episcopate, left 
 no room to doul}t that they would be fearless in avow- 
 ing and vindicating what they conceived to be not 
 only the essential riglits of the British Crown, but the 
 essential interests of their venerated communion. The 
 duty which they ow^ed to the Sovereign, for whom 
 they h;ul so long prayed, could not, therefore, be 
 readily displaced by the love of liberty, nor by sj^m- 
 pathy with the policy of the colonial assemblies in 
 resisting the oppressive measures of the home Govern- 
 ment. They would gladly have quenched the spark 
 that kindled the conflagration. Some of them, in 
 former years, had w^arned their friends on the other 
 side, and gently remonstrated w ith them against the 
 tendency of Parliamentary legislation; but when the 
 shock of open revolt came, they espoused, for the most 
 part, the cause of the mother-country, and thereby 
 showed themselves loyal subjects of the King, at the 
 
302 
 
 HISTORY OF TlIK EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 303 
 
 i.. "' 
 
 same time that they conscientiously reverenced the 
 teachings of the English Church. Used to misrep- 
 resentation and trial, they were not privileged to 
 escape them in this emergency, and the direful evils 
 which they had too clearly apprehended soon began 
 to be realized. The Missionary at Westchester, N. Y., 
 Samuel Seabury, afterwards the first Bishop of Con- 
 necticut, writing to the Society, May 30th, 1775, 
 said: "We are here in a very alarming situation. Dr. 
 Cooper and Dr. Chandler have been obliged to quit 
 this community, and sailed for England last week. 
 I have been obliged to retire a few days from the 
 threatened vengeance of the New-England people who 
 lately broke into this province. But I hope I shall 
 be able to keep my station. The charge against the 
 clergy here is a very extraordinary one, — that they 
 have, in conjunction with the Society and the British 
 Ministry, laid a plan for enslaving America. I do 
 not think that those people who raised this calumny 
 believe one syllable of it; but they intend it as an 
 engine to turn the popular fury upon the Church, 
 which, should the violent schemes of some of our 
 eastern neighbors succeed, will probably fiill a sac- 
 rifice to the persecuting spirit of Independency." 
 
 Towards the end of the same year, the author of 
 this letter was seized in Westchester by a company of 
 "disaffected people in arms from Connecticut," and 
 carried to New Haven, where he was kept under a 
 
 V military guard until two days before Christmas. The 
 
 General Assembly of the colony was then in session 
 at New Haven, by special order of Governor Trum- 
 bull; and though not allowed to write freely to his 
 wife, whom he had left behind with six children, yet 
 
 he was indulged in the privilege of drawing up a 
 memorial to the Honorable Assembly, setting forth 
 the personal inconveniences and injuries to which his 
 confinement subjected him, and asking "for relief from 
 the heavy hand of oppression and tyranny." After 
 stating that on Wednesday, the 22d day of Novem- 
 ber, he "was seized at a house in Westchester, where 
 he taught a Grammar School," he proceeded in his 
 memorial to describe the manner of his introduction 
 into New Haven : That on the Monday following his 
 seizure, in company with two suspected gentlemen 
 from his own neighborhood, he "was brought to this 
 town and carried in triumph through a great part of 
 it, accompanied by a large number of men on horse- 
 back and in carriages, chiefly armed. That the whole 
 company arranged themselves before the house of Cap- 
 tain Sears. That, after firing two cannon and huzzaing, 
 your memorialist was sent under a guard of four or 
 five men to the house of Mrs. Lyman, where he has 
 ever since been kept under guard. That during this 
 time your memorialist hath been prevented from en- 
 joying a free intercourse with his friends; forbidden to 
 visit some of them, thougli in company with his guard ; 
 prohibited from reading prayers in the church, and 
 performing any part of divine service, though invited 
 by the Rev. Mr. Hubbard so to do; interdicted the 
 use of pen, ink, and paper, except for the purpose of 
 writing to his family, and then it was required that 
 his letters should be examined and licensed before they 
 were sent off!" 
 
 The explicit charges against him were, that he had 
 entered into a combination with six or seven others 
 to apprehend Capt. Sears, as he was passing through 
 
304 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 the County of Westchesterj and to carry him on board 
 a man-of-war; that he had signed a Protest, at a public 
 meeting in White Plains, against the proceedings of 
 the Continental Congress; that he had neglected to 
 open his church on the day of the Continental Fast, 
 and had written pamphlets and papers against the 
 liberties of America. 
 
 Of the first and last charges he avowed his inno- 
 cence, and stood ready to vindicate it as soon as he 
 should be restored to his liberty in the Province of 
 New York, to which alone, under the circumstances, 
 ll€ felt liimself to be amenable. He considered it "a 
 high infringement of the liberty for Avhich the virtu- 
 ous sons of America were then nobly struggling, to 
 be carried by force out of one colony into another 
 for the sake either of trial or imprisonment." As to 
 the second charge, he admitted that he Avas one of 
 more than three hundred persons, who, eight months 
 before, had affixed their signatures to the Protest, 
 not, however, with any thought of acting against the 
 liberties of America, but rather "to support the meas- 
 m^es of the Representatives of the people, measures 
 which he then hoped and expected would have had a 
 good efliect" in operating a change of policy hy the 
 British Government in reference to the wxdfare of the 
 colonies. His neglect to open his church on the day 
 of the Continental Fast arose from not receiving any 
 notification of the appointment; and on the whole, he 
 was quite sure that "nothing could be laid to his 
 charge so repugnant to the regulations of the Con- 
 gress as the conduct of the people, w^ho, in an arbi- 
 trary and hostile manner, forced him from his house, 
 and had kept him now four weeks a prisoner, without 
 
 ! 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 305 
 
 ivny means or prospect of relief" He asked the privi- 
 Ifcge of appearing before the Assembly to answer for 
 himself, or by his counsel. The President of the Pro- 
 vincial Congress of New York had previously ad- 
 dressed Governor Trumbull, and demanded '^his im- 
 mediate discharge"; and both this letter and the 
 Memorial were placed for consideration in the hands 
 of a Connnittee, of which Dr. William Samuel John- 
 son, of Stratford, was the chairman. They reported 
 in fiivor of granting the prayer of the petitioner; and 
 though the question upon accepting the report was 
 decided by the Lower House in the negative, Mr. 
 Seabury was soon after released, and returning to his 
 family, on the 2d day of January, found that his parish 
 and private affairs had suffered in his absence, and 
 that all his papers had been examined and thrown 
 mto confusion. 
 
 But tlie Revolution assumed larger proportions, and 
 he showed himself by his subsequent acts a most 
 thorough loyalist; or, to use the words of the New 
 York Committee of Safety, "notoriously disaffected 
 to the American cause," which brought on him fresh 
 persecutions and severer trials. Unable to stem the 
 popular torrent, he availed himself of the temporary 
 withdrawal of the American forces from Westchester 
 to escape to Long Island; and wdien they returned, 
 they burned the pews in his church, converted it into 
 a hospital, quartered the cavalry in his house, and 
 consumed all the products of his farm. After this he 
 w\as in New York and its vicinity, with his family, 
 under the protection of the British arms, durino; the 
 continuance of the war, and pursued the practice of 
 medicine, a profession to which he had been educated 
 
 20 
 
 P 
 
306 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 307 
 
 in Scotland, and which, like several of his contenp- 
 poraries, he joined, in a limited degree, to his clerical 
 duties. He was appointed in February, 1778, chap- 
 lain of the Loyal American Regiment, commanded by 
 Colonel Fanning, and delivered a sermon before the 
 troops in camp at Kingsbridge, founded on the text, 
 ^^Fear God, honor the King," which, by the request of 
 Governor Tryon, was pul)lished. 
 
 Including Mr. Bostwick of Great Barrington, there 
 was just a score of clergymen of the Church of Eng- 
 land in Connecticut, with twice that number of Epis- 
 copal churches, at the outbreak of hostilities ; and these, 
 with two or three exceptions, were natives of the 
 colony, and knew all the prejudices, as they had 
 shared all the hatred and uncharitaT)leness, of the 
 standing order. The Missionary at Hebron, Samuel 
 Peters, was without doubt the most obnoxious of 
 these clergymen, and so early as the summer of 1774 
 his imprudent conduct and intense loyalty had in- 
 volved him in serious trouble. He was charged with 
 communicating intemperate articles to the newspapers 
 for publication, and with making false representations 
 to his friends in England. A mob of about three 
 hundred persons assembled at his house in August of 
 that year, and again in the ensuing month, and made 
 known their determination to obtain from him satis- 
 faction and an acknowledgment of his errors. He 
 met them, arrayed in his official robes for protection; 
 but the exasperated mob had as little respect for these 
 as for the wearer, and seizing him violently, to the 
 damage of his garments, they carried him to the 
 Meeting-house Green, where he was forced to read a 
 confession which had been previously prepared for 
 
 
 II 
 
 him, and with this offering their lawless patriotism 
 was satisfied, and he was set at liberty. But aft^r 
 such indignities he felt that he could no longer re- 
 main in comfort with his old friends and neighbors, 
 and he left his home for Boston, from whence he 
 wrote, "in high spirits," a letter to his mother, which 
 was intercepted, and which contained this unpleasant 
 information for his enemies: "Six regiments are now 
 coming from England, and sundry men-of-war; so 
 goon as they come, hanging work will go on, and de- 
 struction will first attend the sea-port towns; the 
 lintel sprinkled, and the side-posts, will preserve the 
 faithful." A few days later, some time in October, 
 he sailed for England, where he retaliated upon his 
 countrymen with his pen ; but his writings would have 
 been received with more respect had he restrained 
 his rashness, and never embellished them with ludi- 
 crous and apocryphal statements. 
 
 The rest of the clergy in Connecticut still hngered 
 at their Missions, and soon, in the turmoils of civil 
 war, their experience approached that of their more 
 officious and impetuous brother. The voice of relig- 
 ion is seldom heard in the clamors of party, and the 
 violence which only provokes resistance is the natural 
 result of allowing no room for exercising the rights 
 of conscience. Civil war unhappily carries in its train 
 numberless evils, and often effects alienations and 
 hatreds in society and among friends, which years 
 will not obliterate. During its progress, entire silence 
 excites suspicion; and the man, therefore, who cannot 
 or will not follow ex animo the triumphant populace 
 in all its extravagances and ungracious requirements, 
 need not be surprised to find himself accounted an 
 
308 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 309 
 
 enemy to his country, and reproach and scurrility 
 plentifully heaped upon his head. "People/' said the 
 Eev. Mr. Inglis of New York, referring to the perse- 
 cutions of the time, "were not at lil)erty to speak 
 their sentiments, and even silence w^as construed as 
 a mark of disaffection." 
 
 Aside from their unpopularity with the partisans 
 of independence, the clergy of the Church of Eng- 
 land in this colony were exposed to all the wrongs 
 and suspicions and oppressions which arose in the 
 prosecution of the Revolutionary war. Some of them, 
 who clung steadily to the cause of the Crown and 
 freely spoke out their sentiments, were drawn at once 
 into embarrassments and perils; and others, whom no 
 words of their own would criminate, found very little 
 comfort from the prophetic promise, "In quietness 
 and confidence shall be your strength." The Eev. 
 Mr. Mansfield of Derby, the guileless pastor, who 
 thought he must do his duty to his people in every 
 emergency, undertook, as soon as "the sparks of civil 
 dissension appeared," to inculcate upon them, both 
 from the pulpit and in private conversation, a peace- 
 ful submission to the King and to the parent state ; 
 and so successful were his eff()rts and his influence, 
 that, out of one hundred and thirty families which at- 
 tended divine service in his two churches, he reported 
 (December 29th, 1775) one hundred and ten to be 
 "firm, steadfast friends of the Government," having no 
 sympathy with the poi)ular measures, and detesting 
 the "unnatural rebellion." Five or six persons, pro- 
 fessors of the Church of England, plunged themselves 
 into it, guided, as he thought, by the influence of 
 Captain John Holbrook, who "for many years past 
 
 had entertained a disgust against him and his breth- 
 ren of the Church, and seemed to have meditated re- 
 venge,^ merely because they did not gratify some pri- 
 vate views he had about the place on which to build 
 the Oxford church." Several officers of the miHtia, 
 having collected a number of soldiers and volunteers 
 from different towns, undertook, late in the autumn 
 of 1775, to subdue the Tories in Connecticut, and for 
 this purpose proceeded first to Newtown, where they 
 put the Rev. Mr. Beach, the Selectmen, and other 
 principal inhabitants, under strict 2:uard, and urcred 
 them to sign the articles of association prescribed by 
 the Congress in Philadelphia; but when they could 
 prevail upon them neither by persuasions nor by 
 threats, they accepted from them a bond, with a large 
 pecuniary penalty inserted, not to take up arms against 
 the colonies, as well as not to discourage enlistments 
 into the American forces. They used greater severity 
 in other places which they visited, and fixed upon the 
 first week in December to disarm the loyalists in 
 Derby, and annihilate their influence. With a view 
 of checking such violent proceedings, a number of 
 his most respectable parishioners waited upon Mr. 
 Mansfield at that critical juncture, and requested him 
 to send to Governor Tryon of New York an account 
 of the sufferings of the loyalists in Connecticut, and a 
 list of the names of those who were known to be such 
 in his Mission. He complied with their request, and 
 added some suggestions of his own about the manner 
 of reducing the colony to subjection and obedience. 
 The day after his letter was dispatched, a friend, to 
 whom he had communicated the knowledge of it, 
 was seized and carried before the Committee of In- 
 
 ^Hi'i 
 
 I 
 
310 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 311 
 
 spectionj who compelled him to disclose the contents, 
 and thus Mr. Mansfield was criminated in a way that 
 he least expected. To escape outrage, imprisonment, or 
 death, which was meditated against him, he fled from 
 his churches, his family, and his home, and found a 
 temporary asylum in the town of Hempstead, on Long 
 Island. His own narrative of his misfortunes is very 
 touching, especially the part which relates to his do- 
 mestic afiairs. "At a somewhat advanced stage of 
 life," said he, "being fifty-two years old, when I hoped 
 to have spent my remaining years in an agreeable 
 manner, in peace and tranquillity with my family, 
 parishioners, and friends, and vainly imagined that 
 death only would make any lasting separation, I was 
 forced to flee from home, leaving behind a virtuous, 
 good wife, with one young child newly weaned from 
 the breast; four other children which are small, and 
 not of sufficient age to support themselves; and four 
 others which are adults, and all of them overwhelmed 
 with grief, and bathed in tears, and but very slenderly 
 provided with the means of support." 
 
 Such were the signs of the thick gathering storm, the 
 beginning of the horrors and calamities, which befell 
 the Church in Connecticut. Up to this time, the laity, 
 for the most part, had stood by the clergy, and sup- 
 ported them in their views of Christian obedience and 
 public duty. 
 
 There were notable exceptions; for as early as 1774 
 not a man in Stratford was ready to dissent from revo- 
 lutionary measures, and from the movements, in vari- 
 ous places, expressive of sympathy for those who suf- 
 fered from the oppressive acts of the British Govern- 
 ment. Undoubtedly the influence of Johnson, the 
 
 patriot and statesman, was felt in shaping the populai 
 sentiment of his native town, and in guiding the 
 course of churchmen there to a quiet and inoffensive 
 neutraUty. He was a member of the Council of Con- 
 necticut, and one of the three, first chosen to repre- 
 sent the colony in the General Congress which met at 
 Philadelphia, September 5th, 1774. But having pre- 
 viously accepted the office of an arbitrator on the 
 estate of Van Rensselaer, he was excused from serv- 
 ing, and Silas Deane was appointed in his place. The 
 General Assembly of Connecticut was convened im- 
 mediately after the battle of Lexington ; and he and 
 a gentleman of the Lower House were deputed to 
 visit General Gage, then in command of the British 
 troops at Boston, and see if some means could not be 
 devised by which the horrors of war might be averted 
 and peace secured. Starting on their journey with 
 a pacific letter from the Governor, they met at En- 
 field a part of the Boston delegation to Congress, and 
 found them warm in the cause of the colonies, and 
 one of them even rejoicing that hostilities had com- 
 menced. In due time. Dr. Johnson returned to Hart- 
 ford with the answer of General Gage to the Legisla- 
 ture; but that body had adjourned ; and so far from 
 leaving any directions for the Committee, they had 
 adopted resolutions of a very contrary nature and 
 tendency, and voted men and money for the war. 
 This change was effected by the instrumentality of 
 the Delegates from Massachusetts. Finding himself 
 thus deserted, he returned sohtarily to his home ; and 
 retiring from the Council after the Declaration of In- 
 dependence, he set himself quietly down to his studies, 
 persuaded that he could not conscientiously join in a 
 
 k 
 
 I 
 
312 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 313 
 
 war against England, much less in a war against his 
 own country. The progress of events brought him 
 again before the public, and he resumed the practice 
 of his profession, and was subsequently reinstated m 
 his seat in the Legislative Council. 
 
 Thoudi two of the clero-y of Connecticut had been 
 compelled to flee from their missions, the people were 
 not yet deprived of the privilege of assembling in 
 their own houses of worship, and of honoring God. 
 and praying to him in the venerable foi-ms of the 
 Liturgy. If they desired the suppression of the re- 
 bellion and the establishment of the King's authority 
 in the land, it was because thev felt that churchmen, 
 as the weaker party, could only in this way hope for 
 encouragement and permanent security. They gen- 
 erally conceived the measures of the colonies to be 
 un\tise, if not unjust, and destined to end either in 
 defeat or ruin on the one hand, or the overthrow of 
 the Cliurch on the other. It was inferred from the 
 history of the past, that, if successful, few would be 
 the tender mercies shown by the Independents in 
 New England to a form of Protestant relii>ion which 
 was in their eyes "dissent," and which nothing but 
 the want of power hitherto had prevented them from 
 fully destroying. It was the remark of a Pres])yte- 
 rian deacon, made in the hearing of one wlio put it 
 upon record, " that if the colonies carried their point, 
 there would not be a cliurch in the New-England 
 States,"^ — meaning an Episcopal church, for at that 
 period it was customary to designate the Congrega- 
 tional edifices by the name of "meeting-houses." 
 
 While the clergy of the Church of England and 
 
 1 Bronson's Hist. Waterbury, p. 331. 
 
 their flocks were thus on the side of the Crown, it 
 must not be supposed that they were "sinners above 
 all them that dwelt at Jerusalem." The same views 
 were entertained by many who had no sympathy with 
 Episcopacy, but who joined the conservators of peace, 
 partly on religious grounds, and pai'tly ])ecause they 
 feared the strength and resources of the British realm, 
 and believed that the colonies had privileges enough 
 under her government without fruitlessly seeking a 
 separation. When General Warren fell at the battle 
 of Bunker Hill, a letter was found in his pocket from 
 his friend and classmate Lemuel Hedge, pastor of the 
 church at Warwick, Mass., hi Avhich he professed to 
 the General "a sincere interest in the liberty of his 
 country, although he admitted his doubts in regard 
 to the issue of the Revolutionary struggle." Another 
 loyal divine in the same province, like all good sub- 
 jects, had prayed so long for "our excellent King 
 George," that, after the war commenced, he inadver- 
 tently used, one Sunday, in his pulpit devotions, his 
 stereotyped phrase, but saved himself for that time 
 from the vengeance of his flock by immediately add- 
 ing, "0 Lord, I mean George Washington." 
 
 A careful collector^ of the history of the American 
 Loyalists, or, as they were opprobriously called in the 
 politics of the day, the Tories of the Revolution, 
 has enrolled on his list full a score of Congregational 
 ministers in New England alone, who, for no other 
 reason, were suspected by their people, drawn into 
 trouble with them, and finally forced to surrender their 
 pastoral responsibilities. They might have been of 
 that number of ambassadors for Christ, who, in every 
 
 1 Sabine. 
 
 • 
 
 ■ 
 
314 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 315 
 
 season of trial, think it their supreme duty to make 
 the proclamations of the Gospel rise above all secular 
 themes, and leave to statesmen the consideration and 
 adjustment of perplexing questions of national policy. 
 How many more were secretly of their opinion can- 
 not be ascertained; but there were those who, if they 
 never counselled submission to the unjust and arbi- 
 trary acts of the British power, certainly did not unite 
 in heart with that large class who thundered revolt 
 from their pulpits, and scattered the firebrands of war 
 in the path of their ministrations. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; TRIALS OF THE MISSION- 
 ARIES IN CONNECTICUT; AND DEATH OF MR. BEACH. 
 
 A. D. 1776-1781. 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, 
 through their Congress at Philadelphia, declared them- 
 selves"^ independent of Great Britain,— a step towards 
 which their measures from the first had been inevi- 
 tably and surely tending. Some patriots, more cau- 
 tious than others, thought the movement was precip- 
 itated. All connection with the mother-country was 
 now solemnly dissolved, and the American people were 
 released from any allegiance to the sovereignty of the 
 King. The Declaration involved the clergy of the 
 Church, especially the Northern clergy, in new troubles, 
 and added greatly to their embarrassments. As fliith- 
 ful Missionaries of the Venerable Society, from which 
 came their chief support, they honestly believed them- 
 selves bound by their oaths of allegiance, taken at the 
 time of their ordination, to pray for the Sovereign 
 whose dominion the colonies had thrown off; and 
 guided by the forms of the Liturgy, they could omit- 
 no part in conducting public worship without doing 
 violence to their own consciences. After indepen- 
 dence was declared, stricter vigilance was employed in 
 watching the course of the Tories in Connecticut ; and 
 the persecutions and privations to which the clergy 
 
 ■UK* 
 
 I' 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
316 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 117 
 
 were exposed assumed other and harsher shapes. Mr 
 Mets, suspected of having assisted the Royahsts who 
 were confined in the Simsbnry mines to escape, was 
 rudely torn from his people, carried a prisoner to the 
 Hartford jail, and put in irons. Mr. Leaming of Nor- 
 walk, quiet in his manners, and inoffensive, except 
 that he wielded ii vigorous pen and adhered unflinch- 
 ingly to his loyal prmciples, was the victim of an out- 
 racre even more atrocious than this. The Sons of 
 Liberty, as the patriots termed themselves, — in the 
 present instance a lawless mob, — entered the parson- 
 age, took his picture from the wall, carried it forth, 
 and added to other insults that of ^-defocing and nail- 
 ing it to a sign-post with the head downward." Not 
 satisfied with this indignity, they afterwards seized him 
 and lodo-ed him in jail as a Tory, where lie was de- 
 nied the usual comforts of a bed, — a species of per- 
 sonal abuse which he could never forget, since it 
 brought ou a hip complaint that made him a cripple for 
 life, ^n Connecticut, as in the Province of New York, 
 some of the clergy were pulled out of their reading- 
 desks, because they prayed for the King and Eoyal 
 family; and others were thrown into prisons "for friv- 
 olous suspicions of plots," and subsequently acquitted 
 by the very Committees of Vigilance which were their 
 persecutors. 
 
 "I could fill a volume with such instances," said the 
 Eev. Mr. Inglis, in a letter to the Society, in the au- 
 tumn of 1776, after describing the trials of tlie clergy, 
 "and you may rely on the facts I have mentioned as 
 indubitable, for I can name the persons, and have 
 these particulars attested in the simplest manner. 
 The persons concerned are all my acquaintances, and 
 
 not very distant; nor did they draw this treatment 
 on themselves by any imprudence, but for adhering 
 to their duty, which gave great offence to some 
 demagogues, who raised mobs to persecute them on 
 that very account. Whatever reluctance or pain a be- 
 nevolent heart may feel in recounting such things, 
 which are, indeed, a diso^race to humanitv and reliti- 
 ion, yet they ought to be held up to view, the more 
 effectually to e:?;pose the baneful nature of persecu 
 tion, make it detestable, and put mankind on their 
 guard against its first approaches. Were every in- 
 stance of this kind faithfully collected, it is probable 
 that the sufferings of the American clergy woidd ap- 
 pear, in many respects, not inferior to those of the 
 Enu'lish clei'fj^v in the crreat rebellion of the last cen- 
 tury; and such a work woidd be no bad supplement 
 to 'Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy.'" 
 
 Sevend of the Missionaries in Connecticut, who con- 
 tinued to reside on their respective missions, were for- 
 bidden to go beyond them, and others were placed 
 for a time under heavy bonds, and not allowed to 
 visit even a parishioner without special leave from 
 the Selectmen of the town. This was the case with 
 Mr. Andrews of Wallingford; and Mr. Kneeland of 
 Stratford, the successor and grandson by marriage 
 of the Rev. Dr. Johnson, thus died a prisoner to the 
 patriots in his own house, April 17tli, 1777. Mr. 
 Sayre of Fairfield was banished to New Britain for 
 seven months, and then, upon his return, confined to 
 the limits of his parish. Unable, by reason of the war, 
 to communicate with the Society, the clergy were in- 
 convenienced, if not distressed, for want of o|)poi*tu- 
 nity to draw their salaries ; and a generous collection. 
 
318 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 319 
 
 by royal order, was made in England and sent to Mr. 
 Inglis of New York, to be distributed among certain 
 Missionaries in that province, New Jersey, and Con- 
 necticut. In January, 1782, the Rev. Mr. Fogg of 
 Pomfret memoriahzed the General Assembly, sitting 
 by adjournment at Hartford, and prayed that he 
 might have permission to go to New York, ^' under 
 such regulations and restrictions, and in such way as 
 their Honors in their wisdom should j.udge expedient," 
 for the purpose of negotiating his dues from the So- 
 kety for the last seven years, and "the same to bring 
 out in hard money only." Though the Selectmen of 
 the town supported Mr. Fogg, and represented him 
 as having "conducted himself in a peaceable and quiet 
 manner since the contest began with Great Britain," 
 yet the prayer of the memorial was not granted. 
 
 The clergy could not officiate publicly and use the 
 prayers for the King and Royal Family accord- 
 ing to the Liturgy without exposing themselves to 
 inevitable destruction ; and to omit these prayers, as 
 before stated, was contrary to their oath and views 
 of duty, as well as to the dictates of their conscience. 
 Therefore, to avoid the evils of this dilemma, at a Con- 
 tvention held in New Haven, July 23d, 1776, (Mr. 
 (Jarvis presiding.) they resolved to suspend the public 
 exercise of their ministerial functions. Some of them 
 had already done this by the direction of their people, 
 and all the churches in Connecticut were thus for a 
 time closed except those under the oversight of Mr. 
 Beach, which were kept open during the war. That 
 at Redding, however, could hardly have been used by 
 hun with the full Liturgy, in the winter of 1779, when 
 General Putnam was stationed there to cover the 
 
 country adjoining the Sound, and to support the gar- 
 rison at West Point in case of an attnck. But be this 
 as it may, after the independence of the colonies was 
 declared, he continued to officiate as usual and pray 
 for the King, and no threats of personal violence could 
 silence the voice of his public duty. The churchmen 
 of Newtown had now become the major part of the 
 population, and the Redding Association of Loyalists 
 was a strong body whose secret influence was felt 
 throughout the mission of the venerable pastor. His 
 course gave great offence to the Sons of Liberty, and 
 more than one attempt was made to bring him into 
 subjection under the authority of the Congressional 
 measures. But though gentle as a lamb in the inter- 
 courses of private life, he was bold as a lion in the 
 discharge of his public duty. Nothing could intimi- 
 date him ; and when warned of personal danger if he 
 persisted, he declared, with the spirit and firmness of 
 a martyr, "That he would do his duty, preach and 
 pray for the King, till the rebels cut out his tongue." 
 A squad of patriots watched him one day as he en- 
 tered his desk, and a loaded musket was pointed at 
 him as he proceeded in the forms of the Liturgy, evi- 
 dently intending to take his life if he used the prayers 
 for "our most gracious Sovereign, Khig George" and 
 the Royal family; but God, who "restrains the re- 
 mainder of wrath," withheld the hand of the assassin, 
 or rendered the shot harmless,^ so that his head, "sil- 
 
 1 While officiating one day in Redding, a shot was fired into the church, 
 and the ball struck above him and lodged in the sounding-board. Pausing 
 for a moment, he repeated the words : " Fear not them which kill the body, 
 but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear him which is able to destroy 
 both soul and body in hell." He then proceeded in the service without 
 further interruption. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 WM^m 
 
320 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 m CONNECTICUT. 
 
 321 
 
 vered o'er with age," was spared the bloody destruc- 
 tion that was threatened. 
 
 Mr. Tvler of Norwich, who Uved in such constant 
 dread of his enemies that he was afraid, if tradition 
 speak the truth, to drink the water from his own well, 
 said in July, 1776: "I had a conference with the pro- 
 fessors of the Church of England in my parish, respect- 
 ing the prayer for the King, now that the Continental 
 Congress has declared the colonies independent of 
 Great Britain; and put it to vote whether we should 
 continue the use of the Liturgy without any altera- 
 tion, or omit public worship altogether; and the vote 
 passed unanimously for omitting public worship in 
 the church for the present." During this intermis- 
 sion he officiated for the people in his own house 
 without molestation, and visited other towns in the 
 colony, where he preached and administered the two 
 sacraments "generally necessary to salvation." The 
 same authority which ordered the closing of the 
 ichurch caused it to be reopened November 27, 1778, 
 the reasons for which step can best be given in Mr. 
 4ryler*s own words: "Tliere was a meeting of the 
 professors of the Church of England, in which I of- 
 fered to officiate again, to use the whole Liturgy, 
 except the prayers for the King and Parliament; my 
 reasons Avere to this effect: That the cause of religion 
 ouirht not to be annihilated on a civil account; that 
 public w^orship Avas of too much consequence to be to- 
 tally omitted on account of a few words in a liturgy; 
 that my obligations, though binding at first, could not 
 be so to use the whole Litur2!:y now% when matters 
 were so much altered. Christ's kingdom is not of this 
 world, and so may exist without the civil powers: an 
 
 obligation that becomes wrong, or impossible to ad- 
 here to, is of course null and void. In consequence, 
 the people voted almost unanimously to open the 
 church, omitting the prayers for the King and Par- 
 liament." 
 
 His neighbor at New London, Mr. Graves, was not' 
 of such pliant principles. His loyalty flir outran that 
 of his parishioners, for wdieii they respectfully re- 
 quested him to discontinue reading the offensive part 
 of the Liturgy, he declared that he could not con- 
 scientiously comply. He paid no heed to the inti- 
 mations, that, if he persisted, perilous consequences 
 might ensue. The next Sunday a company of ardent 
 Whigs stationed themselves near the door of the church, 
 with one in the porch to give the concerted signal by 
 striking the bell, and no sooner had Mr. Graves com- 
 menced the praj'Cr for the King, than the throng 
 poured in, led by tw^o athletic men, who drew him 
 from the high seat of his devotions, and "brought him 
 expeditiously to the level of the floor." ^ A couple 
 of resolute matrons belonging to the congregation 
 rushed forward, and putting themselves in front of 
 the unfortunate Missionary, evinced their determina- 
 tion of standing between him and all harm. Finally 
 he was allowed to escape, and "fled, in his surplice, to 
 the house of a parishioner, who, though a warm Whig, 
 was his personal friend, and protected him from the 
 violence of the mob." The doors of* the church were 
 then fastened, and for some time the regular course 
 of parish business was interrupted, and the usual offi- 
 cers were not chosen. 
 
 The first attemj)t to resume public services was 
 
 1 Caulkins's Hist, of New London, p. 446. 
 21 
 
 
322 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 made at a parish meeting November 14, 1778, when 
 it was "put to vote, that no person be permitted to 
 enter the church and act as a pastor to it, unless he 
 openly prays for Congress and the free and indepen- 
 dent States of America, and their prosperity by sea 
 and land." The vote was adopted by a small major- 
 ity, but challenged on the ground that those had par- 
 ticipated in it who had no right, and the final result 
 was ten on either side. The Wardens were therefore 
 instructed to wait on the Rev. Mr. Graves and ac- 
 quaint him with this vote, and if it was agreeable to 
 him to officiate as pastor of the church according to 
 its terms, he might be admitted the next day, which 
 was Sunday. But he was inflexible, and declined to 
 comply with the proposition of the parishioners. Not 
 many months after this occurrence he was conveyed 
 to New York by a flag of truce, where he died sud- 
 denly, April 5th, 1780. His letter to the Society, 
 dated September 29tli, the month after his departure 
 from New London, may very properly close our notices 
 of his checkered hfe: *^ After undergoing a continued 
 scene of persecutions, afflictions, and trials, almost even 
 unto death, for my religious principles and unshaken 
 loyalty to my King and country, I obtained permis- 
 sion to remove to New York, where I live under the 
 wings of liberty, and the protection of His Majesty's 
 Government; which ineffable blessing may God con- 
 tinue to us and our posterity tiU time shall be no 
 
 more! 
 
 "I was often desired to officiate during these un- 
 happy times, but as often abhorred the idea of an In- 
 dependent church. However, I have faithfully per- 
 formed all occasional duties; visiting the sick, burying 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 323 
 
 the dead, and baptizing the children of several dis- 
 senters, as well as those of my own communion. 
 
 "How I have supported my family, [he was a bach- 
 elor who kept house with a maiden sister,] God only 
 knows; having been obliged to sell part of the furni- 
 ture of my rooms and kitchen, and even my negro 
 girl; and at last to take up money on the best terms 
 I could, — our paper currency being 20-25, and now 30 
 for one silver dollar. But I hope the time of redemp- 
 tion draws nigh, and that our merciful, though of- 
 fended God will consider our souls in adversity, and 
 graciously deliver us from the pride, maUce, and de- 
 vices of a rebellious, persecuting people." 
 
 By a vote of the parishioners in January, 1780, the 
 Congregational Society at New London was allowed 
 the use of the church "during the severity of the 
 ^vinter and the pleasure of the Church." But in the 
 succeeding June an attempt was made to restore their 
 own worship, and it was voted in parish meeting, " that 
 the Church-wardens call on the Rev. Mr. Tyler of 
 Norwich to officiate in the church, or any gentleman 
 that will officiate as he does respecting iJie prayersr A 
 year later, it was again "voted that the Wardens 
 call on some reverend gentleman to officiate in the 
 Church of St. James, after the manner of the Rev. Mr. 
 Jar\ds or Mr. Hubbard." These votes, which failed to 
 secure ministrations, throw light upon the pl-actice of 
 the clergy in other places. It is impossible to tell 
 from his Parochial Register when and how long Mr. 
 Hubbard discontinued the public services in Trinity 
 Church, but he probably obeyed the resolve of the 
 Convention which met in New Haven soon after the 
 Declaration of Independence, and then quietly re- 
 
 I 
 
324 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 turned to hk duties in the sanctuary, praying "open 
 ly," like the rest of his brethren, "for Congress and the 
 free and independent States of America." There was 
 no neglect of the parish organization in New Haven 
 during the Revolution, the annual Easter meetings 
 being^'duly held for the choice of officers; but the 
 name of fsaac Doolittle, who had been from the first 
 one of its Wardens and principal supporters, and who 
 was also an ardent Whig, and interested in erecting a 
 powder-mill near the town after the war broke out, 
 was dropped from the list of ofhcers in 1777, and not 
 restored until after the preliminary treaty of peace 
 had been signed at Paris. Though the loyalty of Mr. 
 Hubbard was well known, he conducted himself so 
 discreetly and inoffensively that he was not seriously 
 embarrassed in his ministrations, which were extended 
 north to Betliany, and on the shore of the Sound east 
 to Guilford, and west to Fairfield. 
 
 While the British army occupied New York, the 
 towns on the sea-l)oard were continually liable to 
 incursions of the enemy;, and early in the morning of 
 Monday, the 5th of July, 1779, a fleet of vessels of 
 war, under Sir George Collier, and transports with 
 troops, under General Tryon, anchored off^ West Ha- 
 ven, and by mid-day the city was in the possession of 
 the invaders, and bloodshed, plunder, and destruction 
 followed. The British *^ officers treated Mr. Hubbard 
 and his family with respect and kindness, for})idding 
 any soldiers to enter his house, or in any manner to 
 molest his premises; and in consequence of this exemp- 
 tion from trouljlesome visits from the soldiery, he was 
 enabled to save a considerable amount of property to 
 the suffering inhabitants." On the afternoon of Tues- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 325 
 
 day General Tryon withdrew his forces, and the fleet 
 set sail to the westward ; and the next morning the 
 troops again disembarked upon the beach at Fairfield. 
 That tov. n was not destined to escape hke New Haven. 
 It was first plundered ; and then the houses of the 
 inliabitants, together with the two churches, the court- 
 house, jail, school-houses, and barns filled with wheat 
 and other produce, were burnt. "General Tryon," said 
 the Congregational pastor, communicating the fiicts 
 to his brother at Boston, "was in various parts of the 
 town plot, with the good women begging and en- 
 treating him to spare their houses. Mr. Sayre, the 
 Church of England Missionary, a gentleman firmly 
 and zealously engaged in the British interest, and who 
 has suffered considerably in their cause, joined with 
 them in these entreaties; he begged the General to 
 spare the town, but was denied. He then begged that 
 some few houses might be spared, as a shelter for 
 those who could provide habitations nowhere else; 
 this was denied also." The commanding General was 
 in a barbarous frame of mind, and apologized after- 
 wards for his course, by saying that "the village was 
 burnt to resent the fire of the rebels from their houses, 
 and to mask our retreat." 
 
 Mr. Sayre was not one of those prudent Mission- 
 aries who escaped the insults and hatred of his adver- 
 saries. The unfinished church at North Fairfield, 
 where galleries were erected shortly after it came 
 under his care, was subjected to the most beastly de- 
 filements, and the windows broken. It was not that 
 he offended by praying for th^ King, for he said, in a 
 letter to the Society, dated at Flushing, L. I., Novem- 
 ber 8, 1779: "We did not use any part of the Liturgy 
 
326 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 lately, for I could not make it agreeable, either to my 
 inclination or conscience, to mutilate it, especially in 
 so material a point as that is wherein our duties as 
 subjects are recognized. We met at the usual hours 
 every Sunday, read parts of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments, and some Psalms. All these were selected m 
 such a manner as to convey such instructions and sen- 
 timents as were suited to our situation. We sang 
 Psalms with the same view. On Sunday mornings I 
 read the Homilies in their course, and on the after- 
 noons I expounded either parts of the Catechism, or 
 some such passages of Holy Scripture as seemed 
 adapted to our case in particular, or to the public 
 calamities in general. By this method we enjoyed 
 one of the two general designs of public religious 
 meetings, I mean public instruction; the other, to wdt, 
 public worship, it is easy to believe was inadmissible 
 in our circumstances, without taking such liberties 
 with the service as I confess I should blame even a 
 superior in the Church for assuming. Resolved to ad- 
 here to these principles and public professions, which, 
 upon very mature deliberation and clear conviction, 
 I had adopted and made, I yielded not a tittle to those 
 who opposed them, and had detennined to remain 
 with my people to see the end, but was compelled to 
 alter this resolution by that sudden vicissitude which 
 I must now, with painful reflection, relate to the So- 
 ciety. On the Tth day of July last. Major General 
 Tryon landed at Fairfield with a body of His Majest/s 
 troops, and took possession of the town and its en- 
 virons, the greater part of the inhabitants having 
 tackled their teams and removed what they could on 
 his approach. This cut off aU hope from the few 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 327 
 
 Loyalists of saving any part of their effects if the 
 town should be burnt, every carriage being taken 
 away. The General was so kind, however, as to order 
 me a guard to protect my house and some others in 
 its vicinity, when he had resolved to commit the rest 
 of the town to the flames ; for, as I had already hinted, 
 I had determined to remain at home. But the un- 
 governable flames soon extended to them all, and in 
 a few minutes left me, with a family consisting of my 
 wife and eight children, destitute of food, home, and 
 raiment. Thus reduced, I could not think of remain- 
 in o* in a place wdiere it w^ould have been hnpossible 
 to\ave clothed and refurnished my family. There- 
 fore, availmg myself of the protection oflered by the 
 present opportunity, I retired with them within the 
 King's hues. As it was impossible (from the want of 
 carriages) to save anything out of the house, the val- 
 uable "^little library given by the Society was burnt, 
 together with my own; and the plate belonging to 
 Trinity Church at Fairfield was lost, as well as that 
 of my family, and that handsome church itself was 
 entirely consumed." 
 
 But the expedition had not yet completed its dire- 
 ful work, and after crossing the Sound to Huntington 
 Bay, where it remained over Sunday, it returned to 
 Norwalk, and the troops were once more landed, and 
 prepared with the invader's torch. General Tryon, 
 on the morning of the fatal day, sat in his chair upon 
 Grummon's Hill, the scene of his headquarters, and 
 complacently watched the flames as they lapped up 
 dwelling after dwelUng in the village, and finally 
 reached°that sanctuary which had so often echoed with 
 the voices of loyal worshippers, and laid it in ashes. 
 
328 HISTORY OF the ehscopal church 
 
 Thus Mr. Learning, the worthy Missionary, was the 
 victim of sufTerings both from the American and Brit- 
 ish parties. But let him tell his own story in this case. 
 In a letter to the Secretary, dated at New York, the 
 29th day of the same month in which his church was 
 burnt, he said: ^^It is now a long time since I have 
 been able to convey a letter to the Society; and now 
 I must give a disagreeable account of my jifliiirs. 
 
 «0n the 11th inst., [12th,] by the unavoidable event 
 of the operation of His Majesty's troops under the 
 command of General Tryon, my church, and great 
 part of my parish, wxn-e laid in ashes, by which I have 
 lost everything I had there, — my furniture, books, 
 and all my pupers, even my apparel, except what was 
 on my l)ack. My loss on that fatal day was not less 
 than £1200 or £1300 sterling. Although in great 
 danger, my life has been preserved, and I hope I shall 
 never forget the kind providence of God in that try- 
 ing hour. In this situation I was Ijrought by His 
 Majesty's troops to this city, at which I shall, with 
 the greatest pleasure, obey the Society's commands." 
 
 Nearly two years before, the same commanding 
 General, with a detachment of 2000 men, penetrated 
 to Danbury, a place which the conniiissioners of the 
 American army had selected for depositing military 
 stores; and while both the church and the meeting- 
 house there were used as repositories, his troops are 
 said to have taken the stores out of the church and 
 burned them in the streets, saving the sacred edifice, 
 but they devoted the meeting-house to the flames. 
 
 If we step back into the interior of the colony, w^e 
 shall find, at this period, that excitement ran high, 
 and in some places a most wicked spirit prevailed. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 329 
 
 The building unused generally goes to decay, and is 
 often a mark for the stones of the vicious. In West- 
 bury, (now Watertown,) the windows of the Episcopal 
 church w ere demolished, as they were in other local- 
 ities, and the principal mem1)ers were confined to their 
 forms, and not allowed to attend pul)lic worship. At 
 Litchfield, American soldiers broke into the sanctuary, 
 took the parish papers that were deposited in a chest, 
 and tore them to pieces. AVashington, to his praise be 
 it spoken, frowned on all such wantonness; and when 
 he passed through that town during the war, and 
 some of his soldiers threw a shower of stones at the 
 church, he rebuked them, saying: '^I am a churchman, 
 and wish not to see the church dishonored and deso- 
 lated in this manner." Mr. Marshall of Woodl)ury was 
 one of the Missionaries of the Society who was com- 
 pelled to encounter all the obloquy and persecution that 
 spring from the malice and rage of an unrestrained 
 populace. Missiles were hurled at him as he Avalked 
 forth into the pul)lic highway. "He was frequently 
 forbidden to preach; sometimes forcildy taken in the 
 midst of his sermon, and led out of the house in which 
 he was officiating. Once he was waylaid on his return 
 from Eoxbury, and so severely beaten that he was con- 
 fined to his room for several wrecks from the injuries 
 that he received." ^ It is painful to call up these facts, 
 but they are a portion of the history of the times, and 
 ought not to be withheld. The Missionaries, for the 
 most part, bore their wrongs in silence, for they were 
 afraid to say much, even when they had the oppor- 
 tunity of communicating with their friends abroad. 
 "It is a long time," wrote Mr. Beach to the Secretary, 
 
 1 Hitchcock's History of (lie Church in Woodbury. 
 
330 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 331 
 
 October 31st, 1781, "since I have done my duty in 
 writing to the Venerable Society, not owing to my 
 carelessness, but to the impossibility of conveyance 
 from here. And now I do it sparingly. A narrative 
 of my troubles I dare not now give. My two congre- 
 gations are growing; that at Redding being commonly 
 about three hundred, and at Newtown about six hun- 
 dred. I baptized about one hundred and thirty chil- 
 dren in one year, and lately two adults. Newtown 
 and the Church of England-part of Redding are, I 
 believe, the only parts of New England that have re- 
 fused to comply with the doings of the Congress, and 
 for that reason have been the butt of general hatred. 
 But God has preserved us from entire destruction. 
 
 '^I am now in the eighty-second year of my age, 
 yet do constantly, alternately, perform and preach at 
 Newtown and Redding. I have been sixty years a 
 public preacher, and, after conviction, in the Church 
 of England fifty years; but had I been sensible of my 
 inefiiciency, I should not have undertaken it. But 
 now- 1 rejoice in that I think I have done more good 
 tow-ards men's eternal happiness than I could have 
 done in any other calling. 
 
 "I do most heartily thank the Venerable Society 
 for their liberal support, and beg that they will ac- 
 cept this, which is, 1 believe, my last bill, viz. £325, 
 which, according to former custom, is due. 
 
 ^^At this age I cannot well hope for it, but I pray 
 God I may have an opportunity to explain myself 
 with safety; but must conclude now with Job's ex- 
 pression, ' Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, 
 ye my friends.' " 
 
 SLx months after Mr. Beach wrote this aflfecting 
 
 epistle, death took the pen from his hand, and he de- 
 scended to the grave, where ^Hhe wicked cease from 
 +roubling, and where the weary are at rest." As he 
 jad never ceased to pray for the King, so he did not 
 live to witness the issue of the struggle, and to hear 
 the acclamations of joy that resounded throughout 
 the land, on the acknowledgment of American Inde- 
 pendence. The memory of his name can never fail 
 to be held in grateful regard by Connecticut church- 
 men. The hills that he ascended, and the valleys that 
 he traversed in the execution of his sacred office, are 
 doubly attractive for their natural scenery, and as 
 beino- the great battle-ground of a true soldier of the 
 Cross, who, with primitive faith, and in troublous 
 times, "fought the good fight," full half a century, for 
 Christ and his Church. 
 
 'JHi 
 Ik 
 
332 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 DISCOURAGING FEATURES IK THE CAUSE OF THE COLONIES 
 CONNECTICUT lUE THEATRE OF FRESH HORRORS, CHANGE IN 
 THE BRITISH MINISTRY, AND TREATY OF PEACE. 
 
 A. D. 1781-1783. 
 
 The tenacity Avitli which the Missionaries in Con- 
 necticut adhered to the cause of the Crown was 
 strenii;theiuMl by the conviction that, in the end, the 
 colonies would be unsuccessful. At one period during 
 the sf rup-gle, so much w^ere the fortunes of war against 
 theiu, and so thick was the gloom which overhung all 
 the prospect, that even leading patriots of the land 
 w^ere not without despondi^icy. As in these days, so 
 then, the record of events was tarnished l)y the thirst 
 fOY power and the grasp after wealth. A mercenary 
 spirit, extortion, illicit traffic with the enemy, gam- 
 bling and speculation, idleness, dissipation and extrava- 
 gance, party disputes and personal quarrels, — these 
 were among the causes which prolonged the war, and 
 made it doubtful whether the yoke of colonial vassal- 
 age would finally be broken. Washington mourned, 
 as early as 1775, the lack of public virtue, and declared 
 that he " trembled at the prospect." Good and esti- 
 mable men fell into indigence and obscurity, while 
 those utterly devoid of moral principle rose to wealth 
 and power. It was a miserable pittance, at best, al- 
 lowed to the soldiers; but they were too often de- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 333 
 
 prived of this, that contractors for the army might 
 be enriched by their gains. Merchants and traders 
 monopolized articles of prime necessity, and would 
 not dispose of them to their destitute and sufiering 
 countrvmen, and to the wives and children of troops 
 in the field, except at enormous profits. 
 
 The depreciation of the currency was one of the 
 evils which threatened the most alarming conse- 
 quences. "Destitute of pecuniary resources, and with- 
 out the power of imposing direct taxes, Congress had, 
 early in the war, resorted to the expedient of paper 
 money. For a time, while the quantity was com- 
 paratively small, its credit was good; but in March, 
 1780, the enormous amount of two hundred millions 
 of dollars had been issued, no part of which had been 
 redeemed. At this time forty paper dollars were 
 worth only one in specie. Prices rose as the money 
 sank in value, and every branch of trade was unsettled 
 and deranged. The eflect w\as peculiarly oppressive 
 on the troops, and w as a principal reason for the ex- 
 orbitant bounties allowed to them in the latter years 
 of the war. The separate States issued paper money, 
 which increased the evil, without affording any ade- 
 quate relief The only remedy was taxation; but 
 this w^as seldom pursued with vigor, owing, in part, 
 to the distracted state of the times and the exhausted 
 condition of the country, and in part, also, to State 
 
 jealousy."^ 
 
 In some colonies the Whigs were a minorit}^, and 
 in others they were balanced by their opponents; and 
 though unsuccessful in securing sufficient enlistments, 
 many of them became impatient, and demanded that 
 
 1 Sparks's Life of Washimjton, Vol. I. p. 322. 
 
334 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 the Commander-in-Chief should meet and fight the 
 foe, without troops, without suppUes, and, at times, 
 without their confidence and sympathy. Strong men 
 not unfrequently enhsted for the large bounties, and 
 then deserted and reenlisted under new recruiting 
 officers, or else escaped to their homes and were shel- 
 tered and secreted by their unpatriotic friends and 
 neio-hbors. A want of pure and disinterested love of 
 independence showed itself also among the military 
 commanders; and Knox, in writhig to Elbridge Gerry, 
 mentioned that there were those in commission "who 
 wished to have their power perpetuated at the expense 
 of the liberties of the people, and who had been re- 
 warded with rank without having the least preten- 
 sions to it except cabal and intrigue." "Many of the 
 surgeons," (regimental,) said Washington, using harsher 
 words than he was wont, "are very great rascals, 
 countenancing the men to sham complaints to exempt 
 them from duty, and often receiving bribes to certify 
 indispositions, with a view to procure discharges or 
 furloughs."^ Nearly a score of generals withdrew 
 from the army for different reasons during the prog- 
 ress of the struggle; some being jealous on account 
 of their rank, and stung with resentment at what they 
 conceived to be the wrongs done them by Congress 
 or their associates in the service. John Adams threw 
 from his pen a graphic and comprehensive descrip- 
 tion, when he said, in 1777, "I am wearied to death 
 with the wrangles between military officers, high and 
 low. They quarrel like cats and dogs. They worry 
 one another like mastiffs, scrambling for rank and 
 pay like apes for nuts." 
 
 1 Sparka's Life of Washington, Vol. IV. p. 116. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 335 
 
 This is the dark side of the picture, unpleasant in- 
 deed to contemplate, and seldom looked at by the 
 writers and eloquent speakers, who have been accus- 
 tomed to deify the heroes and patriots of the Revo- 
 lution, and to anathematize the Loyahsts, or those 
 who manifested any sympathy with tlie cherished 
 Government of the King and the triumph of his 
 armies. All honor is due to the sagacious statesmen 
 who published to the world the grievances of the col- 
 onies, and the grounds on which they had a right to 
 become a free and independent nation. All honor is 
 due to the valiant and persevering men, who, in the 
 darkest hour, and amid the severest trials, still hoped 
 for success, and struggled on, undaunted by defeats 
 and undismayed by disasters. But the truth of his- 
 tory demands that it should be stated how the Tories 
 were not the only wicked and unpatriotic people dur- 
 ing the war of the Revolution. Without presuming 
 to justify their course at that period, it is no wonder 
 that they adopted it when they saw so much around 
 them to impede the effort of the colonists, when the 
 scale was so evenly balanced, and the prospect of final 
 independence so distant and gloomy. They were 
 undoubtedly honest in their loyalty to the British 
 Crown, not less honest and sincere, perhaps, than the 
 people of the North in the recent civil contest to 
 maintain the federal Union and the integrity of our 
 constitutional form of government. The God of 
 providence, to whom " the nations are as a drop of 
 a bucket," who "giveth power to the faint, and to 
 them that have no might he increaseth knowledge,'* 
 controlled the destiny of the American people ; but 
 as far as human foresight can discern, the issue of 
 
\ 
 
 336 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 the struggle was due as much to the bhinclers and 
 perversities of the British ministry as to the skill and 
 strategy of our generals, or the bravery and fortitude 
 of our soldiery. Had not England become involved 
 in war with other nations on the continent of Europe, 
 and thus needed all her troops nearer home; had not 
 France interposed the aid of her great power to succor 
 a weak and weary people, George the Third might 
 have conquered the colonies, and held them subjected 
 to his sway, at least for another generation. 
 
 It may be said, then, by way of apology for the 
 course of the clergy of the Church of England in Con- 
 necticut^ that, ill spite of all their perils and sufferings, 
 they were not disposed to forfeit their stipends from 
 the Society, to violate their consciences and com- 
 pletely surrender their hopes, while the struggle was 
 still undecided, and the prospect for the colonists so 
 doubtful. Those who survived or remained undis- 
 turl)ed among their people had, by this time, yielded 
 to the necessities of their condition, and ceased to 
 pray in their reopened churches for the King and 
 Eoyal family. Whatever their private opinions may 
 have been, they continued patiently in the path of 
 duty, and "spake often one to another," because they 
 '' feared the Lord." They proclaimed to their dimin- 
 ished flocks the unchangeable truths of the Gospel, 
 and avoided allusion in public to subjects that might 
 create prejudice or excite popular resentment. 
 
 As the war drew towards the close, Connecticut be- 
 came the theatre of greater horrors; and one of the 
 saddest and bloodiest chapters in its whole history, 
 if not in the history of the world, was that which oc- 
 curred shortly before the preliminaries of peace were 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 33T 
 
 announced. Tlie heats of summer had not yet passed 
 awiiy, when an expedition, fitted out at New York, 
 the headquarters of Sir Henry Clinton and the Brit- 
 ish armv, was sent to New London, under the com- 
 niand of that traitor to his country's cause, Benedict 
 Arnold. He had been familiar, in his boyhood, with 
 the locality where he was to operate; for Norwich, 
 some miles above on the Thames River, was the place 
 where he had served an apprenticeship to the business 
 of a druggist, occasioning his friends in that employ- 
 ment more trouble than satisfaction. Late in the 
 evening of September 5th, 1781, lie landed his troops 
 in two divisions, one on each side of the harbor, Ijelow 
 Forts Trumbull and Griswold, and immediately put 
 them in motion. The astonished inhabitants, aroused 
 from their slumbers by the signals of distress, were 
 thrown into the utmost terror and confusion, and 
 hastened to convey to safe places their families and 
 their portable and most valuable property. The half- 
 armed groups that offered resistance on the morrow 
 to the advance of a disciplined foe were soon dis- 
 persed, and the torch of destruction was applied, 
 under the orders of the commanding General, first 
 in one street and then in another, until a large part 
 of New London was in flames. Among the buildings 
 consumed were sixty-five dwellings, thirty-one stores 
 and warehouses, eighteen shops, twenty barns, the 
 Episcopal churchy court-house, jail, market and custom- 
 house. Whigs and Tories alike suflered in this con- 
 flagration, which appears to have been more exten- 
 sive than was at first designed, — a conflagration, how- 
 ever, tliat was nothing in horror compared with the 
 tragic scenes enacted on the opposite side of the river. 
 
 22 
 
338 HISTORY OF the episcopal church 
 
 Groton was burnt dso, and the little garrison in Fort 
 Griswold, which stood heroically to its guns and kept 
 the enemy for a time at bay, was finally forced to sur- 
 render; but, whether from mistake or misunderstand- 
 ino-, the surrender had no influence in checking the 
 ra<'-e of the assailants; for an indiscriminate massacre 
 followed, which the pen of history shudders to record. 
 According to the inscription upon the monument, 
 erected under the patronage of the State in 1830 to 
 the memory of the patriotic garrison, this massacre, 
 with the other barbarities of the expedition, "spread 
 desolation and woe throughout that region." 
 
 We have seen on several occasions that the inter- 
 ests of Connecticut churchmen, during the Eevolu- 
 tion, were involved in the common destruction which 
 war makes. Three of their largest and oldest houses 
 of worship were burnt by the very invaders whose 
 cause they were believed secretly to uphold, and 
 others only echoed at distant intervals the sounds of 
 prayer and praise. But wliile they thus suffered at 
 the hands of their friends from the unavoidable con- 
 sequences of war, they were none the less the victims 
 of persecution by their too impetuous neighbors; and 
 besides the odium which attached to them as Tories, 
 they were subjected to all manner of threats and an- 
 noyances, and to petty depredations upon their prop- 
 erty, without having the power successfully to estab- 
 lish their rights or redress their grievances. It is a 
 foul blot upon the patriotism of the times that these 
 thinf'-s were anvwhere encouraged. It revives the 
 memory of the period when religious intolerance was 
 ready to drive from New England the Church that 
 had a Bishop, and to allow nothing here, in the "free- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 339 
 
 I 
 
 dom to worship God," which did not think and coalesce 
 with Puritanism. 
 
 The Connecticut clergy, for integrity of character, 
 earnest piety, and steady devotion to the duties of 
 their vocation, were unsurpassed by any body of their 
 order in all the colonies. With the exception of 
 Graves and Say re, who had now retired for protection 
 within the lines of the British army, and who, it must 
 be confessed, were sometimes guilty of indiscretions, 
 they were natives of the soil, prudent in speech, fii- 
 miliar with the habits of the people, and therefore 
 knowing how to take advantage of their hereditary 
 antipathies and resentments. If there were a few 
 instances where the flocks were more patriotic than 
 their pastors, the reason for this might be found in 
 the difference of their relations to the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel; but it speaks well for the 
 influence and Christian character of the clergy in those 
 days, that their congregations so generally sympa- 
 thized with them in their views both of religious and 
 civil duties. The single object perpetually before their 
 minds was, how to save the Church from utter ruin; 
 and while they had abundant reasons to complain 
 of the course pursued by the home Government, still 
 they would neither leave the communion to which 
 they were attached unguarded, nor seek any refuge 
 for themselves which might involve its doctrines and 
 Liturgy in greater peril. With all their faults, they 
 deserve to be remembered with gratitude by Connec- 
 ticut churchmen, for the impress of their teachings 
 has outlasted the changes which time produces in 
 human society and civil government. Anderson, after 
 giving a detailed account of the revival of reverence 
 
340 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 and affection in many of the people of the colony 
 towards the Church which their fathers had forsaken, 
 pays this o;niteful tribute to the memory of these anti- 
 Kevolutionary clergy:— 
 
 «I will not venture to give expression to tlie feel- 
 ings which I have experienced in relating tlie various 
 incidente contained in this chapter, and which the atr 
 tentive reader can hardly fail to share. That which 
 prevails over every other at the present moment, and 
 which alone I wish to leave on record, is the feehng 
 of deepest gratitude to those men of Connecticut 
 who, not from a mere hereditary attachment to the 
 Church of England, or indolent acquiescence in her 
 teaching, Init IVom a deep, abiding conviction of the 
 triitli that she is a faithful ^witness and keeper of 
 Holy Writ,' have sliown to her ministers, in every age 
 and'^country, the way in which they can best promote 
 the glory of their heavenly Master's name, and en- 
 large" the borders of His Kingdom. And, as for the 
 Inmlerauces cast in their path by the policy of secular 
 rulers at liome, let us now only think of them in con- 
 trast with the willing readiness, which Ave have seen 
 exhibited })y statesmen of all parties in our own day, 
 to strengthen the hands and increase the efficiency, 
 abroad and at home, of the Church of which they are 
 
 members."^ 
 
 It was a maxim with Dr. Franklin, that there never 
 tvas a good nvr, or a had peace, and much as he^ loved 
 and promoted the cause of the American colonies, he 
 watched every opportunity, as a favorite Commissioner 
 at the French court, that betokened a Avillingness to 
 enter into negotiations and terminate hostilities. The 
 
 1 Anderson's Colonial Church, Vol. HI. pp. 444, 445. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 341 
 
 I 
 
 alliance of France with America, in her struggle for 
 independence and sovereignty, embarrassed the Brit- 
 ish Government; and after Lord Cornwallis with his 
 army had been captured at Yorktown, and the min- 
 istry was unable to replace these troops for another 
 campaign, the Parliament began to turn its attention 
 seriously to the suljject of peace. The public senti- 
 ment of the Englisii nation, clamorous for the end, 
 had connnimicated itself to that body, and a motion, 
 made early in 1782, that an address should be pre- 
 sented to His Majesty, praying that the war in Amer- 
 ica might cease, and that measures should Ije taken 
 for restoring tranquiUity and producing a reconcilia- 
 tion, gave rise to an animated debate on l)oth sides; 
 but the motion was finally lost by a majority of only 
 one in favor of the ministry and for the continuance 
 of the war. This vote was the signal for a dissolu- 
 tion of the Cabinet; and tlie resignation of Lord North 
 was followed by a total change of ministry and meas- 
 ures. Franklin had learned before this, from his 
 friend, Mr. Hartley, a mendjer of Parliament, long 
 evincing a steady and kind regard for the welfare of 
 America, the temper of the Crown; and the Congress 
 of the Colonies had appointed three other Connnis- 
 sioners (Adams, Jay, and Laurens) to join him in 
 negotiating a treaty of peace. The first gleam of 
 joy at the'^irospect of this propitious event appeared 
 in our land when Sir Guy Carleton arrived at New 
 York early in May, to relieve General Clinton as com- 
 mander of the British armies in America. The pacific 
 tone of his first letter to Washington showed, at least, 
 a change in the sentiments of Parliament respecting 
 the prhiciples on which the war had been conducted 
 
342 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 343 
 
 and tlie policy of its continuance ; but when in the 
 beginning of August he again addressed the Ameri- 
 can chief, it was with the authority to notify him 
 that negotiations for a general peace had connnenced 
 at Paris, and that the independence of the Thirteen 
 Colonies would be conceded as a preliminary step; 
 '•however not without the highest confulence," on the 
 part of his Government, "that the Loyalists should be 
 restored to their possessions, or a full compensation 
 made to them for whatever confiscations may have 
 taken place." Preparations for war, therefore, ceased 
 from that time, and no further acts of hostility were 
 committed by either party. But since it was not cer- 
 tain that the negotiations would actually result in 
 peace, no part of the American army was disbanded, 
 and the posture of defence was maintained with the 
 same caution and vigilance as before. 
 
 The settlement of so many questions, involving, be- 
 sides the two great belligerents, the rights and tran- 
 quillity of France, Spain, and Holland, prolonged the 
 negotiations, and tlie sunnner and the autumn had 
 passed away before the fundamental articles of a 
 definitive treaty were agreed upon and a time for 
 signing fixed. One preliminary point sought to be 
 estaljlished by the British envoys was to obtain com- 
 pensation for tlie Loyalists, or Tories, whose property 
 had been confiscated, and many of whom had been 
 banished from the countr\'. But Dr. Franklin dis- 
 carded this idea most oiuphatically, and insisted that 
 Congress, whose agents they were, had no power to 
 act in the case, since the property of the Loyalists 
 had been confiscated by the States, and the remedy, 
 if any, must be sought from the States. He went 
 
 farther, and maintained that neitlier justice nor hu- 
 manity required that the Americans shouhl compen- 
 sate these people, for "they had Ijeeu the instruments 
 of promoting and aggravating some of the worst hor- 
 rors of the war: they had taken the lead in burning 
 towns, and plundering and distressing the inhabitants; 
 they had deserted their country's cause, and sacrificed 
 everything to their friendship for their country's foe; 
 and if they were to be indemnified by anybody, it 
 must be by their friends."^ 
 
 We have seen that, as far as the loyal churchmen 
 of Connecticut were concerned, this allegation was 
 untrue. Instead of "taking the lead in burning towns, 
 and plundering and distressing the iiihaljitants," they 
 lamented these cruelties, and when they were inllicted 
 upon the colony through the operation of the King's 
 troops, they suffered from them in common with the 
 most ardent Whigs. An article, however, was finally 
 inserted, by which it was made the duty of Congress 
 to recommend to the States an indemnification of the 
 Loyalists; but it was declared, at the same time, that 
 there was not the least probability that the States 
 would heed the recommendation. The treaty of peace 
 was signed at Pans by both parties in due form, on 
 the 30th day of November, 1782, approved and rati- 
 fied by Congress, and hailed with demonstrations of 
 gratitude and joy by the American nation. The one 
 great prize for which the contest had been so long 
 maintained was now won, and the future glory of the 
 United States rose upon the vision of many a patnot 
 in colors almost too bright to be realized. The election 
 sermon of President Stiles, delivered before the Gen- 
 
 1 Sparks's Life of Franklin, p. 486. 
 
 at 
 
 ft' 
 
344 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 eral Assembly of Connecticut, May, 1783, and printed 
 by the order of that body, contains this granddoquent 
 passa<'e: '-0 Peace, thou welcome guest, all had. 
 Thou° heavenly visitant, calm the tumult of nations, 
 uave thy bahuy wing to perpetuity over this region 
 of liberty! Let there be a tranquil period tor the un- 
 molested accomplishment of the 3Iag,ialia Del— ih.Q 
 great events in God's moral government designed 
 from eternal ages to be displayed in these ends of 
 the earth." 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 345 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 CONDITION OF THE CHURCH IN CONNECTICUT AT THE CLOSE 
 OF THE WAR; MEETING OF THE CLERGY AT WOODBURY, 
 AND DR. SEABURY PREVAILED UPON TO GO TO ENGLAND 
 FOR CONSECRATION; WITHDRAWAL OF MISSIONARIES AND 
 LOYALISTS TO THE BRITISH PROVINCES. 
 
 A. D. 1783-1784. 
 
 The Revokition, Avhich had been a "bridge of sighs" 
 to the Church in Connecticut, Avas passed, but thick 
 gloom overhung the immediate prospects of the Mis- 
 sionaries. For the same sword which severed the col- 
 onies from the British realm had cut the bond of de- 
 pendence that united them to the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel, and they were thrown for 
 their whole support upon the poor, thinned, and broken 
 parishes. The charter of the Society limited the sup- 
 port of Missions to plantations, colonies, and factories 
 belon^nng to the kingdom of Great Britain, and the 
 formal recognition of the United States as a sovereign 
 and independent power forbade the continuance of 
 the stipends to the clergy in this country. The lega- 
 cies bequeathed in England to establish an American 
 Episcopate were also lost, and it was' yet a question 
 wdiether the lands in different States, designed for the 
 use of the Church, would inure to its benefit. 
 
 The clergy of Connecticut w^ere thus left by the 
 
 treaty of peace in great difficulty and embarrassment, 
 
 ' and many of their hnpoverished people, who had 
 
346 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 firmly supported the cause of the Crown, were in 
 doubt what course to pursue to retrieve their fortunes 
 lOr provide for their famihes. Of the Missionaries who 
 were faithfully serving their flocks at the beginning 
 of the war, Peters, Graves, and Sayre, more indiscreet 
 ' than others, had fled,— the first to England, the latter 
 ' two within the lines of the British army; the unfor- 
 tunate Leaming, after the burning of his church and 
 property at Norwalk, had retired to New York, look- 
 ing still in sorrowful hope towards the Land of his 
 nativity; and Kneeland and Beach had descended to 
 the grave ; but the rest, Andrews, Bostwick of Great 
 Barrington, Clark, Dibblee, Fogg, Hubbard, Jarvis, 
 Mansfield, Marshall, Newton, Nichols, Scovill, Tyler, 
 and Yiets, Avere still in connection with their parishes, 
 and ten of them, rallying from all discouragement, met 
 at Woodbury in the last week of March following the 
 publication of peace, to deliberate upon the afiliirs of 
 the Church, and organize for the future. Like the 
 other colonies, Connecticut was under the jurisdic- 
 tion of the Bishop of London up to this time ; but no 
 sooner had peace been declared and independence of 
 the mother-country acknowledged, than she made the 
 first movement to secure what had hitherto been so 
 ungraciously denied. The meeting was "kept a pro- 
 found secret, even from their most intimate friends of 
 the laity;" and it was so quietly held that no minutes 
 of it were made and published. But the contempo- 
 rary correspondence of Mr. Fogg of Brooklyn with a 
 clergyman of Massachusetts gives the number pres- 
 ent, and indicates the fear which was felt of reviving 
 the former opposition to an American Episcopate, and 
 thus of defeating their plan to complete the organi- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 347 
 
 zation of the Church, and provide for its inherent per- 
 petuity in this country. They went into no such 
 formal election of a Bishop as takes place in these 
 days. The question with them appears not to have 
 been so much a choice between candidates, as who 
 will go upon this mission for a mitre, which was 
 likely to be attended with more sacrifice than emolu- 
 ment, more trial than honor. "Deeply impressed 
 with anxious apprehension of what might be the fate 
 of the Church in America," they deputed their Sec- 
 retary (Mr. Jarvis) to proceed to New York and 
 "consvJt such of the clergy there as they thought 
 prudent on the subject, and to procure their concur- 
 rence. He ^\''as also directed," says Seabury in a letter 
 to the Venerable Society, written at a later date, "to 
 try to prevail on Rev. Mr. Leaming or me to under- 
 take a voyage to England, and endeavor to obtain 
 Episcopal consecration for Connecticut. Mr. Leaming 
 declined on account of his age and infirmities; and 
 the clergy who Avere consulted by Mr. Jarvis gave it 
 as their decided opinion that I ought, in duty to the 
 Church, to comply with the request of the Connec- 
 ticut clergy. Though I foresaw many and great dif- 
 ficulties in the way, yet, as I hoped they might all be 
 overcome, and as Mr. Jarvis had no instruction to 
 make the proposal to any one besides, and was, with 
 the other clergy, of opinion the design would drop if 
 I declined it, 1 gave my consent." 
 
 Though born in the colony, and a graduate of Yale 
 College, Seabury had exercised no part of his ministry 
 in Connecticut. His father had been a Missionary of 
 the Church of England at New London for ten years; 
 but the son had found the fields of his labor in New Jer- 
 
 
 f 
 
348 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 349 
 
 sey, on Long Island, and in Westchester, N. Y., and, as 
 already stated, for a brief time, during the Revolution- 
 ary war, he was "in duress vile," in his native State, for 
 active hostility to the measures of the Congressional 
 government. Objections were made to him on this ac- 
 count, and on the ground of his being a refugee; but 
 they were all overruled, and he was the second choice 
 of the cleru'v of Connecticut to become their apostolic 
 head, and early in June, 1783, he set sail for England to 
 seek the accomplishment of their wishes, Ijearing with 
 tim such credentials as could be most readily obtained. 
 Among these was the letter of the clergy to the 
 Archbishop of York, — the see of Canterbury being va- 
 cant, — written in their behalf by Abraham Jarvis, who 
 dated it at New York, and signed himself '-Minister 
 of the Episcopal Church in Mlddletown, and Secre- 
 tarv of the Convention." After mentioning that "the 
 estaldlshment of an American Episcopate had long 
 been an object of anxious concern to them and to 
 many of their brethren in other parts of this conti- 
 nent," they proceeded to recite: "The attainment of 
 this object appears to have been hitherto obstructed 
 by considerations of a political nature, which we con 
 ceive were founded in groundless jealousies and mis- 
 apprehensions that can no longer be supposed to ex- 
 ist; and therefore, whatever may be the effect of 
 independency on this country in other respects, we 
 presume it will be allowed to open a door for renew- 
 ing the application which we consider as not only sea- 
 sonable, but more than ever necessary at this time; 
 because, if it be now any longer neglected, there is 
 reason to apprehend that a plan of a very extraor- 
 dinary nature, lately formed and published in Phila- 
 
 delphia, may be carried into execution. This plan is, 
 in brief, to constitute a nominal Episcopate by the 
 united suffrages of presbyters and laymen.^ The pe- 
 culiar situation of the Episcopal churches in Amer- 
 ica, and the necessity of adopting some speedy remedy 
 for the want of a regular Episcopate, are offered, in 
 the publication alluded to, as reasons fully sufhclent 
 to justify the scheme. Whatever influence this pro- 
 ject may have on the minds of the ignorant or unprin- 
 cipled part of the laity, or however it may, possibly, 
 be countenanced by some of the clergy in other parts 
 of the country, we think it our duty to reject such a 
 spurious substitute for Episcopacy, and, as far as may 
 be in our power, to prevent its taking effect. 
 
 "To lay the foundation, therefore, for a valid and 
 regular Episcopate in America, we earnestly entreat 
 your Grace, that, in your Arclileplscopal character, 
 you will espouse the cause of our sinking CIuutIi, and 
 at this important crisis afford her that relief on which 
 her very existence depends, by consecrating a Bishop 
 
 1 Tlie author of tins plan was the Rev. William White, (afterwards 
 Bishop Wliite,) and, without retracting its leading sentiments, he spoke of 
 it some years later in his Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church thus: 
 " Soon after the publication of the pamphlet, the author found himself in 
 danirer of beini: involved in a dis])Ute with the cleriiv of Connecticut, in 
 the name of whom, assembled in Convention, their Secretary, the Rev. 
 Abraham Jarvis, addressed a letter complaining of the performance, al- 
 thouiih doubtless mistakinjj the object of it. The letter was answered, it 
 is hoped, in a friendly manner, and there the matter ended. The same 
 Convention, in an address sent by them to the Archbishop of York, al- 
 luded to the j)amphlet as evidence of a design entertained to set up an 
 Episcopacy on the ground of presV)yterial and lay authority. No per- 
 sonal animosity became the result of this misapprehension ; and other 
 events have manifested consent in all matters essential to ecclesiastical 
 discipline." The pamphlet was published before the acknowledgment of 
 independence. — Bishop White's Memoirs, p. 90. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 F 
 
 b 
 
 I 
 
 li 
 
350 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 for Connecticut. The person whom we have pre- 
 vailed upon to offer himself to your Grace for that 
 purpose, is the Reverend Doctor Samvel Scaburfj} who 
 has been the Society's worthy Missionary for many 
 years. He was born and educated in Connecticut; 
 he is personally known to us, and we believe him to 
 be every way well qualified for the Episcopal office, 
 and for the discharge of those duties peculiar to it in 
 the present trying and dangerous times." 
 
 The letter of the Connecticut clergy was supported 
 by the united testimonial of Learning, Charles Inglis, 
 Rector of Trinity Church, New York, Benjamin Moore, 
 his Assistant Minister, and others. They added a 
 separate communication to the Archbishop, enforcing 
 the claims of the candidate, and expressing their 
 earnest wishes for the success of his undertaking. "In 
 humlde confidence," said they, "that your Grace will 
 consider the object of this application as a measure 
 worthy of your zealous patronage, we beg leave to 
 remind your Grace, that several legacies have been, 
 at different times, bequeathed for the support of 
 Bishops in America, and to express our hopes that 
 some part of these legacies, or of the interest arising 
 from them, may be appropriated to the maintenance 
 of Doctor Seabury, in case he is consecrated and 
 settles in America. We conceive that the separation 
 of this country from the parent State can be no rea- 
 sonable bar to such appropriation, nor invalidate the 
 title of American Bishops, who derive their consecra- 
 tion from the Church of England, to the benefit of 
 those legacies. And, perhaps, this charitable assist- 
 
 1 The University of Oxford conferred upon him the degree oi Doctor 
 of Divinity, December 15, 1777. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 351 
 
 ance is now more necessary than it would have been 
 had not the empire been dismembered." 
 
 Dr. Seabury arrived in London on the 7th of July; 
 and, leaving him there to contend with unexpected 
 discouragements, to overcome, if possible, the ob- 
 stacles which rose in his path and checked the ad- 
 vancement of his purpose, let us return to examine 
 the condition and prospects of the clergy and their 
 parishes in Connecticut. 
 
 During the progress of the struggle it was not easy, 
 perhaps, to distinguish between those conscientious 
 and pure minded men who from religious principle 
 adhered to the cause of the Crown, and that corrupt 
 and base class whose loyalty consisted in fleeing 
 from danger, in abusing their own country and the 
 true patriots Avho were shaping its destiny. But if 
 the termination of the war could not have been fol- 
 lowed by an oblivion of its offences, the bitterness of 
 the triumphant party ought at least to have abated, 
 and acts of proscription and banishment should have 
 been immediately repealed. "At the peace," says 
 Sabine, "a majority/ of the Whigs of several of the 
 States committed a great crime;" and he cites Mas- 
 sachusetts, Virginia, and New York, as "adopting 
 measures of inexcusable severity" towards the hum- 
 bled and unhappy Loyalists. Instead of compen- 
 sating them for their losses, as reconniiended in 
 the final treatj^, a disposition was evinced to make 
 their condition uncomfortable, and to place them be- 
 yond the pale of a generous sympathy. Sir Guy 
 Caiieton, before evacuating New York, wrote to the 
 President of Congress that the Loyalists "conceived 
 the safety of their lives to depend on his removing 
 
ft 
 
 o 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 52 
 
 them-" and the British Government, by way of doing 
 what 'it could not accompUsh in the negotiations for 
 peace offered them inducements to withdraw and 
 settle' in their own provinces on the northern front, 
 iers By the end of the year 1783, so great had 
 been the emigration to the British territoiy, that not 
 less than thirty thousand persons from Isew \ork 
 and the other colonies had arrived in Nova bcotia; 
 and about one third of these, attracted by the beauty 
 and security of the harbor, planted themselves at 
 Shelburne, and soon exhausted their means ni budd- 
 incr a town where nature opposed insuperalde barnei-s 
 to°its prosperity. It was to most of them a pitiful 
 reverse in life; and we are told that, "on their first 
 arrival, lines of women could be seen sitting on the 
 rocks of the shore and weeping at their altered con- 
 dition."^ 
 
 Amono- the thousands thus expatriated were some 
 
 of the inost intelligent and highly educated people 
 on this coutinent,-clcrgymen, lawyers, pliAsicians, 
 merchants, artisans, agriculturists. The change to 
 them from their old house-roofs to the rigors of a 
 severer climate and the straits of new habitations was 
 anvthing but favoralde, and many a grave was dug 
 for the disappointed exiles before the first winter had 
 passed away. Their case had not been overlooked 
 ill Parliament, for Buike, Sheridan, Wilberforce, and 
 others lifted up their voice in earnest and solemn con- 
 demnation of that part of the treaty which delivered 
 over the unfortunate Loyalists to the tender mercies 
 of their enemies, '-without the least notice taken of 
 their civil and religious rights." One nobleman in the 
 
 1 Hawkins, p. 373. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 353 
 
 House of Lords (Lord Sackville) regarded their "aban- 
 donment as a thing of so atrocious a kind, that, if it 
 had not been ah-eady painted in all its horrid colors, 
 he should liave attempted the ungracious task, but 
 never should have been able to describe the cruelty 
 in language as strong and expressive as were his 
 feelings." 
 
 Connecticut, to her praise be it said, did not share 
 in the spirit of resentment and oppression that ap- 
 peared elsewhere. She knew very well that the Loy- 
 alists within her l^orders had suflered severely during 
 the war at the hands of their friends; and if the Gen- 
 eral Assembly neglected to obey the recommendation 
 of Congress and restore their losses, it by no means 
 followed them with the rod of persecution. But they 
 were not in good repute with the public authorities, 
 and scorn was likely to attend many of them for 
 years to come. Fearful of this, and lured with the 
 prospect of retrieving their broken fortunes under the 
 Government to Avhich they had given their sympa- 
 thies, and for whose triumpli they had secretly prayed, 
 large numbers of churchmen, with their pastors, gath- 
 ered up their personal effects and emigrated to Nova 
 Scotia and the adjoiniug territory. A few of them 
 afterwards returned and renewed here their interests 
 and their business; but the rest remained, and with 
 their descendants they have marked, to a certain 
 degree, the regions where they settled with the thrift 
 of New-Eugland enterprise. The clergy who had 
 been deprived of their stipends from the Society by 
 the acknowledgment of American independence, were 
 offered new Missions, with increased salaries, in the 
 British Provinces, besides grants of land; and Viets 
 
 23 
 
 n 
 
354 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 of Simsbury, who had served his people so accepta- 
 bly for nearly twenty-eight years, amid the violence 
 of persecution and war, was one of the number to 
 avail himself of this liberaUty. He deUvered "a seri- 
 ous Address and Farewell Charge to the members of 
 the Church of England in Simsl)ury and the adjacent 
 parts," before leaving, which was afterwards printed, 
 and in which he stated: "From the year 1759 to the 
 present time [1787], the number of conformists to the 
 Church has increased from seventy-five to more than 
 two hundred and eighty families, exclusive of the 
 many that have emigrated and the few that have 
 
 apostatized." 
 
 Andrews, beloved as a man and a minister in the 
 scene of his nativity, turned his face, two years earlier, 
 in that direction, and became the first Rector of St. 
 Andrew's Church in the parish of St. Andrews, New 
 Brunswick. Scovill/ his neighbor at Waterbury, con- 
 trary to the wishes and entreaties of some of his 
 friends, dissolved his relations with his parish, and 
 accepted inviting proposals to remove into the same 
 province. And then Richard Samuel Clark joined his 
 name to the list of Missionaries in the new field, and 
 Nichols relinquished his charge and withdrew from 
 the State. These removals of people and priests weak- 
 ened the already feeble parishes in Connecticut, and 
 
 1 '* In 1 785 Mr. Si'ovill, a-amst the advice of some of his friends, went 
 to New Brunswick. He did not, however, at once remove his family. 
 For three successive vears he returned and officiated in the winter season 
 in his old church." - Branson's Hist, of Waterbury, p. 302. 
 
 The same remark will apply in a measure to others. The Massachusetts 
 Gazette of October 24th, 1786, notes the an-ival of a vessel at New Haven 
 from St. John's, New Brunswick, with nearly thirty passengers, " amon- 
 whom were the Rev. Messrs. ScoviU, Andrews, and Clark." 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 355 
 
 it required all the zeal and firmness of those who were 
 left behind to keep alive the headless Church, until, 
 under better auspices, its order and Liturgy might be 
 revised and adapted to the new form of civil govern- 
 ment. Hubbard and Jarvis, two friends whose inti- 
 macy had been cemented by the same voyage to Eng- 
 land for Holy Orders; Leaming and Dibblee, Mansfield 
 and Marshall, Newton, Fogg, and Tyler, with some 
 true-hearted and far-seeing laymen, strengthened the 
 things that remained, and besought the flocks not 
 to scatter or become despondent. They encouraged 
 them with the hope of returning prosperity; and being 
 all men of irreproachable character in private life, 
 their influence Avas felt and their admonitions heeded. 
 Seabury wrote from London in May, 1784: "There 
 is one piece of intelligence that we have heard from 
 Nova vScotia that gives me some uneasiness, namely, 
 that Messrs. Andrews, Hubbard, and Scovill are ex- 
 pected in Nova Scotia this summer, with a large por- 
 tion of their congregations. This intelligence oper- 
 ates against me; for if these gentlemen cannot, or 
 if they and their congregations do not choose to stay 
 in Connecticut, why should a Bishop go there? I 
 answer: One reason of their going is the hope of en- 
 joying their religion fully, which they cannot do in 
 Connecticut without a Bishop." 
 
 The emigration to the Provinces was checked; and 
 though the Loyalists applied to Parliament for relief, 
 and the King, in his speech from the throne, recom- 
 mended attention to their claims, and pensions and 
 bounties in land were subsequently allowed to chap- 
 lains, officers, and soldiers who had steadily adhered 
 to the Crown, yet the fate of many who withdrew was 
 worse than if they had lingered behind and shared 
 
356 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 the fortunes of their friends in the States. Of the 
 clergy ^vho were scattered by the poUtical storms of 
 that period, none suffered greater pecuniary loss than 
 the Rev. Dr. Tnglis of New York; and because his name 
 has frequently appeared in the course of our researches, 
 and was closely linked with the Church in Connecti- 
 mt, it is proper, before closing this chapter, to recur 
 to Mm again, and trace a page of his later history. 
 Not only was his private estate, large through his 
 wife, confiscated, but he was compelled also to aban- 
 don his Rectory; and in this misfortune he applied 
 to the Yeneraljk^ Society for permission to accompany 
 some Loyalists of his congregation to Annapolis, Nova 
 Scotia. His learning, his accomplishments, and his 
 piety shone there conspicuously among the other 
 Missionaries, ns tliey had shone in the scene of his 
 former labors; so that, to use the words of Dr. Butler, 
 the Bishop of Oxford, in his Anniversary Sermon 
 before the Society in 1784, "An infant church is 
 rising, imder tlie favor and protection of Government, 
 in Nova Scotia; and it is of a singular description, 
 consisting of honorable exiles, under the pastoral care 
 of fellow-sufferers." When it was wisely determined 
 to erect this and the neighboring British Colonies 
 into a See, the person fixed upon to fill it was Dr. 
 Chandler,^ that resolute champion for an American 
 
 1 The elerfry of New York, in their letter to the Archbisliop, commend- 
 in*T to his reo;iir(l the object of Dr. Seabury's visit, added : '' We take this 
 opportunity to inform your Grace, that we have consulted his Excellency, 
 Sir Guy Carleton, on the subject of procurinnr the appointment of a Bishop 
 for the Province of Nova Scotia, on which he has expressed to us his en- 
 tire approbation, and has written to administration, warndy recommend- 
 ing the measure. We took the liberty, at the same time, of mentionini; 
 our worthy brother, the Rev. Doctor Thomas B. Chandler, to His Excel- 
 lency, as a perrion every way (jualified to discharge the duties of the Episco- 
 pal office in that Province with dignity and honor. And we hope for Your 
 
 f 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 357 
 
 Episcopate, who had used his pen with such distin- 
 guished ability; but a fatal malady occasioned him 
 many sufferings, and he was compelled to decline an 
 elevation which he had so well merited. Being per- 
 mitted to suggest a suitable candidate, he gave the 
 name of Rev. Charles Inglis, D. D.; and that gentle- 
 man was consecrated Bishop of Nova Scotia on the 
 12th of August, 1787, and the leg.icies left in Eng- 
 land to establish an American Episcopate first inured 
 to his benefit. The mitre which he wore for nearly 
 thirty years subsequently fell upon his son; and the 
 Church under their jurisdiction, planted in such a 
 strange way, the Lord "has made strong for himself" 
 It is impossible not to feel a respect for the men 
 who endured so many privations and bore so many 
 frowns, that they might be consistent with themselves 
 and save the communion which they venerated and 
 
 loved. 
 
 " The character of those worthies," is the testimony 
 of the Bishop of Oxford, from whose sermon we have 
 just quoted, "will entitle them to a lasting memorial 
 in some future impartial history of the late events in 
 that country. Their firm perseverance in their duty, 
 amidst temptations, menaces, and in some cases cru- 
 elty, would have distinguished them as meritorious 
 men in better times. In the present age, when per- 
 secution has tried the constancy of very few suffer- 
 ers for conscience here, so maiir/ in one cause argue 
 a larger portion of disinterested virtue still existing 
 somewhere among mankind than a severe observer 
 of the world might be disposed to admit." 
 
 Grace's approbation of what we have done in that matter, and for the con- 
 currence of your influence with Sir Guy Carleton's recommendation in 
 promoting the design." 
 
358 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF SEABURY IN LONDON, AND IMPEDIMENTS 1 ) HIS 
 CONSECRATION. CONSECRATED IN SCOTLAND. RETt FN TO 
 CONNECTICUT, AND PRIMARY CONVENTION AT MIDDLiLTOWN. 
 
 A. D. 1784-1785. 
 
 0:n arriving at London and presenting his testi- 
 monials, Dr. Seabury found political or state imped- 
 iments in the way of his consecration. The Arch- 
 bishops, botli of Canterbury and York, appeared to 
 be sensible of the merits of his appUcation, and con- 
 vinced of the necessity of transmitthig the Episcopate 
 to the United States, if it was intended to preserve 
 here the Church in its integrity. But they foresaw 
 great ditliculties, and were much embarrassed by 
 various considerations: among them, that it would 
 be sendino- a Bishop to Connecticut, which they had 
 no ridit to do without the consent of the State; 
 that the Bishop would not be received in Connecti- 
 cut; that there would be no adequate provision for 
 him; and, finally, that the oaths in the Ordination 
 Office, imposed by Act of Parhament, could not be 
 omitted by the simple dispensation of the King. 
 
 So much importance did Dr. Seabury attacli to the 
 first of these considerations, and so anxious was he to 
 see the Episcopate introduced into this country, that 
 he hnmediately wrote to his friends in Connecticut, 
 and suggested that they should apply to the proper 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 359 
 
 authority for permission to have a Bishop reside in 
 the State ; at the same time offering to surrender his 
 own claims in fiivor of any Presbyter who might be 
 agreeable to them and less obnoxious to the public. 
 "The State of Connecticut," said he, "may consent 
 that a Bishop should reside among them, though they 
 might not consent that I sliould be the man." 
 
 The clergy lost no time in acting upon this sug- 
 gestion, for, shortly after receiving it, they met in 
 Convention at WaUingford, and "voted that the lead- 
 ing members of both Houses of Assembly, which was 
 then sitting at New Haven, should be conferred with, 
 so fiir as the proposed difficulties had reference to the 
 civil government ; " and they appointed Messrs. Leam- 
 ino-, Jarvis, and Hubbard a committee to further the 
 object of this vote. They learned by the conference 
 what they communicated to Dr. Seabury: that no 
 special Act of the Assembly was needed in the case ; 
 that a general law had been passed embracing the 
 Church, and comprehending all the legal rights and 
 powers intended to be given to any denomination of 
 Christians ; and if a Bishop came, he would stand, by 
 the provisions of that law, upon the same ground as 
 the rest of the clergy, or the Church at large. With 
 their communication, which touched upon the other 
 objections that had been raised, the Committee sent 
 certified copies of the law, which were slow in reach- 
 ing their destination ; but the letter did good service, 
 and "enabled me," said Seabury, using a military 
 figure, " to open a new battery, which I will mount 
 with the heaviest cannon and mortars I can muster, 
 and will play them as vigorously as possible." 
 
 The " battery," however, did not demolish the oppo- 
 
360 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 sition to his consecration. If it weakened the force 
 of the other objections, it did not renio\ o the great 
 impediment of the State oaths. Tlie American Episco- 
 pate had been a subtle ministerial aftiiir for more than 
 half a century, and nobody in England now seemed 
 willing to risk anything for the sake of the Church, or 
 for the sake of continuing Episcopal ordinations in this 
 country. An Act was passed ^*to empower the Bishop 
 of London for the time being, and any other Bishop 
 to be by him appointed, to admit to the order of 
 deacon or priest persons being subjects or citizens of 
 countries out of His Majesty's dominions, Avithout re- 
 quiring them to take iho oath of allegiance as ap- 
 pointed by law; "^ and a few candidates who embarked 
 for England, soon after the cessation of hostilities, 
 were ordained under this privilege, and returned to 
 their own country. But consecration to the Apostolic 
 office was viewed from anotlier standpoint, and held 
 in abeyance, "partly from an apprehension of giving 
 umbrage to a Power with whom a treaty of peace had 
 but lately been signed." It was, at length, decided to 
 be necessary to apply to Parliament for an Act " to 
 enable the Bishops to proceed without incurring a 
 Prcmunire;'' and while the incipient measures were 
 concerting, and Seabury was flattered with every ^Dros- 
 pect of success, he wrote to the clergy of Connecti- 
 cut towards the end of July, 1784, and thus fore- 
 shadowed the course that he might yet be compelled 
 to take. 
 
 " But everything here is attended with uncertainty 
 till it is actually done. Men or measures, or both, 
 may be changed to-morrow, and then all will be to go 
 
 1 Hawkins, p. 403. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 361 
 
 through again. However, I shall wait the issue of the 
 present session of Parliament, which, it is the common 
 opinion, will continue a month longer. If nothing be 
 done, I shall give up the matter here as unattainable, 
 and apply to the North, unless I should receive con- 
 trary directions from the clergy of Connecticut." 
 
 He had previously written that there was '^ nothing 
 not base that he would not do, nor any risk that he 
 would not run, nor any inconvenience to himself that 
 he would not encounter, to carry this business into 
 effect;" and clergymen of influence and extensive 
 acquirements had directed his attention to the Scotch 
 succession, and assured him that "it was equal to any 
 in the world." Anion li* this number was the eldest 
 son of the Bishop of Cloyne, — a prebendary of Can- 
 terbury, — that fast friend to the Church in America 
 who had so long corresponded with tlie younger John- 
 son, and manifested his interest in both the civil and 
 ecclesiastical relations of the colonies. As earlv as 
 1782, while the struggle of the American Ptcvolution 
 w^as approaching its end, and before any attempt to or- 
 ganize had been undertaken in Connecticut, Berkeley 
 suggested to a Presbyter of Aberdeen, (the Eev. John 
 Skinner, afterwards Bishop Skinner,) "that a most im- 
 portant good might ere long be derived to the sufler- 
 ing and nearly neglected sons of Episcopacy on the 
 other side of the Atlantic from the suffering Church of 
 Scotland." Writing to him again, after his consecra- 
 tion to the higher office, he reinforced his original 
 sufro'estion, and said: "From the Churches of Eno-land 
 and Ireland, America w^ill not now receive the Epis- 
 copate: if she might, I am persuaded that many of 
 her sons would joyfully receive Bishops from Scotland. 
 
 
362 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 The question, then, shortly is, Can any proper per- 
 sons be found who, with the spirit of confessors, would 
 convey the great blessing of the Protestant Episcopate 
 from the persecuted Church of Scotland to the strug- 
 gling, persecuted Protestant Episcopalian worshippers 
 in America? If so, is it not the duty of all and every 
 Bishop of the Church in Scotland to contribute to- 
 wards sending into the New World Protestant Bishops, 
 before general assemldies can be held and covenants 
 taken for their perpetual exclusion? Liber avi animam 
 
 mcam. 
 
 w 
 
 Bishop Skinner returned a discouraging answer to 
 this letter, and correctly observed: "Nothing can be 
 done in the affair, with safety on our side, till the in- 
 dependence of America be fully and irrevocably rec- 
 osrnized bv the Government of Great Britain; and 
 even then the enemies of our Chiu'ch might make 
 a handle of our correspondence with the colonies, as 
 a proof that we always wished to fish in troubled 
 waters; and we have little need to give any ground 
 for an imputation of that kind." 
 
 The Bishops of the Church in Scotland were non- 
 jurors, successors of those English prelates who, at 
 the Revolution^ of 1688, were deprived of their reve- 
 nues and dignity by the civil power, because they 
 refused to disown submission to James the Second 
 and swear allegiance to William the Third. The 
 vahdity of their orders was undoubted, and the only 
 objection to them was on the score of their political 
 principles. With these the Church in this country, 
 of course, had nothing to do ; for, separated from all 
 the entangling alliances of the State, she was hence- 
 
 1 Anderson's Colonial Churchy Vol. II. p. 531, ei seq. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 363 
 
 forth to depend, under God, for prosperity upon the 
 zeal, the energy, the prudence, and the piety of her 
 clergy and laity. Seeing no prospect of accomplish- 
 ng his object with the English prelates, "the Ministry 
 having refused to permit a Bishop to be consecrated 
 for Connecticut, or for any other of the thirteen States, 
 without the formal request, or at least consent of 
 Congress," and unwilling to be longer detained in 
 London at an expense inconvenient to himself. Dr. 
 Seabury turned his flice towards Scotland, where he 
 found the way prepared for his cordial reception, and 
 the nonjuring Bishops ready to bestow on him the 
 gift of the Episcopate, in spite of all obstacles raised 
 to his person or to the manner of his election. Ac- 
 cordingly he was consecrated in an upper room at 
 Aberdeen, November 14, 1784, by Eobert Kilgour, 
 Frimus Bishop of Aberdeen, assisted by Arthur Petrie, 
 the Bishop of Ross and Moray, and John Skinner, the 
 coadjutor Bishop of Aberdeen. " Anciently no Bishop 
 in Scotland had the style of Archbishop, but one of 
 them had a precedency under the title of Primus 
 Scotice Episcopus; and after the Eevolution they re- 
 turned to their old style, which they still retain, one 
 of them being entitled Primus, to whom precedency is 
 allowed and deference paid in the Synod of Bishops." 
 
 Thus then three prelates of the Church in Scotland 
 granted what the British Government, from views of 
 political expediency, at first denied, — a valid Epis- 
 copacy to this Western World. "Unacquainted with 
 the politics of nations," said they, in their letter to 
 the clergy of Connecticut, "and under no temptation 
 to interfere in matters foreign to us, we have no other 
 object in view but the interest of the Mediator's king- 
 
364 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 dom, no lii^rlier ambition than to do our duty as mes- 
 seno-ers of the Prince of Peace. In the discharo-e of 
 this duty, the example which we wish to copy after 
 is that of the Primitive Church, while in a similar 
 situation, unconnected with, and unsupported l)y the 
 temporal powers." They shared the sentiment so 
 fearlessly expressed by Bishop Skinner in his conse- 
 ismtion sermon, which was afterwards published, that, 
 "as long as there are nations to be instructed in the 
 principles of the Gospel, or a churcli to be formed in 
 any part of the inhabited world, the successors of the 
 Apostles are obliged, by the connnission which they 
 hold, to contribute, as far as they can, or may be re- 
 quired of them, to the propagation of those principles, 
 and to the formation of every church upon the most 
 pure aiicl primitive model. No fear of worldly censure 
 ought to keep them back from so good a work; no 
 connection with any State, nor dependence on any 
 government whatever, should tie up their hands from 
 connuunicatin<i: the blessinirs of that 'kinirdom Avliich 
 is not of this world,' and dilTiisinor the means of salva- 
 tion, ])y a valid and regidar ministry, wherever they 
 mav be wanted." 
 
 Some of the English Bishops were not entirely 
 pleased with all the steps attending the consecration 
 of Dr. Seabury, but they could do no less than com- 
 mend him in their hearts for his zeal in so good a 
 cause; and believing Episcopacy to be a divine insti- 
 tution, they could not really censure its transmission 
 through so pure a channel to the Western World. His 
 friends vindicated his course; and Dr. Home, Dean of 
 Canterbury and the Commentator on the Psalms, writ- 
 ing to him a few weeks after his consecration, said: "I 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 365 
 
 am truly sorry that our Cabinet here would not save 
 vou the trouble of o-oiuij^ to Scotland for it. There 
 is some uneasiness about it, I find, since it is done. 
 It is said you have been precipitate. I should be in- 
 clined to think so too, had any hopes been left of 
 obtainino; consecration from England. But if none 
 were left, what could you do but wh«nt you have 
 done?" And Bishop Seabury replied: "God grant 
 that I may never have greater cause to condemn 
 myself than in the conduct of this business. I have 
 endeavored to get it forward easily and quietly, with- 
 out noise, party, or heat; and I cannot but be pleased 
 that no fault but precipitancy is brought against me. 
 T/iat implies that I have needlessly hurried the mat- 
 ter, but is an acknowledgment that the measure was 
 riirht in itself." His consecration was the means of 
 opening a correspondence between Bishop Skinner 
 and several eminent men of England, which after- 
 wards proved of essential benefit to the Churcli of 
 Scotland. 
 
 Having completed his business at Aberdeen, the 
 newly consecrated Bishop retraced liis steps to Lon- 
 don, and prepared to embark for the shores of his 
 native land. Before he set sail, he addressed a nol)le 
 and Christian communication to the Secretary of the 
 Veneral)le Society, reciting ]:>riefly the origin and cir- 
 cumstances of his journey to England, and then to 
 Scotland, and adding what most intimately concerned 
 both himself and the clergy who were to come under 
 his Episcopal oversight. "How far," said he, "tlie 
 Venerable Society may think themselves justifiable in 
 continuimr me their Missionary, they onlv can deter- 
 mine. Should they do so, I shall esteem it as a favor. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
366 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Should they do otherwise, I can have no right to com- 
 plam. I beg them to beHeve that I shall ever retain 
 a grateful sense of their fiivors to me during thirty- 
 one vears that I have been their Missionarv, and that 
 I shall remember with the utmost respect the kind 
 attention which they have so long paid to the Church 
 in that country for which I am now to embark. Very 
 happy would it make me, could I be assured they 
 would continue that attention; if not in the same, yet 
 in some degree ; if not longer, yet during the lives of 
 their present Missionaries, whose conduct in the late 
 commotions has been irreproachable, and has pro- 
 cured esteem to themselves and respect to that 
 Church to which they belong. 
 
 "The fate of individuals is, however, of inferior mo- 
 ment when compared with that of the whole Church. 
 Whenever the Society shall wholly cease to interest 
 itself in the concerns of religion in America, it will 
 be a heavy calamity to the Church in that country." 
 
 To this manlv and inc^enuous communication he 
 received an official answer after he had reached New 
 London, the substance of which is contained in the 
 following brief paragraph : "I am directed by the So- 
 ciety to express their approbation of your service as 
 their Missionary, and to acquaint you that they can- 
 not, consistently with their charter, employ any Mis- 
 sionaries except in the plantations, colonies, and fac- 
 tories belonging to the kingdom of Great Britain: 
 your case is of course comprehended under that gen- 
 eral rule." 
 
 This answer decided the future relations of the Con- 
 necticut clergy to the Venerable Society; and those 
 who had not removed or did not afterwards remove 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 367 
 
 into the British Provinces, resigned their office as Mis- 
 sionaries, and fell back upon their parishes entirely 
 for support. The churchmen, though impoverished 
 by the war, met, as far as they were able, this new 
 demand upon their generosity. Trinit}' Church, New 
 Haven, voted to add to the salary of Mr. Hubbard an 
 amount equal to the annual stipend which he had re- 
 ceived from the Society; and in other places provision 
 and promises were made to supply the deficiency. 
 
 Dr. Seabury was absent from this country full two 
 years; and in the letter which he wrote from London 
 to the clergy of Connecticut, after his return from 
 Scotland, he said: "My own poverty is one of the 
 greatest discouragements I have. Two years' absence 
 from my family, and expensive residence here, have 
 more than expended all I had. But in so good a 
 cause, and of such magnitude, something must be 
 risked by somebody. To my lot it has fallen: I have 
 done it cheerfully, and despair not of a happy issue." 
 The next letter, dated June 29th, 1785, announced 
 to the Rev. Mr. Jarvis his arrival at New London, and 
 solicited the favor of an early interview with him, to 
 consult upon the time and place of holding a Conven- 
 tion of the clergy. No noise attended this first and 
 undisguised entrance of a Protestant Bishop upon the 
 soil of New England. He came as a simple Christian 
 citizen, and not in any outward pomp and dignity such 
 as the adversaries of the Church had apprehended 
 before the war for independence was commenced. 
 They could well afford to leave him to the quiet pur- 
 suit of his Apostolic office, for the political power was 
 now in their hands, and if the hated hierarchy that 
 once flitted before their vision threatened to inter- 
 
368 HISTORY OF the episcopal church 
 
 fere with the prerogatives of the State, it eould be 
 easily crushed. ''The Presbyterian ministers," says 
 Wilberforce,^ '^ appeared to be rather ahirmed; and, 
 in consequence of his arrival, assumed and gave one 
 another the style and title of Bishops, which formerly 
 they reprobated as a remnant of Popery." He was 
 present at the Annual Commencement of Yale Col- 
 leo-e in 1785; and when some one mentioned the fact 
 to President Stiles, and suggested that he should be 
 invited to a seat among the distinguished personages, 
 he replied that "there wxre already several Bishops 
 upon the stage, but if there was room for another he 
 miu'ht occin)V it." 
 
 With joy did the clergy of Connecticut assemble m 
 Convention at Middletown, on the 3d day of August, 
 1785, and publicly welcome and recognize their Bishop. 
 A Concordate "established in mutual good faith and 
 confidence" at Aberdeen, and the pastoral letter of 
 the Scottish Bishops, were laid before the clergy, and 
 "excited in them the w\armest sentiments of grati- 
 tude and esteem." At the risk of repeating some 
 things which have already been stated, we cannot 
 pass on without quoting a portion of the Address to 
 Bishop Seabury, unanimously and voluntarily accept- 
 ing him as "supreme in the government of the Church, 
 and in the administration of all ecclesiastical affairs." 
 
 "The experience of many years had long ago con- 
 vinced the whole body of the clergy, and many lay 
 members of our communion, of the necessity there 
 w^as of having resident Bishops among us. Fully and 
 publicly was our cause pleaded, and supported by such 
 arguments as must have carried conviction to the 
 
 I History of the American Church, p. 1G8. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 369 
 
 minds of all candid and liberal men. Thev Avere, 
 however, for reasons which we are unable to assio-n, 
 neglected by our superiors in England. Some of those 
 arguments w^ere draw^n from our being members of 
 the National Church, and subjects of the British Gov- 
 ernment. These lost their force upon the separation 
 of this country from Great Britain by the late peace. 
 Our case became thereby more desperate, and our 
 spiritual necessities were much increased. Filial af- 
 fection still induced us to place confidence in our par- 
 ent Church and country, whose liberality and benevo- 
 lence we had long experienced, and do most gratefully 
 acknowledge. To this Church was our innnediate ap- 
 plication dir^^cted, earnestly requesting a Bishop, to 
 collect, govern, and continue our scattered, wandering, 
 and sinking Church; and great was, and still continues 
 to be, our surprise that a request so reasonable in itself, 
 so congruous to the nature and government of that 
 Church, and begging for an officer so absolutely ne- 
 cessary in the Church of Christ, as they and Ave be- 
 lieve a Bishop to be, should be refused. We hope 
 that the successors of the Apostles in the Church of 
 England have sufficient reasons to justify themselves 
 to the world and to God. We, however, know^ of none 
 such, nor can our imagination frame any." 
 
 Bishop Seabury replied to this passage of the Ad- 
 dress thus: '^The surprise you express at the rejec- 
 tion of your application in England is natural. I3ut 
 where the ecclesiastical and civil constitutions are so 
 closely woven together as they are in that countr^^, 
 the first characters in the Church for station and 
 merit may find their dispositions rendered ineffect- 
 ual by the intervention of the civil authority: and 
 
 24 
 
 t| 
 
370 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 whether it is better to submit quietly to this state of 
 things in England, or to risk that confusion which 
 would probably ensue should an amendment be at- 
 tempted, demands serious consideration." 
 
 The Providence which orders all events in infinite 
 wisdom, may have withheld the Episcopate from 
 America in mercy to the Church, until it could be 
 separated in the popular mind and feeling from all 
 ideas of regal power and oppression. The blending 
 of the civil and ecclesiastical relations in any fonn 
 would have excited the jealousy of the sects, and re- 
 tarded the restoration and growth of our communion. 
 The Church would not have been organized in such 
 complete harmony with the primitive model; and en- 
 tangling alliances with the State would have enclosed, 
 as fn a net, all the efforts of the clergy to advance 
 the cause of pure and undefiled religion. 
 
 At this primary Convention in Middletown, Bishop 
 Seabury held his first ordination, which was the first 
 Protestant Episcopal ordination in this country, and 
 admitted to the Diaconate four candidates, — two of 
 them from Connecticut, and long, fiuthful, and honored 
 servants here in the work of the Church. The Rev. 
 Mr. Leaming, then, from the 18th of April, 1784, the 
 Rector of Christ Church, Stratford, preached the ser- 
 mon before the Convention; and this and the Ad- 
 dresses and First Charge of the Bishop were printed 
 and stitched together in the same pamphlet, from a 
 copy of which another quotation is made, to show his 
 forgiving spirit, and his grateful sense of the future 
 prospects of the Church. 
 
 "I have the pleasure to see the day when there is 
 a Bishop here, to act as a true Father towards his 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 371 
 
 clergy, supporting iheir dignity ^ as well as his own; to 
 govern them with impartiality^ as well as lenity ; and to 
 admit none to the altar, by ordination, but the wor- 
 thy; to uphold a Church beaten with storms on every 
 side; to Hvpport a Church that has been a bulwark 
 against infidelity on the one hand, and Romish super- 
 stition on the other: but by the Divine providence 
 it has continued to this day. And upon this auspi- 
 cious day I cannot forbear to mention (and I do it 
 with pleasure) the conduct of the Civil Rulers of this 
 State respecting our Church: they have not only 
 manifested a spirit of hmevolence, but an exalted Chris- 
 tian charity ; for which our gratitude is due, and shall 
 be paid in obeying all their just commands. 
 
 "As the same disposition appears in the ministers 
 of our neighboring churches to hve in Christian har- 
 mony with us, v^e are all ready to meet them upon 
 the same ground, with a sincerity like their own.'' ^ 
 
 Bishop Seabury's First Charge to the clergy was de- 
 livered the next day, and embraced the points which 
 rose to his mind at that season, as deserving to be spe- 
 cially pressed upon their attention. The consideration 
 of one of them was not more proper then than it is 
 now, and by citing a passage in reference to it, it will 
 be seen how careful the ecclesiastical authority was to 
 guard the entrance to the sacred ministry at a time 
 when it was so necessary to replenish the ranks. 
 "Another matter which my duty requires me to men- 
 tion, relates to a business in which you will probably 
 be soon called upon to act. I mean the very impor- 
 tant one of giving recommendations to candidates for 
 Holy Orders. It is impossible that the Bishop should 
 
 1 Sermon J pp. 13, 14. 
 

 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 be personally acquainted with every one wlio may 
 present himself for Ordination. He must, therefore, 
 depend on the recommendation of his clergy and 
 other people of reputation, for the character and quali- 
 fications of those who shall be presented to him. By 
 quaUfications, I mean not so much literary accom- 
 plishments, though these are not to be neglected, as 
 aptitude for the work of the ministry. You must be 
 sensible that a man may have, and deservedly have, 
 an irreproachable moral character, and be endued 
 with pious and devout affections, and a competent 
 share of human learning, and yet, from want of pru- 
 dence, or from deficiency in temper, or some singu- 
 larity 'in disposition, may not be calculated to make 
 a ^00^ clergyman; for to be ^ (/ood clergyman implies, 
 among other things, that a man be a vsefui one. A 
 dergyman who does no (/ood, always does hmi. There 
 is no medium. Not only the moral character and 
 learning and al)iUties of candidates are to be exactly 
 inquired into, Init also their good temper, prudence, 
 diligence, and everything by which their usefulness 
 m tile ministry may be aflected. Nor should their 
 personal appearance, voice, manner, clearness of ex- 
 pression, and facility of communicating their senti- 
 ments, be overlooked. These, which may by some 
 be thought to be only secondary qualifications, and 
 therefore of no great importance, are, however, those 
 that will require your more particular attention, and 
 call for all your prudence. They who shall apply 
 for recommJndations, will generally be such as have 
 passed through a course of academical studies, and 
 must be competently qualified in a literary view."' 
 
 1 First Charge, p. 7. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 373 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTIONS OF DELEGATES FROM SEVERAL 
 STATES, AND ATTEMPTS TO UNITE THE CHURCH IN THE 
 INDEPENDENT COLONIES UNDER ONE GENERAL CONSTITU- 
 TION. 
 
 A. D. 1785-1786. 
 
 Very little in the Avay of business was accomplished 
 at the meeting of the clergy in Middletown. The 
 formal reception of the Bishop, the solemn ordination, 
 and the public services were the chief attractions of 
 the occasion, but some cautious steps were taken to- 
 wards maintaining uniformity of divine worship in 
 the Episcopal Church, and adapting the Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer to the new civil and ecclesiastical rela- 
 tions of the clergy in this country. Two presbyters, 
 not of Connecticut, the Kev. Samuel Parker of Boston, 
 and the liev. Benjamin Moore, both of whom were 
 afterwards raised to the Episcopate, were in attend- 
 ance, and aided by their counsels, then and subse- 
 quently, the movement to unite the Church in the 
 thirteen States under one Liturgy and Constitution. 
 After appointing Messrs. Bowden, Parker, and Jarvis 
 a committee, to consider and make with the Bishop 
 some alterations in the Prayer Book needful for the 
 present use, the Convocation adjourned to meet again 
 at New Haven in September. 
 
 It is necessary, at this stage of the history, to look 
 out upon certain proceedings begun and carried on 
 
374 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 elsewhere. As early as May, 1784, ten clergymen 
 and six laymen, from the States of New York, New 
 Jersey, and Pennsylvania, assembled at New Bruns- 
 wick, ostensibly to examine into the condition of the 
 Corporation for the Relief of Widows and Orphans, 
 a charitable society whose funds had been dissipated 
 by the war, but really to concert plans for "a Conti- 
 nental representation of the Episcopal Church, and 
 for the better management of its concerns." "The 
 opportunity,'* says Bishop White, "was improved by 
 the clergy from Peinisylvania of communicating cer- 
 tain measures recently adopted in that State, tend- 
 ing to the organization of the Church throughout the 
 Union." Before they separated, they arranged for an- 
 other informal meeting in October, at the city of 
 New York, and requested three of their number to 
 w^ait upon the clergy of Connecticut, who were to 
 hold a convention in Trinity week next ensuing, and 
 solicit their cooperation in the projected scheme. 
 
 At the voluntary meeting held in New York, Octo- 
 ber 6th and 7th, sixteen clergymen were present from 
 nine of the thirteen States, and eleven laymen. From 
 Massachusetts and Rhode Island appeared the Rev. 
 Samuel Parker, and from Connecticut the Rev. John 
 R. Marshall, — not, as the result showed, to lend any 
 direct aid to the measures in contemplation, but rather 
 in courteous obedience to the request of their breth- 
 ren, and to state distinctly their own views and condi- 
 tion. Mr. Marshall especially, who read his paper 
 of instructions, was only empowered to announce 
 that the clergy of Connecticut felt themselves re- 
 strained by the previous steps which they had taken 
 to obtain the Episcopate, and until the event of their 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 375 
 
 application could be known, it would be improper for 
 them "to do anything which might change the ground 
 on which the gentleman of their choice was then 
 standing." There was another objection which was 
 fundamental in their view, and tliat related to the 
 constitution of the Convention. They were in favor 
 of leavino; all ecclesiastical matters to the clero^v: and 
 the idea of lay representation in a body legislating 
 for the Church was associated in their minds with 
 that of "the trial and the degradation of clergymen 
 by the same authority." They were opposed also to 
 a revision of the Liturgy, and the adoption of any 
 measures aflecting the general interest of the Church 
 in this country, until there was a Bishop to preside 
 over the councils and check undue legislation. 
 
 Notwithstanding the refusal of Connecticut by her 
 rejDresentative to join in the business of this volun- 
 tary meeting, the body thus assembled recommended 
 to the clergy and congregations of their communion 
 in the several States, to unite in a general ecclesias- 
 tical constitution on certain fundamental principles, 
 which they proceeded to set forth. Among them the 
 first was: "That there shall be a general Convention 
 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of Amer- 
 ica;" and another, "That the clergy and laity assem- 
 bled in Convention shall deliberate in one body, but 
 shall vote separately; and the concurrence of both 
 shall be necessary to give validity to every measure." 
 They appointed the first meeting of the Convention 
 at Philadelphia, and fixed the time to be "the Tues- 
 day before the Feast of St. Michael," 1785, when they 
 "hoped and earnestly desired that the Episcopal 
 churches in the respective States would send their 
 
376 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Clerical and Lay Deputies, duly instructed and author- 
 ized to proceed on the necessary business proposed 
 for their deliberation." 
 
 The clergy of Connecticut, after they had secured 
 the Episcopate, and fixed the time for their first meet- 
 ing at Middletown, reciprocated the courtesy of their 
 brethren in the Middle and Southern States; and Mr. 
 Learning, writing to the Rev. Dr. White from Strat- 
 ford, under date of July 14, 1785, invited him and the 
 rest of the Pennsylvania clergy to be present, and 
 then added: "We must all Avish for a Christian union 
 of all the churches in the thirteen States, for which 
 good purpose we mnst allow private convcmence to give 
 ivau to public tdilitf/. We have no views of usurping 
 any authority over our brothers and neighbors, but 
 wish them to unite with ns in the same friendly man- 
 ner that we are ready and willino- to do with them. 
 I must earnestly entreat you to come upon this oc- 
 casion, for the sake of the peace of the Church, for 
 your own satisfaction, in Avhat friendly manner the 
 clergy here would treat you, not to mention what 
 happiness the sight of you would give to your smcere 
 friend and brother." 
 
 The only response which came from the Philadel- 
 phia clergy to this cordial letter was an invitation to 
 attend the approaching General Convention. But 
 the Church in Connecticut could not, with self-respect, 
 accept this invitation, for the reason that she was now 
 completely organized, with a Bishop at her head ; and 
 the clergy were unwilling to join in any Convention 
 where he was reduced to the level of a Presbyter, or 
 where the validity of his consecration was not fully 
 admitted and recognized. This interchange of civil- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 377 
 
 ities, however, opened the way for a free and inter- 
 esting correspondence, conducted on the one side by 
 Bishop Seabury and the venerable Dr. Cliandler,— who 
 by this time had returned to the scene of his early 
 labors in New Jersey, to await the last summons,— 
 and on the other by the Rev. Dr. William White and 
 the Rev. Dr. William Smith. The latter gentleman, 
 who Avas himself not without desire for a mitre, had 
 been opposed to iXm nonjuring Bishops in Scotland 
 communicating the Episcopate to Connecticut; and 
 he had said some things not very complimentary to 
 the candidate from this State, in his steps to reach 
 the Apostolic office. The change Avhicli came over 
 him will be seen in a later chapter. Dr. Chandler, 
 though clearly of opinion that the Laity ought to be 
 consulted in i\\Q matter of organizing the" Church, 
 still thought that it was "contrary to die established 
 maxims of ecclesiastical polity" to admit them to 
 vote in councils, and he particularly objected to the 
 prominence which had been given them in tlie Con- 
 vention of Virginia. He accepted the constitution 
 of the Church in Connecticut, and believed that the 
 Christian world could not afford one, all things con- 
 sidered, more conformable to the primitive pattern. 
 Bishop Seabury, in a long and closely reasoned letter 
 to Dr. Smith, set forth tlie various objections Avhich 
 rose to his view, and in reference to the Laity said: 
 '^I have as great a regard for them as any man can 
 have. It is for their sake that ministers are ap- 
 pointed in the Church. I have no idea of a<'-f»'ran- 
 clizmg the clergy at the expense of i\\Q Laity, or, in- 
 deed, of aggrandizing them at all. Decent means of 
 living is all they have a right to expect. But I can- 
 
378 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 not conceive that the Laity can, with any propriety, 
 be admitted to sit in judgment on Bishops and Pres- 
 byters, especially when deposition may be the event, 
 because they cannot take away a character which 
 they cannot confer. It is incongruous to every idea 
 of Episcopal government." This sentiment accorded 
 with the arrangement of the Church in Scotland. 
 He was willing to admit them into a participation of 
 the government as far as the external or temporal 
 state of things might require, but he was opposed to 
 their meddling with matters strictly ecclesiastical. In 
 concluding his frank and admira])le letter, which he 
 expected Dr. Smith to lay before the Convention, to- 
 gether with a copy of his letters of consecration which 
 he enclosed, Bishop Seabury gave utterance to his 
 ^most earnest wish to have our Church in all the 
 States so settled that it may be one Church, united 
 in government, doctrine, and discipline; that there 
 may be no divisions among us, no opposition of inter- 
 ests, no clashing of opinions." "Human passions and 
 prejudices," said he, "and, if possible, intirmities, should 
 be laid aside. A wrong step will be attended with 
 dreadful consequences. Patience and prudence must 
 be exercised ; and should there be some circumstances 
 that press hard for a remedy, liasty decisions will not 
 mend them. In doiibtful cases they will probably have 
 a bad eflect. Mary- the Spirit of God be with you at 
 Philadelphia; and as I persuade myself the sole good 
 of His Church is the sole aim of you all, I hope for 
 the best effects from your meeting." 
 
 Not satisfied with this communication, and fearful 
 that his request might still be disregarded, he wrote 
 a few days later to Dr. White, expressing the hope 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 379 
 
 that the several matters which he had pointed out 
 might be reconsidered, and said: "It is a grief to me 
 that I cannot be with you at your ensuing Conven- 
 tion. Neither my circumstances nor my duty will 
 permit it. I am utterly unprovided for so long a 
 journey, not being at present master even of a horse." 
 He sent him also, as he had sent Dr. Smith, a copy 
 of the alterations which it had been thought proper 
 to make in the Liturgy to acconnnodate it to the dif- 
 ferent condition of the civil state, and intimated that, 
 should other changes be made, they must be the 
 "work of time and great deliberation." 
 
 A similar spirit was evinced by the clergy in Mas- 
 sachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire ; and, 
 with eleven laymen, they assembled at Boston, a 
 month after the meeting at Middletown, and delib- 
 erating in one hody, but voting separately, assented 
 substantially to the omissions and alterations in the 
 Liturgy agreed upon by Bishop Seabury and his cler- 
 ical associates. Mr. Parker, in communicating their 
 action to him, said: "The only material ones that we 
 have not agreed to, are the omitting the Second Les- 
 son in the Morning Service, and the Gospel and Ex- 
 hortation in the Baptismal Office. The additional 
 alterations in some of the offices are such as were 
 mentioned at Middletown, but which we had not time 
 to enter upon then. The churches in these States 
 appear very desirous of maintaining a uniformity in 
 divine worship, and for that purpose have voted that 
 the alterations agreed to shall not be adopted till the 
 Convention meet again, that we may have an oppor- 
 tunity of comparing our proposed alterations with 
 those that shall be adopted and enjoined in Connec- 
 ticut, and at the Convention at Philadelphia. . . . 
 
380 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 ^•'We have voted not to send anv deleoate from 
 these States to the Convention at Philadelphia, but 
 only to acquaint them with our proceedings ; and I 
 flatter myself that no other alterations will be adopted 
 by them tlian those we proposed at Middletown, and 
 have agreed to here. If tliey are so prudent as to 
 pursue the same steps, the desired object of a general 
 uniformity will thereby be obtained. As to any fur- 
 ther revision of the Book of Connnon Prayer, I shall 
 strenuously oppose it, till there are three or more 
 Bishops in these States, and then let the power of 
 revising the Prayer Book be vested solely with them 
 and tte clergy. Should the alterations now pro- 
 posed take place, the laity, I have no doubt, will be 
 perfectly contented." 
 
 But the laity in Connecticut were not "contented," 
 and seemed indisposed to adopt any changes except 
 those which were required by their new civil rela- 
 tione For Bishop Seabury, replying to the Rev. Mr. 
 Parker from AValliniiford, near the end of November, 
 mentioned, "Between the time of our parting at Mid- 
 dletown and the clerical meeting at New Haven, [Sep- 
 tember 14,] it was found that the churchpeople in 
 Connecticut were much alarmed at the thoughts of 
 any considerable alterations being made in the Prayer 
 Book; and, upon the whole, it was judged best that no 
 alterations should be attempted at present, but to wait 
 till a little time shall have cooled down the tempers 
 and conciliated the affections of people to each other." 
 
 When the General Convention assembled at Phil- 
 adelphia on the 27th of September, no delegate from 
 any of the New-England States appeared ; but all the 
 other old thirteen States, except Georgia and North 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 381 
 
 Carolina, were represented, embracing the names of 
 sixteen clergymen and twenty-six laymen. The Rev. 
 Dr. William White was chosen chairman, and the ses- 
 sion continued for ten days. Attention Avas directed 
 mainly to these three leading subjects: the General 
 Ecclesiastical Constitution of the meditated union; the 
 formation or adoption of a Common Liturgy; and the 
 measures to be taken to secure an American Episco- 
 pate in the Anglican line of succession. The Eccle- 
 siastical Constitution, and the draught of "an Address 
 to the Most Reverend the Archbishops, and the Right 
 Reverend the Bishops of the Church of England," were 
 first disposed of and then their care was directed to 
 the revisal and amendment of the Liturgy. "If they 
 touched it with trembling hands," very grapliically 
 wrote a New -England Presbyter afterwards to a 
 friend, "I fancy their hands were paralytic during 
 the whole session." When they had completed their 
 work, which was attended with warm controversv, 
 they had not only made the changes necessary to the 
 new and independent relations of the States, ]mt 
 had thoroughly revised the Liturgy, omitting entirely 
 some cherished forms, such as the Athanasian and 
 Nicene Creeds, and reducing the Articles of Religion 
 from thirty-nine to twenty. The Book of Common 
 Prayer, thus "revised and proposed to the use of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church," was published under 
 the direction of a committee of the Convention, "ac- 
 companied with a proper Preface or Address, setting 
 forth the reason and expediency of the alterations." 
 It is known in the early history of the American 
 Church as "The Proposed Book," and it was received 
 with evident distrust in England, and by the true 
 
382 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 friends of Episcopacy in this country. Bishop Sea- 
 biirv, whose letter to Dr. Smith was laid before the 
 Convention to little purpose, spoke of it, and of the 
 authority by which it was set forth, in very temper- 
 ate, yet decided terms, when he delivered his Second 
 Charge to the clergy of Connecticut, at Derby, in 1786. 
 After an unfavorable allusion to the merit of the al- 
 terations, he added: "But the autliority on which they 
 have acted is unknown in the Episcopal Church. The 
 government of the Church by Bishops we hold to 
 have been established by the Apostles acting under 
 the commission of Christ and the direction of the 
 Holy Ghost, and therefore is not to be altered by 
 any power on earth, nor indeed by an angel from 
 heaven. This government they have degraded by 
 lodging the chief authority in a convention of clerical 
 and lay delegates, making their Church Episcopal in 
 its orders, but Presbyterian in its government. Lit- 
 urgies are left more to the prudence and judgment 
 of the governors of the Church; and the primitive 
 practice seems to have been that the Bishop did, with 
 the advice no doubt of his Presbyters, provide a Lit- 
 urgy for the use of his diocese. This ought to have 
 been the case here. Bishops should first have been 
 obtained to preside over those churches. And to 
 those Bishops, w^ith the Proctors of the clergy, should 
 have been committed the business of compiling a 
 Liturgy for the use of the Church through the States. 
 This would have insured unity in doctrine, worship, 
 and discipline through the whole, which upon the 
 present plan will either not be obtained, or, if ob- 
 tained, will not be durable." 
 
 Without lingermg now over these general topics, 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 383 
 
 we may return to look at the condition and advance- 
 ment of the Church in Connecticut under her com- 
 plete organization. Though her members numbered 
 at least 20,000 persons, the long and exhausting war 
 had spread desolation in many of the parishes, so that 
 she was poor, and had little, if anything, in the way 
 of support, to offer her newly consecrated Bishop. 
 But it had been expected from the first that he would 
 become the Rector of the parish at Ncav London, the 
 parish which his father liad served many years before, 
 and which at the time of his arrival w\as^ proceeding, 
 to quote the language of the record, to "reestablish 
 their sacred dwelHng," burnt, when the town was 
 burnt by the British troops, under the connnand of 
 that traitor to his country — Benedict Arnold. New 
 London, therefore, was henceforth the residence of 
 Bishop Seabury, and it was convenient for him to 
 exercise his office in Ehode Island, a State which 
 subsequently came under his Episcopal jurisdiction. 
 Through the influence of this zealous and accom- 
 plished prelate, the churchmen of Connecticut were 
 inspired with fresh hopes and more earnest efforts. 
 The parishes rose from their depression, and qualified 
 according to the law of the State. New ones were 
 formed in favorable localities, and the number of can- 
 didates for Holy Orders increased. 
 
 Of those set apart to the sacred office at the first 
 ordination in Middletown, the Eev. Ashbel Baldwin 
 had been sent to Litchfield, his native place, and the 
 Rev. Philo Shelton had returned to Fairfield, where he 
 had acted in the capacity of a lay reader since the 
 burning of the town by General Tryon in 1779; both 
 were graduates of Yale College. Steps were taken 
 
384 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EriSCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 shortly after the acknowledgment of Independence to 
 erect a new church at Fairfield ; and though divisions 
 and disagreements among the members of the parish 
 as to the location prevented their accomplishment for 
 many years, yet Mr. Shelton was em])loyed to read 
 one third part of the time at a private dwelling in 
 Greenfield, and the remaining two thirds at Stratfield 
 and North Fairfield, where churches had long drawn 
 within their walls faithful worshippers. So deter- 
 mined were the people to have no interruption in 
 their religious services, that when Mr. Shelton, two 
 years after his ordination, was disabled by protracted 
 sickness, they held a legal meeting to adopt measures 
 to suppl\' his place. The quaintness of the original 
 records may provoke a smile; for the meeting being 
 Avarned ''to hire some person to can-// on instead of 
 Mr. Shelton, until he should get better," it was voted 
 that the moderator of the meeting should '^cany/ on''; 
 and still later a definite arrangement was authorized 
 with the contiguous churches to '-hire a man to carr// 
 on for three months." ^ 
 
 At Norwalk, another of the burnt fields of the 
 Church, signs of returning life were early visible. 
 Inunediately after the confiagration which destroyed 
 that town, and before they had reconstructed their 
 own dwellings, the Episcopalians erected a temporary 
 edifice in which to resume the public worship of God^ 
 and the Rev. Mr. Dibblee, the Missionary at Stamford, 
 frequently officiated therein, and strengthened and 
 encouraged the unfortunate flock. When the Con- 
 gregationalists petitioned the General Assembl}' for 
 assistance to rebuild their meeting-house, and received 
 
 1 Rev. N. E. Cornwall's Historical Discourse^ 1851, p. 42. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 385 
 
 £500, which w^as chiefly, if not wholly, paid out of 
 the confiscated property of churchmen who had re- 
 moved to the British Provinces, a similar petition was 
 preferred in 1785 by the members of the Episcopal 
 parish, but refused. Nothing daunted by this par- 
 tiality, they proceeded, under the administration of 
 the Eev. John Bow^den, w^ho had been called to the 
 Rectorship, to "rebuild their church in an elegant 
 manner, the foundation and dimensions continuing 
 the same as before the fire." So great w^ere their 
 unanimity and zeal, that, with the aid of a generous 
 donation from friends in New York, they accomplished 
 their w ork without recourse to taxation. The Eectory 
 w^as also rebuilt, ';nd a lot of four acres added to the 
 already spacious glebe. But w^hile the old church 
 and parsonage have both disappeared, and a later 
 hand^ has been seen guiding the liberality of the 
 people to "good deeds for the house of God and for 
 the offices thereof," the sapling elms which Bowden 
 planted, having struck their roots deep into the earth, 
 and thrown aloft their spreading branches, still grace- 
 fully shade the pleasant avenues that conduct to the 
 new church, and to the finest rural Eectory in Con- 
 necticut. 
 
 In Branford, the churchmen, and those who indi- 
 cated their preference for the Episcopal form of w or- 
 ship, became so numerous that a parish was organized 
 June 2d, 1784, and an ill-proportioned edifice erected 
 and occupied as early as May, 1786. Farther back 
 from the shore, the revival of affection for the Church 
 w^as seen; and at Hartford, the land which had re- 
 mained in the possession of a hostile party during the 
 
 1 Rev. William Cooper Mead, D. D. 
 25 
 
386 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Eevolution, was recovered by legal process, and re- 
 stored to the "associated brethren." At Woodbury, 
 that energetic and faltliful Presbyter, John R. Mar- 
 shall, no longer wilhng to be straitened for room in 
 the Town House, directed the efforts of his parish- 
 ioners to the erection of a church, immediately upon 
 the close of the war, and bore himself a liberal pro- 
 portion of the first expense. The edifice is still stand- 
 ing, and is now one of the oldest Episcopal houses of 
 worship in the Diocese, though so much improved 
 and beautified within the last few years as to have 
 the appeai'ance and freshness of youth. 
 
 These were among the movements which sprung 
 from the hopes and prayers of churchmen awakening 
 to a sense of their responsibilities under a new form 
 of civil government, and with the Apostolic office se- 
 cured and accepted. Up to September 21st, 1786, 
 Bishop Seabury had admitted twenty candidates to 
 the Diaconate, and nineteen of this number to the 
 Priesthood; and on that day, at Derby, he clothed 
 with authority as Deacons, Philo Perry, David Belden, 
 Tillotson Bronson, and Reuben Ives, — all natives of 
 Connecticut and graduates of Yale College. The first 
 was elected a successor to the lamented Beach at New- 
 town; Mr. Bronson was sent as a pioneer into Ver- 
 mont and New Hampshire ; and Mr. Ives was taken 
 for a time as his own assistant at New London. Mr. 
 Belden exercised the ministry for a short time in 
 Fairfield County, but ill health compelled him to 
 relinquish it before he was advanced to the Priestr 
 hood, and his name disappeared from the list of 
 the parochial clergy. He retired upon a farm, and 
 passed the remainder of his days without dishonor- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 387, 
 
 ing the Communion at whose altar he had begun to 
 serve. 
 
 The clergy and laity were entirely united in their 
 efforts to promote the prosperity of the Church, and 
 if any fears or doubts had existed in regard to the 
 election or qualifications of their Episcopal Head, they 
 were dissipated by personal intercourse with him, and 
 by the ability, frankness, prudence, and firmness with 
 which he exercised his office, and weighed all the 
 measures that were to assimilate our connnunion to 
 Jerusalem of old, '^builded as a city that is compact 
 together." 
 
 ~i, it. 
 
 J 
 
388 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 CHANGES IX THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, AND THEIR RE- 
 CEPTION IN ENGLAND; CONSECRATION OF DRS. PROVOOST 
 AND WHITE; THE CHURCH IX CONNECTICUT, AND CORRE- 
 SPONDENCE OF BISHOPS AND CLERGY. 
 
 I 
 
 A. D. 1786-1789. 
 
 It has been stated that Bishop Seabmy and his 
 olergy at first made no other changes in the Book of 
 Common Prayer except those which were necessary 
 to adapt it to the new^ and independent rekitions of 
 the Government. But in 1786 he set forth "The 
 Communion 0{fice, or, Order for the Administration 
 of the Holy Eucharist," for the use of the Episcopal 
 churches in Connecticut. It followed, with a few ver- 
 bal alterations, the form in the Scottish Liturgy, 
 rather than the arrangement of the office in the Eng- 
 lish Liturgy; and the Connecticut clergy of that period 
 became very much attached to it, not only from the 
 recommendation of their Bishop, but from the convic- 
 tion that this order was in more exact conformity with 
 the earliest usage of the Christian Church. By an 
 article of the Concordate, Bishop Seabury "agreed to 
 take a serious view of the Communion Office recom- 
 mended by the Scottish prelates, and if found agree- 
 able to the genuine standards of antiquity, to give his 
 sanction to it, and by gentle methods of argument and 
 persuasion to endeavor, as they had done, to intro- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 389 
 
 duce it by degrees into practice, without the com- 
 pulsion of authority on the one side, or the prejudice 
 of former customs on the other." 
 
 The reception in England of "the Proposed Book" 
 of Common Prayer, as set forth by the General Con- 
 vention assembled at Philadelphia in the autumn of 
 1785, was unfavorable; and the application for an Epis- 
 copate in the Anglican hue w\as prudently held for fu- 
 ture disposal. A letter, full of Christian affection and 
 kindly regard for their Episcopal brethren in Amer- 
 ica, was signed and sent over by the Archbishops of 
 Canterbury and York, and the seventeen Bishops of 
 England, m answer to the formal address of that body. 
 Wliile they evinced a desire to further the prayer of 
 the Address, and w-ere disposed to make every proper 
 allowance for the difficulties which surrounded the 
 Church in this country, these prelates at the same 
 time suggested their fears "that in the proceedings 
 of the Convention some alterations had been adopted 
 or intended w^hich those difficulties did not seem to 
 justify." They w^aited for an explanation upon this 
 point, and closed their letter by saying, "We cannot 
 but be extremely cautious, lest we should be the in- 
 struments of establishing an Ecclesiastical system which 
 w^ill be called a branch of the Church of England, but 
 afterwards may possibly appear to have departed from 
 it essentially, either in doctrine or discipline." 
 
 The Convention reassembled at Philadelphia on the 
 3d Tuesday in June, 1786, and the same States w^ere 
 again represented. The Rev. David Griffith of Vir- 
 ginia w^as elected President; and the Hon. Francis 
 Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, and a grandson in the maternal line of the 
 
390 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Bishop of Worcester, was chosen Secretary. The let- 
 ter of the English prelates Avas read, and the draught 
 of an answer adopted, engrossed, and signed by the 
 nnembers present, and delivered to the Committee of 
 Correspondence to be forwarded to England. That 
 Committee had power to call the Convention together 
 at Wilmington, Delaware, when a majority of them 
 should judge it to be necessary. They had learned 
 that political obstacles no longer hindered the success 
 of their application ; for the Minister at the Court of 
 St. James, tlie late President of Congress, and the 
 Secretary for Foreign Allairs, had all furthered the 
 pious design of securing the Episcopate, and shown 
 to the Primate of England tliat it was not likely to 
 receive any discountenance from the civil powers of 
 our land. ^'It was a prudent provision of the Con- 
 vention," says Bishop White, "to instruct the depu- 
 ties from the respective States to apply to the civil 
 authorities existing in them, respectively, for their 
 sanction of the measure, in order to avoid one of the 
 impediments which had stood in the way of Bishop 
 Seabury." 
 
 In regard to the doubts of their continuing to hold 
 the same essential articles of faith and discipline, they 
 assured their Lordships that they neither had de- 
 parted, nor proposed to depart from the doctrines of 
 the Church of England. "We have retained," said 
 the Convention, "the same discipline and forms of 
 worship, as far as was consistent with our civil con- 
 stitutions; and we have made no alterations or omis- 
 sions in the Book of Common Prayer, but such as 
 that consideration prescribed, and such as were calcu- 
 lated to remove objections, which it appeared to us 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 391 
 
 more conducive to union and general content to ob- 
 viate than to dispute. It is well known that many 
 great and pious men of the Church of England have 
 long wished for a revision of the Liturgy, which it 
 was deemed imprudent to liazard, lest it might be- 
 come a precedent for repeated and improper altera- 
 • tions. This is with us the proper season for such a 
 revision. We are now settling and orderin^r the af- 
 fairs of our Church, and if wisely done, we shall have 
 reason to promise ourselves all the advantages that 
 can result from stability and union." They added, in 
 conclusion: "As our Church in sundry of these States 
 has already proceeded to the election of persons to be 
 sent for consecration, and others may soon proceed to 
 the same, we pray to be favored with as speedy an 
 answer to this our second Address, as in your great 
 goodness you were pleased to give to our former 
 one." 
 
 At this June session of the Convention it was found 
 necessary to review the Constitution proposed in 1785; 
 and, besides other changes, the Eighth Article, the 
 tenor of which had been particularly excepted to by 
 the Eastern clergy, and, as we shall see, by the Eng- 
 lish prelates, was so altered as to restrict to a Bishop 
 the power of pronouncing upon any one in Holy 
 Orders sentence of deposition or degradation from 
 the ministry. The different State Conventions had 
 given such instructions to their delegates, in regard 
 to some of the former proceedings, that prudence 
 dictated the propriety of leaving the General Consti- 
 tution and tlie proposed Liturgy for future settlement. 
 They had indeed no authority to ratify the one, or 
 revise and adopt the other. But the Convention went 
 
392 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 out of its way to strike an unhappy blow at Connec- 
 ticut, a blow which she keenly felt, and which threat- 
 ened to be productive of lasting discord and disunion. 
 The session had no sooner opened than an attempt 
 was made to require "the clergy present to produce 
 their letters of orders, or declare by whom they were 
 ordained;" and, though unsuccessful, it was renewed on 
 the same day, in a more offensive shape, by the Rev. 
 Mr. Provoost, who had already been the originator of 
 a similar movement in his own State. His motion, 
 "That this Convention will resolve to do no act that 
 shall imply the validity of ordinations made by Dr. 
 Seabury," was defeated: New York, New Jersey, and 
 South Carolina voting in the affirmative ; and Penn- 
 sylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, in the 
 negative. Then it was "resolved unanimously^. That 
 it be recommended to this Church in the States here 
 represented, not to receive to the pastoral charge, 
 within their respective limits, clergymen professing 
 canonical subjection to any Bisliop, in any State or 
 country, other than Bishops who may be duly settled 
 in the States represented in this Convention." So 
 good a man as Dr. White was the mover of this reso- 
 lution, which he afterwards explained as intended to 
 reach the alleged fact that those ordained under the 
 Scottish succession and settling in the represented 
 churches were understood by some to be under ca- 
 nonical subjection to the ordaining Bishop. But the 
 only clergyman in the Convention (Joseph Pilmore) 
 who had received his Orders from Dr. Seaburv, de- 
 nied that any such canonical subjection had been ex- 
 acted of him ; and Dr. White himself, though offering 
 the resolution as a prudent precaution, professed to 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 393 
 
 believe that there was no ground for the allegation. 
 The next morning the point was pushed yet farther, 
 on the motion of a clergyman from South Carolina, 
 when it was again unanimously resolved, "That it 
 be recommended to the Conventions of the Church, 
 represented in this General Convention, not to admit 
 any person as a Minister within their respective limits, 
 who shall receive ordination from any Bisliop residing 
 in America during the application now pending to the 
 English Bishops for Episcopal consecration." "What 
 a ridiculous figure must they make," wrote Mr. Bass 
 of Newburyport to a brother clergyman, after hearing 
 of their action, "in i\\Q eyes of every sectary or anti- 
 Episcopalian! In the name of wonder, what objec- 
 tions can be made against the validity of Dr. Sea- 
 bury's ordinations, that may not as well be made 
 against those of the English Bishops?" 
 
 Thus matters stood upon the reassembling of the 
 Convention at Wilmington, Delaware, in the ensuing 
 October, to hear the answer of the Archbishops of 
 England to their second Address. The answer, more 
 favorable than had been expected, was framed at a 
 meeting of the Bishops in London to take into con- 
 sideration the whole of the communications which had 
 been forwarded; and a brief extract will best show 
 their sentiments of fraternal regard, and their solici- 
 tude for the integrity of the Church. "It was im- 
 possible," said the Archbishops, writing for all their 
 brethren, "not to observe with concern, that, if the 
 essential doctrines of our common faith were retained, 
 less respect, however, was paid to our Liturgy than 
 its own excellence, and your declared attachment to 
 it, had led us to expect; not to mention a variety 
 
391 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 of verbal alterations, of the necessity or propriety of 
 which Ave are by no means satisfied, we saw with 
 o-rief that two of the Confessions of our Christian 
 faith, respectable for their antiquity, have been en- 
 tirely laid a^ide; and that even in that called the 
 Apostles' Creed, an article is omitted which was 
 thout^ht necessary to be inserted, with a view to a 
 particular heresy, in a very early age of the Church, 
 and has ever since had the venerable sanction of uni- 
 versal reception. Nevertheless, as a proof of the sin- 
 cere desire which we feel to continue in spiritual com- 
 munion with the members of your Church in Amer- 
 ica, and to complete the Orders of your ministry, and 
 trusting that the connnunications which we shall 
 make to yon, on the subject of these and some other 
 alterations, will have their desired effect, we have, 
 even under these circumstances, prepared a Bill for 
 conveying to us the powers necessary for this purpose. 
 It will in a few days he presented to Parliament, and 
 we have the })est reasons to hope that it will receive 
 the assent of the Legislature. This Bill will enable the 
 Arcli])isliops and Bishops to give Episcopal consecra- 
 tion to the persons who shall be recommended, with- 
 out requiring from them any oaths or subscriptions 
 inconsistent with the situation in which the late Revo- 
 lution has placed them; upon condition that the full 
 satisfaction of the sufficiency of the persons recom- 
 mended, which you ofler to us in your Address, be 
 given to the Archbisliops and Bishops." 
 
 This ^-fuU satisfaction" had reference as well to good 
 learning and doctrinal soundness as to purity of man- 
 ners; and under the head of subscription they re- 
 marked: "We, therefore, most earnestly exhort you, 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 395 
 
 that, previously to the time of your making such sub- 
 scription, you restore to its integrity the Apostles' 
 Creed, in which you have omitted an article merely, 
 as it seems, from misapprehension of the sense in which 
 it is understood by our Church ; nor can we help add- 
 ing, that we hope j'ou will think it but a decent proof 
 of the attachment which you profess to the services of 
 your Liturgy, to give to the other two Creeds a place 
 in your Book of Common Prayer, even though the 
 use of them shoidd be left discretional. We should 
 be inexcusable too, if at the time when you are re- 
 questing the establishment of Bishops in your Church, 
 we did not strongly represent to you that the eighth 
 article of your Ecclesiastical Constitution appears to 
 us to be a degradation of the clerical, and still more of 
 the Episcopal character. We persuade ourselves, that 
 in your ensuing Convention some alteration will be 
 thought necessary in this article, before this reaches 
 you; or, if not, that due attention will be given to 
 it in consequence of our representation." 
 
 All the matters so earnestly and affectionately rec- 
 ommended by the English prelates received the prompt 
 attention of the Convention, and the cherished forms 
 which had been omitted from the Liturgy were at 
 once replaced, except the Athanasian Creed, which it 
 was resolved not to restore. In the full conviction 
 that the negotiations were now satisfactorily con- 
 cluded, a third, but brief address was adopted by the 
 Convention, and the members proceeded to sign tes- 
 timonials in the form prescribed by the Archbishops 
 in ftivor of Rev. Dr. Samuel Provoost, Rev. Dr. Wil- 
 ham Wliite, and Rev. David Griffith, Bishops elect, re- 
 spectively, of New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. 
 
396 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Two of these gentlemen, (Drs. Provoost and White,) 
 on the second day of the ensuing month, embarked 
 for England; the other was too poor to bear the ex- 
 pense of the journey, and the Church in the State 
 over which he was to preside had not raised the requi- 
 site funds to reheve him of the burden. On their 
 arrival in London they were introduced to the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury by Mr. Adams, the American 
 Ambassador, ''who, in this particular, and in every 
 instance in which his personal attentions could be 
 either of use or an evidence of his respect and kind- 
 nesS; conthuied to manifest his concern for the inter- 
 ests of a Church of which he was not a member.'* 
 After some delay, they were consecrated in the Chnpel 
 of Lambeth Palace, on the 4th of February, 1787, by 
 the two Archbishops, assisted by the Bishop of Bath 
 and Wells and the Bishop of Peterborough; and to- 
 wards the end of the same month they returned to 
 America, arriving in New York on the afternoon of 
 Easter Sunday, having had a long and tempestuous 
 voyage, during which Bishop Provoost was so ill that 
 serious apprehensions were felt for his recovery. 
 
 No General Convention was again held until the 
 summer of 1789, when, in obedience to the require- 
 ments of the first article of the Constitution, Delegates 
 from the States previously represented reassembled 
 in Christ Church, Pliiladelphia, — Bishop White being 
 present, and presiding by the right of his office. 
 
 But before we look into their deliberations, let us 
 come back to Connecticut, and examine the progress 
 of the Church here during this critical period under 
 the Episcopate of Seabury. No canons and no con- 
 stitution had been adopted, and the ecclesiastical af- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 397 
 
 fairs of the Diocese were wholly managed by the 
 Bishop and his clergy, who assembled at stated tunes, 
 as had been the practice of the Missionaries before 
 the Revolution. At such meetings all differences be- 
 tween clergymen, and all troubles in parishes were, 
 if possible, adjusted, and candidates for orders were 
 examined, recommended, and approved, and ordina- 
 tions frequently held. The Legislature of the State 
 had enacted a general law to protect all societies and 
 congregations instituted for public religious worship; 
 and the Church, in the absence of anything specially 
 fitted to her rules and customs, was obliged to pro- 
 ceed under this enactment in organizing and estab- 
 lishing her parishes. As yet the number of clergymen 
 was insufficient to supply the old cures, and another 
 vacancy was created in February, 1787, by the death 
 of Newton, so long the honored Hector of the church 
 at Ripton. Zealous eflforts however were made to ex- 
 tend the influence of Episcopacy, and clunches soon 
 arose at Chatham (now Portland), East Haddam, and 
 Middle Haddam, on the Connecticut Pvivcr; at Grauby 
 and Southington, in Hartford County; at East Plym- 
 outh, Harwinton, and Northfield, in Litchfield County; 
 and at East Haven, Bethany, Hamden, and Meriden, in 
 New Haven County. The organization of the parishes 
 in Southington, Meriden, and Hamden was due to the 
 ministrations of the Rev. Reuben Ives, who, in the be- 
 ginning of 1788, had accepted the Rectorship of the 
 church in Cheshire, his native place, for two thirds 
 of the time, with the privilege of occupying the re- 
 maining third in Missionary duties in the neighboring 
 towns. The church in New Cambridge (now Bristol), 
 which had been occupied for thirty years, was aban- 
 
398 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 doned upon the erection of the edifice at East Plyni' 
 outh, then more conveniently located for the major- 
 ity of worshippers. But a new parish was organized 
 in Bristol in 1834, which has outstripped its neigh- 
 bor in prosperity, and has the promise of vigorous 
 continuance. On the 28th of August, 1785, the Rev. 
 Mr. Hubbard "opened the Episcopal Church at Beth- 
 any by the name of Christ Church," and preached, and 
 administered the Sacrament of Baptism to seven in- 
 fants. The church at New London (St. James's) was 
 consecrated September 20, 1787, Bishop Seabury hav- 
 ing previously held his services in the Court-House; 
 but he administered the Holy Communion, usually 
 every Sunday, in the large parlor of the parsonage. 
 
 Everything seemed to have been done by the South- 
 ern Conventions to alienate the affections of the New- 
 England clergy, especially of those resident in Con- 
 necticut, where the parishes were now even stronger 
 than in New York. A breach once made in a family 
 or a church is more easily widened than healed, and 
 the fast friends of the American Episcopate on the 
 other side of the Atlantic watched the threatened 
 rupture with evident anxiety. The civil disabilities 
 of the Scottish Church had not yet been removed by 
 Act of Parliament, and it was therefore impossible, 
 without conflicting with the State, to recognize in 
 England the Orders of Bishop Seabury. "But with 
 you" in America, wrote the Rev. Jacob Duche, a ref- 
 ugee clergyman from Philadelphia, then in London, 
 and accustomed to the friendly ear of the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, " there can remain but one point to be 
 settled, and that is the validity of his consecration 
 from proofs adduced of the uninterrupted succession 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 399 
 
 in the Church of Scotland." No one manifested such 
 personal hostihty, and persisted in such uncourteous 
 acts towards the Bishop of Connecticut, as the Rev. 
 Dr. Samuel Provoost. He accused him of intriguing 
 to defeat the application for the English Episcopal °, 
 and was prominent among the "few people in New 
 York, who, from old grudges on the score of politics, 
 had determined to circumscribe, as far as they possi- 
 bly could, his Episcopal authority." 
 
 The Connecticut clergy, alarmed for their situation, 
 and bent on vindicating their own rights, prepared 
 to counteract the preposterous measures which were 
 leading inevitably to a schism in the Church. The- 
 met at Wallingford on the 27th of February, 1787 
 and, apprehensive that they might be compelled 
 to fall under the defective Southern establishment, 
 should the providence of God deprive them of their 
 Episcopal Head, they decided to send another Pres- 
 byter to Scotland for consecration, as coadjutor Bishop 
 to Dr. Seabury. The able and iliithful Learning was 
 first selected to undertake the voyage ; but the same 
 reasons which had caused him to decline the former 
 election operated now in still greater force. Then 
 the guileless and godly Mansfield was chosen; but he 
 shrunk from the burden as one too oppressive for him 
 to bear;^ and finally the Rev. Abraham Jarvis was 
 elected, and deputed to proceed to Scotland for con- 
 secration. "It was intended," said his learned son, re- 
 marking on the transaction, "to obtain the canonical 
 number of Bishops in New England of the Scottish 
 line, and thus preserve a purely primitive and Apos- 
 tolic Church, holding fast the form of sound words, 
 and the faith once delivered to the saints." 
 
 1 Church Documents, Vol. II. p. 30G. 
 
400 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 These steps were taken with due precaution. Dr 
 Seabury, who had kept up a correspondence with 
 Bishop Skinner of Scotland, infonned him at once of 
 the action of the clergy, and spoke of it not only with 
 approval, but with the hope that it might have "the 
 fidl approbation of his good and highly respected 
 brethren in Scotland," whose answer would be awaited 
 before the person fixed upon departed for the voyage. 
 Delays are not always dangerous; and when Bishop 
 Skinner, for himself and the Scottish prelates, re- 
 plied to this conununication, the summer had come, 
 and "the English Consecrate" had arrived in Amer- 
 ica. He suggested that they could hardly refuse their 
 brotherly assistance in the measure desired, or yet 
 take upon them to impose their own Liturgy as the 
 sole condition of compliance. "Should this be the 
 case," said he, "and these new Bishops either refuse 
 to hold communion with you, or grant it only on 
 terms with which you cannot in conscience comply, 
 there would then be no room for us to hesitate. But 
 fain would we hope better things of these your Amer- 
 ican brethren, and that there will be no occasion for 
 two separate communions among the Episcopalians 
 of the United States. 
 
 "We are well persuaded that neither you nor your 
 clergy would wish to give any unnecessary cause of 
 disgust on either side of the Atlantic; and prudence, 
 you must be aware, bids us turn our eyes to our own 
 situation, which, though it affords no excuse for shrink- 
 ing from duty, will, at the same time, justify our not 
 stepping beyond our line any farther than duty re- 
 quires." 
 
 This was a truly catholic letter, breathing a most 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 401 
 
 benevolent spirit; and Bishop Seabury, in answerin^r 
 it, expressed his fears that the suggestion could nol 
 be innnediately acted upon, and then remarked: "The 
 public papers have announced that the Episcopal clergy 
 in^ Scotland now [November 7, 1788] pray for the 
 King by name. I hope it is true, and flatter nnself 
 It will free them, ere long, from many embarrass- 
 ments. 1 shall still pursue measures for uniting with 
 the Southei-n churches, and shall acquiesce in any 
 tenns consistent with sound ecclesiastical principles. 
 But I cannot give up what I deem essential to Epis- 
 copal government, by admitting laymen into any 
 share of it, farther than the external or temporal state 
 of things may require. To subject a Bishop to the 
 censure of a consistory of Presbyters and Laymen, 
 even with a Bi.shop at their head, I cannot consent! 
 From that thraldom the Church in Connecticut nmst, 
 if it please God, be preserved." ^ 
 
 Nor was he slow to put in execution his good pur- 
 poses. Before the prudent reply of Bishop Skinner 
 was written, and before a month had passed away 
 after the arrival of the new American prelates. Bishop 
 Seabury addressed a letter of friendly congratulation 
 to his most unscrupulous opponent, and kindly in- 
 vited him to be present at a stated convocation of the 
 clergy of Connecticut, to be held at Stamford on the 
 Monday in Vvliitsun week. "You must," said he in 
 this letter, "be equally sensible with me of the pres- 
 ent unsettled state of the Church of England in this 
 country, and of the necessity of union and concord 
 among all its members in the United States of Amer- 
 ica, not only to give stability to it, but to fix it on 
 
 1 Annals of Scottish Episcopacy. 
 26 
 
402 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 its true and proper foundation. Possibly nothing will 
 contribute more to this end than uniformity in wor- 
 ship and discipline among the churches of the differ- 
 ent States. It will be my happiness to be able to 
 promote so good and necessary a work; and I take 
 the liberty to propose, that, before any decided steps 
 be taken, there be a meeting of yourself and Bishop 
 White and me, at such time and place as shall be 
 most convenient, to try whether some plan cannot 
 be adopted that shall, in a quiet and eflectual way, 
 secure the great object which I trust we should all 
 heartily rejoice to see accomplislied. For my own 
 part, I cannot help thinking that the most likely 
 method will l)e to retain the present Common Prayer 
 Book, accommodating it to the civil Constitution of 
 the United States. The government of the Church, 
 you know, is already settled. A body of Canons will, 
 however, be wanted, to give energy to the govern- 
 ment, and ascertain its operation." 
 
 In a like spirit of frateruid regard lie addressed 
 overtures for peace and union to Bishop White, who 
 met them with all the gentleness and placability of 
 his nature, and expressed himself as ready to join 
 in any plan, with a view to this noble end, not 
 materially different from that set forth in the pro- 
 posed Ecclesiastical Constitution. Other persons be- 
 sides the prelates became engaged in discussing the 
 points at issue. Parker of Boston, alive to the ne- 
 cessity of union, that the Church throughout the 
 country might be one in all the essentials of doctrine, 
 discipline, and worship, wrote frequent and pacifica- 
 tory letters to Bishop White and to the Bishop and 
 clergy of Connecticut. His prominence had marked 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 403 
 
 hnn out for a mitre in the minds of New-England 
 churchmen in case the Episcopate should be given to 
 Massachusetts,^ but he was much more anxious to see 
 the schism which was threatened avoided than to at- 
 tarn this high distinction. The beloved and venerated 
 Leammg, always watchful for the true interests of the 
 Church, availed himself of a private opportunitv to 
 open a correspondence with the Bishop of Pennsyl- 
 vania and urge the same great ends. Dr. William 
 Samuel Johnson, the distinguished statesman, had 
 been appointed one of the Delegates from Connecti- 
 cut to attend the Convention in Philadelphia, which 
 was charged with the business of framing the Fed- 
 eral Constitution; and he was not only a medium of 
 conveying the letters and messages of his Pastor to 
 him, but he must have impressed Bishop White with 
 the truth and justness of what Dr. Leaming had writ- 
 ten m closing his first communication, that "The 
 Church in this State would be pleased to have the 
 old forms altered as httle as may be; but for the sake 
 of union, they will comply as fiir as they possibly can. 
 And I do not see how ,i union can be more advan- 
 tageous to us than it will be to you. If it is recipro- 
 cal, both ought to give way, and not to be too rigid." 
 Another letter, written three weeks later, indicated 
 the nature of the response to his suggestions, and re- 
 newed the subject with increased zeal and earnest- 
 ness. What he wished, as a first step towards the 
 union, was to bring the three Bishops together for 
 
 1 Upon the decease of Bishop Bass, he was elected his successor, and 
 was consecrated Bishop of Massachusetts, at the General Convention in 
 New lork, on Friday the 14th of September, 1804. He died on the 6th 
 of December m the same year, and before he had discharged a single duty 
 oftheEpiscopa' o^ce. « "^ 
 
404 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 friendly conference, and he saw no impediment in the 
 way unless Bishop Provoost persisted in his refusal 
 to ha^'e any Christian fellowship Avith one towards 
 nrhom he appears to have cherished a deeply seated 
 animosity. Clear in his conviction that the clergy of 
 New York did not share in the prejudices of their 
 chief Pastor, Learning urged the personal interview as 
 a measure that would raise him in their estimation, and 
 "fix their wihin^; obedience to him all his life after." 
 On this ground he solicited the interposition and good 
 offices of Bisliop White, and then added: "I hope you 
 will not esteem nie over-officious in this business; if 
 you do, my apology is this, — I have been forty years 
 in the service of the Church, and I believe I am the 
 oldest clerg3rTnaTi in America, and I am very desirous 
 to see it complete before I die. God bless 3 our labors 
 for the converting of sinners and the building up of 
 saints.'* 
 
 The real argument in all this correspondence was 
 with the pens of the North, so far as it related to the 
 advantage and necessity of one united Church; and 
 the prospect of securing this brightened under the 
 conciliatory course of Bishop White, and the kind 
 mediation of the cler<rv of Massachusetts and New 
 Hampshire, especially of the Rev. Mr. Parker. He 
 never omitted an occasion to further what was so 
 much in his heart and in his prayers; and as the time 
 drew near for the meeting of the General Convention, 
 he was at the head of a measure which was to luring 
 that body to a direct decision on the validity of the 
 Scottish Episcopacy, with a view to the three Bishops, 
 now in the States, joining in the consecration of a 
 fourth. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 405 
 
 r 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 ELECTION OF BISHOP FOR MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW HAMP- 
 SHIRE; SIGNS OF CHRISTIAN HARMONY; GENERAL CONVEN- 
 TION AT PHILADELPHIA; COMPLETION OF THE UNION OF 
 THE CHURCH IN ALL THE STATES, AND ADOPTION OF THE 
 BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 
 
 A. D. 1789-1790. 
 
 Six Presbyters, representing the Church in Massa- 
 chusetts and New Hampshire, met at Salem on the 
 4th day of June, 1789, and after recording their grati- 
 tude to the Supreme Governor of the universe tov his 
 goodness in "blessing the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 m the United States, by supplying it with a complete 
 and entire Ministry, and by affording to many of her 
 communion the benefit of the labors, advice, and gov- 
 ernment of the successors of the Apostles," they pro- 
 ceeded to "nominate, elect, and appoint" their diair- 
 man, the Rev. Edward Bass, to be their Bishop, and 
 promised and engaged, over their own signatures, to 
 receive him as such when canonically consecrated 
 and invested with the 'Apostolic office and powers. 
 They then addressed the Bishops of Connecticut, New 
 York, and Pennsylvania, praying for their united as- 
 sistance in consecrating their brother; and authorized 
 and empowered the Rev. Samuel Parker to transmit 
 copies of their action to each of these prelates, and 
 also appointed him "their agent to appear at any 
 
406 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Convention to be holden at Pennsylvania or New 
 York, and to treat upon any measures that might 
 tend to promote an union of the Episcopal Church 
 throughout the United States of America, or that might 
 prove advantageous to the interests of said Church." 
 
 The Convention commencing its session in Phila- 
 delphia, July 28, 1789, was the first which assembled 
 on this continent in the fidl likeness of that ancient 
 council at Jerusalem, composed of Apostles, and elders, 
 and brethren. Fortunately Bishop Provoost was ab- 
 sent ; and Mr. Parker, unable to be present himself, 
 communicated his instructions to Bishop AVhite, who 
 laid them before the Convention, together with two let- 
 ters from Dr. Seabury, — one addressed to Dr. Smith, 
 and the other to himself, — expressing the hope that 
 all ditficulties might be removed, and reiterating the 
 grand objection in Connecticut to the power of Lay 
 delegates in the proposed Constitution, that " it made 
 them part of ay«t//t7(^/ consistory for the trial and dep- 
 rivation of clergymen." The signs of Christian har- 
 mony at once grew more disthict, for upon the read- 
 ing of these letters it was ''Resolved unanimously, 
 that it is the opinion of this Convention, that the con- 
 secration of the Right Rev. Dr. Seabury to the Epis- 
 copal office is valid." That was a great step in ad- 
 Tance of all former proceedings. It put to rest 
 forever a matter which had been the occasion of 
 many misapprehensions, and opened the door for 
 perfect reconciUation. A melancholy event, too, had 
 its chastening effect upon the members. The Rev. 
 David Griffith, D. D., who had relinquislied his ap- 
 pointment as Bishop elect of Virginia, and had come 
 as a delegate from that State to the Convention, died, 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 407 
 
 after an acute illness, on the sixth day of the session, 
 at the house of Bishop White; and among the resolu- 
 tions of respect to his memory which were adopted, 
 was one "that the clergy of all denominations within 
 the city be invited to attend his funeral." 
 
 With feehngs tinged by the sorrow of this event, 
 the Convention approached the deliberate considera- 
 tion of the act of the clergy of Massachusetts and 
 New Hampshire, and finally, with entire unanimitj^, 
 resolved that "a complete order of Bishops, derived 
 as well under the English as the Scots line of Epis- 
 copacy, doth now subsist within the United States 
 of America;" and that Bishops Wliite, Provoost, and 
 Seabury were fully competent to every proper act 
 and duty of the Episcopal office and character in this 
 country, as well in respect to the consecration of other 
 Bishops, and tne ordering of Priests and Deacons, as 
 for the government of the Church, according to such 
 rules, canons, and institutions as then existed, or here- 
 after might be duly made and ordained. Another res- 
 olution embraced a formal request to Bishops White 
 and Provoost to join with the Right Rev. Dr. Seabury 
 in consecrating the Bishop elect of the Eastern clergy; 
 proposing, however, that, previous to such consecra- 
 tion, the churches in the New-England States should 
 meet in this Convention, to be adjourned for that 
 purpose, and settle certain articles of union and dis- 
 cipline among all the churches. If any difficulty or 
 delicacy remained with the two first-named Bishops, 
 or either of them, concerning their compliance with 
 the request, the Convention resolved to address the 
 Archbishops and Bishops of England, hoping thereby 
 to remove the difficulty and enable them freely to 
 proceed. 
 
il 
 
 408 HISTORY OF THE ^PISCOFAL CHURCH 
 
 The author and mover of these resohitions was the 
 Kev. Dr. Smith, who afterwards referred to his course 
 herein as the happiest incident of his hfe, and the best 
 service he had ever been able to render to the Church. 
 With Bishop White, he was placed upon the com- 
 mittee to prepare the address to the English prelates, 
 to forward the necessary answers to the communica- 
 tions which liad been received, and also to notify the 
 Eight Rev. Dr. Seabury, and the Eastern and other 
 churches not yet represented in the Convention, of 
 "the time and place to which it would adjourn, and 
 request their attendance at the same, for the good 
 purposes of union and general government." 
 
 Thus the wall which had so lono; stood between 
 the two great parties was eflectually broken down; 
 and though Provoost had sagacity enough to foresee 
 this result, yet as late as February 24, 1789, he was 
 still implacable; for, writing to his Episcopal brother 
 in Philadelphia, and referring to Connecticut, he said: 
 "An invitation to the Church in that State to meet 
 us in General Convention, I conceive to be neither 
 necessary nor proper; not necessary, because I am 
 informed that they have already appointed two per- 
 sons to attend the next General Convention, without 
 our invitation; not proper, because it is so f)ublicly 
 known that they have adopted a form of church gov- 
 ernment which renders them inadmissible as members 
 of the Convention or union." 
 
 The action previously described will prove how 
 little regard was paid to his prejudices and personal 
 dislikes. Bishop White shared with him in the convic- 
 tion that they were both under implied pledges to the 
 English prelates not to join in the act of consecration 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 409 
 
 until there were three Bishops in this country of the 
 Anglican line, — that being the canonical number of 
 consecrators; but he did not share with Inm in his 
 views of the validity of the Scottish Episcopacy. On 
 that point he was entirely satisfied ; and if he did not 
 attempt to remove the scruples of his stubborn brother, 
 he certainlv made the amiable effort to conciliate him, 
 and bring him into the current that was drifting them 
 all towards union, peace, and love. 
 
 No sooner had Bishop Seabury learned the proceed- 
 ings of the Convention, and received the '^ truly re- 
 spectable invitation" to be present at its adjourned 
 meeting, than steps were taken to comply with the 
 request. The second article of the General Constitu- 
 tion had been so amended as to wliollv remove his 
 first and chief difficidt}^ respecting Lay representa- 
 tion, and that, too, upon the good and wise principle 
 which he had himself laid down, namely, ^''that there 
 may be a strong and efficacious union between 
 churches where the usages are in some respects dif- 
 ferent." 
 
 A special Convention of the clergy of Connecticut 
 was held in Stratfield, September 15th, 1789, to delib- 
 erate upon the invitation from Philadelphia. Dr. 
 Leaming presided in the absence of the Bishop ; and 
 the letters and papers relative to a general union 
 having been read, it was voted, on motion of the 
 Eev. Mr. Bowden, that the Convention would send 
 clerical delegates. The next day Hubbard and Jar- 
 vis were chosen, and "empowered to confer with 
 the General Convention on the subject of making 
 alterations in the Book of Common Prayer; but 
 the ratification of such alterations was expressly re- 
 
 
 III 
 ft 
 
 I 
 I 
 
410 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 JH 
 III 
 
 II 
 
 IB 
 
 served, to rest with the Bishop and clergy of the 
 Church." 
 
 The way was particularly smoothed for the cordial 
 reception of the New-England delegates. The Eev. 
 Dr. Smith offered the hospitalities of his house to the 
 Bishop of Connecticut, and begged him to join the 
 Eev. Dr. Moore of New York in making it his home 
 during his stay in Philadelphia. Now that the way 
 had been prepared by others, he could not do too much 
 to furtlier the grand scheme of perfect harmony and 
 brotherly agreement; and in connnunicating the action 
 of the Convention upon the application of the Eastern 
 clergy, he closed his letter to Bishop Seabury thus: 
 ^'The College of Philadelphia have, on Dr. White's 
 recommendation and mine, granted the degree of 
 D. D. to the Rev. Mr. Bass and Mr. Parker, which 
 we thought a proper compliment to the New-England 
 churches. We are sorry we forgot to pay the same 
 compliment to the venerable old Mr. Leaming, of the 
 Connecticut Church. I hope he will accompany you 
 to Philadelphia, and receive that compliment from us 
 in person, if he has nowhere else received it before." ^ 
 
 The Convention met, pursuant to adjournment, on 
 the 29th day of September, and Bishop Seabury with 
 the representatives of the clergy in Connecticut, and 
 the Rev. Dr. Parker of Boston, attended and produced 
 their official documents and testimonials. Some minds 
 were still angry and unsettled, and a danger on the 
 score of pohtics arose immediately upon their arrivid. 
 Bishop Seabury had been chaplain to a British regi- 
 ment during the w-ar; and the flict that he was now 
 a pensioner of the Crown, receiving half-])ay for his 
 
 1 He received it from Columbia College, N. Y., the same year. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 411 
 
 services, had come to the knowledge of certain Lay 
 delegates who professed to entertain scruples in re- 
 gard to the propriety of admitting him as a member 
 of the Convention. But the mild and judicious reply 
 of the Bishop of Pennsylvania to the only gentleman 
 who approached him on the subject seemed to allay 
 all uneasiness, and the objection w^as either withdrawn 
 or not renewed. On the second day of the session, 
 for the better promotion of union, it w^as resolved that 
 the General Constitution established at the previous 
 meeting was still open to amendment and alterations, 
 by virtue of the powers delegated to this Convention; 
 and a Committee, appointed to confer with the Dep- 
 uties from the Eastern churches, after "a full, free, 
 and friendly conference," reported their acceptance 
 of the Constitution as already adopted, — provided the 
 third article was so modified as to declare explicitly 
 the right of the Bishops, when sitting in a separate 
 House, to originate acts for the concurrence of the 
 lower House, with a negative on its proceedings. 
 
 The main point was readily conceded, and the other 
 was made the subject of future determination. Bishop 
 Seabury and the Clerical Deputies from New Eng- 
 land assented in writing to the Constitution as thus 
 altered and amended, — the third article of which re- 
 quired that "the Bishops of this Church, when there 
 shall be three or more, shall, whenever General Con- 
 ventions are held, form a separate House." The requi- 
 site number was now secured, though Bishop Pro- 
 voost was absent, and the two Houses were estab- 
 lished, and proceeded to the concurrent work of 
 adopting a body of canons and revising the Book of 
 Common Prayer. The primary rule laid down for 
 
412 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 the government of the House of Bishops was ^^that the 
 senior Bishop present shall preside, — senioritj- to be 
 reckoned from the dates of the letters of consecror 
 tion,"— a rule which gave the Presidency to the 
 Bishop of Connecticut. 
 
 To these two prelates, with different moulds of char- 
 acter and opposite tendencies of thought, the Church 
 in this country is chiefly indebted for the establish- 
 ment of its order and worship upon a safe, sound, and 
 permanent basis. The prevailing tone of sentiment 
 in the Southern States, both as to doctrine and dis- 
 cipHne, was low and uncertain, while in Connecticut 
 there was the strongest attachment to the old Lit- 
 urgy, to the model of Apostolic order, and the distinc- 
 tive articles of the Christian faith. Bishop AVliite, 
 with natural kindness of heart and a temper of mind 
 leaning to those counsels which bore most faintly the 
 impress of his own conununion, might have consented 
 to many of the changes and innovations marked out 
 in the ritual of the ^a^roposed Book," had he not met 
 in his associate counsellor a wise and vigorous resist- 
 ance. They were precisely the men to bring together 
 in such an emergency; for, by their mutual conces- 
 sions and forbearance in matters not essential, that 
 happy mean betwixt too nuich rigidity in refusing 
 and too much facility in yielding was preserved, and 
 a result attained which for more than three quarters 
 of a century has given rest and contentment to all 
 shades of views embraced within the bosom of the 
 American Episcopal Church. Their united and har- 
 monious action turned aside every threatened dano-er. 
 They took as their guides the old forms and offices; 
 but Bishop Seabury advocated the introduction into 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 413 
 
 I 
 
 the Communion Service of the prayer of oMation and 
 invocation as it now stands, — a prayer which the Eng- 
 lish reviewers had omitted Irom the Liturgy of Ed- 
 ward the Sixth, but which he heartily desired to see 
 restored, because he had adopted it in liis own Diocese, 
 and learned to appreciate it in his visit to the Bishops 
 from whom he received his consecration. He was a 
 conservative element in the Convention, and felt that 
 '^Scarcely with anything besides is the wellbeing of 
 the Church bound up so closely as with the full or- 
 thodoxy of its Liturgy." "To this day," says Bishop 
 White, in the second edition of his Memoirs, pul)lished 
 shortly before his death, "there are recollected with 
 satisfaction the hours which were spent with Bishop 
 Seabury on the important subjects which came before 
 them, and especially the Christian temper which he 
 manifested all along." The two Houses prosecuted 
 the review of the Liturgy in the spirit of men who ex- 
 pected the benediction of Heaven upon their labors, — 
 the Bishops originating alterations in some services, 
 and the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies propos- 
 ing others. 
 
 The result of the session, besides completing the 
 general union, was the Book of Common Prayer as 
 then established and now used; and there are con- 
 stantly recurring evidences to illustrate its adapta- 
 tion to the needs and necessities of "all sorts and con- 
 ditions of men." It has gone where the voice of the 
 living preacher had never been heard. It has spoken 
 the story of redemption into the ears of thousands, 
 and drawn them within our fold, and given them the 
 comfort of its worship and the support of its sacra- 
 ments. While some of the Christian bodies about us 
 
 ki 
 
 ^ 
 
I i 
 
 414 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 are feeling the want of our peculiar advantages, and 
 sighing in private for Liturgical forms to give more 
 attraction to public prayer and praise; wliile aca- 
 demic institutions once wedded to a different practice 
 now seek in dainty Rituals to guide the scanty devo- 
 tion of the youths and make them mount up with 
 wings as eagles; while all around there are voices 
 that laud the majestic inheritance of our Liturgy, and 
 the copious treasury of doctrine and sacred songs con- 
 tained therein, let ns hold fast to the Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer, and cherish it, not only as the beautiful 
 child of the Reformation, but as a precious legacy be- 
 queathed to us by the men to whose wisdom we owe 
 so much for settling, at a critical period, the doctrine, 
 discipline, and worship of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church in the United States. 
 
 Though the measures for union had all terminated 
 happily, Dr. Bass declined the office to which he had 
 been appointed, and thus those prelates wdio enter- 
 tained scruples about proceeding to consecrate until 
 another in the Anglican line should be present, were 
 put to no further test. But some years afterwards he 
 was again unanimously elected Bishop of Massachu- 
 setts, and duly consecrated m Christ Church, Philadel- 
 phia, May 7th, 1797. 
 
 Fifteen clergymen, besides the Bishop, assembled 
 in Convocation at Litchfield, on the 2d day of June, 
 1790, and, "by particular desire, attended divine ser- 
 vice in the Presbyterian meeting-house," when the 
 Bisliop ordained the Rev. Truman Marsh to the Priest- 
 hood, and preached the sermon. The Rev. Dr. Learn- 
 ing was placed at the head of a Committee to draw 
 up rules and canons for regulating the discipline of 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 415 
 
 the Church in Connecticut, — the first time that any- 
 thing of this sort had been attempted ; but the most 
 important action was upon the Constitution and can- 
 ons of the Church, formed by the late General Con- 
 vention. These were read, and after a short examina- 
 tion, the further consideration of them w^as postponed 
 until the last day of September, when the Convocation 
 met by adjournment at Newtown, and eighteen of 
 the clergy in the Diocese assembled with the Bishop. 
 The question was put in these words: "Whether we 
 confirm the doings of our Proctors in the General 
 Convention at Philadelphia on the 2d day of October, 
 1789?" and it Avas decided in the affirmative by the 
 votes of every member present, except the Rev. James 
 Sayre. He entered his Protest against the proceed- 
 ings, wdiich, at his desire, was recorded, and the next 
 day he withdrew and left the Convocation. It shows 
 the extreme caution which was observed, that the 
 mode of introducing the Constitution and Liturgy 
 into the several parishes was left to the prudence and 
 judgment of each clergyman. Uniformity in the use 
 of the new Prayer Book was desirable, and for this 
 purpose they agreed to approach as near the old Lit- 
 urgy as a compliance with the rubrics of the new 
 would allow. The Nicene Creed was read on Com- 
 munion Sundays, and the Apostles' Creed on all other 
 days. But the change from established customs is 
 seldom easy; and whether the people loved to have 
 it so or not, some of the clergy of that day never 
 learned to carry out in full practice the literal mean- 
 ing of the rubrical directions of the new Prayer 
 Book. 
 
 One noble soldier of the cross, "not yet fifty years 
 
416 rflSTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 old/' who had participated hirgelj in the efforts to re- 
 estabhsh the Church in Connecticut, after the events 
 of the Revohition, laid down hi.s armor and went to 
 his rest before the final results were accomplished. 
 The Rev. Jolni R. Marshall died on tlie 21st of Jan- 
 uary, 1789, m the eighteenth year of his ministrj-, 
 and just as its richer fruits beo-an to cheer liis benev- 
 olent heart. The venerable Dr. Leamini'-, bendino; 
 under the weight of age and decrepitude, and fairly 
 worn out in ilw service of the Church amid such disas- 
 trous times, withdrew from the parish in Stratford, after 
 having Ijeen in charge of it for six j^ears, and retired 
 for a season to New York. But he subsequently re- 
 turned to Connecticut, and was received at New Ha- 
 ven into the house of a former friend, whose kindness 
 and protection he desired, and where he passed the 
 remainder of his life, chiefly in the solitude of his own 
 room, waiting patiently, like Job, "all the days of 
 his appointed time till his change came." Whoever 
 enters the old Cemetery in New Haven, and passes 
 near the south-east corner, will find his humble grave; 
 and the epitaph upon the tombstone in this case tells 
 no imtruth when it says that he w\as "long a fiith- 
 ful minister of the Gospel in the Episcopal Church; 
 well instructed, especially in his holy otlice; unre- 
 mitting in his labors; charitably patient, and of prim- 
 itive meekness. His public discourses forcibly incul- 
 cated the faith illustrated by his practice. Respected, 
 revered, and beloved in life, and lamented in death, 
 he departed hence September 15, 1804, aged eighty- 
 seven." 
 
 The Church in Connecticut had now, as far as hu- 
 man foresight could discern, passed through all the 
 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 417 
 
 great perils which once threatened 'her peace and 
 perpetuity. Her zealous Bishop was adding year by 
 year to the list of his clergy more than death took 
 away, and the care which he used to advance none 
 to the sacred office but fit and godly persons con- 
 tinued to disarm prejudice of its power, and weaken 
 the intolerance of sectarianism. As the pathway of 
 the Lord amidst the mighty waters is secret, so is the 
 presenc^e of His bjessed Spirit in the Church unseen 
 but felt,— reviving love and purity, and giving life 
 and strength, peace and advancement. 
 
 27 
 
418 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 419 
 
 
 • 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF THE LAITY INTO THE COUNCILS OF THE 
 CHURCH; COURSE OF THE REV. JAMES SAYRE; AND CONSE- 
 CRATION OF THE FIRST BISHOP IN AMERICA. 
 
 A. D. 1790-1792. 
 
 A College of Doctors of Divinity was established 
 by the Bishop and clergy of Connecticut, at the Con- 
 vocation held in Newtown, to be considered as the 
 Bishop's council of advice in any emergencies that 
 might arise, and the Rev. Messrs. Dibblce, Mansfield, 
 Hubbard, and Jarvis were the first four Doctors. 
 The origin of this measure in our ecclesiastical pro- 
 ceedings may be referred to Scotland, where the 
 Bishops to this day never will recognize the honor 
 of the Doctorate from any Presbyterian institution. 
 Perhaps their feeling in regard to it springs from what 
 was anciently an Episcopid prerogative, and of Avhich 
 traces are yet to be found in foreign universities. 
 With a view to perpetuate this body, "the instal- 
 ment of Doctors," never less than four nor more than 
 six, imless by consent of the Convocation, was to be 
 by "Diploma from the College of Doctors, and an- 
 nounced in public by the Bishop" at the next 
 meeting. 
 
 The publication of these acts was ordered at the 
 time; but whether from the inexpediency or unpop- 
 
 ularity of the thing in a Puritan land, where the Epis- 
 copal prerogatives and dignity were still suspected, or 
 because the Canons of the General Convention had 
 provided for the appointment of a Standing Com- 
 mittee to act as the Bisliop's council of advice in each 
 Diocese, we hear no more of this College of Doctors 
 after the year 1792. However reluctant they mio-ht 
 have been to assume the honor thus conferred upon 
 them, they appear to have been a body of some ser-, 
 vice in those critical times. For when the Committee 
 appointed in 1790, "to prepare Canons for the inter- 
 nal government of the Church in Connecticut," made 
 their repoit, it was ordered "that the Canons reported 
 be revised and completed by the Bishop and the Col- 
 lege of Doctors, and laid before the next Convoca- 
 tion." Three of the "first lour Doctors" had the 
 honor confirmed, or rather conferred upon them at 
 later dates, by the corporntion of Yale College; and 
 the remaining one, Mr. Di])blee, was doctorated by 
 Columbia College, New York. 
 
 The first Standing Committee, as required by a 
 Canon of the General Convention, was appointed at 
 a Convocation held in Watertown, October 5, 1791, 
 and consisted of five mendjers, all clero-ymen. From 
 that day to this, with the exception of one yenr, when 
 the Diocese was under the provisional charge of Bishop 
 Hobart, v.'ho was accustomed to a diflerent practice 
 in New York, the election of the Standing Committee 
 in Connecticut has been restricted to the clerical 
 order. 
 
 At the same Convocation, — after the parishes, fol- 
 lowing the lead of the clergy, had conformed to the 
 use of the new Prayer Book, and acquiesced in the 
 
 H 
 

 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 general Constitution, — the first movement was made 
 to introduce the Laity into the councils of the Church. 
 The vote on the subject was very guarded, and to the 
 effect that each clergyman should recommend to the 
 people of his cure to choose one or more persons to 
 represent them at a Convocation to be holden at 
 the church in New Haven, on the 30th of May suc- 
 ceeding, — "which representatives were to be consid- 
 ered as a Committee of Conference with the Convo- 
 cation, at that time and place, on all matters that 
 respected the temporal interest of the Church." 
 
 Another Convocation was held in the intermediate 
 time, as will be seen hereafter; but the primary "Con- 
 vention of the Bishop, Clergy and Laiiy of the Protes- 
 tant Episcopal Church in Connecticut," forty-four mem- 
 bers in all and twenty-four laymen, assembled in Trin- 
 ity Church, New Haven, \\\q first week in June, 1792, 
 and the chief business of the session was to frame 
 and agree upon an Ecclesiastical Constitution, "to 
 be laid" in a printed form "before the several parishes 
 in the Diocese for their approbation and adoption." 
 But this was not the only important action taken 
 previous to the adjournment. The lay members re- 
 solved to send Delegates to the next General Con- 
 vention, wliich was appointed to be held at New 
 York; and accordingly they chose four and the clergy 
 four, tho full number of each order allowed to a Dio- 
 cese or State. 
 
 • When the annual Convention met at Middletovvn, 
 June 5th, 1793, twenty clergymen, besides the Bishop, 
 wxre present, and twenty-one lay Delegates, the latter 
 representing the Church in every county of Connect- 
 icut. It appeared by the report of their doings, and 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 421 
 
 by the certificates exhibited, that the Constitution had 
 been fully approved and accepted by the majority of 
 the parishes; but those in Litchfield, New Preston, 
 Northbury, and Redding had acted npon it and only 
 adopted it in part. They were nrged to give it a 
 second consideration, and make returns to the next 
 annual Convention; and thus the Constitution was 
 approved and became henceforth the law for the gov- 
 ernment of the Church throughout the Diocese, ex- 
 cept in one or two parishes where some dissatisfaction 
 was still manifested. As yet, no definite provision had 
 been made for the support of the Bishop. He was 
 chiefly dependent npon his people at New London for 
 the bread that maintained his finnily. A few of the 
 parishes made him donations. Trinity Church, New 
 Haven, in the autumn of 1785, directed the sum of ten 
 pounds to be paid him; and two years afterwards a 
 like amount was voted by the Vestry, provided, how- 
 ever, that this donation should not be considered as 
 a precedent for any future claims npon the parish by 
 the Bishop. Steps were early taken by the Conven- 
 tion to establish a fund, and application was made to 
 the General Assembly to incorporate a certain num- 
 ber of Trustees for the purpose of receiving and hold- 
 ing donations for the support of the Bishop ; but Sea- 
 bury was in his grave before the prayer of the peti- 
 tioners was granted. 
 
 The Protest of the Rev. Mr. Sayre against the ap- 
 proval of the proceedings of the General Convention 
 in Philadelphia placed him in uncomfortable relations 
 to his Bishop and brethren, and involved the parishes 
 over which he presided for a time in perplexity and 
 trouble. Since the resignation and retirement of Dr. 
 
 I 
 
 
 
422 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Leamiug, at Easter 1790, lie had been in charge of 
 the Church at Stratford; and being fresh in the field, 
 and full of Christian earnestness, he gahied an inllu- 
 enee over the people wliieh he vmhappilj used to their 
 disadvantage. He accompanied his opposition to the 
 new Prater Book and the General Constitution with 
 
 4/ 
 
 much bitterness of feeling and personal abuse, — traits 
 of character which he had shown at Newport, Rhode 
 Island, wliere the displeasure of a divided parish fell 
 upon him before he came to Conneericut. Speedy ef- 
 forts were made by the Bishop and clergy to neutralize 
 his intluence, and bring the people under his care into 
 harmonious action with the Diocese. At a Convoca- 
 tion ill East Haddain, February 15, 1792, this per- 
 emptory vote was passed: "That unless the Wardens 
 and A\\^trvmen of Christ Church in Stratford shall 
 transmit to the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Connecticut, 
 within fourteen days after Easter Monday next, a noti- 
 fication that the conii:reii:ation of said Church have 
 adopted the Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church, as settled by the General Convention at Phil- 
 adelphia in October, 1789, they (the congregation) 
 will be considered as having totally separated them- 
 selves from the Church of Connecticut." That godly 
 man, the Rev. Mr. Shelton of Bridgeport, acting as 
 Secretary to the Convocation, was charged with the 
 duty of communicating this vote to the Church in 
 Stratford. The counsels of Dr. Johnson, a lajinan 
 worthy of the days of Ignatius and of Cyprian, appear 
 not to have been very intluential at this time, in the 
 venerable parish which his father had gathered and 
 served, and to which he had left a sacred legacy of 
 peace and Christian moderation. But he had been 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 423 
 
 largely occupied in his profession and in national 
 affairs, and his duties had separated him from scenes 
 of local interest. Besides, after the revival of Colum- 
 bia College, which had fixllen into decay during the 
 war, he accepted the Presidency of that Institution, 
 to which he was chosen in 1787, and removed to New 
 York. He filled this station with great dignity and 
 usefulness until 1800, when the infirmities o'f advanc- 
 ing age compelled him to resign it, and he retired to 
 his native village. In this connection it is proper to 
 mention that he died at Stratford on the 14th of 
 November, 1819, in the ninety-third year of his age; 
 and his departure was soon followed by that of tlie 
 venerable Dr. Mansfield of Derby, in the ninety- 
 seventh year of his age, and the seventy-second of 
 his ministry. Both these men, of varied and event- 
 ful experience, had lived to see the Church in Connect- 
 icut carried through long periods of persecution, peril, 
 and poverty, and finally settled in peace, and with 
 cheering prospects, under the Episcopate of him^ 
 around whose bier we have so lately gathered, and 
 whose wise and paternal administration will ever live 
 in the recollections of a grateful Diocese. 
 
 But the parish at Stratford had a judicious adviser 
 in the Rev. John Bowden. The loss or feebleness of 
 his voice had obliged him to relinquish the public ex- 
 ercise of the ministry, and he removed Avith his fam- 
 ily to Stratford, as a suitable place to open and con- 
 duct a school of a higher order for boys. The ex- 
 traordinary course pursued by Mr. Sayre, and the 
 misapprehensions which he had been the means of 
 
 1 Right Rev. Tliomas Church Brownell, D. D., LL. D. He died at 
 IlarUbrd, January 13th, 1865, and was buried Tuesday tlie 17th. 
 
424 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 disseminating, forced him, in defence of himself and 
 of the Church, late in the autumn of 1791, to prepare 
 an Address to the people, which was afterwards printed 
 and circidated in the parish. "Take, I beseech you," 
 are nearly his first words, "what I shall say to you in 
 good part. I do not mean to offend^ but to inform. 
 Excuse the word inform, I do not use it from vanity, 
 but from a conviction that you do not view the sub- 
 ject in its true light; that you are not acquainted 
 with the principles and reasonings and facts by which 
 the conduct of the Bishop and clergy of this State, in 
 adopting the proceedings of the Convention, may be 
 triumphantly vindicated. You ought, indeed, to have 
 presumed that they acted upon the best reasons, and 
 from the purest motives; for, let me say it, no body 
 of clergy have ever given more clear and uniform 
 proofs of their zeal for the Church than the clergy 
 of Connecticut. I know them well; they are excel- 
 lent men, too honest to sacrifice the Church to any 
 w^orldly motive whatsoever, and too well acquainted 
 with its constitution to be led into error unwittingly. 
 You, I fear, have had them and their conduct held up 
 in a very different light. God forgive those who have 
 done them this wrong!" 
 
 To the Address was appended "a Letter to the Eev. 
 Mr. James Sayre," — the two making a pamphlet of 
 thirty-nine pages; and in this Letter Mr. Bowden 
 showed the violent spirit of the refractory clergyman, 
 and his disregard of the peace, unity, and authority 
 of the Church, endeavoring, as he had, both from the 
 pulpit and in private, to impress the people with an 
 idea that the Bishop and his clergy had subverted the 
 foundations of faith, and opened the way for the in- 
 
 p. 
 
 ^^ 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 425 
 
 troduction of dangerous heresies. "I am curious to 
 know," said the writer, in conclusion, "what a man 
 can say for himself who opposes i\i^ sense and author- 
 ity of the whole Episcopal Church in America; who 
 has led a congregation into a separation that must in 
 a few years end in their ruin; who has, in a variety 
 of mstances, most shamefully misrepresented- who 
 has treated his brethren with the utmost contempt 
 and poured upon them the most profuse abuse. You 
 have, I know, sir, an excellent talent at colorino- but 
 whether your colors will be fit for the public eye on 
 this occasion, the trial alone can determine." 
 
 Mr. Sayre finally withdrew from ih^ unhappy con- 
 troversy, after having been put under the ban of 
 ecclesiastical censure, and denied by the clero-j of 
 the Diocese the use of their pulpits. The members 
 of the parish, influenced by better counsels, returned 
 to their duty; and on the 1st of April, 1793, the Rev 
 Ashbel Baldwin, then of Litchfield, was invited to the 
 Rectorship, which he accepted, — officiating two thirds 
 of the time in Stratford, and devoting the remainder 
 to the Church at Tashua. 
 
 But Mr. Sayre sowed the seeds of discontent in an- 
 other parish with which he had connection, and where 
 the evil eflTects lingered longer. At Woodbury the 
 people were partial to his ministrations; and sympa- 
 thizing with him in his troubles, and believing in ih^ 
 sincerity of his course, i\\^y refused to adopt the Con- 
 stitution of the Diocese, and thus became isolated and 
 without pastoral care. For the clergy, at a Convoca- 
 tion held in New Milford on the 25th of September, 
 1793, decided, that in the execution of their minis- 
 terial office they could not pay any attention to them 
 
 i 
 
424 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 disseminating, forced him, in defence of himself and 
 of the Churchy late in the autumn of 1791, to prepare 
 an Address to the people, which was afterwards printed 
 and circulated in the parish. "Take, I beseech you," 
 are nearly his first words, "what I shall say to you in 
 good part. I do not mean to of end, but to inform. 
 Excuse the word inform. I do not use it from vanity, 
 but from a conviction that you do not view the sub- 
 ject in its true light; that you are not acquainted 
 with the principles and reasonings and facts by which 
 the conduct of the Bishop and clergy of this State, in 
 adopting the proceedings of the Convention, may be 
 triumphantly vindicated. You ought, indeed, to have 
 presumed that they acted upon the best reasons, and 
 from the purest motives; for, let me say it, no body 
 of clergy have ever given more clear and unifonn 
 proofs of their zeal for the Church than the clergy 
 of Connecticut. I know them well; they are excel- 
 lent men, too honest to sacrifice the Church to any 
 worldly motive whatsoever, and too well acquainted 
 with its constitution to be led into error unwittingly. 
 You, I fear, have had them and their conduct held up 
 in a very different light. God forgive those who have 
 done them this wrong!" 
 
 To the Address was appended "a Letter to the Rev. 
 Mr. James Sayre," — the two making a pamphlet of 
 thirty-nine pages; and in this Letter Mr. Bowden 
 showed the violent spirit of the refractory clergyman, 
 and his disregard of the peace, unity, and authority 
 of the Church, endeavoring, as he had, both from the 
 pulpit and in private, to impress the people with an 
 idea that the Bishop and his clergy had subverted the 
 foundations of faith, and opened the way for the in- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 425 
 
 troduction of dangerous heresies. "I am curious to 
 know," said ih^ writer, in conclusion, "what a man 
 can say for himself who opposes the sense and author- 
 ity of the whole Episcopal Church in America; who 
 has led a congregation into a separation that must in 
 a few years end in their ruin; who has, in a variety 
 of mstances, most shamefully misrepresented- who 
 has treated his brethren with the utmost contempt 
 and poured upon them the most profuse abuse. You 
 have, I know, sir, an excellent talent at colorincr- but 
 whether your colors will be fit for the public eye on 
 this occasion, the trial alone can determine." 
 
 Mr. Sayre finally withdrew from the unhappy con- 
 troversy, after having been put under the ban of 
 ecclesiastical censure, and denied by the clergy of 
 the Diocese the use of their pulpits. The members 
 of the parish, influenced by better counsels, returned 
 to their duty; and on the 1st of April, 1793, the Rev 
 Ashbel Baldwin, then of Litchfield, was invited to the 
 Eectorship, which he accepted, — officiating two thirds 
 of the time in Stratford, and devoting the remainder 
 to the Church at Tashua. 
 
 But Mr. Sayre sowed the seeds of discontent in an- 
 other parish with which he had connection, and where 
 the evil effects lingered longer. At Woodbury the 
 people were partial to his ministrations; and sympa- 
 thizing with him in his troubles, and believing in the 
 sincerity of his course, ih^y refused to adopt the Con- 
 stitution of the Diocese, and thus became isolated and 
 without pastoral care. For the clergy, at a Convoca- 
 tion held in New Milford on the 25th of September, 
 1793, decided, that in the execution of their minis' 
 terial office they could not pay any attention to them 
 
 I 
 
426 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHUPvCII 
 
 until tliej acceded to the Constitution of the Church 
 in Connecticut. 
 
 The parish in Woodbury addressed a formal com- 
 munication to the Bishop and clergy respecting their 
 vote; but without answering it, at their next meeting 
 in Xew Haven, June 5th, 1794, they appointed the 
 ^'Rev. Messrs. Ives, Marsh, and Perry a Committee for 
 the purpose of accommodatnig matters with the Epis- 
 copal congregation at Woodbury, and reconciling them 
 to a union with the Protestant Episcopal Chui-ch." In 
 the fulfilment of their appointment, this Committee 
 met the people in their church on the 7th of the en- 
 suing month, and suspending, for the time, the opera- 
 tion of the original vote, went into a review of the 
 Constitution, and explained it in a manner so satisfac- 
 tory that all former olyections were removed, and the 
 parish with great unanimity adopted it, and thus re- 
 gained its old position in the Diocese. If Mr. Sayre 
 had attaclied hhnself to the ministry of another de- 
 nomination, he could have been of little service in it, 
 for his mind was diseased, a fact hitherto unknown, 
 and "actual insanity"^ terminated his life in 1798. He 
 left in Fairfield, of which place his wife w\as a native, 
 seven children, most of whom continued "zealous and 
 useful Episcopalians." He was a brother of the Rev. 
 John Sayre, the Missionary in that place when it w\as 
 burnt by the British troops, and he appears to have 
 had, like him, a very checkered history. He was 
 educated to the law, and admitted to its practice at 
 New York in 1771; but al)andoning this profession, he 
 entered the sacred ministry, and became a chaplain 
 in one of the King's battalions. He resigned in 1777, 
 
 1 Hitchcock's History of the Church in Woodhunj. 
 
 f 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 427 
 
 "nnpelled by distress, severity of treatment, and by 
 duty."i The professors of the Church of EiiHand in 
 Stratford and Milford, "having long been destitute of 
 the regular administration of God's word and sacra- 
 ments ni the manner in which their consciences di- 
 rected them to worship the Father of spirits," peti- 
 tioned the General Assembly in 1782 for the favor 
 of permitting Mr. Sayre, then at Brooklyn, Lono- 
 Island, to come among them, and "preach on proba- 
 tion for the space of three or four months, under such 
 mspection and observation as their Honors should 
 think proper;" but such had been his course durino- 
 the war that the favor was refused. "^ 
 
 Not a ripple was now left upon the surface of the 
 Church in Connecticut. All was peace. "Jerusalem 
 was builded as a city that is compact together," and the 
 united action and energy of the cler-y and laity fore- 
 tokened under God the blessing of "prosperity within 
 her palaces." The care to admit to Holy Orders none 
 but fit nnd godly persons; the watchfulness to preserve 
 a body of ministers with pure characters and strict 
 devotion to their sacred ofhce; the efforts to establish 
 an Institution of classic learning, begun ])efore the 
 final settlement of the Cliureh in^he State, and wliich 
 ended^ in the erection of the Episcopal Academy at 
 Cheshire in 1795; the enlargement of the old churches 
 and the building of new ones, and furnishing others 
 with organs to make puldic worship more attractive 
 and soul- inspiring; Hiq Christian benevolence of the 
 laity in thus giving for the house of God when their 
 own dwellings were low and narrow; the Missionary 
 zeal of tl'e clergy, their learning, their piety, their 
 
 1 Sabine, Vol. II. p. 265. 
 
 ■f. I 
 
 to 
 
 1? 
 
428 HISTORY OF the episcopal church 
 
 faith, their spirit of self-sacrifice, — all these are feat- 
 ures which rise to view in contemplating the Church 
 shaking herself from the dust, putting on her beauti- 
 ful garments, and going forth into the waste places of 
 the land to gather those who "with the heart believe 
 nnto ri^ditcousness and with the mouth make confes- 
 sion nnto salvation." 
 
 A point in relation to the general interests of the 
 Church must not be passed over without some notice. 
 In the autumn of 1792 the second Triennial Conven- 
 tion assembled in the city of New York, and Bishop 
 Seabur}^, agreeably to a previous request, preached 
 the sermon. Since the last meeting the House of 
 Bishops had received an accession to its members. 
 The Church in Virginia having elected the Eev. 
 James Madison, D. D., to be their Bishop, he pro- 
 ceeded immediately to England, and was consecrated 
 on the 19th of September, 1790, by the Archbishop 
 of Canterlmry and the Bishops of London and Roches- 
 ter. Thus the scruples of the two American prelates, 
 referred to in a former chapter, were set at rest, and 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church in this country was 
 furnished with three Bishops in the Anglican line of 
 succession. The courtesies of private life are often 
 interrupted by official acts; and the Bishop of Con- 
 necticut had not exchanged visits with the Bishop of 
 New York since the validity of the Scottish consecra 
 tions had been called in question. But etiquette now 
 required that he should wait upon him, and through 
 the intervention of mutual friends the w\ay was pre- 
 pared, and Bishop Provoost received him civilly and 
 gave him an invitation to dinner on the same day, 
 which was accepted. 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 429 
 
 But ^^there was another matter," says Bishop White, 
 ^^ which threatened the excitement of personal resent^ 
 ments." At the Convention of 1789 it had been es- 
 tablished as a rule for the government of the House 
 of Bishops that the senior BLshop present should pre- 
 sided—seniority to be reckoned from the dates of the 
 letters of consecration. But the two prelates, Pro- 
 voost and Madison, now to sit for the first time in 
 the House, were dissatisfied with this rule; and when 
 Bishop Seabury became convinced that the object was 
 not to exclude him from any share in the approach- 
 ing consecration, he gracefully waived his right, and 
 allowed the rule to be altered so as to give the Presi- 
 dency in rotation, beginning from the nm-th,^ and hav- 
 ing reference to the last Convention. 
 
 This made Bishop Provoost the presiding officer on 
 the present occasion, and the consecrator of the Eev 
 Thomas John Claggett, D. D., who had been elected 
 Bishop of Maryland; and the Deputies from that State 
 now applied for his elevation to the Apostohc office. 
 The four assembled Bishops joined in the solenm act 
 on the 17th of September; and thus the English and 
 Scottish lines of succession were blended in this first 
 consecration of a Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church on the soil of America. 
 
 Connecticut was represented in the General Con- 
 vention of 1792 by two lay Delegates, and her influ- 
 ence was felt in every important measure relating to 
 the Canons, the Liturgy, or the Articles of religion. 
 The American Church was at length complete in all 
 its parts and functions, and able to expand itself as 
 
 » The first rule was readopted in 1804, and has ever since been foU 
 lowed. 
 
430 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 God might give it grace and opportunity. But no- 
 where in our Lmd were the parishes rising more rap- 
 idly from the depressions consequent upon the Revo- 
 lutionary War than in this primal Diocese. Her clergy 
 at tliis period outnumbered those of her sister Dio- 
 cese (New York); and at an ordination held in Mid- 
 dletown on the 5tli of January, 1793, six persons were 
 admitted to the Diaconate and Priesthood, — (unong 
 whom were the two I>lakeslees, Burhans, Butler, and 
 Charles Seabury, a son of the Bishop, all then, or sub- 
 sequently, exercising their ministrj- in Connecticut. 
 
 It is to be lamented that no complete record of the 
 earliest confirmations is to be found. The nuudjer to 
 whom Bishop Seabury admiuistered the Apostolic rite 
 must have been large, embracing not only the "suffi- 
 ciently instructed" auu)ug the youth, but all the com- 
 municants of the Church at the time of his first visita- 
 tion. For there had been no opportunity in this coun- 
 try to ratify and coniu'ui baptismal vows, and persons, 
 in the absence of a Bishop, had been admitted to the 
 Communion upon their readiness and desire to l)e con- 
 firmed. It Avas a fittintj!: regard to historic associations 
 that the first P]piscopal visit should be made to the ven- 
 eral)le parish at Stratford,^ but we can find neitlier the 
 names nor the number of those confirmed. A Com- 
 mittee was chosen by the parish at Waterbury, May 1st, 
 1786, "to wait on the Bishop at Stratford, and desire 
 him to visit them;" and he complied with their desire; 
 and on the 1st day of October in the same vear it is 
 recorded that he confirmed in that parish two hundred 
 and fifty-six persons. Mr. Hubbard entered in his 
 Parochial Register the baptism of a child in Trinity 
 
 1 Paddock's Hist. Dis. Straifonl, 1855, p. 35. 
 
 m 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 431 
 
 Church by Bishop Seabury on the 4th of June, 1786; 
 but no mention is anywhere made of the rite of Con- 
 firmation. 
 
 A third church, of wood, to take the place of that 
 in which the venerated Beach had lifted up his loyal 
 voice to the end of the Eevolution, was finished at 
 Newtown in 1792, and was long the largest house of 
 Episcopal worship in the State. It is standing yet, 
 m good condition, "an ensign on a hill;" and thouo-h 
 sanctuaries have been built in the neighboring dis- 
 tricts, and have gathered their attendants, still this is 
 the Christian home on earth of a great multitude who 
 arise at the sound of the "Sabbath beU" and move 
 towards its hallowed portals, 
 
 " Till pressing thickly through the village street, 
 Around the church from far and wide they meet." 
 
432 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 433 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 INFIDELITY; THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EPISCOPAL ACADEMY 
 OF CONNECTICUT; THIRD GENERAL CONVENTION; AND DEATH 
 OF BISHOP SEABURY. 
 
 A. D. 1792-179G. 
 
 The frequent convocations of the clergy, sometimes 
 three in a year, kept them informed of the state of 
 the parishes and of the work Avhich each Avas doing 
 in the service of his Divine Master. Old prejudices 
 against the Church, her forms, and her doctrines had 
 not all disappeared, and it was needful occasionally 
 to defend her from unjust attacks, but the bitterness 
 of former controversies was not revived. The battle 
 now was rather of another kind. For upon our eman- 
 cipation from the mother-country, everything seemed 
 to be turned into a new channel, even thoughts and 
 opinions. A body of speculators in morals, religion, 
 and politics arose and threatened to entail mischief 
 upon the rising generation. The school of French 
 philosophers was just looked into, and in some places 
 received with evident favor. "My own memory," said 
 the late Chief Justice Church, in a centennial address 
 delivered at Litchfield in 1851, "runs back to a divid- 
 ing point of time, when I could see something of the 
 old ivorld and new. Infidel opinions came in like a 
 flood. Mr. Paine's ^Age of Reason,' the works of 
 Voltaire, and other deistical books, were broadcast, 
 
 and young men suddenly became, as they thought, 
 wiser than their fathers; and even men in liigh places 
 among us here were suspected of infidel opin'ions. At 
 the same time came the ardent preachers of Mr. Wes- 
 ley's divinity, who were engaged in doing battle with 
 Infidelity on the one hand, and Calvinistic theology 
 on the other." 
 
 The Church, with her Liturgy and Order, was a 
 power between these "antagonistic forces and influ- 
 ences." She advised and drew to "the old paths and 
 the good way." She was a defender of "the fiiith 
 once dehvered to the saints." Built on "the founda- 
 tion of the Prophets and Apostles, with Jesus Christ 
 for the chief corner-stone," she spurned the teachings 
 of infidel casuistry; and her clergy, finding access to 
 the works of the best EngHsh Divines, learned to feed 
 their flocks with food that nourished their souls and 
 kept them from wandering into the dry pastures of 
 doubt and speculation. It has been recorded of Bishop 
 Seabuiy, that, as he approached nearer and nearer to 
 the conclusion of his fiiithful ministry, he frequently 
 directed the attention of his clergy and people to that 
 mighty mystery of Faith— the Holy Trinity— which 
 every true believer is required to keep "whole and 
 undefiled." And when the question was put to him 
 why he thought it needfid to insist so much upon a 
 doctrine whose importance was nowhere in the land, 
 among professedly Christian men, doubted or denied' 
 his reply contained a prediction, the fulfilment of 
 which has passed into our religious history. "I seem 
 to see," said he, "that a time will come when, in New 
 England, this very doctrine, which now appears so 
 safe, will be extensively corrupted and denied: and I 
 
 28 
 
 $ 
 
434 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 would have it remembered that to the last I lifted up 
 my voice in its defence." 
 
 Nineteen clergymen and twenty-two lajTuen com- 
 posed the Convention which met at New Haven in 
 June, 1794. The chief business of the session was to 
 mature the measures to establish the Episcopal Acad- 
 emy of Connecticut, and renew the application to the 
 General Assembly for an Act incorporating the Trus- 
 tees of the Bishop's Fund. Though the laity had been 
 admitted to a share in the councils and legislation of 
 the Church, and worked harmoniously with the clergy 
 in all that concerned its temporal and spiritual wel- 
 fare, the Convocations were still appointed by the 
 Bishop, and continued to be the Source of plans and 
 of discipline, and the agent for receiving, directing, 
 examining, and approving candidates for Holy Orders. 
 The manuscript record of the proceedings of this body 
 is often fuller than the printed Journal of the Con- 
 vention, and throws light upon points which would 
 otherwise remain in obscurity. The clergy, at their 
 meeting in the autumn of 1792, took the preliminary 
 steps to revise the Articles of Religion in the English 
 Prayer Book; and Bowden, Mansfield, Hubbard, and 
 Jarvis were empowered to make the revision, and 
 present it for their approval at the next Convocation. 
 It does not appear what alterations they made; but 
 their revision at the appointed time was examined, 
 and, with a few changes, approved as far as to the 
 seventeenth Article, — the consideration of which, with 
 those that follow, was referred to a future meeting. 
 Bishop Seabury had expressed his doubts, at the first 
 General Convention in Philadelphia, about the expe- 
 diency of having any Articles, beUeving that the Lit- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 435 
 
 urgy comprehended all necessary doctrine ; and whether 
 m deference to his wishes or not, no further action, 
 of which any record can be found, was taken in the 
 matter during his Episcopate. 
 
 He wrote a letter, in obedience to the wishes of the 
 clergy assembled at Chesliire in November 1794 ad 
 momshing the Eev. David Perry of Eidgefield for "his 
 neglect to attend the meetings of his brethren, and 
 on account of the apparent contempt" which he there- 
 by threw on them and on his Bishop. He stated, in 
 conclusion, that they "wished to inquire of him con- 
 cermng several reports which were circulatino- in the 
 country to his disadvantage as a clergyman, and unless 
 he did attend on their next meeting, according to the 
 notificatimi of their Secretary, a suspension from his 
 clerical office would be issued against him." 
 
 The next meeting was early in the ensuing June, at 
 btratiord, the time and place appointed for holding, the 
 Annual Convention of the Diocese. Mr. Perry appeared 
 and requested of the Bishop and his clergy "Hberty 
 to i^sign the pastoral charge of the parishes of Eid J- 
 held Eeddmg, and Danbury, as well as to relinqufsh 
 totally the exercise of the ecclesiastical function" 
 His request was granted, and "the resignation of liis 
 Letters of Orders accepted;" and he returned to the 
 practice of medicine, a profession which he had pur- 
 sued previous to his ordination. Proper inquiries 
 were^ made into the state of the cure thus vacated; 
 and m due time, David Butler, who had "used the 
 office of a Deacon well" in North Guilford, was trans- 
 ferred to its charge. The Annual Convention in 
 fetratford at this time numbered nineteen clergymen 
 and twenty-three lay delegates. The proceedings were 
 
 .|i 
 
434 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 would have it remembered that to the last I lifted up 
 my voice in its defence." 
 
 Nineteen clergymen and twenty-two lajTnen com- 
 posed the Convention which met at New Haven in 
 June, 1794. The chief business of the session was to 
 mature the measures to establish the Episcopal Acad- 
 emy of Connecticut, and renew the apphcation to the 
 General Assembly for an Act incorporating the Trus- 
 tees of the Bishop's Fund. Though the laity had been 
 admitted to a share in the councils and legislation of 
 the Church, and worked harmoniously with the clergy 
 in all that concerned its temporal and spiritual wel- 
 flire, the Convocations were still appointed by the 
 Bishop, and continued to be the Source of plans and 
 of discipline, and the agent for receiving, directing, 
 examining, and approving candidates for Holy Orders. 
 The manuscript record of the proceedings of this body 
 is often fuller than the printed Journal of the Con- 
 vention, and throws light upon points which would 
 otherwise remain in obscurity. The clergy, at their 
 meeting in the autumn of 1792, took the preliminary 
 steps to revise the Articles of Religion in the English 
 Prayer Book ; and Bowden, Mansfield, Hubbard, and 
 Jarvis were empowered to make the revision, and 
 present it for their approval at the next Convocation. 
 It does not appear what alterations they made; but 
 their revision at the appointed time was examined, 
 and, with a few changes, approved as far as to the 
 seventeenth Article, — the consideration of which, with 
 those that follow, was referred to a future meeting. 
 Bishop Seabury had expressed his doubts, at the first 
 General Convention in Philadelphia, about the expe- 
 diency of having any Articles, beUeving that the Lit- 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 435 
 
 urgy comprehended all necessary doctrine ; and whether 
 m deference to his wishes or not, no further action 
 of which any record can be found, was taken in the 
 matter dunng his Episcopate. 
 
 He wrote a letter, in obedience to the wishes of the 
 clergy assembled at Cheshire in November 1704 ad 
 monishmg the Eev. David Perry of Eidgefield for '"his 
 neglect to attend the meetings of his brethren, and 
 on account of the apparent contempt" which he there- 
 by threw on them and on his Bishop. He stated, in 
 conclusion, that they "wished to inquire of him con- 
 cernmg several reports which were circulatino. in the 
 country to Ins disadvantage as a clergyman, and unless 
 he did attend on their next meeting, according to the 
 notificatimi of their Secretary, a suspension from his 
 clerical office would be issued against him " 
 
 The next meeting was early in the ensuing June, at 
 Stratford, the time and place appointed for holding the 
 Annual Convention of the Diocese. Mr. Perry appeared 
 and requested of the Bishop and his clero-y 4berty 
 to i^sign the pastoral charge of the parishe's of Eid^e- 
 held Redding, and Danbury, as well as to relinquish 
 totally the exercise of the ecclesiastical function " 
 His request was granted, and "the resignation of his 
 Letters of Orders accepted;" and he returned to the 
 practice of medicine, a profession which he had pur- 
 sued previous to his ordination. Proper inquiries 
 were made into the state of the cure thus vacated: 
 and m due time, David Butler, who had "used the 
 office of a Deacon well" in North Guilford, was trans- 
 ferred to Its charge. The Annual Convention in 
 fetratford at this time numbered nineteen clercrymen 
 and twenty-three lay delegates. The proceeding^'s were 
 
436 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 mainly directed to the final establishment of the Epis- 
 copal Academy, and to the subscription papers which 
 had been issued for the purpose of raising a sufficient 
 fund to carry it into operation. It was the first insti- 
 tution of the kind strictly ])elonging to the Church 
 in New England, and one of the first in the country; 
 and the agency of the Rev. Reuben Ives was probably 
 beyond that of any other man in securing its location 
 at Cheshire. The care which was shown in '^ framing 
 a code of laws for its temporary government, and also 
 in forming a constitution upon the most liberal and 
 beneficial plan," proved that it was the design to 
 erect it into a College; and under Bowden, its first 
 honored and accomplished Principal, chosen by the 
 Convention, that design w^as fostered and ripened 
 ultimately into repeated applications to the General 
 Assembly for an enlargement of its charter to colle- 
 giate powers. 
 
 In the autumn of 1795 the third General Conven- 
 tion assembled in Philadelphia, but no representation 
 from Connecticut appeared. Three clerical and three 
 lay delegates had been chosen by the last Diocesan 
 Convention, but not one of them was present, and 
 their absence may have been due to some cause be- 
 sides positive inconvenience. 
 
 Bishop Seabury forwarded a communication to 
 Bishop White, respectfully and aflectionately com- 
 plaining of an encroachment upon his Episcopal pre- 
 rogatives within the limits of Rhode Island, where he 
 had jurisdiction. The congregation of Narragansett 
 had attached itself to the Church in Massachusetts, 
 and the clergy of that Commonwealth had proposed 
 to the Bishop of New York to ordain a clergyman 
 
 437 
 
 for the parish, and he had yielded without consulting 
 the authority of the Bishop of Connecticut. It was 
 a needless otficial act; and when Bishop Provoost was 
 mformed of the complaint, he admitted the impro- 
 priety of individual parishes pursuing such a course, 
 and fiivored a canon, which was prepared and adopted 
 at that very session, ^^to prevent a congregation in 
 any Diocese or State from uniting with a church in 
 any other Diocese or State." 
 
 This was entirely satisfiictory ; but there yvas an- 
 other matter which would have been a source of irrita- 
 tion had it not been promptly suppressed by the action 
 of the Convention. A pamphlet, lately, published, en- 
 titled "Strictures on the Love of Power in the Prel- 
 acy. By a Member of the Protestant Episcopal Asso- 
 ciation in South Carolina," was "a libel against the 
 House of Bishops," and principally levelled at the 
 Bishop of Connecticut. The author of this libellous 
 pamphlet was present, being a member of the Conven- 
 tion; and steps were taken to expel him, which would 
 have been successful had he not fled for shelter to the 
 House of Bishops. Through the intervention of the 
 President of that body, (White,) he made an ample 
 apology for his misconduct; but while he was saved 
 from expulsion, which he deserved, he "gave subse- 
 quent evidence that his professed penitence was in- 
 sincere, although it had been accompanied by a pro- 
 fusion of tears." 
 
 The clergy of Connecticut, fifteen in number, met 
 in Convocation at Bristol, (East Plymouth,) on the 
 21st of October, when the Bishop consecrated a new 
 church by the name of St. Matthew's, and admitted 
 the Rev. Mr. Griswold, so long the venerated Bishop 
 
 r 
 
 tN 
 
438 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 of the Eastern Diocese, to the Holy Order of Priests. 
 That was his last ordination; but the next day the 
 clergy assembled, pursuant to adjournment, in the 
 adjoining town of Ilarwinton, where he consecrated 
 another new church by the name of St. Mark's. At 
 the recent General Convention a canon had been 
 adopted empowering the Bishop in each Diocese or 
 District to set forth forms of Prayer or Thanksgiving 
 for extraordinary occasions ; and Bishop Seabury was 
 now "requested to compose two Collects for the use 
 of the clergy in this State, — one to be used at the 
 sitting: of the General Assemblv, and the other to be 
 used at the Courts." It was a good fashion which 
 called in those days for such a provision. The Gen- 
 eral Assembly still entertains a lingering respect for 
 it, and invites some clergyman to officiate at the open- 
 ing of its daily sessions, but the Courts in Connecti- 
 cut, judging from the custom of the present day, have 
 ceased to believe in the efficacy of prayers. 
 
 This was the last gathering of the clergy under the 
 eye of their beloved prelate, and these were his last 
 official acts in Connecticut of which there is any rec- 
 ord. Late in the month of February, 1796, "Mr. 
 Jarvis of Middletown was sitting before the fire," so 
 says an eye-witness, "his wife near him, engaged in 
 some domestic employment, and his little son playing 
 about the room. A messenger entered with a letter 
 sealed with black wax, and handed it to Mr. Jarvis in 
 silence. He opened it, and his hand shook like an 
 aspen leaf. His wife, in great alarm, hastened to him, 
 and his son crept between his knees and looked up 
 inquiringly into his flice. He could not" speak for 
 some minutes. At last he said, slowly and convul- 
 sively, 'Bishop Seabury is dead!'" 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 439 
 
 The event came to him with great suddenness on 
 the 25th of February, when he had passed three 
 months beyond the eleventh year of his consecration, 
 and nearly as many montlis beyond his sixty-sixth 
 birthday. Up to that moment of time he had been 
 in the enjoyment of a good degree of health, and his 
 robust and vigorous constitution indicated no symp- 
 toms of early dissolution. He had spent the after- 
 noon of the day of his death in visits to several of 
 his parishioners, and just as he was leaving the tea- 
 table of a Warden of his parish, whose daughter his 
 son Charies had married, he was seized with apo- 
 plexy, and being laid upon a bed, soon expired It 
 was a departure which he had always desired rather 
 than deprecated ; for in using the petition in the Lit- 
 any to be "delivered from sudden death," he is said 
 to have excluded all reference to himself, and to have 
 thought only of what most men in the busy scenes 
 ol life are quite unfitted to welcome. 
 
 Thougli he had lived long enough to leave the im- 
 press of his noble and decisive character upon the 
 Church m Connecticut, yet here and in Rhode Island > 
 his death was tenderly mourned, and his loss was a 
 severe affliction to his infant communion in America 
 He was a man for the times, far-reaching in his views 
 of a bold and resolute spirit, and "better acquainted 
 than any of his coadjutors with those guiding principles 
 which were then especially required." If he had not 
 the lenity and moderation of White, he had the mag- 
 nanimity and courtesy of a Christian gentleman, and 
 knew when firmness was a duty and concession a vir- 
 tue. If he had not the classic taste and elegant scholar- 
 
 1 Appendix C. 
 
440 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 441 
 
 ship of Madison, he had stores of sacred learning, and 
 a mind to use them, and a power "in the peiformance 
 of his official functions to inspire universal reverence." 
 On the great festivals of the Church, and on all hitdi 
 occasions, he wore the Mitre, which is now deposited 
 in the Library of Trinity College at Hartford. He 
 also wore at times the hood, the badge of a Doctor's 
 degree. Commanding in person, graceful in manner, 
 though with little action, and perspicuous and com- 
 pact in his style, he was a preacher to impress truth 
 upon the hearts of an audience; and his published dis- 
 courses are still referred to and commended for their 
 doctrinal soundness, and for the proofs which they 
 supply of his thorough earnestness in the work not 
 only of bringing men into the path of salvation, Init of 
 building up " the body of Christ, which is His Church." 
 A successor^ in the Eectorship of the parish which he 
 served, and who has had opportunities of gathering 
 up reminiscences of his life, characterizes him as "unit- 
 ing dignity with condescension, and ease with gravity. 
 He was an admirable companion, a hearty friend, a 
 generous opponent. The poor, and men of low estate 
 among his parishioners, loved his memory. And men 
 of all creeds, where he dwelt, held him in esteem and 
 reverence." 
 
 The unpretending wooden church which he conse- 
 crated, and where he ministered before the Lord, has 
 given way to a noble structure of stone, with massive 
 walls and towering spire, with gorgeous nave and rich 
 adornments of chancel; and long before its completion 
 it was a natural feeling of the churchmen of Connect- 
 icut that its first Bishop should have his resting-place 
 
 1 Rev. Robert A. Hallam, D. D. 
 
 within those sacred courts which must in all time to 
 come be associated with his blessed memory. When, 
 therefore, he had lain in his grave for more than half 
 a centuiy, his remains were disinterred in the autumn 
 of 1849, and deposited in a crypt prejiared for their 
 reception in one of the divisions of the chancel of St. 
 James's Church ; and a monument, erected at the joint 
 expense of his Diocese and his parish, tells the hum- 
 ble worshipper in that sanctuary, and every inquiring 
 visitor, that there finally his dust reposes, waiting for 
 "the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world 
 to come." 
 
 The pious apostrophe which fell from the pen of 
 the writer who recorded the death of Jewel, Bishop 
 of Salisbury, will fit his case, and appropriately con- 
 clude this chapter. "Be thou thankful to God for giv- 
 ing His Church so worthy an instrument to His glory, 
 and be careful to follow the good doctrine which he 
 left behind him." 
 
 I 
 
 ii 
 
 I lit 11 
 
440 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 441 
 
 ship of MadLson, he had stores of sacred learning, and 
 a mind to use them, and a power "in the performance 
 of his official functions to inspire universal reverence." 
 On the great festivals of the Church, and on all high 
 occasions, he wore the Mitre, which is now deposited 
 in the Library of Trinity College at Hartford. He 
 also wore at times the hood, the badge of a Doctor's 
 degree. Commanding in person, graceful in manner, 
 though with little action, and perspicuous and com- 
 pact in his style, he Avas a preacher to impress truth 
 upon the hearts of an audience ; and his published dis- 
 courses are still referred to and commended for their 
 doctrinal soundness, and for the proofs which they 
 supply of his thorough earnestness in the w^ork not 
 only of bringing men into the path of salvation, but of 
 building up "the body of Christ, which is His Church." 
 A successor^ in the Eectorship of the parish which he 
 served, and w^ho has had opportunities of gathering 
 up reminiscences of his life, characterizes him as "unit- 
 ing dignity with condescension, and ease with gravity. 
 He was an admirable companion, a hearty friend, a 
 generous opponent. The poor, and men of low estate 
 among his parishioners, loved his memory. And men 
 of all creeds, where he dwelt, held him in esteem and 
 reverence." 
 
 The unpretending wooden church which he conse- 
 crated, and where he ministered before the Lord, has 
 given way to a noble structure of stone, with massive 
 w\alls and towering spire, with gorgeous nave and rich 
 adornments of chancel; and long before its completion 
 it was a natural feeling of the churchmen of Connect- 
 icut that its first Bishop should have his resting-place 
 
 1 Rev. Robert A. Hallam, D. D. 
 
 within those sacred courts which must in all time to 
 come be associated with his blessed memory. When, 
 therefore, he had lain in his grave for more than half 
 a century, his remains were disinterred in the autumn 
 of 1849, and deposited in a crypt prepared for their 
 reception in one of tlie divisions of the chancel of St. 
 James's Church ; and a monument, erected at the joint 
 expense of his Diocese and his parish, tells the hum- 
 ble worshipper in that sanctuary, and every inquiring 
 visitor, that there finally his dust reposes, waiting for 
 "the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the Avorld 
 to come." 
 
 The pious apostrophe which fell from the pen of 
 the writer who recorded the death of Jewel, Bishop 
 of Salisbury, will fit his case, and appropriately con- 
 clude this chapter. "Be thou thankful to God for giv- 
 ing His Church so worthy an instrument to His glory, 
 and be careful to follow the good doctrine which he 
 left behind him." 
 
 If' 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 Mr. Cutler acted as resident Rector for seveml montl.s 
 before removing his family to New Haven. The first town- 
 mee ,ng m Stratford to consider his removal was l,eld July 
 ol, 1719, and the people were again convened on the 21st of 
 September for the sa.ne pnrpose. His letter of resignation, 
 copied from the town records, is as follows: — 
 
 "Bkethhen ani> Fkiexds,— "Stratford, Sept. 14, 1719. 
 
 "I hope I have with seriousness and solemnity considered the in- 
 flation made to me for a removal from you to the collegiate school 
 at ISew Haven and can look upon it as nothing less than a call of 
 Providcncp, whioli I am obliged to obey. 
 
 " I do therefore, by these lines give you this signification, giving 
 you my hearty thanks lor all that respect and kindness I have foun! 
 with you, and pr.aying God abundantly to reward you for it, and 
 discharging you from any further care about my temporal support 
 fi-om the. ate of .hi. letter forever, and pr..yi„g you to apply 'ur' 
 Be ves w„h all convenient speed to the settling of another minister 
 with you I intenrl, if it be not un..cceptable to you, to visit you and 
 teke my farewell of you as soon as I can conveniently on some Lord's 
 day after my return from Boston, where I am now going, if it please 
 God. When I am bodily absent from you, my affection shall per- 
 severe towards you, and my hearty desires and prayers shall be to 
 God for you, that he would preserve you in His favor, and in peace 
 among yourselves ; direct your endeavors for the settlement of an- 
 other to break the bread of life with you, and m.ike vour way pros- 
 perous, and abundantly make up my removal from you by his gifts 
 and his pamful and successful endeavors for the good of your souls 
 and yqnr children afier you. 
 
 "Thus I leave you to the care of the great Shepherd of the sheep 
 always remaining an earnest well-wisher to your .souls and all your 
 concerns. . t,.,„ <-, „ 
 
 llMOTHr CUTLEK." 
 
446 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 Extracts from the Records of Yale College. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Trustees, Sept. 9, 1719 : — 
 
 *' Ordered, that Mr. Samuel Andrew, Mr. Samuel Russell, and 
 Mr. Thomas Ruggles or any two of them do pray the next General 
 Assembly to grant such sums of money to the Trustees of College as 
 may enable them to remove the Rev. ]Mr. Cutler from Stratford to 
 the place of Rector of this College whereunto he hath been chosen. 
 
 " Ordered, that Mr. Joseph Webb, Mr. Thomas Ruggles, and Mr. 
 Samuel Russell or any two of them do write in our name to the 
 town of Stratford, signifying our acceptance of the town offer con- 
 cerning the removal of Mr. Cutler, and that they do it according to 
 their own viz. said Webb's, Russell's, and Ruggles's proposals made 
 s*^ town : also we order and impower the above persons to purchase 
 of Mr. Cutler his house and home lot at Stratford, that it may be 
 returned to Stratford, and (if Mr. Cutler seetli it needful) they are 
 desired to be helpful to him in laying out the moneys for his accom- 
 modation in New Haven, and all to be done at the College charge. 
 
 " Ordered, that Mr. Cutler's family and goods be removed from 
 Stratford to New Haven at the charge of the College. 
 ^ ^ *' Ordered, that Rev. Mr. Samuel Andrew, Samuel Russell and 
 Thomas Ruggles do adjust the account which is due to Mr. Johnson 
 for his service in the College, and order him what shall be due out 
 of the Treasury, with our particular thanks for his good service, and 
 that £3 be ordered him for his extraordinary service. 
 
 . " April 20, 1720. 
 
 We agree to give the Rev. Mr. Timothy Cutler one hundred 
 and ninety pounds current money of this Colony or Bills of credit 
 passing in the same for his house and home lot in Stratford." 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 The following letter, copied from the original draught of 
 the Rev. Dr. Johnson, and addressed to President Clap, con- 
 tains very important statements. It has not, to our knowl- 
 edge, before appeared in print : — 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 447 
 
 "Rev? & D? S?,— "Stratford, Feby 5, 1:54. 
 
 " Tho' I am but in a poor condiiion for writing, I can't forbear a few 
 
 lines m answer to yours of Jan' 30lh. >"O.Dearafew 
 
 "I thank jou for your kind congratulation on my bein-^ cho.en 
 
 only ... co„,es but :'SiL::zi!;t zrr^:z::i 
 
 your College act on the same equitable, cathoL, and Chri t „ o -in 
 
 Children of the Church may go (o church whenever thev have onnnr 
 tun,.y, as we think of nothing but to admit that the c.dL elof D ' 
 sennng parents have leave to go to their meetings; r,o can j^ee" 
 any hn,„ ,,ke an argument in all you have said" ,; j.Jtify "h for! 
 bidding ,t. And lam prodigiously mistaken if you dd no^ teU me 
 U was an a lowed and settled rule with you heretofore. 
 
 Ihe only point in question, as I humbly conceive i- ,„/..,) 
 there ou,ht of riglu to be any suck la,, in yL^Z^J^'^^Z 
 
 What we must beg leave to insist on is. That there ought not -and 
 
 Z:n^1''"""''n "'■^'"''■''■''- ""'-^ ^- can make i't ap' 
 pear That you ever had a right to exclude the people of the Chur!h 
 
 in your College, without the,r submitting to the hard condition of not 
 hemg aHou,ed to do v,hat they believe in their consclencTu i! tZr 
 indupensaUe duty to do, i. e., to require their children to go to ch'cl 
 whenever they hare opportunity, and at the same time a rfghUot't 
 and hold s,cch.ast benefactions from gentlemen of the Church /Z 
 
 sron of such a hberty. Can you think those gentlemen would ever 
 have given such benefactions to such a purpose ! And ou^ht it n!I 
 to be considered at the same time that the parents of he e dren 
 ..ntribute also their proportion every year to the support o':.: 
 
 wiZhT n"^'"r! "" " 'r"'*"' '""''■ "''^' 'T'"'''' '■' '^ "consistent 
 wtth the original design of the founders, which was only ,<y provide 
 
 mmisters for your churches. But pray, Sir, why may not'^,ur C.m ch 
 
 also be provided for with ministers from our commot. College as we 
 
 as your churches ? And ought not the catholic design of the pt'LTpa 
 
 benelactors also in strict justice to be regarded, wh^ in the nseTf 
 
446 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 447 
 
 Extracts from the Records of Yale College. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Trustees, Sept. 9, 1719 : — 
 
 *' Onlered, that Mr. Samuel Andrew, Mr. Samuel Russell, and 
 Mr. Thomas Ruggles or any two of them do pray the next General 
 Assembly to grant such sums of money to the Trustees of College as 
 may enable them to remove the Rev. Mr. Cutler from Stratford to 
 the place of Rector of this College whereimto he hath been chosen. 
 
 " Ordered, that Mr. Joseph Webb, Mr. Thomas Ruggles, and INIr. 
 Samuel Russell or any two of them do write in our name to the 
 town of Stratford, signifying our acceptance of the town offer con- 
 cerning the removal of Mr. Cutler, and that they do it according to 
 their own viz. said Webb's, Russell's, and Ruggles's proposals made 
 s^ town : also we order and impower the above persons to purchase 
 of Mr. Cutler his house and home lot at Stratford, that it may be 
 returned to Stratford, and (if Mr. Cutler seeth it needful) they are 
 desired to be helpful to him in laying out the moneys for his accom- 
 modation in New Haven, and all to be done at the College charge. 
 
 " Ordered, that Mr. Cutler's family and goods be removed from 
 Stratford to New Haven at the charcre of the CoUeore. 
 
 *' Ordered, that Rev. Mr. Samuel Andrew, Samuel Russell and 
 Thomas Ruggles do adjust the account which is due to Mr. Johnson 
 for his service in the College, and order him what shall be due out 
 of the Treasury, with our particular thanks for his good service, and 
 that £3 be ordered him for his extraordinary service. 
 
 " April 20, 1720. 
 " We agree to give the Rev. Mr. Timothy Cutler one hundred 
 and ninety pounds current money of this Colony or Bills of credit 
 passing in the same for his house and home lot in Stratford." 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 The following letter, copied from the original draught of 
 the Rev. Dr. Johnson, and addressed to President Clap, con- 
 tains very important statements. It has not, to our knowl- 
 edge, before appeared in print : — 
 
 I 
 
 "Rev? & D? S?,— "Stratford, Feby 5, 1754. 
 
 « Tho' I am but in a poor condition for writing, I can't forbear a few 
 lines m answer to yours of Jan)- 30th. 
 
 "I thank you for your kind congratulation on my bein.. cho.on 
 PresKlent of their intended College at New York, andYldl deTr" 
 by all mean., ,f I undertake it, to hold a good ^orrespon.lencc not 
 only as Colleges but as Christians, supposin^you and the Fd ow. of 
 y r College act on the same equitable, catholic, and Chris. prfn. 
 
 clnldren of the Church may go to church wl,enever they liaye onnor 
 tun,ty, as we think of nothing but to admit that the chi dre , of'n " 
 sennr^ parents haye leave to go to their meetings; no cL I^ee" 
 anything ,ke an argument in all you haye said ,; justify the fir 
 b.ddtng ,, And I am prodigiously mistaken if you did no^ teU me 
 n was an al owed and settled rule with you heretofore. 
 
 Ihe only point in question, as I humbly conceiye, is, u-hether 
 ^^re ought of ngkt to be any such lav, in ylr Colleg as tl 7n 
 W. or by necessary consequence, forbids the liberty L con Z for , 
 Wha we must beg leaye to insist on is. That there ought nt and 
 
 tlTl7'"'''"n "'•^'"''''■''- "'"'^■'^ ^- can make tap- 
 
 inZXl ^" r:^'""' ''f "9 the benefit of Public education 
 in yor,.r College, wHhout their submitting to the hard condition of not 
 hung allowed to do what they believe in their conscience 7//their 
 lf-P'"^f fy to do, .-. ., to require their children to I to huZ 
 whenever they hare opportunity, and at the same time a right to acZ 
 --<iMd-.h vast benefactions from gentlemen of tl.Chl,l^^^^^^^ 
 
 sion ojsuch a hberfy. Can you think those gentlemen would eyer 
 haye g,yen such benefactions to such a purpose ! And ou^ it n!I 
 to be considered at the same time that the parents of hese ildren 
 ColLt" also their proportion eyery year to the support o[ [h: 
 
 v^^^Z Zr^'T. "" " ^TT '•'"''■ ^'^'' 'T''"' " =^ "consistent 
 with the original design of the founders, which was only M nroyide 
 
 ministers for your churches. But pray. Sir, why may not our Chu ch 
 
 also be proyded for with ministers from our common College as we 
 
 as your churches ? And ought not the catholic design of the^inLTpa 
 
 benetactors also in strict justice to be regarded, wh^o, in the use of 
 
448 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 the Ensflish Law, are to be reckoned amonj; the founders? See 
 Viner, on the title Founders. What Mr. Yale's views were, I 
 had not opportunity of knowing, though, doubtless, tliey were the 
 same that we suppose. But I was knowing to Bp. Berkeley's, which 
 were, that his great Donation should be equally for a common ben- 
 efit, without respect to parties. For I was myself the principal, I 
 may ?ay in effect the only person, in procuring that Donation, and 
 with tho>e generou?, catholic, and charitable views ; though you, (not 
 willing, it seems, that Posterity should ever know this,) did not think 
 fit to do me tlie justice in your History of the College, (though hum- 
 bly suggested,) as to give me the credit of any, the h*ast influence 
 on him in tliat affair ; when the truth is, had it not been for my in- 
 fluence it would never have been done, to which I was prompted by 
 the sincere desire that it should be for a common benefit, when I 
 could have easily procured it appropriated to the Church. But at 
 that time 3fr. Williams also pretended a mighty catholic charitable 
 conviction that there never was any meaning in it ; it being at the 
 very same juncture, that he with the IIam[)shire ministers, his father 
 at the head of them, were, in tlieir great charity, contriving a letter to 
 the Bishop of London by means of which they hoped to d<^prive all 
 the church people in these parts of their ministers, and them of their 
 sup{)ort ; the same charitable aim that Mr. Hobart and his friends 
 are pursuing at this day ! And now you. Gentlemen, are so severe 
 as to establish a law to deprive us of the benefit of a public education 
 for our children, too, unless we will let them, nay require them to 
 go out of our own houses, to meeting, when there is a church at our 
 doors. 
 
 " Indeed, Sir, I must say, this appears to me so very injurious, that 
 I must think it my duty, in obedience to a rule of the Society, to 
 join with my Brethren in complaining of it to our superiors at home, 
 if it be msisted upon ; w hich is what I abhor and dread to be brought 
 to ; and, therefore, by the love of our dear country, (in which we 
 desire to live, only upon a par with you, in all Christian charity,) 
 I do beseech you, Gentlemen, not to insist upon it. Tell it not in 
 Gath ! much less in the ears of our dear mother-country, that any 
 of her daughters should deny any of her children leave to attend on 
 her worship whenever they have opportunity for it. Surely you can- 
 not pretend that you are conscience bound to make such a law, or 
 that it would be an infraction of liberty of conscience for it to be re- 
 pealed from home, as you intimate. This would be ciirrying matters 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 449 
 
 far mdeed. But for God's sake, do not be so severe to think in this 
 manner, or to carry things to this pass ! If so, let Dissente,. neve 
 more complam of their heretofore persecutions or hardtln il E / 
 land, unless they have us tempted to think it their pri ipTe Z 
 they only ought to be tolerated, in order at length to be es ibh^l .'l 
 that they may have the sole privilege of persecuting :C:''''£^ 
 beg pardon and forbear ; only I desire it may be considered how II 
 such a prmcple would sound at this time of day, when the un" 
 Church of England as much abhors the persecution of Diss n erT4 
 they can themselves. It may also deserve to be consider dtl It tlL 
 Government at home would probably be so far from goin. ^ L 
 
 in use f, and not only so, but even the corporation that hath en- 
 acted n ; ,.asmuch as it seems a principle in L that a corpZatton 
 !":?"? « corporation, nor can one be made without hif l^t 
 iy^ act. See P ... under the titles Cohpohation and Br- "uv 
 
 lou mistake nie. Sir. I did not say that Professors of Divinity do 
 not preach. I knew they and the Heads, &c., do preach in Lr 
 turns , ,,3 ^,^^^,^^ ^^ ^^^.^^^ ^^^ ^j^^^ V^^^m t^e 
 
 what I say ,s that they do not preach as Professo.., nor do they ever 
 preach m private Colleges, there bein^ no such tlin^r ^i 
 i" the College Chapels, but only at sl mJ^^ ^alZi^:^:! 
 which are ,n effect Cathedrals, where the scllars rSo f b^ni 
 exclus^ of the town's people, tho' they generally go to tll^arS 
 
 ooe,e„,al Tn„,ty, and tl.e Divinity, incarnalion, Ld satiZdon of 
 Chnst, ,.s , e very and sole reason of n,y zeal for the CI . ^' o Fn. 
 nd, and that she may be p^moted, supported, and well elJil 
 tl/ese countries; as I have been long persuaded tint sho i T\ u 
 eventually bo found, the only stable tulwar, a'a 1 Z^ ^ 
 .nfide uy w ,eh are co.ning in like a flood up^n us, a udri'aTl 
 
 s.asm, dn,.ons.and separations, which, through the weakne.. .,nd 
 great ,mpc.fect,o„ of your constitution, (if it ^y .o be caled "e 
 «> n.e and ra.n,,ant a.nong us. My apprehensL of tW was to 
 first ocoas,on of .ny conforming to the Church, (which has beerto my 
 
450 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 great comfort and satisfaction,) and hatli been more and more con- 
 firmed by wliat has occurred ever since. And I am still apt to think 
 that no well-meaning Dove that has proper means and opportunity 
 of exact consideration, will ever find re>t to the sole of his toot amid 
 such a deluge, till he comes into the Church ;;» the alone ark of 
 safety, — all, whose Articles, Liturgy and Homilies taken together and 
 explained by one another, and by the writings of our tirst Keformers, 
 according to their original sense, shall ever be sacred with me ; which 
 sense, as I apprehend it, is neither Calvinistical nor Arminiau, but 
 the golden mean, and, according to the genuine meaning of the Holy 
 Scriptures in the original, critically considered and understood. I 
 be*» pardon for this lenjrth, which I did not design at first, and desire 
 you will also excuse my haste, inaccuracy, and this writing currente 
 calamo, and conclude with earnestly begging that neither your in- 
 Bisting on this law nor anything else, may occur to destroy or inter- 
 rupt our harmony and friendship, with which, on my part I desire 
 ever to remain, 
 
 " D' S' 
 
 " Y'. real friend 
 
 " and humble servant, 
 
 " S. Johnson. 
 " P. S. — I wish you to communicate it to the Fellows." 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 Correspondence hettreen the Stand inr/ Committees of Rhode 
 
 Island and Connecticut. 
 
 "Nkwport, March 2Dth, 1796. 
 **T0 THE STANDTNCr COMMITTEE 
 
 of the Prof. Episc Church in the State of Connecticut, 
 " Gentlemen, — 
 
 " Duly impressed with a grateful sense of the blessings enjoyed by 
 tlie Prot. Episc. Church, in the State of Khode Island, in common 
 with those in the State of Connecticut, during the Episcopal Regency 
 of our departed Rt. Rev*. Diocesan, we conceive it our duty at 
 this time to join with you in paying our tribute of Regard to the 
 memory of our worthy Bishop, and to call ujwn you for a continu- 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 451 
 
 ance of our common ecclesiastical interest and Dioce.enaJ unity. 
 And, as U hath pleased the adorable Head of the Church to c^^l 
 hence our v^.ble centre of unity, we have to request you, to u 
 your best endeavors and influence with the churcl^es whic . ^ou rep! 
 resen that they lose no time in making choice of a suitable pe^n 
 to watch over the Doctrines, Discipline and Institutions of ou faith 
 and common salvation. 
 
 " From the pm.oity of our congregations, we pretend not to any 
 share .„ your election; only to be admitted, so V.r do we renue"f 
 as to homologate your choice, and to give our adjunct suffrage and' 
 
 of Almighty God, may judge worthy of filling ,he Episcopal chair. 
 
 And may God of His infinite goodness and love for His Church 
 dtrect us n, all things for the good of the same; that Mis Name mfy' 
 be glorified, and the number of the faithful daily increased and re- 
 joice m the salvation of Jesus. 
 
 " We are, Gentlemen, with every sentiment of respect and esteem 
 and with prayers for your temporal and eternal happiness, your most 
 affectionate and very humble servants, the Standi I'g Con^„it erof 
 the Prot. Episc. Church in the State of Rhode Islan.l! 
 "William Smith, lied. Tr. O. N. Port. 
 
 " ROB\ N. AUCIIMUTY. 
 
 « Ahra" L. Clauke, Recr. St. Johns Ch'h Providence. 
 '•John J. Clahke." 
 
 To the above letter, copied from the onVinal in tlie hand- 
 yuj of Dr. Smith, the first signer, whose peculiar tnarks 
 of authorship it bears, the following answer was returned, in 
 the autumn, by the Standing Committee of Connecticut. 
 
 " To the Protestant E. Church in the State of Rhode Island 
 ** Gentlemen, — 
 
 "Your polite and friendly Letter of the 29th of March last was 
 received by us in due time. The occasion of your ad.lress was truly 
 a melancholy one. The sudden departure of our late worthy Dio- 
 cesan cast a gloom upon the minds of his numerous acquaintances, 
 and csp,.c,a ly upon the members of his cure. We were happy in bein^ 
 favored with so good a man to fill the Episcopal chair ; and we sin- 
 cerely lament the great loss wo have sustained. 
 " The delay in answering your Letter until this time did not arise 
 
452 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 iwn any inattention to the subject. But we eon.lnded that we 
 shoulil k' better able to comply witli vour t ^ , ,[ ait. r the mfcthi'T 
 of onr Convention than -before. At that met i in-,' yuui- Letter was 
 lea., liie members unanimously expre.s.stjii their wishes that the 
 union between the Church of Rhode I.^land and Connecticut whidi 
 had taken place under the regency of our latf Rt. Hev'». Diocesan 
 mi<!ht still Iw continue.!. The went of our meetinjj must, ere this, 
 have been made known to you by the Rev*. Mr. Sniiih. We trust 
 that our unanimous choice .t the R< v '. Mr. Howden will meet 
 the approbation ui uur sister Church *>i iihode Island. iMr. Bow- 
 den's well known abilities an.! integrity, if he accepts the appointment, 
 win, we trust in some measure, repair the loss we have sustained, 
 ami be a means of (Hintinuing and lirndy establi>hing that Diocesenal 
 unity which has heeu .. happily l)cgun l>etween us. That God 
 would preserve, bless, and direct His Chureh in all things, and tinally 
 receive ut into everlasting glory, is the ram. ^t pray.r, of, Gentlemen, 
 
 *• lour most atiectionate and very humble 
 
 ** Servants." 
 
 I 
 
 LIST 
 
 AKATION OF THE FORKGOING WORK. 
 
 -• 
 
 or the Cjosf)el ni Forei'm Parts 
 
 i aoon s. 1 1 i.ton.al I)isooi>rses. New Haven, 1 839. 
 
 15a,H.,oaV U istcy of ti.e United S.ates. 8 vols. Bo.ton, 1 839-60 
 
 emans Ihsiory of Trinity Clnnoh. New York, 1847. 
 
 iS! ^'"""^ "'"*'" ^''"""'■'' '■" ^^'«^'*'^>'^'^'er County. New York, 
 Botta-. History of tI.e American AVar. 2 vols. New Haven, 1842 
 
 can Keiolution. London, 1797. 
 Bronson's History of M'ate.-bnry. Waterbury, 1858. 
 Burn.t s History of His Own Times. 
 Cannthen'a History of tI.e Church of England. 2 vols. Oxford. 
 
 Caulkins's History of New London. New London, 1852. 
 Chandlers Li(e of Johnson. New York, 1805. 
 
 Appeal to the Public, etc. 1767-1771. 
 And Dr. Cliauncey's replies 
 
 Chu.ch Documents, Connecticut. 2 vols. New York 863 
 
 Churchman s Majrazine, from 1804 to 1827 
 
 Clap's Annals of Yale College. New Ilave'n, 1776. 
 
 Colonial History of New York. 10 vols. Albany, 1856. 
 Z'eT^mU ^'='='^^'''^'-' H'^'"-^ of Connecticut. Ne. 
 
 Q^m 
 
 jg^>~~2^2ij^i^sc. ' 
 
 'Ffc^i 
 
 ■^^*-''' 
 
 
 ?« 
 
 *^- •viiMte:-^ ^ ■■-■ - 
 
 ^^Wh^A 
 
 -^y-% 
 
 
 ^fe-. 
 
 •v-/"* 
 
 mmitM 
 
 P i.,. i f iPiM ' Jl i 
 
 s^mmmt^- 
 
 ■►i *!»■<*«!»-, 
 
 
 i^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 » 
 
 ^^ #,.##«. 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 1 
 
 J*"**"" "-««.- - 
 
 ^^■tumm 
 
 ■■•w 
 
 1 
 
i 
 
 452 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 from any inattention to the subject. But we concludecl that we 
 should l)e better «]>lll to comply with your request after the meeting 
 of our Convention than •before. At that meeting your Letter was 
 read, the members unanimously expressed their wishes that the 
 union between the Church of Rhode Island and Connecticut which 
 had taken place under the regency of our late lit. Rev*^. Diocesan 
 mi<rht still be continued. The event of our meeting must, ere this, 
 have been made known to you by the Rev'^ Mr. Smith. We trust 
 that our unanimous choice of the Rev*^. Mr. Bowden will meet 
 the approbation of our sister Church of Rhode Island. Mr. Bow- 
 den's well known abilities and integrity, if he accepts the appointment, 
 will, we trust in some measure, repair the loss we have sustained, 
 and be a means of continuing and firmly establishing that Diocesenal 
 unity which has been so happily begun between us. That God 
 would preserve, bless, and direct His Church in all things, and finally 
 receive us into everlasting glory, is the earnest prayer, of. Gentlemen, 
 
 *' Your most affectionate and very humble 
 
 " Servants." 
 
 ( 
 
 II 
 
 LIST 
 
 7,Vri; ^^^^^'ULTi.D OR KEFEKHKD TO IN TIIF prpp 
 AKATIOxN OF THE FOREGOING WORK 
 
 ■4 
 
 or the Gospel m Forei«m Parts 
 
 Kacon. Historical Discourses. New Haven, 1889. 
 
 Bancioft's History of tlie United States. 8 vols. Boston, 1839-60. 
 
 Beman s History of Trinity Church. New York, 1847 
 
 Bolton's History of the Church in Westchester County. New York 
 
 Botta's History of the American War. 2 vols. New Haven, 1842. 
 Bouche^rs Discourses on the Causes and Consequences of the Ameri- 
 can Ivevolution. London, 1797. 
 Bronson's History of AVaterbury. Waterbury, 1858. 
 Burnet's History of His Own Times. 
 Car«^,hen's History of the Church of England. 2 vols. Oxford, 
 
 Caulkins's History of New London. New London, 1852. 
 Chandlers Life of Johnson. New York, 1805. 
 " Appeal to the Pubh'c, etc. 1767-1771. 
 
 And Dr. Chauncey's replies. 
 Chauncey's State of Religion in New England. Boston. 1 743. 
 Church Documents, Connecticut. 2 vols. New York, 1863. 
 Churchman's Magazine, from 1804 to 1827 
 Clap's Annals of Yale College. New Haven, 1776. 
 CoHeetions of the Protestant Episcopal Historical Society. 2 vols. 
 
 New lork, 1851-52. * »uia. . 
 
 Colonial History of New York. 10 vols. Albany, 1856. 
 Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut. New 
 llaven, 1861. 
 
454 
 
 LIST OF AUTHORS 
 
 REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK. 
 
 455 
 
 • 1 Mof^ in reference to the Church, from 1734 to 
 
 Controversial pamphlets in reitrencL lu 
 
 thp American Revolution. iqiq 
 
 I,: T^tluU-s History of Connecticut. 2 vols. New Ha j, 1813. 
 Documents and Memorials in the State L.brary «' "''' "'J- 
 Ha Ln's Constitutional Hi.tory of England. 3 vols. Bo-ton^ 1861. 
 Ii;;wkin.'s Missions of the Church of England. London, 184o. 
 Hawks's Ecclesiastical Contributions. \ n-g,ma, 18oG 
 
 ^^ u Maryland, loo'J. 
 
 HildLh-s History of the United States. 3 vols. First Series. 
 
 Ho'^^rSrl^nJ-and Queen Elizabeth. 3 vols. Boston 1859. 
 IluWhrey-s History of the Propagation Soctety. London, 1 . 80. 
 
 Johnson MSS. 
 
 Journal, of General Convention, from 1 /8o. 
 
 Tourn-,ls of Convention of Diocese of Connecticut, f.om 1 < 92. 
 
 Jud'e Church's Address at the Centennial Celebration m L.tchfield, 
 
 1851 
 Kin"sky'3 Historical Discourse. New Haven, 1838. 
 
 lXVs History of the Book of Common Prayer. London, 1859. 
 Macaulay's History of England. New ^ork, 184J. 
 Manuscript llecords of Convocation. 
 Massachusetts Historical Collections. D.fTerent sene». 
 Mather's Magnalia. 2 vols. Hartford, 18.0. 
 
 Minutes of the Convention of Delegates from the Sj nod o ^ew 
 - York and Philadelphia, and the Associations of Cotn^eeUcut, from 
 1766 to 1775. Hartford, 1843. 
 Neal's History of New England. 2 v^l.n J^ondon, 1748. 
 u Hi^tory of the Puritans. 2 vols. J^-^- ^';'';' l!^^* 
 V New Haven Colonial Records. 2 vols. Hartford, 18o7. 
 Oliver's Puritan Commonwealth. Boston 18o0. 
 Palfrev's History of New England. 3 vols. Boston, 18o8. 
 Poor's' En-dish Civilization in America. New lork 1862. 
 Ouincyi History of Harvard University. 2 vols. Boston, 1860 
 sSs Loyalists of the American Revolution. 2 vols. Boston, 
 
 Ski!net's Annals of Scottish Episcopacy. Edinburgh, 1818. 
 Sparks's Life of Washington. 12 vols. Boston. 
 « Life of Franklin. 1 vol. Boston, 1844. 
 Stephen's History of the Church of Scotland. 4 vols. London, 
 
 1843. 
 
 Stiles's Literary Diary and Itinerary. MS. Yale Colle-^e 
 Stone's Life and Times of Sir AVilliam Johnson. 2 vols! Albany, 
 
 Updike's History of the Narragansett Churcli. New York 1847 
 Vaughan's History of England under the House of Stuart.' 2 vols 
 London, 1840. 
 
 Wilberforce's History of the American Church. New York, 1849 
 TV mthrop's History of New England. 2 vols. Boston, 1853. 
 Woolsey's Historical Discourse, Yale College. New Haven, 1850. 
 
 ',H 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abbot, Archbishop, 5. 
 
 Aberdeen, 361, 363, 365, 368. 
 
 Act of Assembly, N. Y., 178. 
 
 Act of Toleration, 16. 
 
 Adams, John, 291, 334, 341, 396. 
 
 Address to Bishop Seabury, 368. 
 
 Africans, 186. 
 
 " Age of Reason," 432. 
 
 Albany, 156, 272. 
 
 Allen, 149. 
 
 Ailing, P:nos, 171, 172, 224, 227, 228. 
 
 Allington, 271. 
 
 Amboy, 205. 
 
 America, 1, 8, 14, 18, 27, 45, 47, 76, 
 82, 102, 120-122, 134, 159, 184, 229, 
 232, 243, 245, 252-254, 261, 263, 290, 
 299,302,304,341.350,400. 
 
 "America Dissected," 85. 
 
 American army, or forces, 305, 309, 
 328,342. 
 
 American Bills, 299. 
 
 American Church, 79, 381, 412, 429. 
 
 American Clergy, 317. 
 
 American Colonies, or provinces, 76, 
 144, 247, 252, 264, 265, 340, 342. 
 
 American Episcopate, 101, 159, 184, 
 196. 199, 239, 243, 253, 257-259, 
 261-266. 282-284, 289, 290, 301. 346, 
 348-350. 357-365, 370, 381. 390. 398. 
 
 American Independence, 171, 291, 331. 
 353, 362. 
 
 American Indians. 186, 261. 
 
 American Loyalists, 313, 351-353. 
 
 American people, or public, 299, 315, 
 335, 343. 
 
 American Prelates, 428. 
 
 American Revolution. 361. 
 
 " American Whig." 259. 
 Anderson, 77, 267, 339. 
 Andrew, Rev. Mr., 38. 
 Andrews, Rev. Samuel, goes to Eng- 
 land for Orders, 204 ; sent to Wal- 
 lingford, 206, 236 ; visits Xew Hamp- 
 shire, 271; mention of, 292, 346; 
 placed under bonds, 317; removes 
 to New Brunswick, 354, 355. 
 
 Anne, Queen, 26, 76. 
 
 Annual Convention in Connecticut, 
 
 420, 435. 
 Annual Report, First, of Propagation 
 
 Society, 230. 
 Antinomianism. 239. 
 Aplin, John, 273. 
 Apostles' Creed, 394. 395, 415. 
 " Api)eal to the Public," 256. 
 Apthorp. Rev. East. 228, 230. 234. 
 Archbishop of Canterburv, 121, 144, 
 
 198. 210, 216, 254, 358, 396. 428. 
 Archbishop of York, 348-350, 358, 389. 
 Arian or Socinian errors, 193. 
 Aristocles to Anthades, 137. 
 Arminian corruptions, 42, 195. 
 Arminians, 140. 
 Arnold, Benedict, 337, 383. 
 Arnold, Rev. Jonathan, 110; goes to 
 
 England for Orders, 111 ; attempts 
 
 to get the Gregson land. 113-115; 
 
 removes to Staten Island, 116. 117; 
 
 occasional notices of, 130, 168-171. 
 
 227. 
 Articles of the Church, 3, 194, 434 
 Astry, Dr., 114, 137. 
 Athanasian Creed, 381, 395. 
 Atlantic, 51, 228, 269, 361, 400. 
 Auchmuty, Rev. Dr., 250. 
 Auchmuty, Robert N., 451. 
 Autobiography of Rev. Dr. Johnson. 
 
 179, 296. 
 
 B. 
 
 Babylon, 120. 
 
 Baldwin, Rev. Ashbel, ordained, 370 ; 
 
 sent to Litchfield, 383; Rector at 
 
 Stratford, 425. 
 Bangorian controversy, 80. 
 Baptism, cross in, 4. 
 Baptists. 14, 71. 
 Bass, Rev. Edward, 393, 403 ; Bishop 
 
 Elect of Massachusetts and New 
 
 Hampshire, 405 ; doctorated, 410. 
 Bastwick, 6. 
 Beach, Rev. Abraham, 270. 
 
 \i 
 
458 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Beach, Eev. John, Independent Min- 
 ister at Newtown, 5S ; declares for 
 Episcopacy, 8'J; ^oes to En<;land 
 for Orders, 90; Missionary in New- 
 town and Reddin;jj, 90 ; mentions of, 
 92, 95, 9G, 110, 110, 130, 141, 158, 
 188, 189, 211, 239, 346 ; enjraged in 
 controversy, 97, 9S, 173-175, 193, 
 194, 228; reports to Society, 192, 
 202, 241, 248, 250, 298 ; opinion of 
 Ciiandler's Life of Johnson, 296 ; 
 intellectual strent^th, 297 ; under 
 bonds, 309; spirit and firmness. 
 319 ; last letter to Society, 329, 330 ; 
 death, 331. 
 
 Beach, William. 95, 158, 216. 
 
 Bearcroft, Dr., Ill, 116, 133, 185, 188. 
 
 Beardslev, John, Jr., 56. 
 
 Beardsley, Rev. John, 204, 206, 235, 
 270. 
 
 Bedford, 142, 153. 
 
 Belden, Rev. David, 386. 
 
 Berkeley, Dean, arrival at Newport, 
 76; charter for collej;e at Bermuda, 
 77; composes "Minute Philoso- 
 pher," 78; faithlessness of Wal- 
 pole, 78 ; return to Great Britain, 
 79; made Bishop of Cloyne. 80; 
 Anniversary Sermon, 80, 81 ; dona- 
 tions to Yale College, 82, 84, 448; 
 letters to. 110, 115, 130, 178; letter 
 from, 182. 
 
 Berkeley, Rev. Dr., his son, 290, 299, 
 361. 
 
 Bermuda, 76, 78-80. 
 
 Bethanv, 324. 
 
 Bishop of Bangor, 180. 
 
 Bisliop of Connecticut, 302, 399, 422, 
 428, 437. 
 
 Bishop of Gloucester, 101, 121, 122. 
 
 Bishop of Landaff, 114, 256-258, 261. 
 
 Bishop of London, 19, 45, 47, 49, 57, 
 69, 78. 134, 136, 160; letters from, 
 164; addresses to, 250, 282. 
 
 Bishops, Diocesan, 283. 
 
 Bishops in America, 76, 229, 267, 350. 
 
 Bishops in London, meeting of, 393. 
 
 Blakeslees, 430. 
 
 Bliss, Rev. John, 100. 
 
 Bonticou, Timothy, 224, 227. 
 
 Book of Common Praver, 13, 16, 31, 
 64, 96. 132, 167, 373,' 380, 381, 390, 
 409, 411, 413, 415. 
 
 Boston Colonv, 19. 
 
 Boston. 1, 9, 13, 18, 41, 46, 51, 95, 123, 
 141, 188, 219, 307, 373. 
 
 Bostwick, Rev. Gideon, 272, 293, 306, 
 346. 
 
 Bowden, Rev. John, one of a Com- 
 
 mittee to revise the Prayer Book, 
 373 ; Rector at Norwalk, 385, 409 ; 
 Adtlress to the Parish at Stratford, 
 423-425; one of a Committee to 
 revise the Articles, 434 ; Principal 
 of the Episcopal Academy, 436 ; 
 Bishop Elect of Connecticut, 452. 
 Braintree, 145, 219. 
 Branford, 158, 161, 167, 170, 172, 198, 
 
 223, 237, 385. 
 Bridgeport, 154, 173. 
 Bridges, Rev. Christopher, 24. 
 
 Bristol, Ct., 293, 397, 437. 
 
 Bristol, R. I., 47. 
 
 Britain, 4. 
 
 British army, or forces, in America, 
 227, 305, 311, 324, 341. 
 
 British Colonies, or provinces, 17, 353, 
 356, 367. 
 
 British Crown, 76, 229, 351, 355, 410. 
 
 British Government, 304, 310, 341, 
 352, 363. 
 
 British Ministry, 302, 336. 
 
 British officers, 324. 
 
 British Parliament, 244, 247. 
 
 Bronson, Rev. Tillotson, 386. 
 
 Brook Haven, 60. 
 
 Brooklyn, 273, 281. 
 
 Brown, Rev. Arthur, 272. 
 
 Brown, Rev. Daniel, 28, 30 ; appointed 
 tutor in Yale College, 33 ; declares 
 for Episcopacy, 38 ; resigns his tu- 
 torship, 42 ; embarks for England, 
 43 ; ordained by the Bishop of Nor- 
 wich, 47 ; death, 48 ; occasional no- 
 tices of, 49, 51, 54, 64. 
 
 Brown, Rev. Isaac, 87, 
 
 Brownell, Bishop, 423. 
 
 Buckingham, Stephen, 40. 
 
 Bulklev, Mr., 39. 
 
 BunkeV Hill, 313. 
 
 Burhans, Rev. Daniel, 430. 
 
 Burke, 352. 
 
 Burlington, N. J., 252. 
 
 Burnet, Bishop, 7, 35. 
 
 Burr, John, 154. 
 
 Burton, 6. 
 
 Burton, Rev. Daniel, 253. 
 
 Butler, Bishop. Sermon of, 356, 357. 
 
 Butler, Rev. David, 430, 435. 
 
 Byram River, 73. 
 
 C. 
 
 Cabinet, British, 341, 865. 
 Calvinism, 126. 205, 449. 
 Cambridge, Mass., 22, 123, 230. 
 Camp, Rev. Ichabod, 159, 161, 164, 
 173, 190, 197. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 i 
 
 M 
 
 i 
 
 Canada, 250. 
 Caner, Elizabeth, 65. 
 Caner, Henry. 64. 
 
 Caner Rev. Henry, 60, 64 ; embarks 
 for Englaml 06 69 ; exten't of" 
 
 \t\Xt; ' ""' ^^"^«^-al to Bos! 
 Caner, Rev. Ridiard, lay reader, 130 • 
 
 Missionary at Norwalk, vd ■ re- 
 
 nioval to Staten Island, 'and death, 
 Canons, 402, 419, 429. 
 Canterbury, Archbi*"slion of 121 ^''.8 
 
 389, 396, 398, 428 ' ' ^' 
 
 Canterbury, Ct.,274. 
 Canterbury, En-., 44, 45, 184 299 ■ 
 
 ^ee of, 348 ; Dean of, 3(34 ' 
 
 Carleton, Sir Guv 2'>7 ^.11 Qr,i o-a 
 Caroline,' Queen,'79'^^^'^^^'^^^- 
 Cathedral at Canterbury. 44 
 
 6'V IqJ' V':'"''' ^^•^' "'^^"tion of, 
 163, 19b; letter to Society ■^43- to 
 
 V(U I V . Jl^^fence of, 256-261, 
 
 ^mgland o02; named for Bishop 
 3o6 ; return to America, 377. ^' 
 
 Charles L. 4, 5, 13. 
 
 Charles II., K), 13. 16. 
 
 Charleston, 121, 122, 124 
 
 Charlestown, R. L 167 
 
 Chatham, 280, 397.' 
 
 Chauncey, Dr. Charles, 231 25G-'?fil 
 
 Chauncey Rev. Mr. Israel '40 ^^^• 
 
 ^/iJ, oJ/ ; academy at. 427 4'^"^ 
 Chestnut Ridge, 55,*68.''^^^- 
 
 ^ 9"/'jV'i-"'9V;f^''x''' 23, 60, 74, 90, 
 
 376 SH^'dm^iVf ' ^^^' 345, 356 
 
 896;416'1l'/.>^'?o^'^'I-^-^^^^ 
 j/u, -tio, 4 4j^ canons or con- 
 
 BWuUon of; 419, 4:i6; influence of, 
 
 Clmrcl. of Englan.l, 3, 7, 10, 12 15 • 
 members or professors of 17 i.j' 
 
 iio, 129, 1.53, 163 165 in« 170 
 175, 202. 240 242? 271 ' 8- o' - 4' 
 
 To SI n"'^'^' ^^^^ ^^' ^^' tribute 
 to .il , missionaries of, 32, 293, 325 
 
 xfh^"'^^'\\f\.\^'^ eonver'sions' 
 9WiLij"\n"\^32; mentions of, 
 
 95' 12^1'^f 'i5I' ??' ^2, 65, 73, 84 
 251 ^i- ^1^^'"^-^^^^ 224, 249 
 
 of, 4b, 12o, 137, 253; bishops of 
 
 459 
 
 381; clergy of, 72, 92, 107, 182 
 ^01 ; opposition to, 67. P'Z 17k' 
 parishes of, permitted, 70; d'efence 
 ^'^;:^,l?'f 0-233 ;tamiH^':;^ 
 
 ?V'iVV75'1:,f^/p-«--«of! 
 
 Church Hierarchy, 260, 291. 
 
 Chureh in Rhode Island, 45l)-452 
 Clmrch, Samuel, Chief Justice of 
 
 Connecticut, 432. 
 Church and State, 4, 11, IS 242 
 Church ot Rome, 29. 
 Churchmen, 14. ' " 
 Ciaggett, Rev. Thos. J., D. D conse 
 crated Risliop, 429 ' ^' 
 
 ^'l95,^446!'^''"'' ^'^' ^^' ^^^' ^^^' 1^2, 
 Claremont, 272. 
 Clarke, 80. 
 
 Clarke, John J., 451 
 
 Cleri^y !^' r ^"^"^^ ^'^ ''^' '^^«' ^54. 
 I'f K.1 iTi'^"!'?^' ^01, 111,115, 
 
 8^,^' ;t^ 2' :-^ ^^76, 306-308, 312 336 
 
 b ni for consecration, 347-351, 360- 
 ooV ""'■*' convention of, 250 277 
 
 4''f 4' '4^^'' '^^«' ■''"< 3«8.' *0«: 
 
 ^-^» "io-l, -iOv). 
 
 Clergy of New .Jersey, 257 
 Cergy ofNew York, 257 ' 
 Cleveland, hVn-. Mr., 186. 
 Clinton, Sir Henry, 337, 341. 
 Colchester, 39, 280. 
 Cole, Samuel, 273. 
 Collier, Sir George, 324. 
 p")'"^"; I^cnjaniin,'4r, 84, 123. 
 Coloinal CJmrch, 45, 50, 294; Jiistorjr 
 
 Colonial Government, 70. 
 Colton, Rev. Jonathan, 163 164 
 Co umbia College, X. Y., 178, 410 423 
 Columbus, Christopher, 1 ' ' 
 
 Commeneenient at Yale College, 32 
 bo, 16/, 2o5, 368. ^ ' ' 
 
 Commission Court and Star-Cham- 
 oer, o. 
 
 Commissioners of Cliarlcs 11. 16 
 
 Commons, House of, 77 
 Communion Office, 388. 413 
 Concordate, 368, 388. 
 Confirmation, rite of, 252, 430 431 
 
 26!:r:266:sr'""'"^'"^'2^^' 
 
460 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Conirreffational Churches, 17, 72. 
 Congrejjational Ministers, 39, 50, 67. 
 
 95, 98, 104, 106, 119, 123, 146, 278 
 
 313. 
 
 Congregational Order, 11, 16. 
 Congregational Society in New Lon- 
 don, 323. 
 
 Congregational Society in North Strat- 
 ford, 142. 
 
 Congregational Society in Stratford. 
 21. 
 
 Congregational Society in Waterbury, 
 
 lol. 
 
 Congregationalism, 42, 84, 110, 131. 
 
 140, 154, 159, 105. 274. 
 Congregationalists, 22, 26. 28, 63, 70, 
 
 73, 95, 132, 138. 143. 147, 155, 176, 
 
 181, 193, 201, 215, 230, 255. 
 Congress of the Colonics, 239, 311, 
 
 315, 322, 330, 333, 341-343, 351, 363. 
 Connecticut, Council of, 311, 312. 
 Connecticut churchmen, 61,290, 331 
 
 338, 340. 383,441. 
 Connecticut churches closed, 318; 
 
 churches in, 388. 
 Connecticut, General Assembly of 
 
 10, 16, 25, 29,39, 67, 71, 86, {)l, 
 
 101, 106, no, 131, 140, 165, 166 
 
 171, 280, 302, 311, 318, 344, 353, 
 384,421,427,434. 
 
 Connecticut Kiver, 9, 74, 236. 280. 
 397. > , , , 
 
 Connecticut, History of, 2, 104; its 
 settlement, 9; its 'charter, 10;' col- 
 ony of, 12, 17, 19, 42, 84. 87, 98, 112, 
 116, 129, 153, 176, 207, 263, 265. 
 846 ; people, 20, 85 ; mentions of, 52, 
 62, 81, 100, 105, 128, 131, 143. 157, 
 
 172. 212, 292, 408, 415; parishes in, 
 91. 103, 139, 383. 397 ; laymen of, or 
 laity in, 119, 380, 420; commissary 
 for, asked, 134-136 ; Tories in, 309 ; 
 missionaries in, 177, 189, 317, 332, 
 366 ; State of, 359 ; Bishop of, 399! 
 402, 405, 412. 418, 422, 428, 437; 
 courts in, 438. 
 
 Consociation of New Haven county, 
 194. 
 
 Continental Congress, 304, 309, 320. 
 Continental Fast, 304. 
 
 Continentiil representation of Church, 
 374. 
 
 Convention of delegates, Presbvterian 
 and Congregational, 255, 283-286, 
 
 Convention, General, 375-382, 389- 
 396, 403-415. 419. 429. 434, 436-438. 
 
 Convocation. 373, 401, 414, 415, 418- 
 420, 422, 425, 434, 435, 437. 
 
 Cooper, Kev. Dr. Mvles, 261, 302. 
 
 Cornwall, 190, 200, 201. 
 
 Cornwallis, Lord, 341. 
 
 Court of Chancery, 280. 
 
 Coventry, 261. 
 
 Cranmer, 31. 
 
 Cronjwell, OHver, 13, 98, 117. 
 
 Cutler, Rev. Timothy, minister at 
 Stratford, 22; removal to Yale Col- 
 lege, 23, 446 ; conferences in library, 
 32 : ccmversion to Episcoi)acy, 37-39 ; 
 defence of Episcoiiacy, 41 ; removed 
 from his office, and embarks for 
 England, 43 ; ordained, 47 ; visits 
 the Universities, and Voctorated, 49 ; 
 returns to America, and is stationed 
 at Boston, 51 ; death, 52; mentions 
 of. 86, 87, 89. 188; letter of, 146; 
 letter of resignation. 445. 
 Cyprian, 422. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dana. James, 194. 
 
 panbury, 68, 211, 212, 271, 328, 435. 
 Davenport, Christopher, 12. 
 Davenport, James, 125, 137. 
 Davenport, liev. John, 9, 12, 13. 
 Davenport, John, minister at Stam- 
 ford, 40. 
 Dayies, Kev. Thomas, 204, 205, 237, 
 
 Davies, Jolm, 141. 
 Dean, Kev. Barzillai, 143. 
 Deane, Silas, 311. 
 Dean's farm, 83. 
 
 Declaration of Independence 311 
 315,323,389. ' * 
 
 Declaratory Act, 246. 
 
 De Lancey, Lieutenant-Governor. 178. 
 Delaware. 390, 392, 393. 
 Delft Haven, 1. 
 
 Derby, 112, 118, 128, 136, 157, 162. 
 190, 198, 238, 271, 309, 382, 386 
 
 Derry, Dean of. 76. 
 
 Diblilee, Kev. Ebenezer, goes to Eng- 
 land for Orders. 155 ; Missionary at 
 Stamford and GreenMich, 155 173 
 189, 211, 212; letters to Society,' 
 2ol, 300; mentions of, 346, 355 
 384, 418 ; doctorated, 419. 
 
 Dickinson, Jonathan, 94. 97, 98. 137. 
 
 Dickinson, Moses. 174. 
 
 Diocesan Bishops, or Episcopacy, 283, 
 284. 
 
 Dissenters in England, 16, 193, 283. 
 284,449. ' > » , 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 461 
 
 L 
 
 n 
 
 Dissenters in America, 41. 105 117 
 .180, 262, 268. * ' ' ^^* 
 
 Dissenters in Newtown, 75, 174 
 Dobbs, Governor, 197. 
 Doblois, Mr. (Gilbert, 189. 
 Doctors of Divinity, college of, 418, 
 
 Doolittle, Lsaac, 171, 172, 224, 227, 
 
 Duche, Rev. Jacob, 398. 
 Duke of Newcastle, 267. 
 Dummer, Jeremiah, 35. 
 Durham, 286. 
 Duchess County, 277. 
 Dutch Reformed, 269. 
 Dutch, the, 8, 9. 
 
 E. 
 
 Earl of Thanet. 45. 
 Eastchester. 185. 
 Easter meetings, 324. 
 Eastern Colonies, 146. 
 Eastern Diocese, 438.' 
 East Haddam. 167, 42*^ 
 East Haven, 223. 2257397. 
 East Jersey, 18. 
 East Plymouth, 397, 398, 437. 
 Eaton, Theophiliis 12 
 Edward VI., 3, 413. 
 
 Edwards, Jonathan, 123, 124, 260. 
 Ehot, Jared, 28, 42. 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 2, 4. 
 Ehzabethtown, 243, 255, 283, 296. 
 Endicott, John. 1. ' > "• 
 
 England Refonnation in, 3, 8 ; men- 
 tions of, 7, 9, 11, 23, 43, 46 49 64 
 f2o'?.;,f^^J-;^2^105.l'll/^4^^ 
 122, 1.30, loo, 168, 183, 184, 196 197 
 207, 208, 225. 228, 242 244 252 2^4 
 260,265,269.293;360;3ot369,'/8l' 
 
 qqn . 1 ' iri ,^ ""''-^te of, 256, 266, 
 390, lossofCol(mies,268; war with 
 other nations. 336 ; legacies in, for 
 American Episcopate, 345, 357; 
 Bishops of. .389. » ^' , 
 
 ^^'^Ifl!il^^l'T' "'•prelates, 144, 362- 
 
 364 31^ 391, 393-395, 407, 408. 
 English Church, 4, 8, 16, 83, 302. 
 English Clergy, 317. 
 "English Consecrate," 400. 
 English Hierarchv, 232. 
 English Protestants, 3. 
 English Reformers, 3. 
 English Theology, 35, 45, 61. 
 Episcopacy, 10, 13. 21, 22, 29, 30 39 
 49, 52, 66, 58, 62, 66, 72, 86, 89, 91, 
 
 94 97 100 118, 126. 128,132,144, 
 91 o' o?I' P' ^^-' 1 ' ^' 1 '^. 1«1 ^^5 
 
 36ri^^t3Jr''-^^''«-^^^'^^^' 
 Episcopal Academy, 427. 434. 436. 
 Episcopal Church, 21. 38,93, 104, 154 
 
 230, 278, 287, 373-375, 382, 416, 425. 
 Episcopal clergy, 13, 43, 65, 85, 151 
 
 1.09, 169, 173, 182, 195, 233,255, 401. 
 i*ipiscopal con trovers v, 30. 
 Episcopal families, 103, 172 IS'-* ^i 
 Episcoj)al Orders, or ordination,'"*36. 
 
 38,40,50,147,201,360.370. 
 
 30r388 ^''''''''^^'' ^'' ^^' ^^' !!<>> 
 Episcopal Regency, 450. 
 Episcopal students, 181, 182, 231, 447, 
 
 Episcopal separation in New Eno-. 
 
 land, 173. 195. 
 Episcopalians, 57, 70, 72, 73. 84, 142 
 
 Episcopate, 47. 50, 252, 256, 258, 263, 
 266-268, 291, 349, 362, 370, 373 377 
 ^389,390,396,403,406. ' ' 
 
 Europe, 14, 47, 79, 80, 336. 
 Europeans, 163, 186. 
 Evans, Rev. Evan, 23. 
 
 F. 
 
 Fairfield, churchmen in. 21 93 ko 
 66-60. 66. 102 ; their trials' and pt 
 tit.ons. 59, 67-71 ; church built. 58. 
 64; mentions of, 92, 101, 129, 139 
 
 f/vi' 1 iu' ' ' ^"^^'^^^ church built, 
 Qo'o.ir' ^.^"^^ ''^"'^ church burnt, 
 
 -n • i~;, '■ ^^J'ur^'fi rebuilt, 384. 
 
 Eairhe Id County, 73, 212, 238. 289. 
 
 J airfield. North, 211, 325, 384. 
 
 I'anning. Colonel, 306. 
 
 Federal Constitution, 403. 
 
 FelUnys of Yale College, 181,447,450. 
 
 1* lushing, L. I., 325. 
 
 Fogg Rev. Daniel, 281, 318, 346, 355. 
 
 Fort Gnswold, 337, 338. 
 
 Fort Trumbull, 337. 
 
 Fowle, Rev. John, 156, 173, 189. 
 
 Foxcroft. 95. 
 
 France. 4, 142, 336, 341, 342. 
 
 i^ranke. Professor, 121. 
 
 *^'34oi342 ^^'' •^^"J^"'^"' 178, 242, 
 Freethinkers. 179. 
 French court, 340. 
 French, the, 8, 76, 192. 
 
I 
 
 462 INDEX. 
 
 French War, old, 189. 
 Future punishment, 193. 
 
 G. 
 
 General Constitution of the Church. 
 214.381. 
 
 General Court, 0, 25, 56, 227, 262. 
 
 GentTHJ (h\'^i\ oil. 
 
 General Putnam, 318. 
 
 General Trvon, 309, 324-328, 383. 
 
 General Warren, 313. 
 
 Genevan scheme, 4. 
 
 Georjje II., 77. 
 
 Georjre III., 319, 336. 
 
 Georjjia, 121, 243, 380. 
 
 Gerry, Elbridpre, 334. 
 
 Gibbs, Kev. William, 143, 162, 190, 
 208. 
 
 Gibson, Bishop, 50, 78, 86, 267. 
 
 Giles, Mr., 254. 
 
 Gold, Ht'zekiah, 127. 
 
 Gold. Nathan, 56, 67. 
 
 Goodrich, Rev. Eliziir, 286, 289. 
 
 Gordon, Rev. Patrick, 18, 
 
 Gor^^es, Sir Ferdinando, 8. 
 
 Graham, John, 9.3. 96. 
 
 Grammar School, 303. 
 
 Granby, 397. 
 
 Graves, Rev. Matthew, 159, 160; let- 
 ter to Bishop of London, 163, 164; 
 opposes memorial of churchmen, 
 166 ; letters to Society, 209, 235, 
 280, 282; separation from his peo- 
 ple, and death, 321-323 ; mentions 
 of, 339, 346. 
 
 Great Barrinj^ton, 205, 293, .306, 346. 
 
 Great Britain, 244, 246, 283, 300, 315, 
 318, 320. 362, 366, 369. 
 
 Green, Dr., Bishop of Norwich, 47. 
 
 Greenwich, 142, 1.35, 162, 209. 
 
 Gregory, Nazianzen, 93. 
 
 Gregson land, 171. 
 
 Gregson, Thomas, 168, 224-227. 
 
 Gregson, William, 114, 115, 168, 170, 
 224. 
 
 Griffith, Rev. David, President of 
 Convention, 389 ; Bishop Elect of 
 Virginia, 395; death, 406. 
 
 Griswold, Rev. Mr., 437. 
 
 Groton, 84, 86, 127, 206. 
 
 Grummon's Hill, 327. 
 
 Guilford, 34, 141, 158, 161, 162, 166, 
 167, 172, 198, 209, 223, 269, 270, 275. 
 
 Guilford, North, 142, 270. 
 
 Gunn, Nathaniel, 92. 
 
 H. 
 
 Halifax, 243. 
 Hamden, 289, 397. 
 Hampton Court, 49. 
 
 Hart. John, 28, 30, 42. 
 
 Hartford, 25, 208, 219, 279, 311, 318, 
 440. 
 
 Hartford Count v, 278. 
 
 Hartford jail, 163, 316. 
 
 Hartley, Mr., 341. 
 
 Harvard University, 36, 63, 86, 123 
 143, 147, 156, 188, 194, 230, 281. ' 
 
 Harwinton, 397, 438. 
 
 Hawkins, Rev. Ernest, 252. 
 
 Hawley, Capt. Jehiel, 190. 
 
 Heathcote, Caleb, 19-21, 24, 26, 55, 62. 
 
 Hebron, 99, 118, 133, 161, 164, 207. 
 306. 
 
 Hedge, Lemuel, 313. 
 
 Hempstead, L. I., 100, 143, 310. 
 
 Henrietta Maria, 4. 
 
 Henry the (jreat, 4. 
 
 Herbert, George, 34. 
 
 Higginson, 119. 
 
 History of the Colonial Church, 77. 
 
 History of New England, 6, 14. 
 
 Hobart, Bishop, 297, 419. 
 
 Hobart, Noah. 81, 173, 195, 231, 448. 
 
 Hodges, Dr., 296. 
 
 Hoi brook, Capt. John, 306. 
 
 Holland, 342. 
 
 Mollis, 41. 
 
 Hopkinson, Francis, 889. 
 
 Hopkinton, 113. 
 
 Hubbard, Rev. Bela, goes to Eng- 
 land for ordination, 210; opens tho 
 church at Milford, 238; removes to 
 New Haven, 269, 270; letters to 
 Society, 275, 292 ; mentions of, 303, 
 323, 324, 346, 355, 359, 367, 409, 418, 
 430, 434 ; opens the church at Beth- 
 any, 398. 
 
 Hudibras, 114. 
 
 Humphrey, Rev. D., 8. 
 
 Hunter, (iovernor, 25, 177. 
 
 Huntington, 53, 189. 
 
 Huntington Bay, L. L, 327. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 463 
 
 Ignatius, 422. 
 
 Independence, American, 171, 247, 
 
 264, 291, 342. 
 Independency, 7, 177. 
 Independent ministers, 57, 74, 96, 123, 
 
 132, 248. 
 
 / 
 
 Independents, 7, 33, 56, 70, 89, 232. 
 312. > . , , 
 
 Indians, 9, 90, 91, 174, 186, 187, 192, 
 229, 263, 280, 297. 
 
 Inglis, Rev. Charles, 114; letter of 
 316, 318, 350 ; his losses, 356 ; Bish- 
 op of Nova Scotia, 357. 
 
 Ireland, 76, 80. 361. 
 
 Ives, Rev. Reuben, 386, 397, 426, 436. 
 
 J. 
 
 James I., 2, 4, 8. 
 James XL, 362. 
 
 Jarvis, Rev. Abraham, 197 ; goes to 
 England for ordination, 210; ex- 
 tr_act from letter to the Society, 
 276, 277; presides at Convention 
 m New Haven, 318 ; Secretary of 
 Convention, 347-350, 355, 3-39, 367; 
 one of a committee to alter Praver 
 Book, 373 ; elected to proceed' to 
 Scotland for consecration, 399; Del- 
 egate to the General Convention 
 409; doctorated, 418. 419 ; one of a 
 committee to revise the Articles 
 434 ; mentions of, 323, 346, 438. ' 
 Jay, John, 341. 
 Jeanes, William, 25, 53. 
 Jew, 69. 
 Jewel, 441. 
 
 Johnson, Rev. Samuel, 28, 30, 32-36; 
 goes to England for ordination, 43^ 
 47, 49; returns to America, 51; 
 Missionary at Stratford, 52-54 ; his 
 trials and labors, 56-60 ; reports to 
 the Society, 64-68, 74; visits to 
 Dean Berkeley at Newport, and 
 intimacy with him. 81-84; minis- 
 trations in several places, 85, 87, 89, 
 92 ; drawn into controversv, 94- 
 96; letter to him from the liishop 
 of Gloucester, 101; inquires about 
 Whitefield, 105; memorial to the 
 General Assembly, 110-112 ; letters 
 about Mr. Arnold. 114-118; per- 
 sonal character, 126-128; White- 
 field and his influence, 130-133; 
 selected for Commissary in Con- 
 necticut, 134-136; receives from 
 Oxford the degree of D. D., 187 ; 
 pleads for an American Episcopate,' 
 142, 144 ; letters to the Society, 148 
 149, 157, 163, 166. 177, 197, 205, 208 
 209, 221, 237-239, 269; letters to 
 the Bishop of London, 152, 164 j 
 
 baptisms in New Haven. IC^S: an- 
 other controversy, 174; President 
 of King's College, 178-183; death 
 of his younger son, and letters 
 about him, 184-186; preface to 
 sermon, 193; letters to Archbishop 
 Seeker, 196, 198, 204, 210, 229, 243, 
 254, 255; preaches at Conventi<m 
 in Ripton, 212; death of his wife, 
 and return to Stratford, 216-218- 
 succeeds Mr. Winslow, 220; let- 
 ter to Franklin, 242: counsels Dr. 
 Chandler, 257, 261 ; death. 293, 294 ; 
 Autobiograi)hy,and Chandler's Life, 
 296, 297; gratuity from Yale Col- 
 lege. 446 ; letter to President Clap. 
 447. *■ 
 
 Johnson, Dr. William Samuel, lay 
 reader, 162; special agent to Eng- 
 land, 263 ; correspondence with his 
 father about American Bishops, 
 264-266; with Bishop Lowth and 
 Dr. Berkeley, 2U0, 291 ; reception 
 at Stratford, 294; chairman of 
 committee, 305 ; his course in re- 
 gard to the Revolution, 311; Dele- 
 gate to the Convention for framing 
 the Federal Constitution, 403 ; Pres- 
 ident of Columbia College, 423; 
 retirement to Stratford, and death. 
 423. ' 
 
 Johnson, Rev. William, 183, 185. 
 Johnson, Sir William, 258. 
 Judea, 190. 
 
 K. 
 
 Keith, Rev. George, 18, 20, 252. 
 Kent, 190. 
 
 Kilgour, Robert. Bishop of Aberdeen. 
 363. * 
 
 King and Royal Family, 316, 318, 
 336. 
 
 King, Archbishop, 35. 
 
 King, prayers for, 318-321, 325, 331. 
 
 King's Chapel, 143. 
 
 King's College, 178, 261, 269. 
 
 King's Farm, 179. 
 
 King's troops, 300, 343. 
 
 Kingsbridge, 306. 
 
 Kitts, St., 76, 79. 
 
 Kneeland, Rev. Ebenezer, assistant 
 minister at Stratford, 269, 295; suc- 
 ceeds Rev. Dr. Johnson, 297; his 
 death, 317 ; mention of, 346. 
 
 Knox, General, 334. 
 
464 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 L. 
 
 Labarie, Dr. James, 56. 
 Laity, 28;J, 377, 378. 
 Laniberton. George, 225. 
 Lambeth Library, 267. 
 Lambeth Palace, chapel of, 396. 
 Lamson, Kev. J()se])h, assistant min- 
 ister at live, 142; Missionary at 
 Fairfii'ld, 153-155, 173, 189; letter 
 to Society. 242 ; death, 277. 
 Land Keconls, 109. 
 Landing Place, Norwich, 141. 
 Latinicr, 31. 
 Laud, Archbishop, 5, 6. 
 Laurens, lU-nry, 341. 
 Law, Jonathan. 140. 
 Lay delegates. 40t), 409, 411, 413, 420. 
 League, New Enghmd, 14. 
 Leaming, Kev. Jeremiah, mentions 
 of, 156, 157, 279, 350, 355, 359, 409, 
 410, 414, 422; letters to Society, 
 218, 241, 251, 328; funeral sermon, 
 295; treatment, 316; chosen Bishop, 
 347,399; preaches Convention Ser- 
 mon, 370 ; letters to Bishop White, 
 376, 403; death, 41G. 
 Ledyard, 100. 
 Legislature, Lower House, 107, 305, 
 
 311. 
 Legislature of Connecticut, 106, 311, 
 
 397. 
 Legislature in Massachusetts, 262. 
 Legislature in Virginia, 262. 
 Leighton, 6. 
 
 "Letter to a Friend," 256. 
 Lexington, 299, 311. 
 Leyden, Pilgrims of, 1, 7. 
 Liberty, Sons of, 316, 319. 
 Libraries of the clergy, 277. 
 Library, Trinity College, 440. 
 Library, Yale College, 28, 29, 32, 34, 
 
 35, 41, 64, 80, 82, 220. 
 Lincoln, See of, 50. 
 Litchfield, 141, 161, 173, 203, 205, 
 220-223, 237, 273, 281, 293, 329, 
 414, 421, 425, 432. 
 Litchfield County, 190, 191, 200, 201, 
 
 204, 237, 397. 
 
 Liturgy of the American Churcb, 373, 
 
 379, 381. 382, 395, 413-415, 429, 433. 
 
 Liturgy of the Church of England, 3, 
 
 17, 31, 55, 58, 92, 97, 102, 141, 152, 
 
 156, 179, 194, 199, 236, 312, 315, 
 
 318-321, 325, 355, 375, 388, 391-393, 
 
 400, 413. 450. 
 
 Livingston, William, 114, 179, 257, 
 
 259. 
 Lloyd, 149. 
 
 London, 12, 18, 41, 44, 50, 80, 116, 133, 
 
 135, 168, 232, 262, 267, 286, 289, 351, 
 
 358, 365. 398. 
 Long Island, 60, 100, 143, 305, 310, 
 
 348. 
 Lords in Council, 263. 
 Lords, House of, 246, 353. 
 Lords of Trade and Plantations, 259. 
 Lowth, Bishop, 266, 290, 294. 
 Loval American Regiment, 306. 
 Loyalists, 327, 335, 342, 343, 351, 352, 
 
 355, 356. 
 Lyman, Mrs., 303. 
 Lyons, Bev. James, 136, 157. 
 
 M. 
 
 Macaulay, 7. 
 
 Mackintosh, Sir James, 79. 
 
 iVladison, Kev. James, Bishop of Vir 
 ginia, 428, 429, 440. 
 
 Maine, 14. 
 
 Malbone, Godfrey, 273-275, 281. 
 
 Manhattan, 9. 
 
 Man.sfield, Lord, 246. 
 
 Manstield, Kev. Richard, Missionary 
 located at Derby, 148, 156. 162, 173, 
 190, 271 ; tour of, 272; mentions of, 
 292, 346, 355, 434; loyalty and 
 flight, 308-310 ; chosen Bishop, 399 ; 
 doctorated, 419 ; death of, 423. 
 
 Mansfield, Stephen, 224. 
 
 Marsh, 148. 
 
 JMarsh, Rev. Truman, 414, 426. 
 
 Marshall, Kev. John K., goes to Eng- 
 land for Orders, and Missionary at 
 Woodbury, 269, 271, 329, 346 ; del- 
 egate to Convention, 374 ; death of, 
 416. 
 
 Mason, 263. 
 
 Mass Manual, 96. 
 
 Massachusetts, 10, 14, 36, 52, 84, 105, 
 123, 143, 255, 292, 311, 346, 351, 374, 
 403, 404. 
 
 Massachusetts Bay, colony of, 1. 
 
 Massachusetts, Church in, 405, 436. 
 
 Mather, Cotton, 12, 39, 225. 
 
 May hew, Dr. Jonathan, 228-234. 
 
 McKenzie, Dougal, 103. 
 
 Medulla and Cases of Conscience, 183. 
 
 Memoirs of Protestant Episcopal Ch., 
 349, 413. 
 
 iNIeriden, 206, 397. 
 
 Methodism, 142, 158. 
 
 ^liddle Haddam, 280, 397. 
 
 Middle Slates, 376. 
 
 Middletown, churchmen in, 141, 161, 
 166 J church built, 159, 167, 173, 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 465 
 
 277; Church in, 237, 348; conven- 
 tion in, 370, 373, 376, 379, 380, 420- 
 ordmation in, 3b3, 430; mentions 
 ot, lo7, 164, 190, 197. 288. 
 
 Mdlord, 112, 238, 270, 427. 
 
 Millington, 167. 
 
 Miner, Mr. Richardson, 142, 155. 
 
 IMimstry, British, 264, 267, 286, 363. 
 
 •'Minute riiiiosopher," 78. 
 
 "Minutes of Convention." 288. 
 
 Missi(m at Bristol, R. I., 47. 
 
 Missionaries in Connecticut, 55 74 
 «5^88, 110,112,119, 143,151-153! 
 Iw. 186, 189, 11*9, 207, 235, 239- 
 ^4L^• condemnation of, 127; more 
 wanted, 129; convention of, 213, 
 214: born in the colony, 24 'j • 
 pleading ibr an Episcopate, 264 i 
 fidelity of, 268, 2J2, 293 ; resident, 
 2<l; bound by their oaths, 315; 
 confiiied to their mi^sions, 317 ; loy- 
 alty of, 332; gloomy prospects of, 
 345; withdrawing to British prov- 
 inces, 354. 
 
 Missionaries in New Entjlaud 114 
 260, 283, 288, 289. ' ' 
 
 Missionary College, 79. 
 
 Mitre, 440. 
 
 Mix's Lane, 167. 
 
 Mohegans, 186, 187. 
 
 Moore, Rev. Benjamin, 350, 373. 
 
 Moravians, 144, 250. 
 
 Morehouse, Lemuel. 90. 
 
 Morris, Rev. Theophilus, 117 128 
 130, 132, 135, 136, 143. . ' 
 
 Mosely, Rev. Richard, 281. 
 
 Moss, Joseph. 40. 
 
 Muirson, Rev. George, 20, 23, 24, 55 
 
 N. 
 
 Narragansett, 85, 436. 
 
 Naugatuck, 92. 
 
 Neal, Daniel, 6, 14. 
 
 Newark, 116. 
 
 New Britain, 317. 
 
 New Brunswick, N. J., 374. 
 
 New Brunswick, province, 354. 
 
 Newburgh, 277. 
 
 New Cambridge, 293, 397. 
 
 New Concord, 272. 
 
 New England, 44, 45, 61-63, 72 86 
 
 104,105,113,120,122,125,134,150,' 
 lol, 158, 242. 248. 251, 256, 338, 367! 
 
 New England, colonizing of, 4, 7, 8. 
 
 New England churches, defence of 
 261. 
 
 New England colleges, 147, 230. 
 80 
 
 New England. Congregational minis- 
 ters m, 50, 313. 
 New England, Independents in, 312. 
 iNew England people, 302. 
 New England Puritans, 14. 
 
 4o74n"''^ States, 312, 380, 399, 
 New England Theology, 194. 
 New Hampshire, 255, '271, 272, 292 
 
 379. 386, 404, 405, 407. 
 Nexy Iluven, 33, 64-66, 75, 83, 113- 
 5, IL'4, 140, 167, 171, 206, l^v.J- 
 
 22^237.269.28,1,325,416,445.4^6; 
 Generaj Assemhly in, 107, 138, 302, 
 rfO.J, 3o.*; churchmen in, 118, 148 
 149, 172,275; Church in, 161, 176! 
 198, 292, 367, 421 ; churcli huilt, 173, 
 
 i;^*i:?n"'T"!^''" ^"' ^^^' ^'^^' ^^«' 
 
 tr:,: ■*, ' '^^■*' t:onvocation in, 373. 
 
 ^ 380, 426. ' 
 
 New Haven, Colony of, 10. 12 "'^j 
 
 New Haven County, 146, 168, 195,*'l98, 
 39 / . 
 
 ^"'.^J^^'J^'^y' 24, 94, 98, 137, 318, 374, 
 <U i , 392. 
 
 New Lights, 126, 140, 147, 194. 
 
 New London, visited, 18, 74; churcli 
 
 built. 00, 85, 92; churchmen in 84, 
 
 ;Iio'^:lJ^^' ^^^' nientions of, 136,' 
 163, 23o, 288, 321-323, 367; con! 
 vention in, 113; church burnt, 337; 
 rebuilt, 383 ; consecrated, 398. 
 
 New London County, 1(¥». 
 
 New Milfbrd, 141, 189, 190, 203, 204, 
 237, 270, 272, 288, 293, 425. 
 
 >^ewport, 77, 81, 273, 274, 422, 450. 
 
 Ne>y Preston, 421. 
 
 Newton, Rev. Christopher, 189 199 
 211.346,355; death. 397* ' ' 
 
 Newtown, churchmen in, 53-58 98 
 175. 192, 239, 275, 278, 289, 298,'319! 
 3o0; services in, 68, 75; mentions 
 01,1.3 174, 188, 189.250,271,295, 
 386; church built, 89-92; second 
 church built, 139; third church 
 built, 431 ; Tories in, 309; convoca- 
 tion in, 415. 418. 
 
 New World, 62, 362, 432. 
 
 New York, province or colony of 19 
 
 oiH, dl», 3o2; provincial congress 
 of, 305; city of, 26 52, 122, 124, 136, 
 1 * 8-181, 185, 240, 254, 256, 322 324 
 
 328,337,341,346,347.385,403 416 
 423, 426, 447; State of, 351, 374 
 392,398,419; Diocese, 430; clergy 
 
 428 ^436 ^^^ ' ^'^*'*'^ ''^' ^^^' ^''^^' 
 New York Gazette, 259. 
 
I 
 
 466 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Nicene Creed, 381, 305, 415. 
 
 Nichols, Kev. James, 2i)3, 346, 354. 
 
 Niles, S.amuel, 145. 
 
 Norfiekl, 139. 
 
 North xVnierica, 2'Jl. 
 
 Northampton. 124. 
 
 Northbury, 131, 132, 21»3, 421. 
 
 North Carohua, 1j7, 281, 381. 
 
 North-Castle, 142, 153. 
 
 Northern Clergy, 315. 
 
 Northern (iovtrnments, 179. 
 
 North Fairfield, 211, 325, 384. 
 
 Northtitdd, 397. 
 
 North Groton, 86, 91, 100, 118, 126, 
 438. 
 
 North Haven, 49, 113, 129, 131, 168, 
 198, 206. 2:]6, 289. 
 
 North Miltbrd, 113. 
 
 Norton, William, 85. 
 
 Norwalk, Conjiregational minister at, 
 40,174; churchmen in. .53, 68, 1-35; 
 lay readhiur, and church built, 102, 
 104, 11.^, IMU, 138, 139. 213: town 
 and church l)urnt, 327, 346; church 
 rebuilt, 384. 
 
 Norwich, disires a Missionary, 100; 
 church built, 141, 161, 186; ser- 
 vices in, 160, 167 ; mentions of, 209, 
 235, 270, 273, 274, 288, 320, 337 
 
 Norwich Town, 187. 
 
 Nova Scotia, 352, 353, 355-357. 
 
 O. 
 
 Ogilvie, Rev. John, 155. 
 
 Old Colon V, 9. 
 
 Old Lights, 126, 140, 194. 
 
 Old World, 294, 432. 
 
 Orange, 113. 
 
 Ordination at Middlctown, 370. 
 
 Oreni, Rev. James. 46. 
 
 Orphan House, 121, 122. 
 
 Oxford, University of, 49, 137, 243, 
 
 265; Bishop of, 268, 2<J0, 291, 356. 
 Oxford, Ct, 198; church in, 271, 309. 
 
 P. 
 
 Paine'g "Age of Reason," 432. 
 
 Palmer, Rev. Solomon, declares for 
 Episcopacy, 189 ; Missionarv in 
 Litchfield' County, 190, 19ll,'203; 
 letters to Society, 2i)0, 228 ; or- 
 dered to Amhoy, N. J., 205; re- 
 moves to New H:iven, 220-223; 
 returns to I itchtieid, 237 ; death of, 
 393. 
 
 Paris, 343. 
 
 Parker, Rev. Samuel, 373, 374 ; let- 
 ters to Bishop Scahury, 379, .380, 
 
 402 ; Bishop of Massachusetts, 403 ; 
 
 mediation of, 404-406; delegate to 
 
 Gene il Convention, 410. 
 Parliament, 6, 244, 246, 247, 253, 255, 
 
 320, 341, 358, 360, 361, 394, 398. 
 Parochial Register, New Haven, 323, 
 
 430. 
 Parochial Register, Stratford, 53, 85, 
 
 87, 89, 111, 186. 
 Pennsylvania, 374, 405, 411. 
 Perry, Rev. David, 435. 
 Perry, Rev. Philo, 386, 426. 
 Peters, Rev. Samuel, 207, 236,273; 
 
 mobbed, 306; flight to England, 
 
 307, 346. 
 Petrie, Bishop. 363. 
 Philadelphia, 23, 178, 283, 811, 315, 
 
 375. 378, 379, 398, 403, 409, 410, 
 
 421, 434, 436. 
 Philips, Rev. Francis, 26, 63. 
 Pierce, Dr., 189. 
 Pierpont, James, 124. 
 Pierson, Rev. John, 87. 
 Pigot, Rev. George, Missionary at 
 
 Stratford, 27, 28, 32; removes to 
 
 Providence, 47 ; letter to Society, 
 
 50 ; mentions of, 53, 55, 56, 63, 65, 
 
 85. 
 Pilmore. Rev. Joseph, 392. 
 Pitkin, William, 10. 
 Pitt, William. 246. 
 Plainfield, 273, 274. 
 Plymouth, 131, 293. 
 Plvmouth Colony, 1, 9. 
 Pomfret, 274, 318. 
 Pope, 12. 
 Popery, 41. 
 Poquetannock, 100. 
 Portland, 397. 
 Portsmouth, 272. 
 Presbvterianism, 50. 
 Presbvterians, 13, 147, 161, 179, 193, 
 
 200,' 2^34. 255. 
 Presbyterian ministers, 107, 368. 
 Presbvterifin ordination, 29, 30, 36, 
 
 38, '58, 231. 
 Presbvters, 40. 
 
 President Stiles, 172, 343, 368. 
 Price, Rev. Roger, 134, 136. 
 Primacv, 5, 267. 
 Primate, 6, 266, 268, 390. 
 Primitive Church, 29, 364. 
 Princess Royal, 79. 
 Privy Council, 252. 
 Proctors, 415. 
 Protector, 13. 
 
 1 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 467 
 
 Protest, 304. 415, 421 
 Protestant Bishop, 232, 250, 367. 
 Protestants, 2. 
 Providence, 47, 273. 
 1 rovincial Government, 21. 
 1 rovoost. Rev. Samuel, 392, 395; ron- 
 secrated Bishop in England, 396 • 
 
 4'28"43r "^' ^'^^' ^^^^' ^^^"^^^' ^^^' 
 Pumlerson; Rev. Ebenezer, declares 
 
 irv «f 'v ""Pf^T.- '^^' '^- '^■^' ^^^'^^^i""- 
 1.^ 1 in ""7^' ^'^^^" '"^^^ Norwich, 
 100, 110 ; letters to Bishop of Lon- 
 
 ^^^'/l;^' l<i". >. letters t J Societ^, 
 16b, 167; Missionary at New Ha 
 
 Puritanism, 18, 64, 123, 339. 
 
 1 uritans origin of, 2, 3 ; their sufl^er- 
 ings 4-8 ; faith or worship of, 43, 
 44, 62; treatment of churchmen 
 ; lingering reverence for the 
 Church, 119. 
 
 Ripton, 53, 55, 67, 75, 162, 189, 191. 
 Robmson, Dr. Bishop of London, 45, 
 
 Robinson, Jolm, 7. 
 
 Rockingham Ministry, 246. 
 
 Romanists, 250. 
 
 Rome, 12; Church of, 29. 
 
 Ross and Moray, 363. 
 
 Roxbury, Mass., 123. 
 
 Roxhury, 141, 190. 
 
 Royal Charter, 106, 109. 
 
 Ruggles, Mr. Thomas, 446. 
 
 Russell, Mr. Samuel, 446. 
 
 Rye, 52, 101, 153, 169, 205, 220-222 
 
 S. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quakers, 14, 18, 71, 81. 
 Queen's College, Oxford, 273. 
 Qumcy's "History of Harvard Uni. 
 versity," 63. 
 
 Quinnipiack harbor, 10. 
 
 R. 
 
 Ramsgate, 44. 
 
 Read, Mr., 21, 22. 
 
 Rector Williams, 84, 448. 
 
 Redding, ^o, 68, 90-92, 173, 175 189 
 
 202,298 318,319,330,421:435 ' 
 
 Redding Association of Loyalists, 319. 
 
 Reformation in England, 2, 3 31 
 
 Reformed Church, 5. 
 
 Reformers, 450. 
 
 Registry Book, 65. 
 
 Relief of Widows and Orphans, corpo- 
 ration of, 374. y^^iyv 
 
 Revolution of 1688 362 
 
 ^f^'4''*llf' ^^^' ^^^' Tories of 
 old, o.iD, 342. 
 
 77 79-83, 8o, 122, 124, 141,374, 436 
 4o9; clergy ot, 379, 383; Standing 
 Committee of, 450-452 
 
 ^'ff^^J*^'5o'^^^'^^^'l^^'142,153, 
 loo, zifi, 4.JO. 
 
 Ridley, 31. 
 
 Sabine, 313, 351. 
 Sackvillo, Lord, 353. 
 Salem, Mass., 119, 186, 405. 
 Salem, N. Y.. 192. 
 Salisbury, Bishop of, 441. 
 Saltonstall, Mr. Gurdon, minister at 
 ^New London, 18; governor of the 
 CO ony, 29 ; presides over debate in 
 college hbrarv, 30, 39. 
 Sandeman, Robert, 211 
 Sanford, Mr., 115. 
 Savannah, 121. 
 Say brook, 33. 
 Saybrook Platform, 42, 140 195 
 
 Q„ ' T, ' .' "^^"^ ' ^"s ^f^ath, 426. 
 Y--'''?^'''-,'^"''"' settled at Fairfield, 
 ^/ 1, 426 ; letter to Society, 325 • re- 
 
 327,'346^ ""''''"" ^^'^ ^^^°°'' ^^'""«' 
 Scotchman, 18. 
 Scotland, General Assembly of 2-55 • 
 
 mentions of, 306, 418 ; Church in' 
 ^ 361, 362, 365, 378 ; clergy of 401 
 Scottish Bishops, 368, 377%. ^' 
 Scottish Church. 398. 
 
 ^'409'42.f ^''''■''^'''''"^' ^^^' ^^^» ^^7» 
 
 Scottish Liturgy, 388. 
 
 Scovill Rev. James, goes to England 
 
 or Orders, 197; labors of, 237; men 
 ions of, 199, 346; removes to New 
 Brunswick, 354, 355. 
 Seabury, Rev. Samuel, declares for 
 Episcopacy, 86; Missionary at New 
 London, 86; mentions of, 91 110- 
 increase of his parish, 99; removal 
 to Hempstead, 100, 136, 143. 
 Seabury, Rev. Samuel, his son 
 
 "i?''Ta°^??' 156, 159, 379, 390,' 
 o92, 399, 401, 407; letters to 
 
468 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 the Society, 302, 365, 366 ; chosen 
 Bishop. 347; ^oes to En^Hnnd for 
 eonsemuion, 350; arrival in Lon- 
 don, ool; letters to the cler-y of 
 Conueeticut. 35o, 360-3G7 ; imnedi- 
 njents to liis consecration, 358-300 • 
 l^oes to Scotland, and is co;.s.crate^^^ 
 303. 3o4 ; reply t.) Br. Horne, 305 • 
 arrival at New London, 307 ; ad- 
 dress ofclerj^y, 308; reply. '3.!^; 
 hr*t ordination. 370; ehafjri, 371- 
 
 'ettertoDr. Smith, 377; le^tt^rs of 
 consecration, 378; letter to Mr 
 Parker. 380; second c-har-re 38-/- 
 1 ect<.r of the parish at X?;' It'. 
 uon. 6i6; ordinations. 380 303- 
 c-'onsecrates St. James's Churcli 3')s' 
 ^'^s orders declared valid^ in! 
 
 Vited to attend General Con veniion 
 ^08 • attends. 410; assent to oj": 
 
 with White, 413; support of 4'>1 • 
 preaches sermon at ienera' Con 
 ^'ntn>n, 4.8; joins in consJcnai::^ 
 
 non.s, 4oO; toresijrljt or 433 ; donbts 
 
 441. ' ' "»*^'»ument, 
 
 Sears, Captain, 303. 
 
 ^'5h''V,V''''^''''''I'' "H'ntions of. 184, 
 ^.4 .0; .lefence of the Society 
 iri' letters to, 1<)0, lUS •>04 ->% 
 ^0/ ; plea tor religions lil'.ertv,' 230 ■ 
 
 replytoMayhew.and defence of the 
 Church 232 233 ; letter from. 252! 
 'H» death and character, 206 '^67 
 
 Selectmen. 30'J, 317. 318. ' 
 
 Sentinel." 25'J. 
 
 Sharon. 100. 
 
 Sharpe, Hev. Mr., 24 
 
 S!»elburne, 352. 
 
 Shplton. Daniel, 55. 
 
 ijj'clton. Rev. Philo, 383, 384. 422 
 ^ 'er.herd's Trnt, 148. 
 
 Sjheridan, 352. 
 
 Sherh.ck, Bishop, 80, 207, 294. 
 
 «mith, Rev. Dr. Wii,i«,„, Provost of 
 378. ^ot!!o ^^ '''^'^^^'^^' '^^' 
 
 Smithscn, 34. 
 
 Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gosi,ed in Foreign Parts, chartered, 
 
 ) 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 469 
 
 m' J'^\T -^?' }'^' ^^' ^2, 55, 57, 59, 
 bO. bo, Ob, 74. So, 87, 111 ip.> n-/ 
 
 117,128,148,154.107,170 175 17U* 
 191-197, 205-215 218 i^ll'-i'^^^ 
 
 31b ; sends Missionary to Stratford 
 
 ik ?;i^^^^^ "^"^ ^« '• mentions of 
 ibo, 201; operations of. 62 03- 
 salary of M^sionaries, 08; advice 
 
 Books. 90; deed to, 102; Mission- 
 ^^nes of, 135, 152, 153, 189, 199 • 
 abstract of. 139; members of, 46, 172,' 
 
 ^r^ *'ri.^^^'""^^' 174; defence 
 
 0.-8. dechnes to establish ne^v 
 
 Hussions, 2.j1. 
 Solitary Cove. 225. 
 South Carolina, 392, 437. 
 South bury, 95. 
 Southinifton, 397. 
 Spain. 342. 
 Spaniards, 8. 
 
 Stamford, mentions of, 101, 129 384- 
 church built, 142, 173; W^^^^ 
 
 I --churchmen m, 162; eonvenl 
 
 Stamp- Act. passage of, 239, 243, 248 
 
 ^n ; Its repeal. 240. 
 Standard, Rev. Mr., 183, 185. 
 
 4y9;'^0^5o;'"'""^"^C«""^cticut, 
 
 ^450-452.^°"''"'"""' ^^°^^" ^^'^"J' 
 
 Stanhof>e, Dr.. 45. 
 
 State House, if)7.' 
 
 Staten Island, 116, 139. 
 
 Stmes, 342, 345. 351, 356, 363 373- 
 
 3,b. 380, 382, 390, 392, 402^ ' ^ 
 St. Sophia, 93 
 
 sJ' '"^i'V^?"' <^^'"''^''i. London, 12 
 Stratheld. 154, 155, 173, 384 j conven 
 tion in, 40:*. ' ^""^^»- 
 
 Stratford, churchmen in 17 23 9". 
 ii7, 54. 02 71 177 ')• 0. ' r ' r^~ 
 fnr \r , • ^''. --^O; ap[.lieation 
 
 ter 1 ;'!?"•"'■>;• ^''^ ^''^'ts of minis- 
 ter. 19-24; church built, 52. 53- 
 
 rom<.valoff.nHliesfrom.74; laro^'; 
 church buit. 138; mention of, 28 
 
 ^b, 21b. 220, 209. 4L^7,'445ll47-' 
 
 S?r^'i.>'"'.f^^'.l^'^. 1«B. 296, 370 
 -»— , *i«o; Its increase, 128 15| • 
 
 orjjan. 189; convention in, 250 4ii\ 
 Stur^reon, 149. ' ' 
 
 « 
 
 T. 
 
 / 
 
 Ta bot, Mr. St. George, 212. 238. 
 i alcott, Governor. 72, 124 140 
 Ta.shua church built in,' 19l! 211- 
 church at, 425. * ^^^, 
 
 Taylor, Mr. J., 193. 
 Tenison, Archbishop, 267. 
 J ennent, Gilbert, 125. 
 Thames River, 337. 
 
 V J fir'T'' ^'''^ ^'^^'^ 147. 
 
 . J he I roposed B(n)k," 381, 389, 412. 
 
 ) lJ">n«Pfon, Kev. Ebenezc^r, 143, 107. 
 
 lodd, Samuel, 132. 
 ' Toleration, Act of, 16. 
 
 Tories ill Connecticut, 309, 315, 337. 
 
 1 own House, 380. 
 
 ToM-nships. seven, 107. 
 
 ^':;"^%,P^^"^^'^ New Haven, 171, 
 --b 36/ ; V estry of, 224, 227, 421. 
 
 3.?r ' ^'''' ^''''^' ^^^' i«o> 
 
 Trinity College, 440. 
 rrinity, doctrine of. 193. 
 
 Trumbull, 142. 
 
 Trumbull, Dr., 2, 140. 
 
 J rum bull. Governor, 205. 
 
 J rustees of King's C ollege, 178, 179 
 
 Tunxis River, 9. 
 
 ^\^?^' Sr'o^?^^"' 269, 270, 274, 320, 
 Oiio, 34b, 3oo. 
 
 Vigilance. Committees of. 316. 
 
 Vindication of the Worship of 
 
 Church of England," 97. 
 ^ iner, 448, 449. 
 
 Virgin Mary. 29. 
 
 Virginia, imMUion of, 392; conven- 
 tion in 3// ; Bishop elect of, 395, 
 406 ; Churcli in, 428. 
 
 Voltaire, 432. 
 
 W. 
 
 U. 
 
 Union Church, 129. 
 
 Union, federal, 335. 
 
 United States, 343, 345. 375. 406, 407. 
 
 Lniversity of Cambridge, 49 
 
 Utrecht, treaty of, 76. 
 
 V. 
 
 Van Rensselaer. 311. 
 
 " J''"uV f . '^""''''" Institutions in 
 
 the Worship of God," 97. 
 Venerable Society, 202. 207 219 'MO 
 
 2M, L'«5 27- 2& 315 84 ; 36MC6' 
 Vermont, 292. ", «"o. 
 
 Vesey, Rev. William, 19. 
 
 Q-"' K^'^"^- o'^"-'*'"' ^^lissionary at 
 Simsbury, 208, 277. 292, 340 ; im- 
 prisoned, 310 ; farewell a.ldress and 
 removal to Nova Scotia, 354. 
 
 Walker, 123. 
 
 Walker's "Sufferings of the Clergy,- 
 
 Wallingford case, 194-196 
 
 Waliingford, Church in, 1^9,159, 101, 
 ^b4, 1Gb; church built, 107: Mis- 
 sionary at, 190, 200, 230 ; conven- 
 tion, m, 359, 399. 
 
 Walpole, Sir Robert, 70, 78. 
 
 War of- American Independence, 171. 
 Ward, :Moses, 70. 
 Warwick, 313. 
 
 ^^^};''}^1^,P^^^'^> 227, 313,329, 
 oo^ 66-i, 341. 
 
 ^^.JJ^r^bury, services in, 92, 112 197 
 ^38; united with Derby, 130 ' 157- 
 separate mission, 197; churchmen 
 
 }».13(U31, 102, 288; 'confirms 
 in, "loU. 
 
 ^J>fkins, Rev. Hezekiah, 143. 
 
 Welles, Dr. Noah, 231. 
 
 Wells Society, 195. 
 
 Welton, ]^ev. Dr., 252 
 
 Wesley, 121, 140. 
 
 Westbury, 131. 237, 329. 
 
 ^^ lll^^^^^ter, 183. 185. 302, 303, 305, 
 
 Westchester County, 20, 304. 
 Westerly, 74. 
 Western world, 303, 364. 
 VVest Haven, mentions of. 28. 34 157 
 ^fil^'%?^:;V^24;cli;irci;men'^; 
 
 11'^, 14, 118; Church in, 107 170 
 Westminster Catechism and 'Co : 
 
 tession ot Faith, 181, 182 
 Weston. 1.39. 
 West Point. 319. 
 Wethersfield, 74. 
 Wetmore, Rev. James, 28, 30, 30 49 • 
 
 del;h'o?'22o'' '''' '''' '''' '''■' 
 
470 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Wliigs, 321, 333. 337, 343, 351. 
 
 White, Bishop. 349, 374, 376-378, 381, 
 390, 392; Bishop elect of Pennsyl- 
 \'aniai39'): consecrated in En.i,dan(l, 
 396 ; good offices of, 402-413"; 436, 
 437, 439. 
 
 Whitefield, Rev. George, 105, 121- 
 126;^esults of his teachings, 130, 
 132, 137, 140, 150, 151, 1^. 183, 
 235 ; principles condemned, 147. 
 
 White Plains, 304. 
 
 Whiting, Mr., 39. 
 
 Whittelsey, 28, 30, 42. 
 
 Wickliffe, 31. 
 
 Wilberforce, Bishop, 368. 
 
 Wilhertorce, William, 352. 
 
 William and Mary, 17. 
 
 William III., 362. 
 
 Wilmington, Delaware, 390, 393. 
 
 Wilson, Kicliard, 85. 
 
 Windliam, 99. 
 
 Windsor, 9. 
 
 Windsor, England, 49. 
 
 Winslow, Flev. Edward. Missionary at 
 Stratford, 188, 189, 206, 209; 'let- 
 ters to Society, 193, 210, 214, 218; 
 appointed to Braintree, 219. 
 
 Winthrop, Governor of Massachu- 
 setts, 1, 9. 
 
 Winthrop, John, Governor of Con- 
 necticut, 9, 10. 
 
 WoUebius's Tlieology, 183. 
 
 Woodbridge, Rev. Mr., 38. 
 
 Woodbury, 55, 95, 141, 269, 288; 
 meeting of clergy in, 346 ; church 
 built, 386 ; parish trouble, 425, 426. 
 
 Woodstock. 159. 
 
 Woolsey, President, 29. 
 
 Yale College, Rector of, 22, 28, 32 ; es- 
 tablished at New Haven, 33 ; grad- 
 uates of, 36, 87, 89, 102, 142, 143, 
 155-157, 159, 189, 197, 204, 206, 
 208, 210, 269, 270, 293, 383, 386 ; 
 Rector Cutler's services approved, 
 37; displaced, 42; officers of, 63; 
 interest of Johnson in its welfare, 
 65 ; Berkeley's benefactions to, 82- 
 84; students of, 114; new Hector, 
 130; declaration of the President 
 and Tutors against Whitefield, 147; 
 candidates for orders in. 149; stu- 
 dents fined, 180 ; Puritan teachings, 
 181, 182; Episcopal students to at- 
 tend college chapel, 231 ; honors 
 from, 419; extracts from records, 
 446 ; law complained of, 447-450. 
 
 Yale, Mr., 448. 
 
 Yorktown, 341. 
 
 ( 
 
 f f ». -ii, It 
 
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