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This Institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a Spy ofder i? in Its judgement, fulfillment of the order would Involve violation of the copyright law. A UTHOR: WILMINGTON, DEL TITLE: ALFRED PLACE: [PHILADELPHIA] DA TE: [C1 888] COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT DIBLIOGR A PHir MTProform tapt^ft Original Material as Filmed - ExisTniiliw]^^;:;;^!^^^ 3 pi, 234 p. fryV., '«Mpi^5iii m^mmi^msffj(^^M^^^0^0^W ^■>mm ,jp ^^- "'.j| '^-■'.■vl"'tf- ^J-j^ ' ' ■^#^3 ^lie^il '!5-|:-i&Si;^' .*-' ■ ^i^m' I PHOTO BY QARREIT, WILMINOTON. DEL. PHOrOTVPC BY OUTCKUMST. PHILAOeLPHIA. y « PHOTO BY OARRE1T. WILMINGTON. DEL. HHOTOTYPE BV QUTEKUNST, PHILADELPHIA. ALFRED LEE Septemtieir 0t(| 1607 ^tlt t2tf| 1607 > > t • I I • t ( • * » $ • • > > I • i • • I I I > • » • I t » I > t^i^CUp 4 7S^ c c COPYRIGHT, 1888. Press of JAS, B. RODGERS Printing Company, 54 N. Sixth St., Phila. • • •• * • *< • ; • • « « t »• • • » • « • • • • • • r • • • • • • • • •• - . • • •••••••• .• • • • • • • • • • • • •. • • • • • i • • • • • • • • • • • ••••• , • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • . . . • e • • ••• • • • • * • 511)13 Jjolume Ijos been tompikir for tl)e Congreflation of St. 2lnbreu)*0 (Eljurrf), JtDUmington, bg a (Eommittee of tl)c Destrg, in loDiug memorg of tijeir Rector, tlje first I3iBl)0)} of iDelaruare. / BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. -1 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH'. 1 1 I 1 THE Right Reverend Alfred Lee came of staunch English stock. His father was a midshipman in the British navy. In the same fleet were the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV.) and Lord Nefson. Leaving the service early, he came to America, where he exhibited the same energy and resolution which, to the end of his life, he believed would have wrought out a distinguished career, had he remained in the service.^ 1 This biographical sketch, from the Wilmington Every Even- ing of April 13, 1887, being the fullest published at tlie time, and containing the substance of all others, is here republished, in accordance with the wish of the Bishop's family and many friends. Some slight errors having naturally crept into the text, as origi- nally published, it has been edited and annotated by George H. Bates, Esq., of Wilmington. * In the great naval battle between Admiral Rodney and Count de Grasse, near the island of Guadaloupe, April, 1782, when but seventeen years old, he commanded a battery. The following romantic account of the occasion of his retirement from the service is from Crt>ly's Life of George IV., Appendix, in a letter written by a midshipman at Port Royal, April, 1783 : "The last time Lord Hood's fleet was here, a court-martial was held on Mr. Benjamin Lee, midshipman, for disrespect to a supe- rior officer, at which Lord Hood sat as President The determina- .i II 2 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. Bishop Lee was born in one of the old historic houses of the country. It stands on the corner of Sparks and Brattle Streets, in Cambridge, Mass., and was one of seven old Tory mansions, famous once for courtly hospitality. In this one, the celebrated Baroness von Riedesel shared her husband's captivity in 1778. There, venturing upon a celebration of his birthday, conjointly with that of King George, which tion of the court was fatal to the prisoner, and he was condemned to death. Deeply affected as the whole body of midshipmen were at the dreadful sentence, they knew not how to obtain a mitiga- tion of it, since Mr. Lee was ordered for execution, while they had not time to make an appeal to the Admiralty, and despaired of a petition to Admiral Rowley. However, His Royal Highness (afterwards William IV.) generously stepped forth, drew up a peti- tion, to which he was the first to set his name, and solicited the rest of the midshipmen in port to follow his example. He then himself carried the petition to Admiral Rowley, and, in the most pressing and urgent manner, begged the life of an unhappy brother, in which he succeeded, and Mr. Lee was reprieved." He judged it prudent, however, to retire from the navy, and joined his elder brother Thomas in Boston, who put him in com- mand of a merchantman, and for the next thirteen years he traded to distant ports, meeting with more or less of adventure and hard- ship. When the frigate Constitution was fitted out he was ten- dered a commission as her First Lieutenant, but, although a naturalized American, he was unwilling to be placed in a situa- tion which might require him to fight against England. Among his intimate friends were Vice-President Elbridge Gerry and the Rev. Abiel Holmes, father of the author. The Bishop's paternal grandmother was Mary Pitt, one of the family which gave two eminent statesmen to Cxreat Britain. She was an attached member of the Church of England, though her husband was a Dissenter. The Bishop's mother, Elizabeth Leigh- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. ^ fell the next day, so that festivities could easily be stretched over, she came near being mobbed. This house, afterwards immortalized by Longfellow in **The Old House by the Lindens,'' was given to Mr. Thomas Lee, the uncle of the Bishop, in compensa- tion for ships which had been taken for military uses. Here Bishop Lee was born on the 9th of September, 1807.3 Twenty years later he was graduated from Harvard University.* ton, was of a Massachusetts family, and -was a woman of great force of character. She died only a few years ago, having lived to a very advanced age. "The Bishop's affectionate remembrance of his birth-place is shown by the following extract from a letter written since his death by a lady, once a member of his parish, now residing in Cambridge, in the immediate neighborhood. She thus alludes to a visit to his old home with him not long before his death: — '* I so enjoyed seeing the pleasure it gave him to go over his old home, and when he found in the attic the paper unchanged, and other things he remembered there, he was as pleased as a child, and I saw then how much he could feel and express in his sweet, calm way." It is an interesting fact that the house was finally removed a short time prior to the Bishop's death. They went almost together, but happily he never knew that the house he loved had gone. * Among the Bishop's classmates were Professor Epes Sargent Dixwell, so long principal of the Boston Latin School, Mr. Ed- mund Quincy, and Presidents Felton of Harvard and Steams of Amherst. His membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society shows him to have been among the first eight of the class. That he was proficient in Mathematics is indicated by his selection, according to a custom of the students long obsolete, as the holder of the "big r BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 4 Like many cogent and successful preacliers, he served first an apprenticeship at the law, practising that profession for two years in New London, Conn. MINISTERIAL CAREER. - Resolving upon a change of profession, he entered the General Theological Seminary in the city of New York, from which he graduated in 1837, just before completing his thirtieth year. He was ordered Deacon in Christ (now Trinity) Church,^ Norwich, Conn., by Bishop Brownell, on May 21st, iSs;.*^ slate " which he in turn presented to Benjamin Pierce, destined to achieve future renown as Professor of Mathematics in the Univer- sity. The Bishop was also a member of the Hasty Pudding Club. His residence was too far distant from Cambridge to permit his frequent attendance at Commencement or the Class Reunions, but he ever cherished a strong and affectionate interest in his Alma Mater and college friends. He attended, however, the Semi-Cen- tennial Reunion of his class in 1877, and was much gratified at being called on to speak for his class at the Alumni dmner. • It is worthy of note that four members of the House of Bishops at the last General Convention had been members of Chnst Church. Norwich,-the Bishop of Delaware, presiding Bishop, the Bishops of Kansas and Massachusetts, and the missionary Bishop of Washington Territory. The last two were sons of the Reverend Seth B. Paddock, who was the Rector when Bishop Lee was ordamed. Bishop Lee's first sermon was preached on the evening of the Sunday on which he received Deacon's orders, from Habakkuk iii 17 18. -Although the fig-tree shaU not blossom, neither shaU "fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shaU fail, and the "fields shall yield no meat; the flock shaU be cut off from the «' fold and there shaU be no herd in the stalls : "Yet I wiU rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my " salvation." BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 5 On June 12th of the following year he was ordained Priest in Christ Church, Hartford, Conn., by the same prelate. The initiation of Bishop Lee's long ministry was at a rural church in Connecticut, that of St. James, Poquetanuck. This, however, was casual and temporary. His first services as a Rector were given to Calvary Church, Rockdale, Pa., where he was in- stituted in September, 1838.^ « Since the death of Bishop Lee his friends have been permitted to read a letter of the late Richard S. Smith containing a detailed account of his ministry at Rockdale, which was communicated to the late Bishop Smith, and by him sent to the son-in-law of Bishop Lee. to be preserved for use only after the writer and Bishop Lee should be no longer among the living. The letter of Mr. Smith, as well as those of Bishop Smith referring to it, are of so much interest that they are introduced here in full, — HOBOKEN, Aug. 22d, 1875. Rev. C. E. McIi^vaine: Son of My Dear /^rzVw^,— When I was in Philadelphia on the occasion of the consecration of Bishop Hare, I w^as the guest of Mr. Coffin, in Clinton Street, opposite to the residence of Mr. Richard Smith, an old friend of mine, stiU older than myself, whom I had known and honored long years before, who, from time to time, would step over and have long talks with me about old times, in one of which he gave me, somewhat in detail, the narrative to which the enclosed refers. It was drawn from him by a remark that I could hardly account for the fact that your honored Father-in-law, and my dear Friend, Bishop Lee, had been warmly commended by Bishop H. U. Onderdonk to the Conven- tion of Delaware for the high office which he has so long filled with such credit to himself and such vast benefits to the Church. I went to Philadelphia shortly after Bishop Onderdonk became Assistant to Bishop White, and tho' he was an extra High Church- man, I was delighted to hear that he had given out this, as his .„ .. - ^ ,. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. He had now left New England, as a residence, for- ever. Henceforth interests, associations and work lay alike, widi the residue of his life, in the Middle States. maxim of administration, "Tlio' an High Churchman myself, I go for the Church-fiUers, and against the Church-emptiers." This accounts for his action as above. It was more than thirty years after these events, being in Phila- delphia again six weeks ago, I left a note for Mr. Smith, asking him to commit to writing what he had remarked to me a few years before ; that is the narrative to which the enclosed refers. You will observe that I drew it from him only upon the condi- tion that it should be placed in proper hands, under a promise that no part of it should be made public during Bishop Lee's life. It is an item of history too honorable to all the parties concerned ever to be lost, And it is now offered to you, as, in the Providence of God, the most fit person to be entrusted with it. Upon the assurance that you accept the trust, upon the above conditions, the MSS. will at once be transmitted to you by Your Father's Friend and Yours, B. B. Smith. Sept 4th, 1875. Rev. C. E. McIIvVaine: Reverend and Dear Sir,—1 leave it entirely to your discretion whether the enclosed is retained by you or handed to your brother- in-law. The limit of the caution given by Mr. Richard Smith to me, and by me to you. was this : Save Mr. Smith's and Bishop Lee's feelings, during their lifetime. It is of course open to members of his family, and other friends under the same caution. Very truly yours, &c. B. B. Smith. Phu^adelphia, August i8th, 1875. Right Reverend and Dear Sir:^ At your request I repeat to you the substance of the statement ELECTION TO THE EPISCOPATE. It is as a Bishop that the world at large knows, and that the Church of Christ chiefly honors Alfred I made to you when we met at the house of my neighbor, Mr. Coffin, in relation to Bishop Lee's early connection with Calvary Church, Rockdale, Delaware County, Penna., which, being on the borders of the State of Delaware, eventually led to his nomina- tion as Bishop of that Diocese. In the year 1833 my family re- moved to a property which came into my possession at Rockdale, and the nearest Episcopal church being at Concord, five miles distant, we, when the weather permitted, rode over there. Being frequently prevented by the weather, we were many Sundays de- prived of usual public worship, and my wife and daughter, having been previously connected with the Sunday-school at St. Peter's, Philadelphia, proposed to me to open a Sunday-school in the vacant room of a factory building on my property. This was com- menced with an attendance of twenty children, which soon in- creased to one hundred. In about a year after this I succeeded in obtaining a number of benches which were sold at auction, which were well adapted to seat a congregation in such a building as we then occupied— and as we occasionally obtained services by the clergy from the city, and neighboring churches of Chester and Marcus Hook, we soon drew good congregations until 1835, when we organized the church under the title of Calvary Church (named by Bishop Onderdonk), and were admitted into convention. For some months we had the services of Mr. Kingston Goddard as lay reader, he being a divinity student; subsequently the society for the advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania, appointed the Rev. Marmaduke Hurst as missionary. In 1836, by great exertions and through the liberality of friends in Philadelphia, we obtained a sufficient sum to warrant the commencement of a church build- ing, and on 17th August, 1836, Bishop Onderdonk laid the comer- stone. The building was so far constructed that in the month of December it was roofed, and the basement room plastered and «! 8 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. BIOGRAPHICAI, SKETCH. Lee, however dear to Wilmingtonians will always be the venerable and beloved Rector of St. Andrew's. Prior to 1841, the Diocese of Delaware had been furnished for Sunday-school and Church service until the building would be finished, and the first service was held in the basement, the Rev. Richard Hall, of Chester, officiating on Christmas Eve, 1836. Immediately after this the Rev. Mr. Hurst commenced his service as missionary, and continued until the year 1838. Wor- shipping in the basement, and there being no pew-rents, the amount of contributions, in addition to the missionary's salary, was small, the worshippers being chiefly operatives in the fac- tories, nevertheless the Sunday-school, under the superintendence of Mrs. Smith and daughter, was well attended and productive of much good. In the summer of 1838, Rev. Dr. Clemson, Rector of the church at Chester, called at my house and inquired if we proposed to elect a Rector for our church. I told him until we could obtain means to finish the building and collect pew-rents, we had not means to pay the salary of a Rector. I enquired what led to his interest in the matter; he said that in travelling lately from the South on board steamboat, he had met with a gentleman lately ordained to the ministry of our church return- ing from the South where he had been for the improvement of his health, and that he was desirous of obtaining a parish in one of the Middle States as more suited to his health; Mr. Clemson expressed his great pleasure in making the acquaintance of Mr. Lee, and an earnest wish that he might be secured for a church in our neighborhood. I regretted that in our present condition I could not encourage him to expect a call from our church. Shortly after this Mr. Hurst resigned as missionary, and it then occurred to me that the Rev. Mr. Lee, named by Dr. Clemson, might possibly be reached, and by authority of the vestn^ I wrote to him, and requested his consideration of a call to our parish. He replied that there would be a meeting of the General Con- vention in Philadelphia in a few weeks, when he would call on me. In October, 1838, Mr. Lee called on me, and I invited him under the ecclesiastical charge of the Bishop of Pennsylvania, but at the Convention in that year at Georgetown, it was resolved to complete the separate to stay at my house in Rockdale, where he met Bishop Hopkins, who always made his home at my house when at Philadelphia. Bishop Hopkins and Mr. Lee preached on two Sundays, and on the evening of the second Sunday Mr. Lee said he had a call to Lancaster, but he thought his services were more required at Rockdale than at Lancaster. I told him that until our church was finished and furnished with pews, our income was very limited and his salary would be in proportion. He said any salary that could be afibrded he would be content to take, but it was requisite that he should obtain a comfortable house for his family. I told him such a house could not be obtained within five miles, but if he would live in my house with my family we should be most happy to receive him. He said his family consisted of his wife, two children, and two domestics, and he thought would be too large an addition to our household. I told him I had ample room for all, and he soon joined us, and a most happy family circle was continued for three years. The love and affection then commenced have continued to this hoiir without interruption. Having entered on the duties of his charge, a blessing accompanied the labors of Mr. Lee, and the lecture or Sunday-school room where the services were held was soon crowded to excess, and it became absolutely necessary to take measures for completing the church edifice, in order that more accommodation might be obtained for the large and in- creasing congregation. In April, 1839, therefore, efforts were renewed to obtain means to finish the building, to which tlie Rev. Mr. Lee contributed the whole amount of his salary then due, and continued to do so for the whole period he remained as Rector, amounting to near I900, as also the sum received by him for services performed for six months at St John's Church, Concord. *J lO BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. organization of the Diocese by electing a bishop. The Rev. Alfred Lee then, as before stated, the Rector of Calvary Church, Rockdale, having been With such an example of zeal and devotion to stimulate us in the work, it was not long before it was completed. On the 24th day of November, 1839, our church was consecrated to the ser- vice of Almighty God, by the Rt. Rev. H. U. Onderdonk, Bishop of the Diocese. From that period until the Rev. Mr. Lee was called to a higher station, the church continued thronged with worshippers, and many members were added to its communion. It was a subject of much regret that it had not been built of larger dimensions, and it became necessary to place benches in the aisles to accommodate those for whom there was no room elsewhere, and two members of the vestry were placed in the ves- tibule (taking the duty in succession) every Sunday to see that visitors were provided with seats. As some of the fruits of the Rector's ministry for three years in this new parish, he baptized thirty-three adults and fifty-two children. One hundred and thirty new members were added as communicants, and one hundred con- firmed by the Bishop during the same period, very many of whom were from the teachers and scholars of the Sunday-school. In this department of labor also, great encouragement was given by the large increase in numbers and zeal, both in teachers and scholars. The number of teachers had increased to twenty-four, and the average attendance of children amounted to two hundred and fifty, with the names of three hundred on the roll. Having thus far traced the progress of Calvary Church, we now arrive at another period in its history which was marked by an event im- portant to the Church at large, the announcement of which was received at Rockdale with emotions of sadness, not unmixed, however, with gratitude that their beloved Pastor was called from this little flock to a heavier and morej important charge, having been unanimously elected Bishop, by the Convention of the State of Delaware. At the meeting of the Convention, when Bishop Onderdonk informed the Delegates that they now represented a BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. II nominated, received the unanimous vote of both the clerical and lay deputies, the two orders voting sepa- rately. Of those who voted for his election but one is now living, — Benjamin Burton, Esq., of George- town. Judge Wootten, recently deceased, was also one of those present and voting.^ number of churches and parishes which entitled to elect a Bishop, they were surprised, and unprepared to nominate a candidate. But when Mr. William Smith, a delegate from a small congregation worshipping on the border of Pennsylvania, and near St. John's Church, Concord, nominated Rev. Mr. Lee, of Calvary Church, Rockdale, Bishop Onderdonk expressed his high opinion of Mr. Lee, and assured the delegates that no one more highly qualified or better adapted for the work of Bishop in their Diocese could be named. The election of Rev. Mr. Lee was, thereupon, unanimous. The peculiar circumstances connected with the call of Mr. Lee to our humble parish ; his supply of service to St. John's Church, Concord; his meeting there with Mr. Smith, who resided on the border of Delaware, and was a delegate to the Convention of the Diocese of Delaware, and there nominated Mr. Lee, attracted some notice and were called, by some, curious and fortunate acci- dents. But now the hand of Providence was recognized in thus bringing to our humble parish, on the border of the State of Dela- ware, one so highly qualified for the high station to which he was called, and who, but for that proximity, might have been over- looked. In the conviction that the great Head of the Church had a higher work for him to perform, pastor and people parted with mutual testimonials of esteem and affection, thanking the Lord that his field of labor was not so far removed but that they might frequently receive his visits as a friend, and a Chief Minister of the Gospel of Christ, still interested in the good of the sor.ls for whom he had here labored. Richard S. Smith. ^ In view of the fact that very few copies of the Journal of the 12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. The election, having taken place within six months of the session of the General Convention, required confirmation by that body, and accordingly, on the 8th of October, the House of Deputies signed the testimonials of the Bishop-elect, and on the same day the House of Bishops consented to his consecration. Convention of 1841 are now accessible, a list of the signatures to Bishop I^ee's testimonials is here reprinted: H. U Onderdonk, President of Convention. S. W. Presstman, Rector of Immanuel Church, New Castle. John P. Bausman, Rector of St. Ann's Church, Middletown, and St. Peter's, Smyrna. John W. McCuli^ough, Rector of Trinity Church, Wilmington. CoRRY Chambers, Rector of St. James' Church, Stanton. W1LI.IAM H. Trapnei.1., Rector of St Andrew's Church, Wil- mington. John Reynolds, Rector of Christ Church, Milford. Samuel G. Callahan, Minister of Christ Church, Laurel. WM. Smith, -i ^^^^^ church, Brandywine. Jeremiah S. Deleplain, J Aquila Pritchard, James F. Wilson, Nehemiah Stockley, William Cummins, M. Bradford, Trinity Church, Wilmington. Joshua Burton, \ St. Andrew's Church, Wilmington. I St Peter's Church, Smyrna. William B. Burton, Charles Wright, Major W. Allen, C. S. Layton, John R. Draper, Wm. D. Waples, Benjamin Burton, \ St. George's Chapel, Indian River. I St Luke's Church, Seaford. \ Christ Church, Milford. \ Prince George's Church, Dagsboro'. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 13 He was consecrated first Bishop of Delaware in St Paul's Church, New York, on the 12th day of October, 1841, at the age of thirty-four, under which a man rarely reaches the episcopate. His consecrators were Bishops Griswold, Moore, Chase, Brownell, H. U. Onderdonk, Meade and Mcllvaine.^ Thomas Davis, Sai^athiei, Baker, Samuei* Paynter, Robert Burton, Joshua A. Ei.wgood, Josiah O'Neai,, M. Reuch, Edward Wootten, I St. Matthew's Church, Cedar Creek. \ St. Peter's Church, Lewestown. > Christ Church, Laurel. \ St. Paul's Church, Georgetown. *The Journal of the House of Bishops on this occasion is as fol- lows: ** Tuesday^ October 12th, 10 o'clock^ A. M, "The House of Bishops met pursuant to adjournment, in St. "Paul's Chapel, for the consecration of the Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., "to the Episcopate of Delaware. "Present, the whole House. "Morning Prayer was read by the Rev. Stephen W. Presstman, "of Delaware, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Croswell, of Connecticut, **who read the lessons. The ante-communion service was read by "Bishop Onderdonk, of Pennsylvania; the Epistle being read by " Bishop Chase, of Ohio, and the Gospel by Bishop Moore, of Vir- 4« gima. "The sermon was preached by Bishop Mcllvaine, of Ohio. "The candidate was presented by Bishop Meade, of Virginia, " and bishop Onderdonk, of New York. "The proceedings of the Diocese of Delaware, and of the House "of Bishops, and the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, were " read by Rev. Dr. Wainwright, Secretary of the House of Bishops, "and the Rev. Dr. Mead, Secretary of the House of Clerical and \ f H BIOGRAPHICAI, SKETCH. Of these, Bishop Mcllvaine, the last survivor, the nearest allied to Bishop Lee, both by family connec- tion and kinship in spirit, died at Florence in 1873. Bishop Moore, of Virginia, died a few weeks after the consecration. An interesting historical fact in connection with the consecration of the Bishop was the participation in the service of three of Bishop Lee's predecessors in the office of Presiding Bishop, — Bishops Griswold, Chase and Brownell, — and the presence of two others, — Bishops Hopkins and Smith, — so that this solemn occasion brought together six of the eight men who have lived to become the senior Bishop.^ "Lay Deputies. The Litany was read by Bishop BrowneU, of " Connecticut. "The questions were propounded to the candidate by Bishop " Griswold, of the Eastern Diocese, the presiding Bishop, who con- "secrated the Bishop elect; Bishops Moore, Chase, Brownell and "Onderdonk, of Pennsylvania, uniting in the imposition of hands. *'The Communion was then administered by the presiding "Bishop, assisted by the other Bishops present "The House then adjourned." The sermon preached by Bishop Mcllvaine, on this occasion was from the text: — "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; "continue in them; for in doing this thou shalt both save thy- "self, and them that hear thee." — i Timothy iv. 16. •There were present at the consecration of Bishop Lee, as appears by the Journal, the entire House of Bishops, whicli then consisted of Bishops Griswold, Moore, Chase, Brownell, Onderdonk, of Pennsylvania, Meade, Onderdonk, of New York, Ives, Hopkins, Smith, Mcllvaine, Doane, Otey, Kemper, McCoskry, Polk, De Lancey, Gadsden, Whittingham and Elliot. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. «s IN THE HOUSE OF BISHOPS. On the day following his consecration, Bishop Lee took his seat in the House of Bishops as the young- est of twenty-one members, being the thirty-eighth in succession of American bishops. He first officiated in the Diocese, in Immanuel Church, New Castle, Oc- tober 24th, having visited all the churches before ac- cepting his election. The spirit in which he entered upon his episcopal labors is clearly shown by the lan- guage used by him in his first address delivered to the Convention held May 25th, 1842, in St. Andrew^s Church, Wilmington : The action of your last Convention placed him who now addresses you in a most trying and difficult situation. A call wholly unexpected from a portion of the church, to which There were also present at the General Convention of 1841, eight clerical deputies who were aften^\irds elevated to tlie Epis- copate, viz :— Johns, Henshaw, Chase of New Hampshire, Cobbs, Burgess of Maine, Upfold, Whitehouse and Bowman. Bishop Lee participated in the consecration of Bishops White- house and Bowman. The consecration of Bishop Johns followed a year and a day after that of Bishop Lee; then that of Bishop Eastbum intervened, after which Bishops Henshaw, Chase and Cobbs came next in the succession, in the order in which they are named. Among the distinguished lajinen present during the session of 1841 was Horace Einney. The Clerical Deputies from Delaware were the Rev. Stephen W. Presstman, the Rev. John Reynolds, the Rev. John W. McCul- lough and the Rev. V/illiam H. Trapnell. The only Lay Deputy from Delaware in attendance was Mr. Samuel Paynter. ;1I $ it I i6 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. he was personally a stranger, imposed upon him the neces- sity of deciding one of the most serious and important ques- tions which can be presented to the mind of a minister of Christ. Before venturing to determine it, it seemed incum- bent on me to visit my brethren who had honored me with such a mark of their confidence, and acquaint myself with the condition and circumstances of the Church over which I was invited to preside. That I found most of the churches in an exceedingly feeble and depressed condition I need not inform you. I surely saw much to discourage, in the field of labor proposed. But the result of my observation was to im- press very deeply on my mind the wisdom and necessity of the step which the Convention had taken in the election of a Bishop ; although I could not but regret that their choice had not fallen upon one more experienced and better qualified. In no other course did there appear, to human eye, any pros- pect for the Church in the two lower counties but gradual decay and not very distant extinction. Had there been a single dissenting voice in my election I should have felt myself at liberty, although grateful for the preference manifested, to have declined the unexpected call. But the unanimity of the election invested it with a ten-fold weight, and I shrank from the responsibility of declining a burden which the hand of Providence appeared to lay upon me. It was indeed a feeble Diocese over which the Bishop was called to preside. On his first visitation he found but four clergymen in the active work of the ministry, of whom but one was below New Castle, and only seven parishes supplied with regular services. The number of communicants in 1841 was three hundred and thirty-nine. At the Diocesan Convention of 1881, in an histor- ical sermon reviewing his episcopate, then of forty years, Bishop Lee stated that there had been twenty- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 17 four churches built, of which all but one had been consecrated ; one left incomplete had been finished, two old churches virtually abandoned had been reoc- cupied and eight enlarged. He had confirmed 4327 persons, and the baptisms reported were 10,082. In the last annual address made to the Convention of 1886 the Bishop reported the confirmation of 162 persons, or very nearly one-half the whole number of communicants which he found when he entered upon the duties of his office, in 1841. At the same Convention of 1886, it being the year for a Charge to the Clergy, which, under the Canon, the Bishop of the Diocese delivers every third year, unless prevented by reasonable cause. Bishop Lee took for his subject '*Our Centenary.*' It being as- certained that the first Diocesan Convention had been held in 1786, instead of in 1791, as up to that time had been supposed, the Charge was devoted to a most interesting review of the Church in Delaware in its relation to the early sessions of the General Convention. Then, after an acknowledgment of past mercies and an earnest appeal for caution in adopting changes in the future, the Bishop concluded with these impressive words : i In closing what, in all probability, will be my last official utterance of this kind, I desire to respond earnestly to all the manifestations of love and confidence which I have re- ceived from my brethren of the Clergy as well as from the Laity of this Diocese. The Lord reward them as I cannot. And to you, dear brethren, who watch for souls, in the words of the Apostle, let me further say, "I charge you before God i 11 \ ^ • ! { :yi 11 i8 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. and the I^ord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom ; preach the word ; be instant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine.'* "Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the ever- lasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever. Amen." PRESIDING BISHOP. One by one the Bishop's seniors passed away until he stood next in succession to the late Bishop Smith, who, since 1868, had been the Presiding Bishop, and on the death of that venerable prelate, on May 31st, 1884, Bishop Lee succeeded him. Not only was he the senior Bishop of his own branch of the Anglican Communion, but his consecration is believed to have antedated that of any Bishop then living, of the Anglican, Roman or Greek Church. As already stated, when Bishop Lee entered the House of Bishops he found there twenty other mem- bers, all of whom he had, of course, survived at the death of Bishop Smith. Since 1841 there have been consecrated one hundred and three Bishops. Of these, his juniors, thirty-four have died and four have re- signed their jurisdictions, so that Bishop Lee's col- leagues in the last session of the House of Bishops numbered sixty-four. Of a total of one hundred and forty-one, of whom the first was consecrated one hundred and three years ago, there were but seven- teen who did not at some period sit with Bishop Lee BIOGRAPHICAI, SKETCH. 19 in the House of Bishops. What better illustration could we have of the way in which a life of eighty years, at this age of the world, stretches along and links together several generations? Such another life in Wilmington was that of Judge Hall, who was so long and intimately associated with Bishop Lee in those varied works of humanity, charity and mercy, to the demands of which it was impossible for either of these venerable and venerated men ever to turn a deaf ear. In 1863, in conformity with the Canon authorizing the placing of foreign congregations under the care of a Bishop selected by the presiding Bishop, to Bishop Lee was assigned the exercise of episcopal duties in a congregation organized in the Island of Hayti. He accordingly embarked for Port-au-Prince October 20th, and having performed the duties required of him and extended his voyage to the Island of Jamaica, he re- turned home on the i6th of December. He resigned his charge of this mission in 1872, as he states in his address **with much reluctance'' and only because **it was not probable that my duties at home would allow me again to visit Hayti." In 1874 the Bishop had what was to him the great pleasure of assisting in the consecration of the Rev. Mr. Holly as the first Bishop of the Church whiclr had grown out of that mission. In the reformatory movement which had sprung up in Mexico, Bishop Lee from the beginning took a deep interest, and on January 2 2d, 1875, at the re- quest of the Mexican Commission, he sailed from 1 1 I 20 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 21 New York for a visit of inspection to that country. After a very interesting journey, he arrived at home on March 20th. From this time Bishop Lee contin- ued to be a member of the Mexican Commission, and, after the death of Bishop Whittingham, was its Pres- ident. His disappointment at the unsatisfactory re- sults of the action taken in regard to Mexico was very keen, and he labored earnestly to bring about a better condition of affairs. Very recently the appointment was made, much to his gratification, of the Rev. Mr. Gordon, a clergyman of this Diocese, to go to Mexico as the Superintendent of the work of the Church there. RECTOR OF ST. ANDREW'S. Allusion has already been made to the constant as- sociation of Bishop Lee, in Wilmington, with St. Andrew's Church. In June, 1842, he took temporary charge of this Parish and accepted the Rectorship July 30th, 1843, thus adding parochial to episcopal duties. Here he made his dearest friends and formed his most tender associations. Here, through the gen- erations of forty-five years, he has baptized the infants, confirmed the children, married the young, visited the sick, ministered to the poor and afilicted, consoled the dying and buried the dead. In November, 1879, St. Andrew's celebrated its semi-centennial, and on that occasion the Rector preached a sermon containing an accurate historical sketch of the Parish. *° >*In this sermon is the foUowing very beautiful and pathetic passage : — There was something beyond description in his bearing towards the weaker and less prospered mem- bers of his flock. To them he seemed to extend his kindliest greeting and on them he expended his most tender sympathies. To him the church was indeed the place where the rich and poor met together, and he fully realized that the Lord was the maker of them all. This man, who had reached the summit of pos- sible ambition in his sacred calling, who sat in the highest seat, whose name was in all the churches, went about his parish attending to the humblest duties of a Rector with as little display and as earnest atten- tion to details as he could possibly have done in the little country parish in which he passed the early years of his ministry. Indeed, one of his marked characteristics was his exact attention to duty, great or small. Probably no man who had risen to a plane so lofty, and the "It is difficult for me to realize that three-fourths of the half "century we are reviewing has passed away since my entrance "upon the duties of Rector of this Church. This period is not "a small one in any point of view, especially not a small one at "the present day, when pastoral connections are so generally of "very brief duration. "Were I to indulge in the memories that come crowding so "thickly at the retrospect, dwell upon the scenes of deep and "solemn interest that have attended my work, call up the forms "that have vanished from sight, stand again at the many death- "beds, follow once more to the house appointed for all living, "the aged and the young, the worn-out pilgrim and the blooming "youth, the venerable and the lovely, the attempt would overtask ^my fortitude and that of some of you." 22 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. it ' boundaries of whose sphere of effort in the world were so enlarged, ever exceeded him in his care of and attention to details. This would have been a dis- advantage if it had ever seemed to interfere with the performance of his larger duties. But it did not, and whether he stood on a lofty eminence clad in the Bishop's robes addressing assembled prelates with all the authority naturally incident to his high office, or stood in the chancel of some country church in his Diocese preaching the gospel which his life illustrated, or sat in conference with a committee of the conven- tion or his vestry touching some minor business mat- ter, there was always the same earnest, intelligent, conscientious application to the subject in hand of his best intellectual forces. Even when pressed with labors of the most ex- alted character he gave his personal supervision to his Sunday-schools, one of white and the other of colored children, and the interests of both he could never bring himself to neglect or at all aban- don. RELATION TO THE COMMUNITY. Bishop Lee's relation as a pastor could hardly be said to be confined to his own parish or even those properly under his charge as a Bishop. He occupied in Wilmington a unique position. Though of a re- tiring disposition, from a combination of modesty and reserve, sometimes considered unsocial by those who did not know him well, he yet held a place during his long residence in Wilmington very near to the hearts of thousands of people who were not members BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 23 of or attendants upon the Episcopal Church. Among those of other communions he numbered many warm and trusted friends, and his presence with a minister of another church beside the grave of any prominent citizen was so natural as to be usually anticipated. His addresses on such occasions were models of what should then be said. What could be truly said of the dead he expressed in fitting phrase, but never a word of undiscriminating eulogy passed his lips. He made use of the opportunity to speak to the living, combining consolation to the mourner and inspiration to the friend. An admirable example of his felicity on such occa- sions was his address at the funeral of the late Chief Justice Gilpin, which made so deep an impression that, at the request of many members of the Bar who heard it, the Bishop afterwards wrote it out and permitted its publication in Every Evenings May 8th, 1876. It was remarked editorially at the same time, **We fail to recall anywhere so terse and admirable a statement of the intimate relation of the judiciary to the public welfare and of the character which should be borne by those who are entrusted by society with the high prerogative of sitting in judgment be- tween man and man, and of disposing of the inalien- able rights of life, liberty and property." " 11 The report of this address, as written out by the Bishop from recollection,, is deemed worthy of reproduction here, that it may no longer exist only in the inaccessible files of a daily newspaper : Remarks of Bishop Lee upon the occasion of the funerai, SERVICES of the LATE CHIEF JUSTICE. The event which has assembled to-day this group of sincere ft )• ■t ..■ V. - '-i.. -. 24 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. !l ifl It was quite natural that the Bishop should express clear and enlightened views upon such a subject He was always alive to his duty as a citizen and a mourners and sympathizing friends is more than a domestic be- reavement—the removal from an affectionate family of its beloved and venerated head; it is more than a social grief— a breach in the circle of closely-drawn friends, or in a wider circle to whom the departed was less intimately known, but by whom he was so highly esteemed. It is both of these, in truth, but it is a wider affliction— a public loss — a cause of sorrow throughout the State of which our lamented friend was an honored citizen, extending to many homes and many hearts. Of all civil institutions, none concerns more nearly the welfare and happiness of the people than an enlightened, impartial, and un- corrupt judiciary. Law is the great bulwark and conservator of our rights, the guardian of our property, reputation, domestic purity and peace, of our liberties and our lives. It guards alike the rich man's wealth and the poor man's cot- tage. It assures to the laborer the fruits of his industry, and to the sower the reaping of his harvest. It watches over the weak and friendless, the widow and the orphan. Under its protection we lie down at night in peaceful slumber, and wake to pursue undisturbed our several callings. In the words of an eminent the- ologian, •* Of law there can no less be acknowledged tlian that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world All things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power; both angels and men, and creatures of what condition so- ever, though each in different sort and manner, yet all with uni- form consent, admiring her as the mother of their peace and joy." But the beneficial influences of law in any community are greatly dependent upon the manner of its administration. They may be impaired or nullified by an incompetent, prejudiced or corrupt judiciary. However well-framed or equitable the statute, the decision may be erroneous or unrighteous. The judge upon I BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 25 member of a complex society, rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's as conscientiously as he rendered unto God the things that are God's. In the bench is law embodied and operative. Justice is no longer an abstraction, but clothed with shape and roused to activity. To discharge, rightly and acceptably for a lengthened period, so high and difficult a trust demands, of course, intellectual power and professional learning, research and study, patient attention, clear perception and wise discrimination. But it demands much more— high moral principles, conscientious fidelity, the love of right and the fear of God. Amid all the perplexing questions and conflicting interests that present themselves, amid all the influ- ences that tend to warp and prejudice the mind of a judge, to draw it now in this direction and now in that, he needs to keep ever before him the great principles of truth and justice, to be faithful to conscience and the voice of the Supreme Law- giver. If the ancient master of eloquence laid it down as the first requisite of an orator that he should be a good man, how much more applicable is his maxim to the judge! Time-serving policy, however shrewd and cunning, will sooner or later be at fault, and end in disgrace and ruin. Interest and expediency can- not supply the place of honesty and integrity. If, then, I say of him whose earthly remains are now to be conveyed to the house appointed for all the living, that for the space of nearly twenty years, and some of them years of bitter strife and intense agitation, he filled this high office in a manner to win the approval and growing confidence of his fellow-citizens, that he made, by his administration, the laws to be respected and honored, that his judicial ermine never was stained by a single blot, that the slightest imputation was never cast upon his in- tegrity — and this, I venture to say, in the presence of those who were brought into intimate professional relations with him — it is equivalent to claiming that he was not only an able, but a good man. It is proof of elevation and purity of character, as well as of intellectual competence. It warrants the conclusion that he I't 33. ll r^Jl^lP, \\( 26 BIOGRAPHICAI. SKETCH. !> 1 I public matters, especially of a philanthropic character, he took an intelligent interest and an active part. He was always deeply solicitous for the welfare of the colored race, actively aiding in the early efforts to better their condition by colonization, and after the war taking a prominent part in the ** Delaware Asso- ciation for the Improvement of the Colored People," through which the State appropriation for colored schools is now administered. INTEREST IN PUBUC AFFAIRS. The Bishop's intelligent interest in public affairs performed the duties of his office from higher and nobler con- siderations than personal advantage or earthly recompense, remem- bering that he had a Master and Judge in heaven. The memory of such an one will be cherished. The man dies but the character lives. The example survives, a stimulant to pro- fessional excellence and fidelity to great public trusts. Family and friends will embalm in their hearts the amiable and estimable qualities of him who is taken from them, and the soundness of his decisions and rectitude of his official course will cause his name to be inscribed permanently among the honored dead of his native State. There is deep solemnity, I may say, a solemn beauty, in the circumstances of his removal. In the unimpaired vigor of his mind, with no interval of decay and feebleness, he lays down together his office and his life. Literally there was but a step from the Bench to the death-couch. He adjourns his own court to be immediately ushered into the presence of Him who sitteth upon the throne, and to appear at that Bar where there is no respect of persons, where judge and advocate, counsel and client, magistrate and citizen — the high and humble, all meet together. Emphatically does this affecting event remind us that "We must aU appeeir before the judgment seat of Christ" f BIOGRAPHICAI, SKETCH. 27 was characterized by the same conviction of duty which was so marked a feature of his moral and in- tellectual life. To him a public calamity assumed the character of a private sorrow, but at the same time, in his official utterances, he always endeavored to treat such a subject from the standpoint of one who, being liable to influence others from the mere force of his official relation to them, must weigh his words carefully and give utterance only to well-con- sidered conclusions. It was in this spirit that from time to time in his annual addresses he commented upon grave public events from the double standpoint of a patriotic citizen and of one whose official posi- tion in the Church constrained him to say nothing without deliberation. It is impossible for even a casual reader of his Con- vention addresses for the last thirty years not to be impressed with these allusions. This was particularly noteworthy during the late Civil War. In this com- munity, the differences of opinion were so sharp, and the friction created by them produced at times so much estrangement, that it is not surprising that the Bishop's outspoken and emphatic declaration of his views should have provoked both criticism and antag- onism ; but it is quite certain that the re-examination of his official statements upon this subject would satisfy even those who, at the time, did not agree with him fully, that, in this, as in most matters, he acted advisedly. In his Convention address in June, 1861, he said : We meet, beloved brethren, under public circumstances of the gravest character. Our beloved and hitherto peaceful land !' I i 28 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. I' 1 is now the theatre of strife, and for aught that we can tell, that strife may be protracted, desperate and bloody. No patriot heart but must be deeply oppressed and saddened by the outbreak of civil war and the prospect of its inevitable calamities. He considered the solemnity which ** pervades many hearts, favorable to impressions of that which is spir- itual and eternal,'' and that : while life's uncertainty is forced upon those who hasten to the field, and the hearts of families and friends are tender and anxious, the precious and saving truths of the gospel may find entrance into bosoms hitherto barred and closed against them. '0 m To the Clergy he said : Press upon men awed and solemnized by the convulsions and dangers of the State, the claims of that Kingdom which cannot be moved. Remind them amid rapid and startling changes that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day and forever. Urge them to seek refuge in the ark of God and to shelter themselves under the almighty wings. In his address to the Convention of 1862 he stated in impressive terms the view of his duty upon which he had acted : In the stem and awful crisis through which we have been passing, I have been constrained by most sacred and impera- tive convictions to declare without concealment or reser\'^e my views of what our holy religion, under such circumstances, teaches and requires. When the foundations of society and government were threatened with subversion, to have kept back the plain testimony of Scripture, upon great questions BIOGRAPHICAL vSKETCH. 29 of civil obligation and responsibility, would have been to shun to declare the whole counsel of God. On the page of the New Testament, rebellion against a lawfully established government is a sin against God. Under the gravest sense of responsibility to the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made me overseer, and to the Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, I have not felt at liberty to ignore and pass over those emphatic passages which require every soul to be subject to the powers that be, not onl}^ for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. In so doing, I have felt that I was carrying out the principles of my Church, which, while keeping aloof from matters of mere secular policy, has, from the organization of our government, offered prayer, supplication and intercession for the President of the United States, and for the Senate and Representatives of the same in Congress assembled, thus rec- ognizing their lawful sovereignty, has taught even children in her Catechetical Exposition of the Fifth Commandment, "to honor and obey the civil authority," and has prayed without ceasing to be delivered "from all sedition, privy conspiracy and rebellion." In the address of 1863 he referred briefly to the ** troubled state of our country'' in connection with the General Convention just preceding, and to the discussion of the subject there "with entire courtesy and kindliness." In 1864 was the last extended reference to the sub- ject in these words : Were I to yield to my own inclination, I should close this address without adverting to the painful subject which, whether mentioned or not, occupies so largely every mind. But from the outbreak of our national troubles, my conviction has been clear and decided, that Christians, not excepting Christian ministers, have urgent duties devolved upon them by this ter- ir I ; ■ 4 ; ) •Ml \\ I / I' BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. rible emergency. For myself, without prescribing to others, I have felt bound to use great plainness of speech. After alluding to the fact that some would seal the mouth of the minister and check his utterance of patriotic sentiments or expressions of sympathy with the national cause, while, on the other hand, the pul- pit and the religious press were freely employed to incite and apologize for rebellion, he continues : As a citizen of the United States enjoying the protection of a beneficent government and owing it true allegiance. I am bound by reverence for the Scriptures, as well as by love of country, to pray earnestly for all in authority, and to sustain them by my humble efforts ; and as the minister of a church whose liturgy beseeches deliverance from sedition, privy con- spiracy and rebellion, I may lawfully warn as well as pray against these evils. In the following year the war had ended, and the only allusion made to it was an expression of thank- fulness for the preservation of the national life. This address, however, contains a good illustration of those brief but graceful allusions to great public calamities which the Bishop was wont to make : The nation has been thrilled with amazement and horror and plunged in the deepest grief by the assassination of Abra- ham Lincoln. The degree to which the late President had acquired the affection and confidence of the people of the United States was scarcely imagined until his sudden and vio- lent death opened the flood-gates of national sorrow. Past history presents no more remarkable instance of public mourn- ing than has graced his memory. Future history will place BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 31 his name high among her purest patriots and most honored statesmen, and the awful manner of his end has wonderfully tended to illustrate his character and endear the principles with which he was identified." In 1882, upon a similar occasion, the Bishop al- luded to the death of President Garfield : A dreadful shock startled and saddened our whole country on the 2d July, 1881, when the President of the United States was stricken down by the hand of an assassin, in the meridian of his strength and the height of his honor and usefulness. For more than two months following, the land was agitated 12 Many persons will recall an interesting tribute to his patriot- ism and character in his appointment, with Bishop Janes, of New York, and the Hon. Horatio G. Jones, of Pennsylvania, in January, 1865, as a delegation from the Christian Commission to visit Fed- eral prisoners in the South. Bishop Lee had but just returned home from the funeral of his last surviving sister at Norwich^ Conn., when he accompanied these gentlemen to the front. A brief account of the afiair will perhaps be most acceptable in his own words : Steamer at City Point, Thursday (Jan, 19, 1865), 10.30 P. M, Dear At the close of an exciting day I pen you a few lines before retiring to rest, as I am expecting to start by daybreak to-morrow morning for the flag-of-truce boat up the river, where we can com- municate with the rebel authorities. ... The boat on which we came up the river was crowded with soldiers and officers. I saw, on the way, the wreck of one of the ships sunk by the "Merrimac," also of the "Florida." We passed Harrison's Land- ing, and other famous points, and saw the old tower of James- town Church. We arrived about 5 o'clock, visited the Christian Commission rooms, had an upset in an ambulance going down a steep hill, and a narrow escape. My companions were a little I 'stal- lized several volumes, consisting largely, if not alto- gether, of sermons ; and from time to time all of his charges, and many of his sermons, were printed in pamphlet form. His published books were '^Life of St. Peter," **Life of St. John,'* ** Voice in the Wilderness,'' ** Memoir of Miss Susan Allibone," ** Treatise on Baptism," ** Eventful Nights in Bible History." He was also the author of the article on the ** Pentateuch" and other articles in The Church Cyclopaedia, The subjects of his charges show the bent of his mind as to the Doctrine and Practice which he deemed it necessary to enforce in obedience to the Canon. They are: **The Lawfulness and Responsibility of Individual Judgment in Things Spiritual," ''The One Mediator," "Some of the Requisites for a Success- ful Ministry," "The Faithful and Wise Servant, or the Ministry Adapted to Its Work," "Some Points of Ministerial Duty," "The Office of the Ministry to be Magnified," "The Memorial Feast," "The Remitting and Retaining of Sins," "Lambeth Con- ference of 1878," "Our Centenary." I 40 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. f His sermons cover the whole range of Christian doctrine and Bible truth. *^ Alike in Charges and Sermons was noted the ripen- ing perfection of intellectual culture and spiritual ex- ercise. One, himself among our best masters of liter- w The following list comprises the published pamphlets of Bishop Lee, so far as known, chronologically arranged: Pastoral Letter to the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of Dela- ware in Behalf of Missions^ August 20th, 1841. Sermon and Address at the Fifty-Second Annual Convention of the Diocese y May 25th, 1842. Sertnon at St. Luke*s Churchy Seaford^ at its consecration and the ordination of Mr. John Long, May 28th, 1843. Address at the Laying of the Comer-stone of St. ThomcLS* Churchy Newark, August 24th, 1843. Unsearchable Riches of Christ. Sermon at the Annual Commence- ment of the General Theological Seminary in St. Peter's Church, June 30th, 1843. Faith Apprehending Christ s Spiritual Presence in the Supper and The Sect Everywhere Spoken Against. Two Sermons in St. Andrew's Church, August 6th, 1843. The Uncertainty of the Morrow. Sermon, on the occasion of the death of Governor Thomas Stockton, in St Andrew's Church, March 8, 1846. The Lawfulness and Responsibility of Individual fudgmcnt in Things Spiritual (The Primary Charge, May 27th, 1846). Salvation by Grace through Faith. Sermon at the opening of Con- vention, May 3Tst, 1848. TTie Society of Divine Original. May 30th, 1849. Forms of Prayer put forth during the Cholera Visitation. 1849. Second Charge^The One Mediator. May 29th, 1850. Letter to the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of Delaware. 185 1. Third Charge—Some Requisites for a Successful Ministry. May 31st, 1854. W BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 41 ary resource and perfect in his use of the mother tongue, has given a masterly characterization of his work as embodied in his latest volume. The analysis of the Bishop's style is so complete, and applies vso A Few Words in Vindication of the Action of the Court of Bishops, Convened at Camden, N. /., September, 1853-1S54. The Divine Ownership. Sermon in Christ Church, Christiana Hundred, April 23d, 1855. The Right and Responsibility of Private Judgtnent. (The Primary Charge, reprinted), 1855. The True Nature of the Kingdom of God. Sermon at the meet- ing of the Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge, October 22d, 1856. An Earnest Word to Young Men. Sermon in St. Andrew's Church, Wilmington, July iSth, 1856. Timely Preparation. Sermon in St. Andrew's Church, August 30th, 1857. Fourth Charge— The Faithful and Wise Servant, or. The Ministry adapted to its Work. June 3d, 1857. The Lamb the Light of the Church. Sermon at the consecration of Bishops Odenheimer and Bedell, Richmond, October 13th, 1859. Bethel Revisited. Sermon at the consecration of Christ Church, Dover, May 17, i860. Fifth Charge— Some Points of Ministerial Duty, June 6th, 1S60. The Christian Citizen's Duty in the Present Crisis. Sermon in St Andrew's Church, April 21st, 1861. God to be Glorified in the Fires. Thanksgiving Sermon in St Andrew's Church, November 27th, 1862. Spirit of the ChHstian Ministry. Sermon at the first commence- ment of the Divinity School, Philadelphia, June i8th, 1863. Sixth Charge— The Office of the Ministry to be Magnified. June 7th, 1865. Funeral Sennon- Admiral S. F. Du Pont. In Christ Church, Tune 2Sth, 1865. I W ' I il !-(i »•,., i BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 1 1 i r fully to his writings in general, that it may properly be quoted here in full : Bishop Lee has undertaken an important task in "Event- ful Nights in Bible History," and one in every line of which The Great National Deliverance. Thanksgiving Sermon in St Andrew's Church, December 7th, 1865. Sermon at the Opening of the General Convention, Trinity Church, New York, October 7th, 1868. Review of Bishop of New York's Pastoral Letter by " One of the Nine:' 1869. The Bishop of Delaware's Reply to the Request of the Cofiference held in the City of Philadelphia, November, 1869. A Letter to the Congregation of St. Andrew's Church. December 20th, 1869. Seventh Charge — The Memorial Feast. June 7th, 1871. The Word of Life in the Temple. Sermon at the consecration of St. Anne's Church, Middletown, April 4th, 1872. The Mark of the Prize. Sermon at St Andrew's Church, January I 2th, 1873. Memorial Sermon— Bishop Mcllvaine. Christ Church, Cincinnati, May 9th, 1873. Open Letter to the Rt. Rev. George D. Cummins. November 14th, 1873. Eighth Charge—The Remitting and Retaining of Sins. June 3d, 1874. Tlhe Reformation in Mexico. Reprinted from the American Church Review, October, 1S75. Proper Function of the Christian Ministry. An Essay, 1876. Ninth Charge— Lambeth Co7jfercnce of 1S78. June 4th, 1879. Semi-Centennial of St. Andrew's Church, Sermon, November 13th, 1879. Address on Mexico, before the Board of Missions. October, 1880. Historical Sermon, Diocese of Delaware. June 7th, 1882. The Lurking Adder. Sermon before the Church Temperance Society, Trinity Chapel, Wilmington, December 3d, 18S2. if BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. I 43 he shows his deep sense of responsibility. The temptation to indulge in rhetoric as a means of heightening the effect of the sublime Scriptural night scenes chosen by him would have been strong enough to one less filled with reverence for the inspired words. As it is, this unique volume resembles a string of rubies and black pearls. We have darkness and fire- light, each heightening the other, and used to bring out the meaning which the Bishop reverently finds in these wondrous Nights. A clear, terse, rapid style of narrative intermingled Is the Young Man Safe? Sermon at St John's School, Faulk- land, Del., March 2d, 1883. The Dark Side and the BriirJit. Sermon on Thanksgiving Day, November 29th, 1883, in St. Andrew's Church. Life and Ministry of Benjamin Bosworth Smith. Memorial Ser- mon delivered before the Fifty-sixth Annual Council of the Diocese of Kentucky, September 24th, 1S84, in Christ Church, Louisville. Sermon in Grace Church, New York, June 24th, 1885, on the oc- casion of the consecration of the Rev. Samuel David Ferguson as Bishop of Cape Palmas and Parts Adjacert, with Missionary Jurisdiction. Statement Respecting our Church Work in Mexico since October, jSSj. Published February 6th, 1886. Tenth Charge— Our Centenary. June 2d, 1886. The World's Ignorance and The Gospel's Power. Sermon at the Commencement of the Episcopal Theological School, Cam- bridge, Mass., June i6th, 1886. Doctrinal Preaching. Address before the Evangelical Education Society, Grace Church, Chicago, October 24th, 1886. Address before the American Church Missionary Society upon the Fundamental Principles of the Society. Holy Trinity Church, Philadelphia, December 6th, 1886. The Church in the House. A persuasive to family religion, pub- lished by the Evangelical Knowledge Society (without date). The Favored House. A tract published by the Evangelical Knowl- edge Society (without date). A I I \ 4 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. with those clergymen who were not personally inti- mate with him. This arose partly from the Bishop^s naturally reserved manner, and partly from the more intense party feeling then existing, not only in the Diocese, but in the Church at large. This feeling gradually softened, and it was noticed and often re- marked by the Bishop's friends that, after his return from England, his natural reserve had been much moderated. This was due probably both to that influ- ence which such a conference could not fail to exert upon a liberal and cultivated mind, and also to the warmth of his reception home by the clergy, which in his modesty he had not anticipated. Then again, sore trials came upon him officially, in the administration of his office, with a pitiless and petty persecution such as excited the sympathy and indignation of the clergy who best know how unwar- ranted it was. The strongest manifestations of this came from those who had theretofore differed with him in church politics, so-called. The result of all these circumstances was a tender exhibition of regard from the clergy variously manifested, but as his friends know, deeply appreciated by the Bishop, and so kindly a feeling pervaded the Diocese, that for years action on all important matters, both in Convention and in the Standing Committee, has been by general consent and not after close divisions. Expressions of this feeling by the Convention have been numerous. In 1878 a most affectionate minute was adopted, expressing the feeling of the Convention in reference to the proposed absence of the Bishop. I 52 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 53 In 1 88 1 a resolution was unanimously adopted by a rising vote, congratulating the Bishop on reaching the fortieth year of his Episcopate, attesting his fidel- ity, kindness and impartiality in all his official rela- tions, and warm hopes for his continued life and vigor of body and mind. At the same Convention, his course in relation to the ecclesiastical troubles in the Diocese, before re- ferred to, and his action thereupon was endorsed by the Convention. In 1884 the Convention met soon after the death of Bishop Smith, and, while the Bishop was out of the chair, having gone at the en- treaty of friends, but much against his will, to take a short rest from the labors of a very fatiguing day, a resolution was adopted congratulating him upon having lived to reach his new and exalted position. When the Bishop returned to the church he was re- ceived by the members standing, and the action of the Convention made known to him. Having had no knowledge of what was going on, he was deeply affected, and responded with difficulty to the senti- ments expressed in the resolution. The feeling of Bishop Lee's venerable and distin- guished colleagues was expressed in a remarkable manner at the last session of the House of Bishops. He had entered upon the forty-sixth year of his Episcopate during the session, and the anniversary was made the occasion of a fitting testimonial of affec- tion, which is thus recorded upon the journal of the House : The Bishop of Kansas offered the following resolution, viz, ; Resolved, That the members of this House offer their sin- cere congratulations to their President, the Presiding Bishop of this Church, that he has been spared in the good provi- dence of God, to enter, on this day, the forty-sixth year of his Episcopate ; that in this fact we acknowledge the merciful dealings of the great Head of the Church ; that we hereby assure our venerable father in God that our prayers ascend in his behalf, that God may still grant him many years of continued health and usefulness in the discharge of the sol- emn duties committed to his trust. Which was unanimously adopted by a rising vote, and subsequently, on motion of the Bishop of Springfield, ordered to be engrossed, and signed by all the Bishops, and presented to the Presiding Bishop. The Presiding Bishop made acknowledgment of the action of the House. The engrossea copy bearing the autograph signa- ture of every Bishop has, since Bishop Lee^s return home last fall, adorned the walls of his study. Both spiritually and mentally, the Bishop^ s char- acteristic was vitality. He lived to God in the noble warmth of the inner spiritual life; he lived men- tally, digesting the thoughts of the wise, keeping pace with the discoveries of the learned ; he lived in delicate thoughtful courtesies, in kindliest considera- tion to all about him, in prayers, sympathies and counsel to the people of his charge, the clergy of the Diocese, the Church over which, for the last years of his life, he was Chief Shepherd. Physically also, he was full of vitality. Energy, endurance, robust individuality, reserved force and bidden fire found their counterparts in a slender frame BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 5S BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. which looked too frail to withstand the ordinary wear of life for many, if any years beyond its prime. No personal consideration stood in the way of what he deemed duty. In vain those who stood nearest and valued his services most dearly, begged him to refrain from every unnecessary effort and labor ; in vain it was urged that continued life alone, with its insensible, irrepressible influences, was more important than any active ministrations which, priceless as they were, ought never to be given at the slightest risk to what could never be replaced. He would not, for the sake of his own ease or comfort, abate in the slightest degree his personal attention to the work of his life; so that, at the age of seventy-nine, there was the same careful and conscientious performance of every duty as at the age of forty-nine. Bishop Lee was married April 23d, 1832, to Miss Julia White, the daughter of Elihu White, formerly of Hartford, Conn. , but afterwards of New York City. Mrs. Lee was of an old Connecticut family, and was herself a woman of most estimable character and fine social attainments. She is still very affectionately remembered in Wilmington for her warm co-operation in many works of charity and mercy, as well as for her cheerful temperament, and a disposition which was like a ray of sunshine wherever she went She died November 29th, 1868.^* " Mrs. Lee, on her mother's side, was a granddaughter of John TrambuU, Judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, the Revo- lutionary poet and patriot, whose political satire "McFingal," corn- There were born of this marriage eight children, four sons and four daughters, of whom three are now living, two sons, Benjamin, a practicing physi- cian of Philadelphia, and Alfred, a member of the bar of the same city, and one daughter, the widow of the Rev. Charles E. Mcllvaine.^^ Three grand- children, also grandchildren of the late Bishop Mcll- vaine, have long brightened the Bishop^s home. posed at the request of Congress, was considered very serviceable to the American cause. Colonel John Trumbull, the artist, at one time on Washington's staff, was his cousin, from the prominence of whose father in the Revolutionary struggle, this country ob- tained its sobriquet of "Brother Jonathan." i»The loss of the Bishop's second child, Leighton, in 1853, and of his daughter Julia, in 1870, were very keenly felt by him The former, a promising boy of fifteen, died after a short illness, while attending school at the Episcopal Academy m Philadelphia. A memorial address to St. Andrew's Sunday-school, published soon after attests alike the father's sorrow and his Christian faith and hope' The little volume also contains the following verses, Uie only* ones written by Bishop Lee, known to have been printed They were written during a wakeful night, immediately subsequent to his bereavement. I*. L. Lovely in death ! The seal of heaven Is on that marble brow ; Where once the signet-cross was traced Is holy triumph now. In sweet, unmoved serenity. Those peaceful features lie ; No trace of pain, or care, or fear, Or quivering agony. 56 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 57 Bishop Lee died at his home, **Ingleside," after a protracted illness, of typhoid fever. Although his con- dition had been very critical during the month pre- vious to his death, his symptoms had shown some improvement in the last week, and the end came quite suddenly. His physician. Dr. Bullock, had visited the patient in the morning and again at noon, and he Fain would we rescue from the grave This image, pale and dear; 'Tis but the image of thyself— Thy spirit is not here. There's that impressed upon thy face, That bids not think of earth, But calls our hearts and faith away To thy celestial birth. Thou'rt in His arms, whom thy young heart Believed in and adored, — The Saviour true, the Shepherd kind, The smitten Lamb — the Lord. And when, with all his saints he comes His jewels to collect, Thy radiant form shall shine among The ransomed and elect The eyes now closed, shall glisten then With purest joys of heaven ; The lips now mute, shall then unite In songs of the forgiven. And we shall meet— with rapture meet— His praises to proclaim, Who saved us by His precious blood, And made us one again. seemed at the last visit slightly better than at the same time the day previous. Soon after the noon hour, however, he was seized with a sinking spell, and his attendants clearly foresaw the near approach of dis- solution. Messages were immediately sent to his sons, who were in Philadelphia, apprising them of their father's condition, but the end had come before they could return. The Bishop's daughter, her sister- in-law, and his faithful nurse were the only ones with him when he breathed his last. Gradually he sank away, and death came peacefully, quietly and without pain. A short time before the close, his daughter began to recite the twenty-third Psalm, **The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,'* but, seeing the end to be very near, paused and asked her companion to read the commendatory prayer. The last stanza of the 335th hymn, ** Abide with Me," and the 97th hymn, **It is not death to die," were then repeated. A moment later he opened his eyes with an expres- sion of most serene restful ness, and, after a long, earnest look upward, closed them and expired. The illness of the Bishop covered a period of nearly four months. He first called his family physician about the middle of January, from which time he re- quired almost daily medical attendance for nearly a month, when he went to Old Point Comfort to try to regain his strength. After a two-weeks' stay at that place he returned home, on March ist. The last time he was in church, being the Sunday previous, he attended service at the post-chapel in the fort, and y 58 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 59 heard a sennon by Bishop Paret, of Maryland. Shortly after his return he took cold and suffered a relapse, and his illness developed all the symptoms of typhoid fever. For more than a month his condition had been most alarming, and there was scarcely a hope that he could recover. A week before his death, there seemed to be a slight improvement, but this could only be observed for a day or two, and it was clearly foreseen that the end was near. .During his illness the Bishop was conscious, ex- cepting at short intervals, and at times his mind seemed as vigorous as usual. He dictated replies to some of the letters of inquiry as to his health from his many dear friends, and frequently discussed the affairs of his diocese with those nearest him, though with difficulty, in broken utterances and often in a whisper. The welfare of the Church and his people were matters of contemplation on his death-bed, almost to the last moment of his life. To near friends who called and inquired after his health, the Bishop at times sent affectionate messages. The love of his people found expression in many ways, and they hoped against hope that the beloved Bishop would be spared to them. On Saturday, not long before his death, at the close of a conversation respecting the Easter offering, with Rev. Mr. Murray, who had called to inquire for him and spent a few moments by his bedside, the Bishop said, **I wish you to give my love to my dear people, and to thank them for their prayers and loving wishes in my behalf." And on Easter Sunday he sent to Mr. Murray the following request,— *' After the communion service I wish you would use, as my Easter greeting to my beloved people, the benedic- tion, * The God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant ; make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight; through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for- ever and ever. Amen.* ** I ii n \ • I On the morning of Friday, April i6th, after a brief service at his home, conducted by the Rev. Charles E. Murray, the remains of Bishop Lee were removed to St. Andrew's Church, and placed in front of the chancel, until the hour appointed for the last solemn service. A committee of the clergy of the diocese, consisting of the Reverend Dr. Littell and the Reverend Messrs. Murray, Gibson, Smith, La- trobe, Henry, Gordon, Higgins, Wootten and Light- ner, robed in surplices, were in attendance as a guard of honor. A large concourse of the citizens of Wilmington availed themselves of the opportunity thus afforded to take a last look at the loved and venerated Bishop. The funeral services were held at the church at two o'clock P. M. Of the House of Bishops there were present : The Right Reverend John Williams, Bishop of Connecticut, the Presiding Bishop. The Right Reverend Ozi William WhiTAKER, Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania. The Right Reverend M. A. De Wolfe Howe, Bishop of Central Pennsylvania. The Right Reverend John Scarborough, Bishop of New Jersey. The Right Reverend George W. Peterkin, Bishop of West Virginia. 63 1 64 FUNERAIv SERVICES. The Right Reverend Henry C. Potter, Bishop of New York. The Right Reverend Wiluam D. Walker, Mis- sionary Bishop of North Dakota. The Right Reverend Wiluam J. Boone, Mission- ary Bishop of Shanghai. The Right Reverend William Paret, Bishop of Maryland. Of the clergy there were present : — The Reverend W. Tatlock, D.D., Secretary of the House of Bishops. The Reverend Joshua Kimber, Associate Secretary of the Board of Missions. The Reverend T. Gardiner Littell, D.D., Charles E. Murray, H. Ashton Henry, Jesse Higgins, Benjamin H. Latrobe, Dudley D. Smith, Charles Breck, D.D., P. B. Lightner, Lewis W. Gibson, George M. Bond, Edward Owen, Joseph Beers, William C. Starr, Lewis H. Jackson, James C. Kerr, George W. Johnson, E* R. Armstrong, 11 if €C IC if CI IC II II IC IC IC II CI IC It FUNERAL SERVICES. The Reverend Edward Wootten, " " A. A. Benton, and Mr. Edward Henry Eckel, candidate for Orders, Of the Diocese of Delaware. The Reverend Richard Newton, D.D., John A. Childs, D.D., Robert A. Edwards, William M. Jefferis, Joseph R. Moore, George A. Latimer, Wm. White Bronson, George F. Bugbee, W. H. Graff, Robert C. Matlack, D.D., Benjamin J. Douglass, D. S. Miller, D.D., Alfred Elwyn, Gideon J. Burton, Daniel M. Bates, James Walker, John B. Clemson, D.D., George C. Moore, Henry Brown, Addison B. Atkins, D.D., Charles D. Cooper, D.D., and Samuel F. Hotchkin, Of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. The Reverend William Schouler, and " ** Enoch K. Miller, Of the Diocese of Easton. 65 I ( 66 FUNERAL SERVICES. The Reverend Julius E. Grammer, D.D., and " " Robert H. Paine, Of the Diocese of Maryland. The Reverend Cyrus F. Knight, D.D., and ** *' David Howard, Of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. The Reverend John Brainard, D.D., Of the Diocese of Central New York. The Reverend J. Leigh ton McKim, and " ** J. M. Harding, Of the Diocese of New Jersey. The Rev. George A. Strong, Of the Diocese of Massachusetts. The lay members of the Standing Committee, Messrs. S. M. Curtis and Horace Burr, M.D., and a committee of the Vestry of St. Andrew's Church, consisting of Messrs. J. H. Hoffecker, Jr., George W. Baker, Alfred S. Elliot and Willard Thomson were the pall-bearers. Before the procession entered the church, there was an organ solo, **I Know that my Redeemer Liveth,'' from HandePs ** Messiah.'' The Presiding Bishop read the sentences. The anthem was chanted. The lesson was read by the Bishop of New York, after which the 97th hymn was sung. The Bishop of New Jersey read the resolutions adopted by the Board of Missions.^ "These resolutions will be found under the head, "Minutes and Resolutions.*' FUN^RAI, SERVICES. 67 f . I The Bishop of Central Pennsylvania then addressed the congregation as follows : *^I have been reluctant to waken the echoes of a place which for more than forty years has resounded with utterances of wisdom and grace from lips that shall speak no more. ** Only since my arrival in this city, two hours ago, have I received an intimation that anything more than the simple service of the Church would be ex- pected on this occasion. I stand appalled by the request that I attempt, in this sudden and impromptu way, to render my tribute of love and reverence to a character so broad and so perfectly rounded as his whose removal we mourn to-day. But my devotion to the sacred memory of the departed, and my sym- pathy with those specially bereft by his demise, forbid me to refuse. ** Perhaps this duty has been assigned to me partly because in age I follow next to him who was, till now, the Senior in our House of Bishops ; and partly because in the providence of God, since his advance- ment to the Episcopate, I have been thrown into inti- mate personal relations to him. I am probably the only clergyman in this assemblage who saw him set apart to his high Office, in October, 1841, my vener- ated Father in God, Bishop Griswold, acting as the Consecrator. The picture of that scene is very vividly before my memory. His youthful head bowed to re- ceive the imposition of the hands of those white- haired Patriarchs (Bishops Moore, of Virginia, and Chase, of Illinois, among them) who were grouped I': 68 FUNERAL SERVICES. around him ; and Dr. Wainwriglit, afterwards Bishop of New York, standing behind him holding high the open page of the Ordinal that the Presiding Bishop might see and recite the words of the Apostolic Com- mission. He who a week ago was the Senior among his Brethren, when he took his seat among them forty-five years ago was the youngest of them all. Indeed, he was only three years past the age at which, under the traditional usage of the Church Catholic, one is admissible to the Episcopal Office. **His experience in Parochial life had then been Quite limited. He had been Rector for three years of a small rural Parish, at Rockdale, Pennsylvania, just on the borders of Delaware. Into its work he had entered with conscientious diligence and youthful zeal. His success as a Shepherd of souls became known to his Clerical Brethren in the adjoining State. And the thought of securing him as its first Bishop probably hastened the organization of Delaware as a separate jurisdiction. A smaller number of Clergymen and Laymen than would be competent, under the present terms of the Constitution, to elect a Bishop, formed the Convention which made choice of the Reverend Alfred Lee. In 1846 I became Rector of St. Luke's Church, Philadelphia, and found there among my dearest friends and Parishioners, a beloved family who had been most intimately associated with Mr. Lee in his little niral Parish. At their fireside I first learned his great personal worth, and meeting him frequently, was privileged to enter upon a mutual friendship which has matured through forty years, FUNERAIy SERVICES. 69 and is destined, I trust, to live forever. Out of the depths of that love and reverence I speak of him to- dav. "Although the young Bishop had, before his eleva- tion, a brief experience in pastoral care, his training in other respects had given him some eminent qualifi- cations for the Episcopal Office. His scholastic educa- tion had been received at the foremost University of the land. And after his graduation he had pursued the study of law, and entered on its practice. This gave to his philosophic and judicial mind the sort of discipline required to develop its powers and to fit him for the executive duties of his office. Having such a constitution of mind, equipped as it was with the learning appropriate to his chosen profession, he had the road to eminent success wide open before him. But that was not the path on which He who holds the lines of destiny in His hand intended him to go. He was constrained by an Unseen Power which he dared not gainsay nor resist, to receive and transmit the Gospel errand, and he began its proclamation in an humble sphere and before simple folk. What his hand found to do he did with his might. With cheerful spirit he took his place in the lowest room until the Master came and said, ** Friend, go up higher.'' Precious lessons were learned in that novitiate of his ministerial life — the ways of success- ful approach to the human heart — the power of the unvarnished story of Christ crucified — the sympathy due to the lowly minister who finds little to comfort him in his work save in the consciousness of duty I H \ ,,fc.— - .-- ■ .' -^ • t. . , . ,->,<,-> •-,, I ^ It 70 FUNERAL SERVICES. performed, and the hope that his brother-men are the better in their condition and destiny through his influ- ence. (( Bishop Lee was a man of definite theological views and strong convictions. As he had received Christ Jesus the Lord, so he walked in Him through his long career. The principles of the English Reformation he accepted and maintained. And while he was tolerant of such diversity of opinion as the Catholic standards of our Church allow, he was brave in his office, as a keeper and champion of the truth, to rebuke any revi- val among us of those pestilent doctrines and practices for the avoidance of which our Fathers abjured alli- ance with the Church of Rome. I recall an instance, which occurred so many years ago that none will be wounded now by my reference to it, wherein a sermon was preached in the presence of the Bishop and his Clergy, the teachings of which were in known antag- onism to his. As soon as the discourse was closed, the Bishop rose in the Chancel, and with the utmost calmness and kindliness of language and manner, yet with a logical conciseness and force which he could not have surpassed had he attempted the task in his own study, with ample time for deliberate thought, he dissected and refuted the argument, which he accounted mischievous. Few men would have had the courage to attempt so difficult and painful an act; none could have done it more gently. I have never known a character in which there was so much force veiled under the aspect of such unaffected humility. His official elevation only made more conspicuous his ^ FUNERAI, SERVICES. 71 innate modesty. There was no Lordship in his de- portment either in republican America or when the title was applied to him while sojourning in England. In his relations to his Clergy he breathed the q)irit of a Father rather than of a Ruler. *'In the House of Bishops, the Senate of our Ecclesiastical Congress, Bishop Lee has been a recog- nized power through all the years of his connection with it ; and his influence has constantly increased as time advanced him at length to the primacy among his Brethren. As presiding officer of the House of Bishops (in which capacity he frequently acted before and since the departure of his aged pre- decessor) he manifested always the analytical power of his mind, discerning accurately the points at issue, familiar with the proper methods of procedure, and in the final statement of the question setting aside irrelevant and confusing matter foisted into the debate, he made it, by his lucid presentation of the naked subject, easy for his brethren to determine their own positions, and to reach at last concurrent and wise conclusions. ''He represented a school of thought in our min- istry whose relative strength of numbers may not now be as great as once it was, but which constitutes an element of great value in the make-up of our char- acter and power as a religious body. His known devotion to Evangelical truth, no less than his calm thoughtfulness and his terse and forceful modes of expression, always commanded the respectful attention of his Brethren. And in accordance with his sugges- i, r i».j: I-*, <- ■" •-.*, 72 FUNERAI, SERVICES. tions, measures which he did not originate have been modified and made beneficent, which otherwise had been one-sided, if not calamitous. What position the class of theologians to which he belonged is to hold in the future of this Church it is not easy to prog- nosticate. In the history of religion, we find that cycles of thought have succeeded each other — the spir- itual and the external coming into alternate predomi- nance in successive periods — neither, through God^s grace, ever wholly supplanting the other. This type of Church life, we may well hope, will never become extinct It constitutes an element needed to maintain our legitimate balance and influence as a distinctive branch of the Church Catholic of Christ — to win the confidence of the Christian Bodies by whom we are surrounded, and to attract to our Communion those who have heretofore been hostile or indifferent to our claims. No more worthy and judicious and influential exponent of the religion of the English Reformers has filled the office of a Bishop in the American Church than the venerated father whose loss we mourn to-day. '* Bishop Lee was an admirable Preacher and Pastor. This Parish, which hardly had a name to live at his accession, now strong in numbers and in all the tokens of spiritual vigor, is the witness to his fidelity and power. * Jesus Christ and Him crucified,' old in its cardinal simplicity and perpetual preciouspess, yet new in its ever-varying illustration, and in learned exposition of its significance and of its transfonning energy, was the constant theme. And here it has II FUNERAL SERVICES. 73 proved, as of old, * the power of God, and the wisdom of God unto salvation.' **To profound knowledge of the Holy Scriptures (he was one of the American Commission on the late revision of the Old and New Testaments) the Bishop added a complete mastery of the English language. Its resources of expression were all at his command. **Few writers possess more of the power of vigorous and graceful expression than he. Had his vocal abil- ity been commensurate with his intellectual, he would have gained celebrity as one of the foremost orators of the Pulpit. His sermons, when committed to the press, will take high rank as specimens of vigorous and graceful composition. "But our dear friend possessed a higher grace, which was neither innate with his mental faculties, nor acquired with the learning of the schools. He was an eminently holy man, made so by the gift and in-dwelling of the Holy Ghost— not merely the empowering grace of his Apostleship, but the personal consecration of body, soul and spirit to the faith and love and obedience of Christ. In that Divine assimi- lation to the man Christ Jesus was, after all, *the hiding of his power.' That drew into filial fellow- ship with him this goodly array of white-robed Priests who now minister in places which he found desolate. That empowered him to gather and to hold through a generation this flock of earnest Christian people who have hung upon his lips for instruction and walked in the light of his example. That made his home- life in this city a benediction, and has called out its * I M I . H . ^ 74 FUNERAI, SERVICES. people of every creed and name this day to do honor to his memory. That character, associated in every mind with his personality, and tracing its gentle ex- pression on his countenance, made his presence on these streets an every-day sermon. That sanctified soul passing from duty to rest— from probation to glory— left the light of its in-dwelling on those placid features, imparting to them, even in death, an un- wonted beauty — the witness of present peace, the pre- sage and dawn of an immortal life. "How happy was his lot in that, although he reached the extreme milestone of man's earthly pil- grimage, he suflfered no dull decay ! He did not linger on the stage of life in weary imbecility till the reverence of his fellow-men had dwindled into pity, but was in the full exercise of his powers, and the entire sway of his influence, when mortal sickness laid him low. *His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated,' when God hid him in the mountain of His Holiness. Let me die the death of this righteous man, and let my last end be like his !'' The 335th Hymn was sung, and the Bishop of West Virginia read the closing prayers. The anthem,' '*De Profundis,'' was chanted by the choir, and the benedic- tion was pronounced by the Presiding Bishop. The remains were interred in the family lot in the graveyard of Holy Trinity (Old Swedes^ Church, the service at the grave being read by the Presiding Bishop, the Bishop of West Virginia and the Reverend Lewis W. Gibson, President of the Standing Commit- tee of the Diocese of Delaware. A SERMON PREACHED IN ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, WILMINGTON, DEL., JUNE 2, 1887. BY The Right Rev. John Williams, S. T. D., LI,.D., Bishop of Connecticut and Presiding Bishop. This sermon was preached upon the joint invitation of THE Standing Committee of the Diocese and the Vestry of St. Andrew's Church, the day having been appointed with A VIEW OF ENABUNG THE ATTENDANCE OF MEMBERS OF THE DIO- CESAN Convention which was to be in session on that day AT Newark. Accordingly, the Convention adjourned to ATTEND THE MEMORIAI, SERVICE.. \ y i Por he was a good man^ and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith ; and much people was added unto the Lord, — Acts xi. 24.^ There is something peculiarly attractive in the character of Barnabas as it is presented to us in scat- tered notices in the Acts and the Epistles. Those notices, indeed, give us no more than outlines, touches here and there, but these are of rare beauty and in- , terest, and open out to us wide and profitable fields of meditation. He stands prominently out in the history of the first fresh, blooming life of the Apostolic Church, a leader in its ministry to the poor and suffering ; then we see him taking by the hand, Saul, the lately converted, — on whom the brethren looked with suspicious fear, not believing that he was a disciple, — and bringing him to the Apostles ; later on, he appears seeking Saul, then living in obscurity in Tarsus, and leading him to Antioch where he himself had held the fore- most place which now he was to yield to another ; and finally, this generosity, this large-heartedness, this modest estimation of himself, this spirit of the tniest self-sacrifice, are all summed up in the words ** Before he began the sermon, the preacher caUed attention to the fact that, without design or conference, the same text had been selected by himself and by the Reverend brother, who had preached before the late Convention of the Diocese. 77 > \ \f i 78 MEMORIAL SERMON. **he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." Nor are we left in doubt as to what was accomplished by such an one for his Lord and Master ; for it is immediately said, **and much people was added unto the Lord." Such a character as is here revealed to us, may not strike one especially at the first sight. But it has a quality in its make-up which is far better and far nobler than any such power of immediate impression. It bears the ordeal of intimate knowledge. It stands the test of continuous acquaintance. The better it is known, the greater is the reverence felt for it. The closer the contact with it, the more it is honored and the stronger does its attractive power become. It conquers by its own inherent and imparted strength, and not by any adventitious circumstances of sur- roundings or position. It has *'salt in itself." It carries out and fills out the words of the Royal Preacher, **The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." My dear Brethren, when I first read the unexpected message which carried sorrow to so many hearts and homes, the words which told us that your beloved and venerated Bishop was no longer upon earth, for that God had taken him, the first words that came to my mind were those which have been read to you in the text. And when I received the invitation with which I was honored to preach the Memorial Sermon — a duty which many others would discharge far better than I can hope to — it seemed to me that BISHOP WILIvIAMS. 79 no words would more fittingly recall the character, the life and the work of our late honored Presiding Bishop. He was bom at a time when our Church in these United States was reaching its lowest point of depres- sion and, as it seemed to many, hopelessness. That point was not touched, as is not infrequently supposed, at the close of the war of the Revolution. At that period there were many who remained faithful to the Order, Doctrine and Worship in which they had been trained. But as the years rolled by and these passed away, few came to fill the places they had left, and decrease rather than increase seemed to be the inevita- ble law. At the same time death and infirmity were weakening the ranks of the Episcopate ; so that, in 181 1, grave anxiety was felt whether it might not become necessary to have recourse to the good offices of the Mother Church to continue the succession in these United States. In the providence of God the necessity did not arise. From the day when Bishop Hobart was consecrated for New York and Bishop Griswold for the Eastern Diocese, a new era of life and growth began, and the **days of mourning were ended. ' ' Coincidently with this reviving life, there came, almost of necessity, an awakening of Missionary zeal, a deepened conviction of the duty of the Church to strive, with all the might that man can have and God can give, for the glory of His holy Name and the extension of His blessed Kingdom. This duty had, indeed, been early recognized by the great Council of «. , ^(1 Bo MEMORIAL SERMON. the Church ^ but it could hardly be made practical while it seemed doubtful whether **the things which remained, that seemed ready to die,'' could be so strengthened as really to live. Nor was it till the year 1835 that the Church rose to the full ideal of duty in this regard, and declared that she herself was her own Missionary Society, and that all her members were its members also. Some of us can recall to- day, the thrill of astonished joy with which this declaration was received, and the warm interest with which we watched the progress of our first great Mis- sionary Bishop, as he took his lonely way towards the then distant regions of the vast Northwest. It was two years later, namely, in 1837 — so the record reads— that Alfred Lee was ordained to the Diac- onate, by my honored predecessor, in Christ Church, Norwich, in the Diocese of Connecticut. He came to his ordination and received his first commission in the Church of God, in the ripeness of a manhood that was early ripe, when **he began to be about thirty years of age." Entering the ministry, then, as he did, at a period of awakening conviction as to what our Divine Lord meant when He said **That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations,'' no wonder that his spirit — already prepared by the grace of God— should **have caught the sacred flame ;" no wonder, when we remember the character of the man, so free from those passing currents ** which move light spirits lightly," so true and stead- fast — no wonder that the flame burned bright within ^' BISHOP WILUAMS. 81 him till the end of life ! It could not have been otherwise. Nor do I count this too light a thing to be placed at the forefront in speaking of the characteristics of a Christian Bishop. If the Lord's human soul was '•straitened" till the veil was rent, and men might have ''boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus ;" if the great Apostle of the Gentiles counted "not his life dear to himself," so that he might preach to those Gentiles "the unsearchable riches of Christ," what better thing can be said of any Bishop than that, though he mav not be called to what we term the missionary field, the missionary spirit is still living in his soul and animating his life? It was in this spirit that my brother twice undertook laborious and toilsome journeys — one to Haiti and another to Mex- ico—journeys from which his own especial duties might reasonably have withheld him and with no man to fault him for it, so that he might help on the work always so near his heart. A few months of service in a secluded rural parish in Connecticut, and a few years of pastoral charge in another quiet parish in Pennsylvania followed, and then your late Bishop was called to the Episcopate, at the early age of thirty-four. Yet, though his min- isterial life had been so brief, he was "not a novice." Gifted with strong natural powers of mind, which he may almost seem to have inherited, those powers were trained and moulded by what used to be called a liberal education, and by the legal studies and prac- tice to which he gave himself for the five years pre- 6 f 0» k (I J :f $2 MEMORIAL SERMON. f ceding his admission as a candidate for Holy Orders. I do not believe that his legal training gave him that judicial cast of mind for which he was so distinguished ; but there can be little doubt that it did much to strengthen and complete it. It was one of his most striking mental characteristics. No man could ever converse with him, for however brief a period and on whatever topic, and not be struck with it. Calmly and clearly his decisions and the reasons for them were stated, in language ** drawn from the wells of English undefiled ;** and even those to whom they did not carry conviction, always listened to them with respect and advantage. I am confident that every one of his brethren in the Episcopate will con- firm what I say, and I speak from an observation of six-and-thirty years. With all his decision, however, and he was a man of decision — tenax propositi — there was not in him an iota of arrogance or assumption. No man can bear fuller testimony to his modest esti- mation of the results of his own reasonings, and the more than fairness, the thorough courtesy, with which he was ready to consider the thoughts of others, than I can. For several years I sustained a relation to him which none other did, as his* assessor. And I should do violence to every feeling of my heart, did I not tell you, that the only disquiet I ever had occa- sion to feel, was when his unfailing courtesy led him to submit for counsel conclusions, so well wrought out and stated so judicially, that there really was no room for a question to be raised about them. Pardon me, dear Brethren, this one personal mention. The lips BISHOP WILLIAMS. 83 must speak, sometimes, "out of the fullness of the heart. »' What course of thought, what experiences of life, what convictions of duty, above all, what immediate promptings of the Holy Spirit, led your late Bishop to abandon a profession in which he was sure to attain to eminence, I know not. It may be doubted if any one does know. God leads men to the minis- try in His Church in many ways. But whatever was the way in this case, no man can doubt that anxious thought, conscientious deliberation, and deep and ear- nest prayer brought Alfred Lee to his decision ; and as we look back on that lengthened ministry, the half century of which a few months more would have rounded, we may well bless Him who ordereth every human life, for that inward moving of the Holy Ghost, which gave the Church such a Parish Priest and such a Chief Pastor of the flock of Christ. Need I speak to you of his Episcopate of more than twice a score of years? Its visible fruits are all around you in the seven clergy of 1841, increased to the thirty-five of 1887 ; in the four parishes multiplied into the thirty-five parishes and missions ; in the three hundred and eighty-nine communicants, now become, by a nearly tenfold increase, two thousand four hundred. Nay, beloved, **ye yourselves are his epistle, written in his heart, known and read of all men.** No stranger can undertake to tell you what you yourselves know better, far better, than he can. But I speak only of visible results ; and how little, how very little, of the work of a faithful pastor do 1 f I k 84 MEMORIAL SERMON. ' \ I! /P they exhibit ! How much, how very much, there is which only he and the Blessed Trinity can know, greater, better, nobler than anything that mortal eyes can see ! How much of that solemn, touching charge which is given to a bishop at his consecration — **Hold up the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken, bring again the outcasts, seek the lost''— how much of this is done in secret, lives and bears fruit in secret ; and so the work and its fruitage are both unknown of men. What the world does not see with the passing glance, which is all its hurrying life has to give to anything, it sees not at all, and, therefore, counts as unreal. But as in the natural, so in the spiritual world, those unseen forces are the most real of all forces, and their fruit is the most real of all fruit. The yearly returning spring-tide annually attests this for the world of nature. The great, eternal spring- tide of the resurrection will attest it in the Kingdom of Grace and Glory. With these few words I dismiss this part of my subject here ; since reference must be made to it again. "Give heed unto reading" are the first words of the exhortation to a bishop after his ordination. No doubt the words have special reference to Holy Scrip- ture ; but they must also, as undoubtedly, include all "such studies as help to the knowledge of the same." Says pious George Herbert : •* They say it is an ill mason that refuses any stone ; and there is no knowledge, but, in a skillful hand, serves either positively as it is, or else to illustrate some other knowl- edge." \i BISHOP WIIvLIAMS. 85 But mere knowledge, the mere heaping up of informa- tion, makes no scholar and least of all a Christian scholar. ** Knowledge dwells in minds replete with thoughts of other men. Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass, The mere material with which wisdom builds. Till smoothed and squared and fitted to its place, Does but encumber where it seems t* enrich. Knowledge is proud that she has learned so much, Wisdom is humble that she knows no more.'* I cannot but think that these words describe exactly the characteristics of Bishop Lee's scholarship. It was thorough, and because it was thorough it was modest and retiring. And more than all the rest that can be said, it always turned toward and centered in the Holy Scriptures. Lord Bacon, in his new Atlantis, gives an allegory of exceeding beauty which I shall venture to quote. Some time after our Lord's Ascension, he says, there was seen on an island, near the city of Bensalem, a gleaming pillar of light marked with a glittering cross. The inhabitants attempted to reach the island in their boats. As they drew near, the boats were stopped, and it was not until they had prayed to God, that they could proceed. As they advanced, the pillar dissolved into unnumbered stars, and beneath the place where it had stood, and over which the stars still shone, they found the Holy Scriptures. It was an allegory of the truest and highest human learning. Compacted into the gleaming pillar in all its manifold lines and portions, and consecrated by the im- I t ' v n '< 86 MEMORIAI, SERMON. press of the cross of Christ, its stars of glory could only be reached by prayer to God, and they all shed back their light upon the Sacred Scriptures. Was it not even so, beloved, with your late Bishop's many-sided learning? Did it not carry him back to, and find its ultimate end and rest in, the Oracles of God? Let its published results, and especially his last and swan- like utterance, answer. These thoughts lead naturally to speak of ** exhor- tation and doctrine," to which a bishop is charged to give heed as well as to ** reading'' to which, indeed, his reading is to be subsidiary. The school to which he belonged had nothing in common with that mod- ern, destructive school which sometimes claims to rep- resent it Of this older school it has been lately said, by one who does not belong to it, that they who com- posed it, *4o a man, professed that they taught nothing, and desired nothing, but the plain doctrine of the Church of England. They found the best expres- sion of their wants in her deeply spiritual liturgy; they valued her articles and her homilies as the full- est and most lucid expositions of their own belief; and* they strongly opposed attempts to alter or relax the obligation of her ministers to subscribe to all her formularies." To this school my deceased brother gave all along his adherence ; an adherence everywhere and at all times frankly and openly avowed. For his was a nature to which all concealments and subterfuges were abhorrent. This position, deliberately taken and manfully retained, brought with it, as a matter of BISHOP WILWAMS. 87 course, differences and sometimes misunderstandings with those with whom, in many other things, and those things essentials, he had no disagreement, but it certainly could never be justly said of him that because of his conviction, he — narrowed his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind. One who belongs to a different school, and who was privileged, more than once, to discuss differences with him, may be permitted to speak distinctly on this point. He never gave a half-hearted and palter- ing allegiance to the Church of which he was a Chief" Pastor. Nor had he — I have alluded to this before, but it cannot be out of place to speak of it again, — nor had he the smallest sympathy with lines of thought and speculation which, retaining the Christian terminology it may be, eviscerate its meaning and its power, and end by dethroning it from its true position as the one final revelation of Almighty God, and degrading it to a place as one among the religions of the world. Who would have rebuked more sternly than he would, the practical denial of the Incarnation of the Son of God, by making Him '4n whom dwelt all the ful- ness of the Godhead bodily," merely the ideal man to be praised and lauded it may be, but only that ; or the denial of the power of the one sacrifice for sin, by stripping it of its character as a true and real atone- ment for the sins of men ; or the denial of the infec- tion of our nature and its awful outcomes in actual 1 ?: I i' ^ « 1 \^ 88 MEMORIAL SERMON. sin, by making it a disease, mental or physical, to be cured by the application of the gentlest palliatives ; or the denial of the personal indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the church and in the individual, by making it no more than a mere indefinite influence ; or the destruction of the living church of God, by denying to it the ministry of Christ and the stewardship of the mysteries of God? You who have in all his years of service listened to his instructions in this holy place need not that any man should answer these questions for you. And this doctrine, those great truths that have been touched on, were not with him abstractions, specula- tions, ** idols of the den," to be played with and tossed about in dialectic sport or even earnest ; they entered into his life, they shaped his character, they made him what he was. For, indeed, as Jeremy Taylor nobly said, ** Theology is rather a Divine life than a Divine knowledge." Let me speak, my Brethren, of one thing more, and I will weary you no longer. To one who came hither on the day when we committed all that was mortal of your late Bishop to the earth, nothing could be more touching and impressive than the way in which the poor and destitute and suffering, they on whose earthly life there shine few rays of cheering, came to look once more on the friend who was taken from them. It was, in very deed, the crowning glory of his life of labor. Not the gathering of his brethren, his clergy or his people, not the solemn service nor the loving words of eulogy bore such a witness as BISHOP WILLIAMS. 89 that gathering. Do you wonder at these words? Does it seem strange that they should be reserved to be the last and the best words I have to speak? Then remember that when our Blessed Lord made answer to the disciples of John Baptist when they asked Him, **Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another;" He crowned His answer with the words, **to the poor the gospel is preached." Not all His own miracles of mercy and of might had such significance as this great truth. None of what are called to-day **the great religions of the world," had thoughts or words for men like these. They give a key-note to the gospel of Christ that wakes an echo in every heart. They tell of One as merciful as He is mighty, who is not ashamed to call us all His brethren. Remember, too, that in exact accordance with the framing of this wonderful declaration of our Lord, after all other questions have been asked of one who comes to receive the gift of the Episcopate ; after the mention of all that relates to official and personal duty and life, the final question, that which crowns them all, is this: **Will you show yourself gentle, and be merciful, for Christ's sake, to poor and needy people, and to all strangers destitute of help?" What an echo is this of the words of Christ ; He, making the climax of His great works the preaching of the gospel to the poor ; thus, leaving on the heart of one to whom in its apostolic fulness is about to be given the chief ambassadorship of Christ, leaving, I say, on his heart as its latest thought of duty and of life, care like his Master for the poor, the needy and the destitute ! \ _ / 90 MEMORIAL SERMON. Yes: Beloved, I count the making real, in our earthly life, such words as those of Christ, the carry- ing out, in our earthly life, of such a promise and vow so made, the final proof of faithfulness, devotion, yea, of that love which **is the fulfilling of the Law.'' And what a witness that such a life had been lived and such a promise had been well fulfilled, was given by those sorrowing ones to whom my brother in Christ had ministered so gently, and so mercifully, in all his pastoral life! The words may not have been spoken by mortal lips or heard by mortal ears, but did there not seem to come to us from some far ofi" region of peace and rest, a voice which said, ** in- asmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me?" My Brethren, none can feel more keenly than I do how much has been left unsaid that might well have been said ; how far short of what this occasion de- mands, that which has been said has fallen. I have spoken of the man, the scholar, the theologian, the bishop— and in all these aspects of his life you will bear your late Father in God your testimony that he fulfilled the more than counsel, the great command, ** moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." And this he was; faithful to him- self and to the talents and opportunities which his Heavenly Father gave him ; faithful to the duties of the high office entrusted to him ; faithful to those over whom the Lord had placed him ; faithful in life and ** faithful unto death." Therefore we bless God for his life and good example, we thank God that BISHOP WILLIAMS. 91 he is still one with us in **the communion of saints ;" and we do not hesitate to say of him, here, '* where he ministered to the Lord," and in the Presence before which we shall all one day stand ; **for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and much people was added unto the Lord." « Hll V 1 ii ;i A SERMON DELIVERED BEFORE THE CONVENTION OF THE DIOCESE OF DELAWARE, IN ST. THOMAS' CHURCH, NEWARK, JUNE i, 1887. i| * * f i \ r BY Rev. Charles E. Murray, Rector of St. Andrew's Church, Wilmington, Del. ' IH ( II I i ^^ He was a good man^ and full of the Holy Ghost and of faithy — Acts xi. pt. 24 vs. I shall not attempt to express the varied emotions, my dear brethren of the clergy and laity, with which I address you upon this, the sad and solemn occasion of our annual gathering. God has been pleased to call from the scene of his earthly labors to his rich reward our beloved and venerated Father in God, our first and only Bishop, who for forty-five years pre- sided over the Counsels of the Church in this Diocese. We are all mourners to-day. We are all made to feel our dependence upon Him, who when he breaks the strong and beautiful rod on which we had leaned, presents Himself as the only support and refuge of His people in their distress. I shall attempt no eulogy : that would be an affront to one whose life speaks more eloquently than our best eloquence. We who knew him and loved him, cannot put our affection into words ; it would be distasteful to him if we had any other feeling than that of gratitude to God for a life course of nearly eighty years, finished from its beginning to its close with such perfectness and har- mony. We would strengthen our own faith, and quicken our own devotion, in the remembrance of four score years now gathered into the ripened sheaves. My personal friendship with Bishop Lee began more 95 ^\ ^1^ J: !j I ■H )\ i\ >, II J ^^ He was a good man^ and full of the Holy Ghost and of faithJ^^ — Acts xi. pt. 24 vs, I shall not attempt to express the varied emotions, my dear brethren of the clergy and laity, with which I address you upon this, the sad and solemn occasion of our annual gathering. God has been pleased to call from the scene of his earthly labors to his rich reward our beloved and venerated Father in God, our first and only Bishop, who for forty-five years pre- sided over the Counsels of the Church in this Diocese. We are all mourners to-day. We are all made to feel our dependence upon Him, who when he breaks the strong and beautiful rod on which we had leaned, presents Himself as the only support and refuge of His people in their distress. I shall attempt no eulogy : that would be an affront to one whose life speaks more eloquently than our best eloquence. We who knew him and loved him, cannot put our affection into words ; it would be distasteful to him if we had any other feeling than that of gratitude to God for a life course of nearly eighty years, finished from its beginning to its close with such perfectness and har- mony. We would strengthen our own faith, and quicken our own devotion, in the remembrance of four score years now gathered into the ripened sheaves. My personal friendship with Bishop Lee began more 95 I* it • I I . * II! • .' 96 MEMORIAL SERMON. than twenty years ago, and during the last five years I have been associated with him in the work of St. Andrew's Church, in the rectorship of which forty-five years out of the fifty years (lacking one month) of his ministerial life were spent This association brought me so close to his heart that I shall speak of him as a son of a true Father in God. Bishop Lee was bom on the 9th day of September, 1807, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard College in 1827. ^e studied law and was admitted to the bar in New London, Connecticut, where he practiced his profession two years. He graduated from the General Theological Seminar}^ New York, in 1837; was ordered Deacon, May 21, 1837 ; was ordained Priest, June 12, 1838, in the thirty-first year of his age. He officiated a few months in St. James' Church, Poquetanuck, Connecticut. In September, 1838, he became Rector of Calvary Church, Rockdale, Pennsylvania; here he remained three years until his elevation to the Episcopate in 1841. Until that year the State of Delaware had been under the care of the Bishop of Pennsylvania. At the Con- vention of this Diocese which met at Georgetown in this year (1841) steps were taken to complete the organization of the Diocese by the election of a Bishop. The Rev. Alfred Lee, Rector of Calvary Church, Rockdale, Pennsylvania, was nominated. The nomi- nation received the cordial support of several mem- bers, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Onderdonk expressing his hearty previous concurrence in the proposition. The vote was taken by orders and the Rev. Alfred Lee .^ ii REV. CHARLES E. MURRAY. 97 1 j received the unanimous vote both of the Clerical and Lay Delegates, and was declared by the Chair to be duly elected Bishop of the Diocese of Delaware. The required testimonials were drawn up and signed by the members of the Convention. The election having taken place within six months of the Session of the General Convention, it came before that body for con- firmation. The General Convention met in St. Paul's Church, New York, October 6, 1841. The House of Deputies signed the testimonials of the Bishop-elect of Delaware on the 8th of October ; on the same day, in the House of Bishops, it was resolved, on motion of Bishop Onderdonk, of Pennsylvania, seconded by Bishop Whittingham, of Maryland, **That the House consent to the consecration of the Rev. Alfred Lee to the Epis- copate of Delaware.'' The following Tuesday, Octo- ber 12, 1841, both Houses met in St. Paul's Church at 10 o'clock A. M. ** Morning Prayer was read by the Rev. S. W. Presstman, of Delaware, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Croswell, of Connecticut. The Ante- Communion Service was begun by Bishop Onderdonk, of Pennsylvania, the Epistle was read by Bishop Chase, of Ohio, and the Gospel by Bishop Moore, of Virginia. The Sermon from the text, i Tim. iv. 16 vs. : *Take heed unto thyself and unto the doc- trine, continue in them : for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee,' was preached by Bishop Mcllvaine, of Ohio. The pro- ceedings of the Diocese of Delaware, and of the House of Bishops, and of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, were read by the Rev. Dr. Wainwright 7 \\ •• \ i 98 MEMORIAL SERMON. REV. CHARLES E. MURRAY. 99 and the Rev. Dr. Mead, Secretaries, respectively, of the two Houses. The Litany was read by Bishop Brownell, of Connecticut. The questions were pro- pounded to the Candidate by Bishop Griswold of the Eastern Diocese, Presiding Bishop, who consecrated the Bishop-elect, Bishops Moore, Chase, Brownell and Onderdonk, of Pennsylvania, uniting in the imposi- tion of hands." Bishop Lee took his seat in the House of Bishops, October 13, 1841, making the num- ber of members twenty-one, and being the thirty- ei^^hth in succession of American Bishops. And here let me allude, in a parenthesis, to a most touching event which took place just forty-five years later, October 13, 1886, at the Session of the House of Bishops, consisting of sixty-seven members, held in the city of Chicago. Bishop Vail, of Kansas, offered the following resolution, viz : Resolved, That the members of this house offer their sin- cere congratulations to their president, the Presiding Bishop of this House, that he has been spared in the good provi- dence of God to enter, on this day, the forty-sixth year of his Episcopate ; that in this fact we acknowledge the merciful dealings of the Great Head of the Church ; that we hereby assure^'our venerable Father in God, that our prayers ascend to God in his behalf, that God may still grant him many years of continued health and usefulness in the discharge of the solemn duties committed to his trust. This resolution was unanimously adopted by a stand- ing vote, and, subsequently, on motion of the Bishop of Springfield, ordered to be engrossed and signed by all the Bishops and presented to the Presiding Bishop. But to return : The first Convention of the Church in this Diocese, after Bishop Lee's election to the Episcopate, was held in St. Andrew's Church, Wil- mington, in the month of May, 1842. In his address to that Convention, the fifty-second annual Conven- tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Delaware, he said : "Brethren of the Clergy and laity, the occasion of our present meeting is one of more than ordinary interest. For myself, it would augur great insensibility when called to deliver my first address to the Convention of the Diocese over which the Holy Ghost hath made me overseer, not to be deeply affected with the solemnity and the responsibility of my new duties. And I cannot err in supposing that the com- plete organization of a Diocese which, from its formation more than half a century since, has been without a Diocesan of its own will awaken emotion in your breasts, and that you have come to participate in our present Councils with aug_ mented interest. ** Before proceeding to the consideration of the usual subjects of an Episcopal address some preliminary remarks seem appro- priate. The want of the superintendence and services of a Bishop of your own, has been supplied as far as circumstanes permitted, by the kind and gratuitous services of the Bishops of Pennsylvania and Maryland, particularly of the former. On the part of Rt. Rev. H. U. Onderdonk, especially, has the aid needed by this portion of the church been most cheerfully and faithfully rendered. B3' his unwearied industry he has been enabled, and by his kindness and solicitude for the welfare of the Church disposed, to add to the weighty charge of his own extensive Diocese, the performance of Episcopal duties in this State. I am confident that you will all unite with me in expressing our sense of the value of his gratuitous and willing labors, and the indebtedness of the Diocese to his long lOO MEMORIAL SERMON. continued care and oversight. The action of your last Con- vention held at Georgetown, May, 1841, placed him who now addresses you in a most trying and difficult situation. A call, wholly unexpected from a portion of the Church to which he was personally a stranger, broke in upon the quiet tenor of parochial engagements, and imposed upon him the necessity of deciding one of the most serious and important questions which can be presented to the mind of a minister of Christ. Before venturing to determine it, it seemed incumbent on me to visit my brethren who had honored me with such a mark of their confidence, and acquaint myself as fully as possible with the condition and circumstances of the Church over which I was invited to preside." After alluding to the exceedingly depressed condi- tion in which he found most of the Churches in the Diocese, he continues, *• The result of my observations was to impress very deeply on my mind the wisdom and necessity of the steps which the Convention had taken in the election of a Bishop ; although I could not but regret that their choice had not fallen upon some one more experienced and better qualified. In no other course did there appear to human eye any prospect for the Church in the two lower counties, but gradual decay and not very distant extinction. It became my duty, therefore, to decide between personal inclination, the comparative comfort and more congenial retirement of the pastoral charge, and much conscious deficiency on the one hand, and the higher claims of duty to the Church of Christ on the other. This question I endeavored to meet in the fear of God, and in view of the great account hereafter to be rendered. Had there been a single dissenting voice in my election I should have felt myself at liberty, although grateful for the preference manifested, to have declined the unexpected invitation. But the unanimity of the call given to me, invested it with a ten- REV. CHARLES E. MURRAY. lOI fold weight. I shrank from the responsibility of declining a charge which the hand of Providence appeared to lay upon me. In view, therefore, of its evident burdens and cares, and with its duties, difficulties and discouragements plainly seen, and convinced more deeply than any other can be of my in- sufficiency, I have felt constrained to answer, 'Here am I, send me.* How much consideration, forbearance and charita- ble construction of my official acts will be called for, you can, yourselves, readily judge." And now, to come to the Bishop's relation to St. Andrew's Church ; in the same journal, after detailing the results of his visit to the diflferent portions of the Diocese, he writes : ** during the second week in March I returned to Wilmington, where I have since resided, supplying the vacant Church of St. Andrew's with regular services, and officiating as often as circum- stances permitted in other churches of the vicinity." Again, ''St. Andrew's Church, Wilmington, is still without a settled pastor ; for a considerable period, during which the doors of the Church were closed, the Sunday-school was regularly continued with a per- severance and energy highly creditable to those en- trusted with its care, and the present condition of the congregation appears quite encouraging." In the ''Journal" of 1843, ^^^ Bishop, in his address to the Convention, says, "In addition to my Episcopal duties I have had the pastoral charge of St. Andrew's Church, Wilmington, since the first of August last (1842). This I was induced to assume by the urgent solicitation of the vestry, a sense of duty to that church and to myself, and the entire compatibility, '\ -f^'tar^ A. I02 MEMORIAl, SERMON. owing to the small extent of my Diocese, of uniting the care of a congregation with a more than ordi- nary amount of Episcopal labor in all the parishes.'' And in the same ** Journal,'' in closing his report as Rector of St. Andrew's Church, he says,— **This Church has been under my general care since the last Convention, and has formed my par- ticular pastoral charge since August ist, when I accepted an invitation of the vestry requesting me to assume the duties of Rector for the year ensuing." Thus, you will observe, that of the fifty years of his ministerial life, nearly forty-five have been spent as Rector of St. Andrew's Church, and forty-six and a half as Bishop of the Diocese; during this long period of his rectorship he knew no other end than the glory of God, the good of His Church, and the well-being of the people committed to his pastoral care : For him to live . was Christ ; he counted all things but loss that he might win Christ and be found in him ; the life of Christ was his pattern, and you know how richly God had blessed him with Christ-like virtues and graces ; the fruits of a faithful ministry of half a century are the brilliant retinue that have preceded or will follow him to the Re- deemer's Throne. I love to think of that long pas- torate, loved so dearly, and filled so faithfully and conscientiously by our beloved Bishop. It furnishes one of the most beautiful pictures of human influence sanctified by the grace of God, which the mind of man can contemplate. **It is friendship lifted above REV. CHARLES E. MURRAY. 103 the region of mere feeling, or fondness or sentiment, above all thought of interest or convenience, and exalted into the mutual helpfulness of the children of God. The pastor is the father and brother to those whose deepest lives he helps in deepest ways. Who that has ever known such a pastorate can believe that death, which sets free all the best and purest things into a larger spiritual being, ends the relationship of soul to soul, which a true pastorship involves? The old groups of forty years ago, who worshipped in St. Andrew's, and went to this great soul with their joys and their sorrows, their faith and their doubts, have passed or are fast passing from the earth ; but who will not dare to hope that somewhere, somehow, in the higher life, he who once taught and helped and encouraged the souls of those who loved and trusted him, has found those souls again, and is with them forever in a more perfect communion in the .many mansions of our Father's house, before the throne of God and of the Lamb." The centre of the whole system of our dear Bishop's theology was Christ and Him crucified, as manifest- ing the love of God, and effecting a propitiation for sin, whereby forgiveness became possible, and sinful man obtained a new position in the sight of God. He rested with implicit faith on the authority of the Word of God. The Old and the New Testament were to him the revelation of God, making known to mankind the way of salvation. In his charges, which were delivered from time to time to the Con- \ I04 MEMORIAL SER^ION. ventions of the Diocese, we have his views set forth on some of the most important questions which occupied, and which still occupy, the mind of the Church, with a clearness and emphasis which show that he regarded them as of the most vital import- ance. I should like very much to read to you some extracts that I have made from some of them, but considerations due your patience, forbid. I do not think that a greater or more timely service could be rendered to the cause of the truth as it is in Jesus, than the re-publication and wide dissemination of these inimitable and masterly treatises on those important subjects,— subjects which are agitating the Church as much in our day as when they were delivered. I cannot but crave your indulgence for transcribing a passage from the sixth charge, entitled *'The office of tlie Ministry to be magnified," as it seems to me to give us a glimpse into the inner spiritual life of our dear Bishop. "To be fervent and impressive in the promulgation of our message, the heart must glow with the love of Christ, and the lips be touched with a live coal from the altar ; no arti- ficial rules, natural gifts, rhetorical attainments, will compen- sate for a spiritual mind. Heaven-enkindled zeal and single- ness of eye. And we must not complain that men compare our doctrines with our lives, and look to us for an exemplifi- cation of our principles. In this respect, society is somewhat exacting. It is no uncommon thing to hear men who openly set at naught the demands of the gospel, strongly condemning the faults and failings of the ministry. Even many professed Christians seem to forget that there is but one standard of i REV. CHARLES E- MURRAY. 105 holiness; Met every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.' All who confess the faith of Christ are a 'royal priesthood,' and are equally bound to glorify God with their bodies, and with their spirits, which are God's. It is a grent mistake for private Christians to suppose them- selves at liberty to mingle in scenes where they would be surprised and shocked to meet their pastor. But while we expose that gross error, which would lay down a different rule of holy living for the Shepherd and the flock, which would have the goodness of the priest to make up for the deficiencies of the people, we must recognize in the expecta- tion of consistent and blameless conduct in their spiritual guides, an additional incentive to a closer walk with God. Let us aim not to disappoint this feeling. As examples to the flock, pastors are to exhibit the power of living Chris- tianity. The impression that the ministers of the Lord are to be holy in all manner of conversation, is in one aspect a homage paid to the truth and glory of our religion. It is reverenced as holy and divine, and therefore, even the worid expects to see its mark and impress upon those who stand forth as its witnesses and champions. Truly, then, to com- mend our office should be the burden of our life. Daily con- duct is to tell with mightier effect than even public duties. As faith grows, usefulness will be enlarged. The closet is to contribute to our influence as certainly as the pulpit. The graces of the Christian character will magnify the office more than eloquence or learning. The brightest lights in the past history of our Church are those who reflected best the Master's image. The mind that was in Christ Jesus, shining forth in the life, will be the mightiest weapon of our war- fare." At the last Convention, how tender were the con- cluding words of his tenth charge, and how deeply moved were the hearts of the delegates as they stood and reverently listened to them: [ \ ,1 \ \ ^ ^. io6 MEMORIAL SERMON. < / •*In closing what, in all probability, will be my last official utterance of this kind, I desire to respond earnestly to all the manifestations of love and confidence which I have received from my brethren of the Clergy as well as from the Laity of this Diocese. The Lord reward them, as I cannot. And to you, dear brethren, who watch for souls, in the words of the Apostle, let me further say, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom ; preach the word, be in- stant in season and out of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." And then he concluded this last charge to his clergy with the Benediction, which contained his last message, his Easter greeting to his beloved congre- gation. And now, '*the God of Peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever. Amen." The burden of all his preaching was to show man how great a sinner he is, and how great a Saviour he has in Christ. While he loved to dwell on these fundamental truths of the gospel, he did not restrict himself to these. He did not forbear to declare unto men the whole counsel of God, whether they would hear or whether they would forbear. He be- lieved that every truth which God had revealed, He would have His messengers proclaim in His sane- tuary. He was firmly convinced that **all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for r • - REV. CHARLES E. MURRAY. 107 doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." When he was presenting the great truths of the gospel, there was that decided earnestness in his manner which could not but impress all who heard him with the persuasion that he was giving utterance to abiding convictions of which he was as assured as of his own existence. He knew that those truths were contained in and could be proved by the Word of God ; that they were embodied in the Articles of the Church in which he labored ; truths in attesta- tion of which the framers of those Articles, and the Reformers of that Church, had willingly laid down their lives ; truths which effectually humble the proud heart of sinful man, and give to God the honor and praise which are His due for the amazing love dis- played in redemption ; and, therefore, with all the authority of a Heaven-appointed and Heaven-com- missioned ambassador of Christ, he proclaimed them without fear or favor. With the most uncompro- mising opposition to error in every form, he yet manifested an affection for those who conscientiously differed from him ; and this spirit of gentleness and charity had become more manifest during the last years of his life. It was the ripening and mellowing of his Christian character, the growing conformity of his spirit to the image of Christ ; and in perfect harmony with what he was in his life, was the record of what he was in his death. No one who knew him would have expected to have found highly [ \ \ \ \ 1 (ii ir*-" 1^ i I I / io8 MEMORIAL SERMON. wrought frames or feelings connected with his closing hours. Peace flowing like a river, the calm and assured confidence of a true child of God, possessed his spirit; his soul was sweetly sustained by those Heavenly truths which it had been the joy of his life to proclaim to others; his patience and faith, if translated into language, would have found ex- pression in the words of the Apostle, **I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand ; I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." It has pleased God, in His wise providence, to take from us our beloved and venerated Bishop when his ripened judgment, his large and varied learning, his broad and generous charity, were so much needed in the councils and conduct of the Church. The wisdom of his counsels, the sweetness of his love, the power of his holiness, how can they be supplied to us? The Church mourns to-day one of its best and noblest, its most honored and most revered Bishops. In Paradise, he lives with Christ and the faithful departed ; in his example, he still lives with us in our most sacred and most cherished memories. While we mourn the loss of our dear Bishop, we would be ungrateful if we did not acknowledge and adore the signal goodness of a most wise and be- nignant Providence in sparing him so long, and in permitting him to see the peace and harmony which REV. CHARLES E. MURRAY. 109 characterized his Diocese, and the devoted attachment of his clergy and laity to him, and in bestowing such distinguished honor upon him throughout the entire Church. We are also grateful to our Heavenly Father that he was not enfeebled by age ; that his mental powers had not sustained the smallest dimin- ution, and that thus, not in the midst of his years, and in the fulness of his manly vigor ; not when he might have hoped to devote himself for many years to the cause and glory of the Saviour ; not when his plans were as yet immature ; nor yet, on the other hand, amidst the melancholy reflections of an infirm old age ; but just at the evening hour, when the shadows of advancing twilight had scarcely begun to deepen upon his path, he has passed away from the toils and sorrows of earth, to the rest and the bliss of Paradise. He had attained to the ripened experience of age without its infirmities — to its ma- turity of wisdom without its sad and melancholy decline. It had shed its calm and attractive beauty around him, without its withering and blighting influences; **its serenity was in his features, and its crown upon his brow,'' but its cold hand had not chilled the glow of his affections, or the depth and intensity of his devotion. It looked forth, indeed, from his countenance, and imparted to it a beauty all its own, but it had not as yet breathed upon his joys and hopes and affections, to blast them in their freshness and to consign them to decay. In him we rejoice to recognize one who, for half a century, has stood before the world and the Church, r V '< I i I no MEMORIAL SERMON. conspicuous for his exalted character and personal influence, distinguished for his intellectual power and the largeness of his attainments. In his Christian character we recognize a living Epistle of Christ, an example of the manifold gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, characterized by a rare humility, though en- dowed with great mental powers and attainments, and honored with the most elevated honors which the Church militant can confer ; gentle, though pos- sessed of a resoluteness of will which was unyielding when truth or principle was involved. In him we recognize a Bishop in the Church of God, richly endowed with the most exalted gifts and graces, with a loving zeal for the salvation of souls; blameless, "having a good report of them that are without;'' an able, an eloquent defender of the faith ; wise and discriminating in the Councils of the Church, illus- trating the high character of a Christian Bishop, drawn by the pen of inspiration, **in doctrine show- ing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned.'' How sadly we shall miss the inspiration of his presence, of his words, of his example ! The time that has elapsed since his departure does but increase our estimate of his saintly and elevated character ; by being removed from it a little space, we seem to apprehend more clearly its perfect proportions and its simple majesty, and to realize that there was more reason than we knew while he was yet with us, to love and revere him as we did. With such an example of ministerial devotion and < ' REV. CHARLES E. MURRAY. Ill faithfulness, let us resolve that we will leave nothing unattempted that may issue in the salvation of the souls committed to our care. By manifestation of the truth, let us commend ourselves to every man's con- science in the sight of God ; expecting to meet our people at the judgment-seat of Christ, we shall spare no man's errors, respect no man's prejudices, fear no man's indignation, and though we would willingly give no offence, yet shall we reprove, rebuke, exhort with all authority. Keeping our own hearts with all diligence, instant in season, out of season, in our ministerial work ; studious in every act of life, not to impair but to confirm the impression of our public labors, generous in our construction of other men's motives, and charitable to their failings in the same degree in which we are intolerant of our own, let our hopes, our aims, our ambitions, all be summed up in this, that when the Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls shall appear, **we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." 1 * ' J \ \ V \ » \ 1 j *l / »// i- ; I ) EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. 8 ) M / I II / / J [Every Evening, Aprii, 13.] It is not often in onr history that the mourning of our city re-echoes beyond its own borders, but the good man who now awaits his rest, whose life was lived in our very midst, who, for forty- five years, shared the griefs, the joys, the interests of Wihnington, bestowing the love of a spiritual father far beyond the confines of his own church, and doing what in him lay for all around him, was a prominent part of ecclesiastical history, primate of his church, the oldest Bishop in the world, loved and revered throughout the nation and the Christian world as well. Probably few intelligent Christians of any country are unacquainted with the lofty individuality of his character, his strenuous hold upon definite principles, his unwearied efforts, his high-bom courtesy, his sub- ordination of all desires and impulses to a plan of life conceived upon the loftiest plane which the mmd of man, modelled in the image of Creative Intelligence, can grasp. In Bishop Lee was nothing hasty, immature, forced or unconsidered. It took nearly a century to ripen this ideal of venerable and saintly manhood. With it, something goes which this era, certainly, will not replace. Types, issues, interests and men change. Each century creates its own wants, and for the ocea- ns ft I ; / Ii6 EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. sion the man arises. He who has passed away fought the fight of his day with the zeal, the honor, the rec- titude of the true soldier. His clear-judging, deliberate, conscientious spirit viewed the end from the beginning, took in all the points of conflict, then never, for wea- riness or faint-heartedness, swerved for a moment. Bishop Lee's was the nerving, exhilarating faith, the faith of Puritans, crusaders, missionaries, martyrs, the faith of Athanasius, of Loyola, of Knox, which never deserts a man in dying and is equally a support in the far more difiicult ordeal of life. Perhaps of all characteristics this is the rarest in our amiable, eclectic, easy-going generation. Bishop Lee was of the stuff" to save any cause to which he adhered. In addition, he had the reverence, the sense of propriety, the courtly regard for times, persons, occasions, which those of such sterling calibre often, as it were purposely dis- regard. The city of Wilmington may mourn the departure of so saintly a spirit, and the State may well feel im- poverished by the loss of so distinguished a citizen. Not only was he always alive to the personal obli- gations which rest upon the citizen of a free State, but his reputation throughout his country and the world cast lustre upon the State of his adoption and the city of his residence. All who knew him inti- mately loved him, and all who were brought into contact with him in the broader arena in whose exer- cises his high office made him a participant, whether they followed or opposed him, accorded the utmost measure of respect for his intellectual force, his modest bearing and his holy life. ,. EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. 117 In his walk and conversation, he was a living wit- ness of the Christianity which he taught. To him it was no abstraction, but a vitalizing principle, which permeated his life and inspired both word and act. With those who are more immediately afflicted by his death, with the people of his parish and the clergy and laity of his diocese, our people will deeply sympathize ; but beyond that there will be a sense of great public bereavement, limited neither by age nor race nor creed. [The Morning News, Aprii, 13.] The death of Bishop Lee of this city, yesterday afternoon, removes from Wilmington one of our ven- erable and venerated citizens. For fortj'^-six years he has gone in and out among us, leading a blameless life. In all those traits of character which elicit gen- eral respect and win and hold private confidence, he was pre-eminent. The sincerity, the gentleness and the benignant high-mindedness of his daily walk and conversation, were obvious to all. His sweet and sympathetic and noble qualities of mind and heart, added a gracious and beautiful quality to the high ecclesiastical position as a bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church, which he so admirably and safely filled. He administered the duties of this office in accordance with the ideal of St. Paul, who, in writing to Timothy, described the office of a bishop as *'a good work.** To do good and to promote well-doing iU h If/ I i y J i: ii8 EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. among others were the sole ends at which Bishop Lee aimed. His learning was varied and sound, and his preaching simple and practical. His piety was unaf- fected, and one felt in his presence that he was in the company of a good man. His goodness won the liking and affection of children, as well as the admiration and lasting tnist of mature minds. In short. Bishop Lee was a man who made personal Christianity lovely and attractive in every way, just as it was intended to be, and just as it always is when it is permitted to impregnate the sources of a man's life with its gentle and benign qualities. [From the Morning News, Monday, Aprii, i8.] DR. TODD ON BISHOP LEE. The Rev. Jacob Todd, D. D. , preached in Grace M. E. Church, yesterday morning, from II Samuel, third chapter and thirty-eighth verse: **Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?" He said : *'I ofifer no apology for preaching this morning upon the death of Bishop Lee. I hope I may never become so narrow and bigoted that I cannot appreciate worth and piety in another commu- nion, or sympathize with the sorrowing of another denomination. While we are sitting here with the sunlight shining upon us, a sister church in this city is in sackcloth and ashes because of the death of their chief pastor. To say that a Bishop has fallen, conveys . EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. 119 but a small part of the awful truth. Alfred Lee was much more than a Bishop. He was one of those rare spirits who dignify any position to which they are called, and leave the office more honorable for their having filled it. The church can easily make another Bishop, but only God can make another man like Alfred Lee. When a ship goes down in mid-ocean, it requires only a few minutes for the troubled waters to become calm again and the waves to roll on as though nothing had happened. But when some jutting prom- ontory sinks down beneath the sea, a great landmark is gone, and the navigator is bewildered, not knowing just where he is, or how to steer his course. It is not my purpose to deify a fallen hero, or canonize an as- cended saint ; but Bishop Lee was no ordinary man, and his death is no ordinary loss. He was the Pri- mate of the Protestant Episcopal Church, a theologian of very high rank, a polemic whom few men cared to encounter, and a scholar versed in profound and varied learning. He was the creator of this Diocese, having come to it when its existence was little more than an interrogation point. **His venerable form and genial face had become a part of our city. He was identified with nearly every public charity and benevolent society in our midst. The city had grown from ten thousand to fifty-five thousand inhabitants during his episcopate. Linked thus by historic ties to the city, his death becomes a public loss in which every citizen shares. **But that which binds him to us mo're closely than anything else is his sweet and gentle character, and II > 1 20 EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. 121 '^ X, his meek and humble deportment. I have never known a man who could wear honors and wield power more meekly and modestly than he. He never exhibited the Bishop's crozier, but always offered you the Christian's hand. There was no home too humble for him to enter, and no man too poor or ignorant for him to greet **But do not imagine that his meekness was the effect of weakness. No man was braver in defense of his opinions or bolder in declaring the truth than he. Beneath a velvet glove he had a sinewy hand, with a vigorous grip when occasion demanded. "He is gone, and we shall not soon see his like again. May his mantle fall upon some worthy suc- cessor, and may his Christ-like spirit descend upon us.'* [Daily Repubucan.] ****** Bishop Lee needs no encomiums from our pen here, where he is best known. His name is a household word in Wilming- ton. He was as well known and respected in the poor home as in the rich home. All alike received his visitations and kind administrations. Every char- itable work received his hearty support. Amidst his busy rounds of church-work, which took him to all parts of the country, he found time to take part in the cause of popular and general education of the masses. For many years prior to the legislative dis- qualification of ministers of the Gospel as members of the Board of Education, he was a member of that ) body, the idea then prevailing that the best educated men were the more proper representatives of educa- tional work. When the dark shadow of rebellion spread itself over the nation, the Union cause had no abler defender than Bishop Lee. The community sustains a great loss in the death of Bishop Lee ; but, having lived out the allotted time of man's life, the world had no longer any claims upon him, and, at a ripe old age, he has gone to enjoy the rewards of a better world. [DEI.AWARE DEMOCRAT, GEORGETOWN.] Although not unexpected, the decease of Bishop Lee was a severe shock to the people of this Dio- cese and of the Church in this country. During the long term of his episcopate, he had shown those qualities of mind and heart which raised him above a great part of his fellow-men, and made him pop- ular and influential with both the Clergy and the Laity of this and other Dioceses. [BA1.TIMORE American.] The wide influence of a quiet, industrious life was never more aptly illustrated than in the career of the late Bishop Alfred Lee. He was not a brilliant man ; '1 J I I if v^ % / . / J 122 EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. he had not a large Diocese, and he never attempted pulpit sensationalism for temporary fame ; and yet his purity of character, his intense love for the Church, his broad charity in religion and work, his plain forceful sermons, and his patient consideration under all circumstances, made him one of the best-beloved men that this country has ever seen. In Delaware, a State greatly given to hero-worship, the affection for him was remarkable ; and in every place where his books were read and his name was known, he was esteemed as men rarely are in this world of sharp competitions and general fault-finding. Small wonder, then, that the people of his Diocese laid upon his coffin every tribute that devotion could suggest. Bishop Lee is a type of some of the greatest forces in religious efforts and success. Religious sensations are common enough. We often see the pulpit phe- nomenon who can entertain a crowded congregation with the tricks of oratory applied to a text. He plays his part like the actor that he is, amuses his auditors, increases the church collections, and gives his charge a temporary doopi ; but what does it amount to ? Sometimes good follows, but too often it is merely a passing show that exhibits in the name of religion without religious results. To men of the character of Bishop Lee, religion is not a mere Sunday im- pression — it is, in the words of Carlyle, **a thou- sand-voiced psalm from the heart of a man to his invisible Father, the fountain of all goodness, beauty, truth, and revealed in every revelation of these." It EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. 123 is an ever-present source of inspiration and consola- tion. It exalts and purifies and encourages and lib- eralizes, and gives to the mind and the soul a fresh- ness and a hope that make duties pleasures and add to the goodness and charity of the world. Men with this religion are the men that we love, the men that we sincerely and thoroughly admire. We go to them for advice, for assistance, for encouragement, and we pattern our best intentions after their examples. The applause of the hour may not attend such men in the pulpit, but the love of the lifetime is theirs. [Parish Visitor.] 41 « « 4e 4e « The Rt. Rev. Alfred Lee, D. D., LL.D., departed this life at his late residence in Wilmington, Dela- ware, on the i2th day of April, 1887, in the eightieth year of his age, and the forty-sixth year of his epis- copate. Upon the death of Bishop Smith, in 1884, he became the Presiding Bishop of the House of Bishops. In 1873, ^pon the death of Bishop Mcll- vaine, he was elected President of the Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge. This position he occupied till his death. In the removal of such a man, such a minister of Christ, and such a Bishop, the Church and the world sustain a great loss. nt it Hit m * * In all his relations, as a father in his family, as a man and citizen in the community, as a pastor in \ \ **IMi .. k* ..')! [a \ / J I 122 EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. he had not a large Diocese, and he never attempted pulpit sensationalism for temporary fame ; and yet his purity of character, his intense love for the Church, his broad charity in religion and work, his plain forceful sermons, and his patient consideration under all circumstances, made him one of the best-beloved men that this country has ever seen. In Delaware, a State greatly given to hero-worship, the affection for him was remarkable ; and in every place where his books were read and his name was known, he was esteemed as men rarely are in this world of sharp competitions and general fault-finding. Small wonder, then, that the people of his Diocese laid upon his coffin every tribute that devotion could suggest. Bishop Lee is a type of some of the greatest forces in religious eflforts and success. Religious sensations are common enough. We often see the pulpit phe- nomenon who can entertain a crowded congregation with the tricks of oratory applied to a text. He plays his part like the actor that he is, amuses his auditors, increases the church collections, and gives his charge a temporary doom ; but what does it amount to ? Sometimes good follows, but too often it is merely a passing show that exhibits in the name of religion without religious results. To men of the character of Bishop Lee, religion is not a mere Sunday im- pression — it is, in the words of Carlyle, **a thou- sand-voiced psalm from the heart of a man to his invisible Father, the fountain of all goodness, beauty, truth, and revealed in every revelation of these.'* It EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. 123 is an ever-present source of inspiration and consola- tion. It exalts and purifies and encourages and lib- eralizes, and gives to the mind and the soul a fresh- ness and a hope that make duties pleasures and add to the goodness and charity of the world. Men with this religion are the men that we love, the men that we sincerely and thoroughly admire. We go to them for advice, for assistance, for encouragement, and we pattern our best intentions after their examples. The applause of the hour may not attend such men in the pulpit, but the love of the lifetime is theirs. [Parish Visitor.] The Rt. Rev. Alfred Lee, D. D., LL.D., departed this life at his late residence in Wilmington, Dela- ware, on the I2th day of April, 1887, in the eightieth year of his age, and the forty-sixth year of his epis- copate. Upon the death of Bishop Smith, in 1884, he became the Presiding Bishop of the House of Bishops. In 1873, upon the death of Bishop Mcll- vaine, he was elected President of the Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge. This position he occupied till his death. In the removal of such a man, such a minister of Christ, and such a Bishop, the Church and the world sustain a great loss. 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c In all his relations, as a father in his family, as a man and citizen in the community, as a pastor in "i » / ) 124 EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. his parish, and as a Bishop in his Diocese, his long and laborious life was but one continued and beau- tiful example and illustration of the grace and power of that Gospel of the Lord Jesus which he so deeply loved and so earnestly preached. His native powers were great ; his culture much more than ordinary. These, combined with strong common sense and a sound judgment, gave to his opinions g^eat weight and influence in the councils of the Church and among his fellow-men. His reading was general, his knowledge and scholarship exact, and his views were logical and conclusive. Thus it was that wherever known he inspired confidence and respect. This was fully shown by the deference paid to him at the great Lambeth Conference of Bishops in London. In religion his principles and teachings were dis- tinctly evangelical. The Bible was his supreme au- thority in spirit and doctrine. In Churchmanship he was thorough and consistent. He fully recognized the primitive and Apostolic order as well as the beauty and excellence of the impressive Liturgy of the Church. He also recognized the Book of Common Prayer as the appointed authority and guide in the admin- istration of its sacraments, rites and worship, and was strongly opposed to all teachings and practices which tended to subvert or destroy the same. For this reason it was that he allied himself with those who organized the society of which he was the honored president at the time of his death. With pen and voice he advocated its claims. His ** Life of St. John," his tract, **The Church in the House,'' and his treatise . EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. 125 on ** Baptism," are among its publications. His sole motive in this alliance and labor was to protect and peipetuate, in its purity and integrity, the Protestant Episcopal Church, whose vows he had assumed and to whose service he had consecrated his life. Such, in a word, was Bishop Lee— a true Church- man, a catholic Christian, a holy man of God. [The Church.] As we are about to^ go to press, the sad news reaches us of the death of Bishop Lee, of Delaware. The Church militant suffers loss in the departure of a standard-bearer, so pure in character, so noble in spirit, so thoroughly equipped for his Master's work, and so lovingly consecrated to the Divine service. But to him death is gain. Absent from the body, he is, in his spiritual nature, the grandest part of his being, at home with the Lord. Thank God for the revelation given us as to the condition of the departed believer. A biographical sketch which follows, concludes thus : — -. * He was a man of pre-eminent purity of character and a most exalted type of a minister of the Gospel. He was descended from a family of high character, and inherited a moderate fortune from his parents. His mother lived to be ninety years of age. He has been for forty-six years a Bishop and for forty-nine years a Minister of the Church. He has been a •! :*< II 11 1i M / 126 EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. ; fruitful writer, an astute and able polemic, a most consistent Christian, the highest style of man. He has adorned every position he has filled, and has been always equal to the duties of his office and place as one of the foremost men of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He represented the men of the formative period of the Church's history. He was associated with some of the leading minds of the Episcopal Col- lege in America and of the Anglican Episcopate. He ranks as one of the most lucid thinkers, discriminating writers, experienced and sage counsellors in the as- semblies of the Church. Hp represented the school of thought in the Church in which White and Gris- wold, Tyng and Mcllvaine, Bedell and Meade and Johns were noted. He represented the work of the Church in Mexico by a wise and generous adminis- trative counsel. He represented the House of Bishops as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America. He represented that polity and doctrine of the Church which has really taken for its principle of action the famous saying of St. Augustine : ** Unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials, and charity in all things.'' Identified with the great movements of the Christian world, he was a friend of temperance, a patron and pleader for the American Tract Society, for the American Bible Society, and for the American Sun- day-school Union. He was the President of the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia Divinity School, of the Evangelical Knowledge Society, and Vice-Presi- dent of the American Church Missionary Society. He EXPRESSIONS OF^THE PRESS. 127 held high positions in all organized bodies with which he was connected, as a scholar, a Christian, and a wise Bishop and teacher in the Church. His death will be mourned by the whole Church, and his memory will be like precious ointment poured forth. A correspondent of The Church writes : All that was mortal of our late beloved and honored Presiding Bishop was laid in the earth last Friday, in the sacred resting-place where were al- ready gathered many who were near and dear to him in life. The papers, both secular and religious, have given sufficiently the dates of the most important transi- tional points of his life. It remains only for those who come after to put together whatever thoughts they may have respecting him as a man and a Minis- ter of Christ. It is only the barest truth to say, that to know him was to love him — lovable as he was in all the traits of his character. Gentle as a child, modest and retiring as a woman, and yet strong and manly as any man would wish to be, our Bishop moved among men gathering to himself, as must needs be, the respectful affection of all within his personal range. He was pre-eminently a holy man ; and when the light of such a life goes out, the Church on earth must mourn, for such men are at once her ornament and her defence. The savor of a holy character if 128 EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. 129 ID' '•A H } I f breathed from him wherever he went, manifesting itself in his saintly look, in his meek and lowly de- meanor, in his speech ever seasoned with the salt of Divine grace, evidencing a sonl to whom God seemed ever near, and with whom he oft held communion. He was a man who never magnified his office in any worldly sense, but who always bore its honor as real- izing its responsibility. To all the above, his friends and neighbors, whether in the Church of which he was an overseer or out of it, will bear their testimony. The feeling that his death drew out in the commu- nity in which he lived, and their interest in the funeral rites of his burial, attest it. Others can speak better of his scholarship, having known him better in those relationships in which it was brought out. But this all know, that he never passed it off for more than it really was, more likely for less. But if we may judge of his scholarly culture by his writings, we have abundant evidence of that ; his style being that of one accustomed to think clearly, and to express himself with elegance and force. His rather feeble voice kept him back, perhaps, from being one of our most commanding preachers, though he was always listened to with interest and attention. The last time, however, that the writer had the satisfaction of listening to him— in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia— his voice seemed to have gained new power, and he spoke in tones that rang through that spacious sanctuary, and what he said on that occasion was eminently worthy of being heard. Early in his career as a Bishop, he distinguished himself for his ripe judgment and acumen. It was at the memorable trial of Bishop Onderdonk, of New York, when his written ** opinion,'^ given in the con- clave of Bishops, though probably the youngest of them all, was, with one voice, accounted as among the wisest and most discreet. What his weight was as a Bishop among Bishops, in their ** House,'' the Bishops themselves can better testify than an outside Presbyter. That he was bold and courageous in the utterance of his opinions, which were strictly ** Evangelical,*' he gave full proof, when it came to be his turn, in the order of his seniority as Bishop, to preach before the body of clergy and laity in General Convention assem- bled. Though aware that to many of his hearers those opinions were distasteful, he hesitated not, on that solemn and responsible occasion, plainly and in unmistakable terms to avow them, and to set them forth with all the power that it was his to give them. And yet he did it not as violating that meekness and gentleness which we have said so conspicuously adorned him. The occasion was memorable, both for the outspokenness of the preaching and the contest which followed, whether the ancient custom should be adhered to — publishing to the world what had evi- dently fallen on so many unwilling ears. To the credit of the Convention, the voices for publishing prevailed. The writer has often heard him on the occasions of his addresses to the graduating classes of our Divin- ity School, and there was always the ring about them 9 ) )■ .! ) ,„ EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. of one who spoke what he knew and felt of the seriousness of the ministerial calling, and of the spirit which should be in all who entered upon it They were quiet and unaffected, but pervaded by a solemn- ity which went home to us all. How greatly we shall miss him, now that he has gone-whom we, in these parts, were so accustomed to see and to confer with in counsel. For though not ot^r Bishop, he was our neighbor, and often among us ; the dear friend of our Bishop, and of his predecessor, Alonzo Potter, by both of whom the Bishop of Delaware was held in the highest estima- tion. On looking back upon his life and character, now that they are things of the past, we could not say less than we have-we feel that we might say more —much more. He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost -an Apostolic Bishop and a true and faithful Mmis- ter of our Lord and Saviour. May that Lord, Head over all things to His Church, raise up many like Him, and not Bishops only, but pastors and teachers of every degree. Another correspondent says :— If ever there was a Bishop to whom the expres- sion »* Father in God'' could be applied with singu- lar appropriateness, it was the beloved and lamented Bishop Lee, of Delaware. He was a Father to the Clergy of the Diocese, one who was ever true to their EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. 131 best interests, and one who was looked up to with profound respect and affection. He belonged to that saintly order of men, beginning with the venerable White, whose record is on high, and who have been the crown of glory of the American Church. That he was a ripe scholar is evident from the fact that he was chosen to be of the company of the revisers of the New Testament. Those who are familiar with his addresses, and sermons and charo^es know what a clear, logical, and well-disciplined mind, strengthened not a little by his legal training, shone out in a diction as forcible as it was beautiful and felicitous. Owing to his office, he was often called upon to speak on occasions requiring no little skill and judgment, and the opinion of few men in the House of Bishops carried with it greater weight. He was a Christian gentleman in every sense of the word. He was a gentleman, because he was so much of a true Christian. I have known him inti- mately for the last sixteen years, and in all those years I never knew him do a discourteous act, or wound unnecessarily the feelings of anyone. I have seen him tried almost beyond endurance, yet his equanimity never forsook him. In this respect I never saw his equal. He had his full share of trial, owing to his heroic devotion to his convictions of duty, but in what he said and did, and often in what he found himself forced to do (in positions from which he would have gladly shrunk, and tried as a friend to avoid), yet when once face to face with official duty he was as brave as a lion, though gentle as a lamb. Ill i 132 EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. • i I I i Ifc V • When weighted with years, his strong, elastic physi- cal constitution, conserved by the most methodical regimen, enabled him to endure fatigue better than most of his Clergy. I have seen him alight from his carriage after a long afternoon's drive through the hot sands of lower Delaware, covered from head to foot with dust, yet without a murmur, and always with a bright and cheerful greeting, and after a sim- ple repast, ready for work in the evening. In the morning, on going down to my library, I would find the Bishop with his correspondence finished and ready for the mail long before the breakfast hour. I well remember on the occasion of a consecration of a Chapel in the lower part of the State, when the thermometer stood among the nineties, the zeal- ous Missionary having hurried up matters on account of the Bishop's visit being so short, the paint was scarcely dry, and what with the smell of fresh paint and the close air from a congregation which filled every inch of room, one of the officiating Clergy fainted and was carried out of the Church, and an- other was obliged to seek the open air or he would have followed suit ; yet in the evening of this fatiguing day, the Bishop came along as calm and bright as if he were just starting out for his work. So in the Adirondacks, where he went for several years to recuperate his strength, and where we sum- mered it together in 1884 and 1885. At the appointed hour, as regular as clock-work, he was always the first to propose a long walk or an excursion. It was the understanding in our party to let the EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. 133 Bishop lead, as he was generally the first to be on the top of the hill or the end of the tramp. The Bishop was a lover of nature, and nothing so de- lighted him as to gaze upon the gorgeous sunsets on those purple hills, to walk through the primeval wood, or to be carried slowly, with no sound but that of the dip of the oar, over the lovely bosom of Lake Placid. Last summer he spent at Lake Mohonk. He expressed to me, who drove over from Minne- waska, his intense satisfaction with his surroundings. His dear old friend and class-mate. Governor Win- throp, was with him, and other choice companions, and what with the best society and the excellent accommodations, and the beautiful lake and splendid scenery, his cup of enjoyment was full to overflowing. He knew how to appreciate ** whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report.'' His Christian character is the embodiment of all that the Apostle would have us think over and imitate. His funeral was a fitting testimonial to his worth. Nine Bishops were in attendance, and at least a hun- dred Clergymen followed him to his resting-place in the Old Swedes' Church Burial-Ground. The services at St. Andrew's Church, where he had ministered so long, were of the most impressive character and in accordance with his quiet tastes. None who were there will ever forget the remarks of his friend and Brother, the Bishop of Central Pennsylvania. He was called upon unexpectedly to say a word, and those words were to the purpose. We hope the address will be given to 134 EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. the press, but the impression, that deep impression which touched all hearts in that crowded Church, can never be reproduced. With a voice at times broken with deep feeling, yet with no word mis- placed, neither too many nor too few, that cultured Bishop, himself the next in actual seniority, we be- lieve, (how fast time flies !) stood forth as a veteran warrior stands by the grave of his comrade, with whom he had stood shoulder to shoulder under many a galling fire, and told of the love that he bore him and the lessons of his Christ-like life. [Th« Church Press.] The death of the late Presiding Bishop of the Church, the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., has not taken the Church by surprise. His advanced age and his recent indisposition had prepared the Church for such an issue. The whole Church, how- ever, mourned his departure as that of a wise, earnest and faithful Prelate, whose qualifications were of a high order, and whose services, through a long series of years, had been devoted and successful. Many were the admirers and friends of Bishop Lee ; and now that he is no more permitted to go in and out among us, many interesting traits of character and incidents of life will be recalled and dwelt upon. MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. \] The Diocesan Convention. At the meeting of the Convention of the Diocese in St. Thomas' Church, Newark, on June ist, 1887, immediately after the organization was completed, Mr. E. L. Martin referred in appropriate terms to the death of the late Bishop of the Diocese, and moved that a committee of five be appointed by the Chair to report a suitable minute for the action of the Convention, which motion prevailed. The President appointed as the Committee the Rev. Messrs. Smith and Gibson, and Messrs. E. L. Martin, E. T. Warner and Edw. Fowler, M.D. At the evening session, immediately after the Con- vention had reassembled, the Rev. Mr. Smith, from the Committee appointed to prepare resolutions in re- lation to the death of Bishop Lee, presented and read to the Convention, the members all standing, the report as follows : The Convention of the Diocese of Delaware assem- bled to-day under circumstances of peculiar solemnity and sadness. For the first time in the history of the church, we meet without our head. The illustrious and beloved man of God, who for forty-six years has presided over the deliberations of this body, the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., is no more on the earth. His stewardship, so faithfully occupied, has 137 I ■n •II »■-«"' •• <^.,«» - 138 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. ii given place to rest and reward, and the higher occupa- tion of Heaven. We mourn in sore bereavement the irreparable loss of his presence, friendship and counsel. Your Committee feel the impossibility of reviewing the character of such a man, in the small compass of this minute. Others more competent have already spoken. The memory of his life is fresh in our minds and our affections, and evokes on this occasion the deepest reverence. As a man among men, a man of integrity, truth and decision, he held the highest place, and his presence ever inspired confidence and added strength ; while his gentleness and unaffected kindness touched and drew to him the hearts of all who knew him. He illustrated and beautified every relation and station of life— as citizen and patriot, as scholar and theologian, as philanthropist and Bishop —he stood in the front rank of those whom men love to honor. Upon the noble foundation of this great man's character a finished and elegant edifice arose. The costly material of rare natural endowments was pre- pared and enriched by profound study and diligent industry until his words, his writings, and his life became like the harmonious parts of a stately Cathe- dral. Early consecrating himself to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he set aside the allurements of worldly ad- vancement and reward. He responded to the call of God, and just fifty years ago entered as an humble laborer into his Master's vineyard. Using well his office, he purchased to himself a good degree. He MINUTES AND RESGI^UTIONS. ,.g became an able Minister of the New Testament, and a faithful pastor to the flock. By faithfulness in that which was little, he proved worthy of that which was great, and was soon rewarded by stewardship in that good work commended of the Apostle, and be- came an honored overseer in the House of God. Here in the higher parliament of the Church he was ever an able legislator and a wise and prudent coun- sellor. He was a Bisliop, indeed, of the primitive model, ** blameless, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, patient, having a good report of them that are without, adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." As our first Bishop, we trusted him, honored him, loved him. Presiding over our counsels for so many years, we came to regard his wide learning, ripe judgment, and calm wisdom, with most profound reverence. Impartial and fair, he ruled with a gentle- ness as marked, as his decisions were firm and just. Godly in life and holy in character, he set an ex- ample most worthy of imitation. Such saintliness of character was the strong band that linked to him, his clergy, his parish, and his people, in most filial affection and reverence, and made his life to them a blessing and an inspiration. Abroad as well as at home he commanded the praises of men, and we loved to know of the high honors he everywhere received. His worth, his dignity, his fame were our common heritage and pride, as they shed a lustre upon the position he held among us, and when he passed from us it was as if our sun had set I I -O MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. In thus ending a well-rounded life of fourscore years, yet with undecaying powers, it seemed fitting that he should finish a half-century of pastoral labor and com- plete the centenary of this Diocese ere called to the exalted and glorious employment of heaven. He has gone from us to ^Hhe City of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, to the general assembly and church of the first bom, and to spirits of just men made perfect." He has gone from us and we feel our orphanage ; yet we rejoice in his translation and gratefully ac- knowledge the legacy he has left us of his blessing of faithful labor, patient endurance, high character and holy life. Your committee, in closing, would offer the fol- lowing : — Resolved, That this Convention expresses its deep grief at the bereavement which it has sustained in the removal from among us of our honored and be- loved chief officer ; that his absence is most keenly felt at such a time as this ; that the irreparable loss is a personal sorrow to us all. Resolved, That the memory of Alfred Lee, our ven- erable and saintly Bishop, shall ever be cherished among us as an inspiration and example; that his name^'is, and always will be, as ointment poured out ; that his works of Christian charity and benevo- lence form his best monument ; that having at length entered into well-earned rest from a long and laborious life, his works and the grateful affection of his co- MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. 141 laborers and the many beneficiaries of his kindness, do follow him. Resolved, That this memorial be spread upon the journal and a copy be sent to the family of our deceased Bishop. On motion of Mr. Edw. L. Martin, the following resolution was adopted, unanimously : Resolved, That the Rectors of the several Parishes of the Diocese be requested to take a special col- lection, on some Sunday to be designated by the Standing Committee, for the purpose of erecting a suitable monument over the grave of our late Bishop, as a testimonial of the reverence and love of the people for him. The Standing Committee. Upon hearing the sad intelligence of the death of our honored Diocesan, the Standing Committee met on the 15th of April, 1887, in the Sunday-school room of St. Andrew's Church, Wilmington, when the following minute of respect was read and ordered to be entered on the Records of the Standing Com- mittee : — The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Dela- ware, oppressed by a sense of the great bereavement which the whole Church has sustained in the removal of their beloved and honored Diocesan, the Rt. Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., from his earthly labors i 1 142 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. to the heavenly rest, would place upon record the sincere expression of their love and reverence for this eminent man of God. Distinguished for a modesty which was equalled only by his exalted worth, we realize that, in his death, we have lost a constant friend, a wise teacher, and a noble pattern of the Christian life. To the simplicity of a child he united the experience of a sage, and to all his learning he lent the charm of a sympathizing philanthropy. As- sociated with him in the affairs of the Diocese, we mourn the loss of his counsel and the inspiration of his earnest and godly guidance. In his admiwis- tration there were blended the gentleness of a father and the courage of a hero. He was a burning and a shining light, and we feel the chill shadows of our orphaned loneliness creeping upon us, as we bend over the bier of our first and only Bishop of Delaware. Bringing to the administration of his office a judicial mind, a wide sympathy, a strong character, and the grace of a profound personal piety, he exerted a most benign and blessed influence. Clear in his convictions, brave in his utterances, he made duty the law of his life. Ever ready to banish error and to defend the purity of the Church, his authority was clothed with the mantle of charity and his pastoral office was arrayed in the mingled graces of kindness and humility. While holding the highest place in the Church, he bore his honors so meekly that even the most diffident was encouraged to ap- proach him as a friend, pastor, teacher and Bishop. In all things he was *a pattern of good works, in / / MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. H3 doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that could not be condemned.* The lustre of his attainments will adorn the literature of the Church, and his life and works will be the per- petual heritage of this Diocese. A scholar, Bishop, Saint, ** He taught us how to live, and oh too high The price of knowledge ! taught us how to die." His influence cannot be limited to his time or Diocese. He was recognized as one of the foremost men in the councils of the Church, and identified, as a controlling spirit, with the high aims and large measures of the most distinctively Christian societies in this country and England. The Domestic and Foreign Missions of the Church, the Institutions devoted to study for the Sacred' Ministry, Biblical Scholarship, large enterprises of a philanthropic char- acter, both in and out of the Church, and, above all, the ministry of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, have lost in his death a most illustrious orna- ment and able advocate. His life covers a large part of the history of the Church in America. Among the great names which have adorned her annals, none will be remembered with a profounder reverence and affec- tion than that of Alfred Lee. With our brethren of the Diocese and the beloved family of our Chief Pastor, and the whole Church, we are bowed in a common sorrow and invoke the supporting grace of the God of all consolation for us, in this day of our sore bereavement. I '44 MINUTES AND RESOI.UTIONS. MINUTES AND RESOI.UTIONS. 145 Resolved^ That the above be published in the Church papers, and a copy be sent to the family of our deceased Bishop. The Committee met on April 25th, 1887, to confer with a committee from St. Andrew's Church, respect- ing a Memorial Sermon, to be preached on the life and character of our late honored Diocesan. Where- upon it was Resolved^ To extend a cordial invitation to the Rt Rev. John Williams, S.T.D., LL.D., Bishop of Con- necticut, and now Presiding Bishop, to preach a Me- morial Sermon upon the life and character of Bishop Lee, on Thursday evening, June 2d, next, or as soon thereafter as may suit his convenience, in St. Andrew's Church. The Bishops and Clergy. A meeting of the Bishops and other clergy was held in Trinity Church, Wilmington, after the service for the burial of Bishop Lee. On motion. Bishop Wil- liams, of Connecticut, was called to the chair, and made a few appropriate remarks. The Rev. Lewis W. Gibson, of Dover, President of the Standing Com- mittee, moved that a committee be appointed to draft suitable resolutions. The chair appointed Bishop Whit- aker, of Pennsylvania ; Bishop Paret, of Maryland ; Bishop Peterkin, of West Virginia ; the Rev. T. Gardi- ner Littell, D.D., and the Rev. Richard Newton, D.D. The Bishop of New York moved that Bishop Howe, of Central Pennsylvania, be requested to furnish a copy of his very appropriate remarks, at St. Andrew's Church, for publication. The committee subsequently prepared the following resolutions : Resolved, That in the death of the Right Reverend Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Delaware and Presiding Bishop, one has been taken from earth for whose virtues and godly life we give humble thanks to Almighty God. Resolved, That the Church has lost one in whom religious belief was beautifully exemplified in gentle- ness, humility and Christian courtesy in the councils of the Church, in the daily walk and in the home. Resolved, That in his quiet charities, his alacrity to help and elevate all sorts and conditions of men, his wisdom, his honest and tenacious adherence to deliber- ately matured convictions, and his unfaltering courage in modestly advocating them, he deservedly won the reverence of men of every name, and has, indeed, left the world the better for his having lived. Resolved, That we shall long remember him as one who has died as he lived, in the communion of the Catholic Church, in the confidence of a certain faith, in the comfort of a reasonable, religious and holy hope, in favor with his God, and in perfect charity with the world. Resolved, That to his bereaved family and Diocese we extend our fullest and most heartfelt sympathy. vi 146 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. The Vestry of St. Andrew's Church. MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. 147 A special meeting of the Vestry of St. Andrew's Church was held April 13th, 1887, at the residence of E. T. Warner, Esq. Present, the Rev. Chas. E. Murray, and Messrs. E. T. Warner, Geo. H. Bates, W. Thomson, Dr. C. Elton Buck, Geo. W. Baker and A. S. Elliott, the Rev. Chas. E. Murray presiding. The following resolutions were unanimously adopted : Whereas, In the providence of God, the Rt. Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., the Bishop of this Diocese, and the beloved Rector of this Church for the long period of forty-five years, has been called from the scene of his earthly labors to the rest that remaineth for the people of God ; therefore^ Resolved, That while we bow in reverent submission to the will of our Heavenly Father, we desire to express our sense of the irreparable loss we have sustained as a congregation, and our heartfelt ac- knowledgments of the manifold blessings which, by divine grace through his prolonged ministry, have been bestowed upon us. Resolved, That we recognize in the saintliness of his life and conversation one of the brightest examples of the ministerial character— a living epistle, that might be known and read of all men, in which the life and love of Christ were so manifested, shining through the veil of his mortal flesh, that all who knew him could not fail to see that he had been with Jesus and had learned of Him. Resolved, That as we recall his venerable form, that moved among us with so much of the gentleness of the disciple whom Jesus loved, we sorrow that we shall see his face no more, and pray that we may have grace to follow him as he followed Christ. Resolved, That in the death of our beloved Father in God, not only is this Diocese smitten, but the whole Church mourns the loss of one of the best and ablest of her Bishops, one of the noblest and purest of her apostolic exemplars ; an overseer of manly strength and mental power, of unrivaled fulness of learning and knowledge, of soundness of wisdom and ripeness of judgment, of breadth and comprehensive- ness of view, of large and loving charity, of firmness of principle and zeal for the truth, of self-denying and self-forgetting devotion to the service of Christ and His Church. Resolved, That we convey to his family the assur- ance of our profound sympathy and earnest prayers that God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies arid the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulations, may sustain them in this bitter sorrow. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the family of our beloved Rector, and that they be inserted in the church papers and in the daily papers of our city. On motion of Mr. Bates, the Rev. Mr. Murray was requested to appoint a committee of three, to sug- gest, at the next meeting, a suitable and appropriate . I 148 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. memorial, to be erected in the Church, to our beloved Bishop. Messrs. Warner and Thomson and Dr. Buck were appointed as above. On motion of Mr. Bates, the committee were author- ized to make some suggestions for a memorial for our late Senior Warden, Mr. Gregg Chandler. It was suggested that Bishop Williams be invited to deliver a Memorial Sermon at some future day. Also, the Wardens were requested to have the church properly draped for the period of thirty days, or as much longer as they may, on consultation with the Rev. Mr. Murray, determine. Messrs. Hoffecker, Baker, Thomson and Elliott, of the Vestry, and Dr. Horace Burr and S. M. Curtis, of the Standing Committee, were appointed Bearers at the funeral. On motion, adjourned. (Signed) Alfred S. Elliott, Secretary. The Vestry of Trinity Church, Wilmington. At a meeting of the Rector and Vestry of Trinity Parish, held on Monday, April 18, 1887, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted : Whereas, God, in His wise providence, having removed from this world the soul of the beloved Bishop of this Diocese, the Rt Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., we desire to express our sense of the great loss sustained by the Church, the Diocese and the minutes and resolutions. 149 community. We, however, bow in hurnble submission to the will of our Heavenly Father, who doth not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. Resolved^ That we deeply feel the bereavement of the American Church in the loss of the Primate, who has filled this high office with so much dignity, wis- dom, honor, both to himself and the entire Church. Resolved^ That we sincerely deplore his removal as Bishop of the Diocese, upon which his fatherly care and love have been bestowed so freely for so many years, and we feel that words fail adequately to ex- press the deep love felt towards our late Father in God by the loyal people he has served so faithfully and wisely. Resolved^ That we tender our earnest prayers and sincere sympathy with the bereaved family in this their day of affliction, assuring them that these words are but a meagre expression of the deep feelings of our hearts. Resolved^ That we desire to express our sympathy with our sister Parish of St. Andrew's, over which he has been a spiritual guide for so many years of inti- mate and affectionate relationship. Resolved^ That the community loses one whose influence for good cannot be justly estimated, and one whose death will be greatly felt by the large number of citizens and personal friends who so truly loved and venerated one whose daily walk and con- versation were a living epistle of true piety and manly Christianity, read of all men with whom he came in contact I50 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. Resolved, That as Rector and Vestry of this old and historic Parish, we feel a sense of personal be- reavement in the departure of the head of the Church in this Diocese, which only time can assuage, and that '*we bless Thy holy name for Thy servant de- parted this life in Thy faith and fear; beseeching Thee to give us grace so to follow his good example, that, with him, we may be partakers of Thy heavenly kingdom." Holy Trinity Guild. At the regular monthly meeting of Holy Trinity Guild of the Old Swedes' Church, held April i2th, 1887, the following tribute of respect was adopted by a rising vote : The members of Holy Trinity Guild have just heard, with deep sorrow, the sad news of the death of the venerable and beloved Bishop of this Diocese, the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D. As loyal children of the church we wish to express our sense of the great loss of the church in Delaware, in being thus bereaved of the chief pastor who has guided and governed us for so many years. To successive generations in this State and this city the name of Bishop Lee has been a household word. To the stricken family we extend the assurance of our sym- pathy and prayers in their hour of trial. Trusting and believing that the soul of our beloved father and friend is at rest in paradise, we pray that **we, with MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. 151 him, may have our perfect consummation and bliss in God's eternal and everlasting glory." Weston C. Boyd, Secretary. Trinity Chapel Guild. The following resolution was unanimously adopted at the regular monthly meeting of Trinity Chapel Guild, April 13th, 1887, and the Secretary was in- structed to send a copy to the family of our late Bishop : — With great regret we learn of the death of our Father in God, the esteemed and beloved Bishop of the Diocese, the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, S.T.D., LL.D. As our heavenly Father, in His infinite wisdom, has thoueht best to take our beloved and venerated Bishop to his eternal home, we can but bow in hum- ble submission to His blessed will, yet we desire to express and record our deep and sincere sorrow at the loss we sustain, as members of the Church and of this community, in the removal of one who for many years has been a chief shepherd in the Church of our blessed Lord, and a prominent and highly- honored resident of this city, being greatly venerated and respected by all who knew him ; and further, we desire to tender our sincere prayers and heart- felt sympathy to his bereaved family in this, their hour of sorrow. We give Thee hearty thanks for the good example of Thy servant, who having finished his 152 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. course in faith, does now rest from his labors, and is numbered with Thy saints in glory everlasting. Attest, Edward T. Canby, Secretary. Immanuel Chapel, Highlands, Wilmington. At a meeting of the Trustees of Immanuel Chapel, Highlands, held Tuesday evening, May 3d, 1887, ^^^ following resolutions were unanimously adopted : Whereas, It has pleased the Divine Providence to remove from our midst our beloved Bishop, Alfred Lee, Resolved^ That we mourn his loss as Bishop, teacher and friend, and feel that to us, as well as to the people of the Diocese of Delaware, his place can never be filled. He was ever ready with wise and kindly words, to assist and advise us in the affairs of this Chapel, and especially when, nearly three years ago, he drew up the deed of trust by which the property upon which the Chapel was built was placed in possession of the Trustees ; and we can testify as to the deep and sincere interest he felt and always expressed in the welfare of Immanuel Chapel. When the Chapel was consecrated, in the year 1885, by our dear Bishop, he expressed the pleasure it was to him to perform the act among those with whom he had been associated in friendship and MINUTES and resolutions. 153 aflfection for many years. We extend to his sorrow- ing family our deep sympathy in their great loss. Resolved^ That a copy of these resolutions be sent to his family, and that they be published in the Wil- mington daily papers, J. Hetherton, Edwin Ainsworth, Wm. Watmough, W. R. Brinckl]^, John Bancroft, Sec'y. St. John's Church, Wilmington. At a special meeting of the vestry of St. John's Church, Wilmington, held on the evening of Thurs- day, April 14th, 1887, the following resolutions were adopted : Whereas, On the twelfth day of April, instant, the venerable and holy Bishop of this Diocese, the Right Reverend Alfred Lee, departed hence by Divine appointment to his eternal reward. Resolved^ That, while our loss is his great gain, his death comes to us as a keen personal bereavement and sorrow. The transparent purity of his life, his fervent zeal in the cause of our Blessed Lord, his rare spiritu- ality and piety, his great learning and ability, his moral courage in the support of his convictions of right, and his modesty and gentleness of manner, were such as to command our unbounded respect, admira- tion and affection. 154 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. 155 Resolved, That the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, has, by the death of her Presiding Bishop, lost one of her most useful and illustrious prelates, and that this Diocese has thereby been deprived of an eminently faithful and wise coun- sellor and guide. Resolved, That by the death of our beloved Bishop the whole community has lost a patriotic and large- spirited citizen, who, in time of civil commotion and grave national peril, firmly upheld the constituted authorities, who has earnestly and successfully labored to promote the education and elevation of the colored masses in this country, and generally to advance the welfare of his fellow-men in all lands, and who, in all respects, has fully discharged the duties of an enlight- ened Christian citizenship. Resolved, That we tender our profound sympathy to the family of the deceased in their great sorrow ; that a duly certified copy of these resolutions be transmitted to them, and that the vestry of St John's Church attend the funeral in a body. Christ Church, Christiana Hundred. At a meeting of the Vestry of Christ Church, Chris- liana Hundred, held April 24th, 1887, the following minute was adopted : The Wardens and Vestry of Christ Church, Chris- tiana Hundred, desire to place on record their sense of the great loss they, in common with the whole Diocese and the Church at large, have sustained in the death of their honored and beloved Bishop, Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D. We claim a peculiar relationship to our revered Chief Pastor. This parish owes its inception to his kindly influence, and has grown to what it has be- come largely under his fostering oversight. Those who first proposed the formation of this Parish were members of St. Andrew's Church, Wil- mington, and consulted Bishop Lee before taking any steps toward it. For a period of eighteen months Bishop Lee gave his personal services, at stated intervals, nearly every month of that time to the pastoral care of this Con- gregation, and preached as often as occasion pennitted. His assistant, the Rev. S. C. Brinckle, was mission- ary in the Hundred, and afterward the first Rector of Christ Church. The Rev. W. A. Newbold, another assistant of Bishop Lee, became the second Rector of this Parish. Since the establishment of this Parish, the annual visits of our lamented Bishop were always occasions of peculiar pleasure. Such benignity of manners ; such gentle saintliness of character marked his bearing, that he was regarded not only as a Bishop, but as indeed a Father in God. His hands were laid in Apostolic blessing upon the head of every one con- firmed within these walls. His words of counsel and instruction were listened to with reverence, and his spiritual admonitions came with special force and unction, as from lips which breathed the tenderest love ' )J vM \ i'' <♦ 156 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONa MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. ^57 and most unaffected piety. His presence was a ser- mon and a blessing. As one has said of him, **He lived in the faith, and in the faith has died, leaving behind a memory redolent with goodness and kind- ness and love." We mourn in unfeigned sorrow this sore bereave- ment which has fallen upon ourselves and the Dio- cese, and not less upon his afflicted family. We truly prize the legacy he has left us of a holy example and godly precepts. Yet we sorrow not for htm. He is beyond our sympathy. His faithful labor is ended, but his work remains in our memory and our affec- tions. He has entered into the reward and rest of those who have died in the Lord, and whose works follow them. Upon his family, ourselves and the be- reaved Church, we invoke the Divine blessing and consolation, and pray that, like him, we may be fol- lowers of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. We extend to the family of our departed Bishop the assurance of our sincere affection and sympathy. This minute is ordered to be spread upon the records of the Parish, and a copy sent to the family of the deceased. Immanuel Church, New Castle. The venerable Presiding Bishop of the American Church, our own beloved and honored Diocesan, the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., having, upon \ s Tuesday, April I2th, 1887, in the eightieth year of his age and the forty-sixth of his Episcopate, entered into the rest of the blessed — full of days, spiritual riches and honors, — We, the Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of Immanuel Church, New Castle, Delaware, leaving to others to testify the appreciation due to him in the wider sphere of his usefulness and weighty re- sponsibilities, desire to give expression for the congre- gation as well as ourselves, to the affectionate venera- tion with which we mourn our own loss in him as our Bishop, and our great respect and admiration for his saintliness of character, his Christ^like gentleness and humility. His prolonged life and eventful Episcopate are of themselves remarkable ; the loftiness of character and manifold attainments and abilities with which he dis- charged the duties of his great Stewardship must com- mand the admiration of all. They are to ourselves a rich heritage, and will ever enshrine in our memo- ries the name of our first and departed Bishop. We observe as peculiarly appropriate that whilst we ** sorrow not even as others which have no hope,'' his translation to Paradise is sweetly in accord with the Easter strains of triumph, in the midst of which he has been called up higher — and we pray our Heavenly Father that light and peace may be his eternal portion. Our prayer, moreover, is that the great Head of the Church will grant us of His love and mercy, that the seed sown here through so long and faithful an I :( 158 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. Episcopate may spring up into an abundant harvest of eternal treasure to the glory of God and the building up of His holy Church, especially in our own Diocese. To the Bishop's family we tender our most sincere sympathies in this, our common sorrow, and as fur- ther tokens of respect and sympathy, we order the Church to be suitably draped, the Church bell to be tolled at the hour of the burial, this minute to be spread upon the records of the Parish and read to the congregation upon Sunday next, and a copy duly cer- tified to be sent to the Bishop's family. P. B. LiGHTNER, Rector of Immanuel Church, &c. Attest : L. E. EuASON, Secretary. St. Anne's Church, Middletown. At a meeting of the Vestry of St. Anne's Parish, Middletown, Delaware, held on April 15th, 1887, the following preamble and resolution were unanimously adopted : Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to take out of this world, the soul of the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., who for forty-five years has been the revered and beloved first Bishop of this Diocese of Delaware, and for some three years past the Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in these United States, minutes and resolutions. 159 Resolved^ That while we, the Rector and Vestry of St Anne's Parish, desire reverently and submissively to bow to this dispensation of Divine Providence, yet we feel deeply, and mourn the loss of one who, for so many years, has been our wise, exemplary and faithful Bishop. And we also hereby extend to his bereaved family our affectionate sympathy in this day of their sorrow, and pray that the consolations of that gospel, which their honored father so ably preached and so well illustrated in his life, may abundantly rest upon them. Resolved^ That a copy of this preamble and resolu- tions be entered on the Parish Record and sent to the family of our deceased Bishop, and printed in the local papers. Joseph Beers, Rector. H. A. Nowland, Clerk of the Vestry. Christ Church, Dover. At the stated meeting of the Vestry of Christ Church, Dover, held May 5th, — being the first meet- ing since the death of Bishop Lee, — the following minute was presented by Chief Justice Comegys, and unanimously adopted : The Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of Christ Church Parish, Dover, hereby place on record their declaration of grief at the death of the Right Rev- erend Alfred Lee, Bishop of the Diocese of Delaware, and as a fitting mode of expressing their sense of his worth, do resolve as follows : t6o MINUTES AND RESOI.UTIONS. / That in their judgment he was a man of deep learning and extraordinary piety, having a perfect sense of the relation he bore to his Master and to the Church, in whose service he had attained the highest ecclesiastical honor. That his venerable form, mild, gentle face, win- ning softness of voice and unifoim courtesy to all who approached him, and with whom he was in any wise associated, won for him that tender regard rarely secured by any one, but which was freely yielded to him. That we fervently hope that the successor of Bishop Lee in his high office may keep his example of Chris- tian devotion and solicitous concern for the welfare of the Church constantly before him, and push forward the great work of turning men to the contemplation of their relation to their Creator, which he had so much at heart. Resolved, That the foregoing be offered and read in the coming Convention, to be held at Newark, and that a copy be sent by the Rector to the family of the deceased. Resolved, That the foregoing be furnished to each of the newspapers in Dover for publication. Lewis W. Gibson, Rector. Attest : James Kirk, Secretary. / Christ Church, Milford. At a regular meeting of the Rector, Church Wardens and Vestr>'men of Christ Church, Milford, held on V »» MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. i6l Wednesday, April 13th, 1887, the following resolution was unanimously adopted : The Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of Christ Church, Milford, herewith extend their sym- pathy to the family of our deceased Bishop and Father in God. James C. Kerr, Rector. Nathan Pratt, Sen. Warden. Henry R0L1.E. C. J. Harrington. R. Y. Watson, Jun. Warden. Isaac S. Truitt, Clerk. St. Paul's Church, Georgetown. Resolved, That we, in common with the clergy and laity of this Diocese, mourn the great loss which we have sustained in the death of our venerable and be- loved Bishop, the late Right Rev. Alfred Lee ; that the noble virtues and Christian piety so prominent in his life ; the great learning which he had acquired, and that high order of wisdom with which he was so richly endowed ; his energetic defence of truth and Christian doctrines ; his long, honorable and well- merited position and prominence in that branch of the Christian Church to which he had so many years ago consecrated his life, render his death lamentable, not only to the Diocese of Delaware, but to the whole Anglican communion. l62 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. \i /Resolved, That after so many years of acquaintance and association with our departed Bishop, we, with a deep sense of our bereavement, bear glad testimony to his godly life, earnest Christian zeal in his labors in this Diocese, and his unswerving fidelity to his Church ; that we desire to place upon the records of our Parish these resolutions, our feeble estimate of his high char- acter and worth. Resolved^ That these resolutions be published in the Churchman, in the papers of this town, and entered upon the minutes of the Vestry, and that a copy be sent to the family of the deceased. Wm. H. Boyce, D. T. Marvel, Chas. L. Moore, Committee, Vestry of St. PauVs Church, Georgetown, Delaware. Board of Managers of the Domestic and For- eign Missionary Society. New York, April 14th, 1887. Immediately upon the assembling of the Board of Managers in stated meeting, on Wednesday, April 13th, the General Secretary announced to the Board the death of its President, the Right Reverend Alfred Lee, D.D, LL.D., Presiding Bishop, at his residence in Wilmington, Delaware, on the previous day. Whereupon, by resolution, a special committee was appointed to prepare a minute to be spread upon the records of the meeting with respect to the decease of the Presiding Bishop. ' 1: MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. 163 Later in session the Committee presented the fol- lowing minute, which was adopted by the Board by a rising vote : Intelligence having been received of the death of the Right Reverend Alfred Lee, Doctor in Divinity and Laws, Presiding Bishop of the Church, and in virtue of his office President also of this Board, we, his associates, profoundly sensible of our great loss, desire to place on record, without delay, words that shall, in some measure, express the reverence and af- fection in which we hold the person and shall always hold the memory of our late Father in God. As a theologian Bishop Lee was distinguished for sound scholarship, a wise reticence and a generous charity towards the opinions and beliefs of others. As a prelate he governed prudently, with no touch of arrogance, holding a firm hand when need required, and ever showing himself, in gentleness, in humility, in calnmess and in long-suffering patience, a whole- some example to the flock of Christ. That the cause of Missions lay very near his heart was abundantly evidenced by the assiduity with which, long after the infirmities of age had begun to settle upon him, he watched the work at home and abroad, giving it counsel and guidance, as occasion called, keenly observant of the signs of the times, and quick to notice God's opportunities. Through *the grave and gate of death' he has entered while the Easter prayers are still fresh upon our lips to the rest that remaineth for faithful and true service. t: I I . MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. We thank God for the rich inheritance of his memory, and from the stimulus of his example gather a new courage for the work entrusted to us. MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. 165 Trustees and Overseers of the Divinity School OF THE Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. From the inception of the Divinity School, in the year 1862, to the day of his death, Bishop Lee was a member of the Board of Overseers and its presidmg officer, and also a member of the Executive Commit- tee of the joint Boards of Trustees and Overseers. In the discharge of his duties in these relations his presence among us was a frequent occurrence, and one always desired. As a counsellor, he was eminently judicious and prudent, while we felt that the grace o God was with him. He was a man who deeply felt the solemnity of the ministerial office, which he never failed to impress on those who were going forth to that office from this seat of preparatory training. In his blameless walk and conversation he was a pattern to all, and, in his high place, a bright and a shining lieht For all that gentleness, meekness and pie y which were so conspicuous in him, and so admirably blended with intellectual vigor and strength of pur- pose, we bless God, and pray that there may be many L; like successors to him in the chie mmis try of the Church ; of that ministry he made full proof, and without doubt has now gone to his reward. "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteous- ness as the stars forever and ever." Extract from the minutes of the Trustees and Overseers of the Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, June, 1887. Jno. a. Childs, Secretary. Clergy Relief Fund. The Trustees of the Clergy Relief Fund desire to place on record a brief memorial minute to their late President, the Right Rev. Alfred I^e, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Delaware and Presiding Bishop of the Church. Notwithstanding his extreme age and the distance of his home from the usual place of meeting, his pres- ence was always to be relied upon, and the Trust committed to our care had an abiding-place in the deepest sympathies of his heart. When the resources of the fund were in special need, his earnest appeals to the Church at large al- ways brought a generous response; and the special contributions which his words inspired carried com- fort and relief to many a needy recipient. His last official act in connection with this Board was to prepare the Triennial Report to the General Convention, in which, with masterly skill, he set forth the claim of the widows and orphans of those who had given their lives to the service of the Church; i66 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. 167 t and if his words could reach the entire Church, they would be a clarion call to every member thereof to aid in placing this sacred Trust in its true position of eminence among the great charities of the Church. In other relations of Episcopal duty he stood in the front rank among the prelates of the Church for honest devotion to his convictions of truth and for intellectual power in defending those convictions. But in the transactions of this Board were revealed also a tenderness of heart and a depth of sympathy with the suffering quite as great as his intellectual power. As chairman of the Executive Committee, he came in personal contact with the applications for relief, and his greatest sorrow— a sorrow shared by every member of this Board— was the frequent necessity of denying the applications because of the limited means in our treasury. His memory will be revered by us who knew him well ; and the record of his blameless life will be the precious heritage of the entire Church. H. C. POTTER, 1 Committee. William A. Snively, J Evangelical Education Society. On Thursday afternoon, April 14th, 1887, a meet- ing of the Board of Managers of the Evangelical Education Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church was held in the city of Philadelphia, the Right Rev. O. W. Whittaker in the chair, and the Rev. Dr. Robert C. Matlack acting as Secretary. The Secretary announced, with unfeigned sorrow, the death of Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Delaware, the Presiding Bishop of the Church, and for many years an active officer and most devoted and generous friend of the Society. On the motion of the Rev. Dr. Richard Newton, it was Resolved^ That a committee of five be appointed to attend the funeral of the Bishop, and also to enter upon the minutes of the Society a suitable testimony of our appreciation of his lovely character and ines- timable services to the Church, and to forward a copy of the same to his family, assuring them of our deep sympathy with them in their great bereavement. The chair named on the committee the Rev. Drs. Richard Newton, D. S. Miller, Robert C. Matlack, the Rev. W. M. Jefferis and Mr. G. B. Godfrey. The committee made the following minute : The Evangelical Education Society feels that in the life and character of this saintly man, God has be- stowed on our Church one of His choicest blessings. Our warmest thanks are due to the Giver of all good for raising up among us a Bishop so lovely and attractive in all the essential elements of Christian character. So clear in his views of *the truth as it is in Jesus ;' so faithful and unchanging in maintain- ing that truth, and so earnest and simple in setting it forth. For permitting him to occupy, for so long a time, the important position which he has held in the Church, and for preserving his powers and faculties MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. loo for usefulness in unimpaired and vigorous exercise so far beyond the allotted period of three-score years and ten, a debt of unspeakable gratitude and praise is due to Him *from whom all blessings flow.' We tender to the family of the departed Bishop, to the members of his Church, and to all connected with his Diocese, our cordial sympathy in the great loss they have sustained, and we offer our earnest pray- ers that they and we may all have grace to follow the dear departed Bishop as he followed Christ, and that we may all be permitted to meet him at last in that bri-ht world to which he has gone, and to share with him *the joy unspeakable and full of glory,' which will be his portion there. Richard Newton, Chairman. Robert C. Matlack, Secretary. American Church Missionary Society. In the death of the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LLD., on April 12th, 1887, this Society has lost one of its honorary Vice-Presidents, one of its ablest advo- cates and truest friends. The aim of his life, of his ministry, of his high office and his labors with us in the mission field, was singly to advance the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in its simplicity and purity. With wonderful gentleness and courtesy he united a clearness of conviction, feariess courage, and cogency of expression rarely seen. minutes and resolutions. 169 In counsel we rested upon his wisdom, in anxiety we were sure of his sympathy, in action, and espe- cially at critical moments, we never failed to secure his efficient aid. In November, 1886, shortly after he had returned from the labors of the General Conven- tion, we asked his presence at our recent annual meet- ing, when he gracefully urged us to have pity upon a man in his eightieth year and with infinn health, but sent this message : *'I must content myself with send- ing my good wishes for a happy and profitable meet- ing of the Society, and for its continued usefulness. The principles with which it is identified are those upon which our Church was planted at the Reforma- tion, which were held by the great men who arranged our Liturgy and framed our Articles, and which our Standards plainly express. Solid growth and real pros- perity depend upon their firm maintenance and unre- served exposition. The wise and holy men who founded your Society did not overrate their value and impor- tance, and I hope they will be esteemed and loved by those who succeed them from generation to generation." The next month, when he had gained a little strength, he consented to present **The fundamental principles of the Society," at a meeting in Phila- delphia, and delivered an address which for masteriy argument, historical accuracy, calmness of expression, and convincing power, has seldom been equalled, show- ing plainly, and contending earnestly, that the princi- pies of the English Reformation were the acknowl- edged principles of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the only basis of our organization. t I 1 h I- i] 170 MINUTES AND RESOlyUTlONS. II \ This was his last appearance at any public meeting, his last labor of love in the mission-field — a fitting close to his consistent testimony, a precious legacy to those who are to continue his work. With the Church at large we mourn an eminent and holy Bishop departed ; with all who are defending the conservative and true position of our Church we weep over an able captain fallen ; with his Diocese, his Parish, and his family we sympathize in the loss of an invalu- able friend ; but with him we rejoice in labors over, victory won, rest reached at last, and the reward which, we doubt not, he has received: **Well done, good and faithful servant." Delaware Branch of the Woman's Auxiliary TO THE Board of Missions, May 5TH, 1887. Whereas, It has been the will of God that our beloved Bishop should be removed from us, therefore, Resolved^ That we desire to place upon record a faint expression of our respect, veneration and love. We cannot be thankful enough for his gentle, pure, and godly life, which will ever be a helpful example to us and to all who knew him. Resolved^ That his kindly spirit and the deep inter- est which he manifested at our last meeting in the furtherance of our works will long remain among our bright and cherished recollections of him. Resolved^ That we believe that no tribute to his memory could be more appropriate than our sincere I ' u MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. 171 resolve earnestly to labor for that missionary work in which he always had so profound an interest, and which he constantly urged upon us as one of our highest duties. / Women's Foreign Missionary Association of Calvary Church, New York. Resolved, That the Women's Foreign Missionary . Association of Calvary Church learns with deep re- gret the sad news of the death of Bishop Lee, and we desire to express our sympathy with his bereaved family, and we recognize the loss which our whole Church has sustained in the death of so able and faithful a soldier of Christ. To our President we ten- der our sincere sympathy, knowing how great this loss is to her personally. Wilmington M. E. Preachers' Meeting. At a session of the Wilmington M. E. Preachers' Meeting, held in Asbury Church on April i8th, the Revs. Adam Stengle, J. E. Bryan and H. A. Monroe were appointed a committee to draft resolutions ex- pressive of the sense of the meeting on the death of the Rev. Bishop Alfred Lee, D.D. The following were presented and adopted : WHEREAS, God, in His all-wise Providence, has called from labor to reward His servant, Alfred Lee, Bishop of the Diocese of Delaware, and Senior Bishop II 11 il \- I V I i r" II 172 MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States ; therefore Resolved^ That we hereby express our high appre- ciation of his Christian character, his great usefulness as a minister, his liberal and fraternal spirit mani- fested in all his relations with others, his deep inter- est in the welfare of this city and State, and, in common with others, we sincerely regret the great loss the Church and community have sustained. Resolved^ That, as a body of Christian ministers, we extend this assurance of our sympathy with the Church of which he was the honored head, and also with the family of the deceased, praying that God may sustain them in their hour of bereavement and sorrow. ** Resolved^ That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the family of the deceased, and also published in the papers of the city. LETTERS. ./ \ \ \ i il I V 1 \ . M 11 1) V) / / From the many i^etters received after Bishop Lee*s DEATH the FOI.LOWING HAVE BEEN SELECTED AS CONTAINING SOME REFERENCE OF SPECIAI, INTEREST. In VIEW OF BiSHOP Stevens' death so soon after, his i^etter, written Aprii, 8th, is ai^o inserted. ; Philadelphia, April 8, 1887. My very dear Bishop Lee : It gives me inexpressible joy to learn that you are convalescent, with the prospect of full recovery from your severe illness. I heard of your dangerous illness when I was on my sick-bed, and the shock was in- tensely painful. God be praised that He has spared your life and given us the hope that you may yet be strong and able to preside over the Church. At a time like the present it seems more and more impor- tant that one holding your strong and truthful views should be at the helm, when so much grace and wis- dom and firmness are required to keep things steady and yet progressive. I have been quite sick again myself, and have only been out once or twice for a month. But God has been gracious to me, and the life that He has spared I most unreservedly consecrate anew to His service. It would indeed be better for us personally, who hold fast the blessed hope of eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, to be absent from the body and present with the Lord, but He tells us. Wait a little while, work a little longer, and under My discipline ripen for the inheritance of the Saints in Light And so our duty is to wait and hope and love, and to finish our course with joy. I have been wanting to write you for a long time, but have hardly felt up to the mark. Do not trouble 175 11 /. \ jf^^l >l t '\ iiM / P ^^ 176 LETTERS. LETTERS. yourself to reply to this, as I know you are not able to do so. . ^ \t Ever, my Beloved Brother, Yours, William Bacon Stevens. Bishop Lee. ) Episcopal Residence, 1633 Spruce St Wednesday, April 13, 1887. Dear : I was not altogether unprepared for the telegram from your brother which told me last evening that your dear father had entered into rest. I doubt if any, outside of your own family, can feel this be- reavement more sorely than I do. We have been such fellow-workers in heart, and mind and spirit for so many years, we have fought together in so many fields of responsibility and anxiety, we have held together the same great distinctive features of Evangelical truth ; we have even felt for each other such personal affection and Christian intercourse, that I feel that a brother specially beloved has been taken from my side, and I am left with no one so near and like united, with whom to take sweet counsel and to co-operate in the great work yet to be done. You can judge, then, how sadly I feel that my infirm health will not pennit me to be present and take part in the funeral solemnities next Friday. I dare not undertake such a journey, or run the risk of exposure to what may possibly be unfavorable weather. You and your family, however, will well know how sincerely I mourn his death, though to him ** to die 177 is gain,'' because he is now ** forever with the Lord." I have just received a note from your brother concerning the funeral, and I thank him for it. Bishop Whi taker will go down in the 11. 18 train and repre- sent the Diocese of Pennsylvania. Commending you and your brother to the God of all comfort, and assuring you of the deep sympathy of Mrs. Stevens and myself in this great affliction, I remain, yours truly, Wm. Bacon Stevens. Buffalo, April 13th, 1887. Dear Friend : — So it has come at last : the dear saint sleeps in Jesus ; keeps Easter-tide in Para- dise, and has rested from his labors ripe and full of years and of good works. Blessed indeed is his death in the Lord. So wonderful was the conflict of his constitution against disease that I began to hope he might still be spared to us. It shocked me somewhat, therefore, to find the news in the Journal to-day. What a legacy you inherit in his precious name and memory ! The Church will ever cherish it How remarkably his ** primacy'' rounds out the century, since White and Provoost landed at New York, Easter, 1787! Express my sympathy to all the family, and accept my thanks for your cordial letters. Faithfully yours, A. Cleveland Coxe, Bishop of Western New York. ^ • W 178 LETTERS. LETTERS. 179 It I V f '^^ III ■■ i» "The Gables," Reading, Central Penna., April 13th, '87. My Dear Sir -.—The morning paper brings me the sad intelligence that your dear father has passed beyond the veil. My prayers for his continuance among us have been cheered from day to day by the hope which the long protraction of his sickness created. But "He doeth all things well." Bishop Lee was in the full use of all his mental faculties, although he has filled his fourscore years, and he has been rescued from that stage of decline which must soon have succeeded, had his time on earth been prolonged. If the order of "The Caravan which moves to the pale realms of space" is to continue, I shall be the next to follow. My three elders in the House of Bishops have, in the last few months, passed away in the order of their seniority, and now I am the foremost in the line. May I find a space, through God's mercy, near to your sainted father m the spirit worid. I trust that the funeral rites will be observed at such a time as I can attend. Accept for yourself, and your sister and brother, assurance of my loving sympathy. Faithfully, "Thy Friend and thy Father's Friend," M. A. De Wolfe Howe. Boston, April 36th, 1887. j)g^R : Will you allow one who is a stranger to you to sympathize with you in the loss of your venerable and most excellent father? Bishop Lee was a father to very many in the Church ; and I myself had peculiarly tender associations with his earlier life, although I was but a little and shy boy and he the man. My father was the Rector of Christ Church, Norwich, Conn., and when I was a boy of nine or ten years Mr. Lee was reading more or less under my father's directions. I remember that my next elder brother read aloud to him at a time when his eyes were troubling him. His first parish was next peigh- bor to my father's church. Very often, on his annual visit to Norwich, the Bishop preached for me in the church which my father built, and which, later, was my field of labor. So that all the way up from boyhood I have had most pleasing and grateful intercourse with him. The loss is very great to the Church, and the sorrow must be keen to your own immediate family. The Bishop was a saintly, learned and wise man, and he must leave a great void in many loving hearts. May God be the comforter of you all. I am, madam. Yours sincerely, Benjamin H. Paddock. My Dear : The most unexpected news of your venerable father's death reached me in New York, whither I had gone to the meeting of our Board of Missions, and my first hope was to come and join with the great company which gathered to show I i8o LETTERS. I their love for him, and their reverence for that high place he filled so gently and so justly as our first Bishop. But I found that the Committee on the Hymnal, of which I am Chairman, had come (many of its members from a long distance) with much work to do, and prepared to sit through the two days, and I knew he would have wished me to stay and do my work, so, to my great regret, as I telegraphed Mr. Bates, I could not come. When two o'clock came yesterday we stopped our work, and all joined with you all in very loving communion, while I read the Holy Scriptures and said the Creed and the Prayers. There will be other times and places for me to bear my witness to all that was gracious and good in your dear father's personal and public life, as we saw him. As I write to you and think of the old home with the father gone, and the family with the master taken from its head, I rather tell you of my very great sympathy with you in your personal loss. It is the break of the last link that binds our hearts to the only really happy time of life — our childhood, — when this comes— I know it very well— and I beg you to believe that I feel with you and for you all, and share as far as one may the loving reverence in which his name and memory must live on, where once he was revered and loved. Believe me very sincerely, Your friend, William Croswell Doane. Albany, April i6, 1887. LETTERS. 181 Diocese of Ohio. Cleveland, April i6th, 1887. My Dear Friend : — Notwithstanding the premoni- tions, we were not prepared for the news of your venerable father's death. To you, personally, the loss of such a loving parent, and such a holy example of all that is estimable in religious character and walk, is not to be measured. And to the Church, his departure, at this particular juncture, would seem to be a disaster, were not its affairs in the hands of infinite wisdom, and were not its welfare dearer to the Saviour than it can be to any of His followers. He does what is best ; and He appoints times and seasons, as well as instruments, for effecting His ends. Mrs. Bedell and I have been talking this morning over the reunion, in which he has already shared. How mysterious is all that lies beyond the edge of the grave ! How little light even the glorious revela- tions of this Easter season shed upon that future ! But how happy is our privilege of resting our hope in simple faith upon the loving grace and infinite wisdom of our dear Lord. Commending you and your dear ones to Him, I beg to assure you of our sympathy, and am, Sincerely yours, G. T. Bedell. My Dear Charleston, South Carolina, April 24th, 1887. ■ : I will not intrude upon your time but for a moment, and that only just to say ,11 l82 LETTERS. MINUTES AND RESOLUTIONS. how pained I am at the death of your venerable and honored father. We do not know each other, but we have both seen sorrow, and have hope towards God for our dear ones who sleep in Jesus. I shall never forget your father's deep sympathy for us of Charleston in our disaster, and how he helped us. May God be with you. Very respectfully, W. B. W. Howe, Bishop of South Carolina. 183 I need say nothing, perhaps, in the way of com- fort * * * It is no small comfort, however, to have had a father who lived so long and so well, and who has departed this life without a stain upon his memory, honored and revered by all. f ( Mt I I I f The Rev. Lafayette Marks, pastor of Hanover Street Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, in a letter of condolence to a member of the Bishop's family, says : I have just learned of the death of your esteemed father, the Right Rev. Alfred Lee. Allow me to assure you of my earnest sympathy in your sore be- reavement Your father gave me a cordial greeting when I first came to Wilmington some eighteen years ago ; and it has been my privilege to enjoy his fraternal regard ever since. * * » ♦ I cannot tell you how much I esteem him for his character and his works. I thought of him often during his sickness, and hoped and prayed that he might recover. But God knoweth and doeth best * * * ♦ * * i'Ai t f i '¥> I i^ ^ir I r EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL AD- DRESSES OF THE BISHOPS. « ( % 'I- t Ths extracts from thb addresses here reprinted in- CI,UDE AXI, WHICH HAVE BEEN RECEIVED UP TO THE CI^OSE OP THE YEAR 1887, THE PUBUCATION HAVING BEEN DEI^AYED UNTII, THAT TIME IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE JOURNALS OF AS MANY OF THE Dioceses as possibi«e. ii f. <•!! »1 I / Connecticut. During the year, four of the Bishops of this Church have been removed by death, — The Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, D.D., Bishop of New York; the Rt Rev. William Mercer Green, Bishop of Mississippi ; the Rt. Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., Bishop of Delaware, and Presiding Bishop of the House of Bishops ; and the Rt. Rev. William Bacon Stevens, D.D., Bishop of Pennsylvania. The Bishop of Delaware had nearly completed the forty-sixth year of his Episcopate. Two of these prelates had passed beyond and one had almost reached the limits of '* fourscore years.'' So God has taken them to Himself, full of years and honors, reverenced and beloved throughout the entire Church. And what more need I say? **They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars, for ever and ever." Rhode Isi^and. During the past year, three of our Bishops have been taken from us, all of whom had passed beyond the ordinary limit of years allotted to man on earth, and, their work here completed, they rest from their labors, and are now, we trust, rejoicing in the fields 187 . V »\ 188 EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL ADDRESSES. M llf / y / / Pennsylvania. BISHOP STEVENS. The death of Bishop Lee has come nearer to us than that of others. He was well known to us all. He was the President of the Corporation of the Phila- delphia Divinity School, and he was the Presiding Bishop of our whole Church. For fifty years he had been a faithful minister of the Lord Jesus ; for forty- five years he had been Bishop of Delaware ; for three years he was the Presiding Bishop. His diocesan field was small, but he cultivated it with sedulous care, and it grew under his fatherly oversight. The strong, though quiet, elements of his character soon led to his taking a very active part in nearly all the forward movements of the Church, and developed abilities which soon commanded the public attention. In the Board of Missions, in the »* extracts from annual addresses. 191 Mexican Commission, in the Revision Committee of the Bible, in the sessions of the Lambeth Conference, and other great occasions, he took a prominent part. He was one of the most diligent of students and writers, even up to this last year. His early legal training gave a judicial cast to his mind, so that his judgment was rarely at fault. His wisdom was pro- found. So gentle and inoffensive, so loving and sympathetic, so redolent with the grace of humility and personal consecration, that he seemed to be almost the St. John of the House of Bishops, lean- ing on Jesus' bosom, loving and beloved by all. In his theological views he was sound and strong and evangelical, but he ever spoke the truth in love, and he maintained his consistency of doctrine through the half century of his ministry. His Church views were based on the Bible and the Prayer-Book, and never did he show the slightest disloyalty to either, but was an uncompromising defender of the faith of the Church as set forth in the Creed, the Catechism, the Offices, and Articles of the Book of Common Prayer. His whole life will bear microscopic inspection, and its trend and aim was to be a living example of the beauty of holiness, the power of truth, the fidelity of a good Shepherd, and of that growth in grace which lies at the base of all personal piety, all ministerial power, all true sympathy with humanity, and all permanent success in discharging the duties and filling up the responsibility of a Bishop in the Church of God. As the sun, when it goes down, often leaves I i ( 192 EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL ADDRESSES. behind in the sky broad bands of golden light, telling us that he is still living and shining, though beyond our sight, so the golden memories which stream up- ward from the sunset of this man of God, tell us that he still lives and shines beyond our horizon, with a glory that will ever increase, and with a light that shall never fade away. ,t^ «r i \ : I Kansas. The Right Rev. Alfred Lee, Bishop of the Diocese of Delaware, was also the Presiding Bishop in our House of Bishops, and has been such ever since the decease of the venerable Bishop Smith, of Kentucky, who preceded him. Indeed, for several General Con- ventions prior to the death of Bishop Smith, the care of the Presidency, on account of the extreme infirmi- ties and age of Bishop Smith, largely fell on him, and he sustained it with great ability. * * * * * ♦ * * The forty-fifth year of his Episcopate closed on the evening of Wednesday, the 12th day of October, 1886, and the fact was, on the morning of the next day, noticed in the House of Bishops by the adoption of suitable resolutions of congratulation and affectionate regard. He was a man of very clear and definite views in regard to Christian doctrine, and was well known as holding very decidedly and intelli- gently the views of Divine Truth held by what is called the Evangelical School. Yet there was a re- markable sweetness of personal character, which made EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL ADDRESSES. 193 him very tolerant towards those of other schools of thought and interpretation. He was an able linguist, and was one of the few in this country who were elected to work with the famous English translators, in the production of the Revised Version of the Bible. His intellectual activity was kept up to the last. He was a very modest, but really a very great man. He may be peculiarly characterized as emi- nently representing the judicial mind of the House of Bishops, his views on Canonical questions, or those involving legal principles, being almost always con- clusive in that House. As a lover of the Master he lived purely and consistently, and in the love of the Master he died. He *' sleeps in Jesus." Tennessee. During the past year, three of our Bishops have been called away from the militant Church to that rest which remaineth to the people of God. They were all of them men of mark ; and all had reached a good old age. The Rt. Rev. Alfred Lee, Bishop of Delaware and Presiding Bishop of the American Church, was con- secrated in 1 841, and was for six-and-forty years Bishop of his Diocese. He was a saintly man— a man of great and accurate scholarship. We may thank God for such lives. They are the heritage of the Church. 13 f * 194 EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL ADDRESSES. EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL ADDRESSES. 195 Maine. No less than four of our most venerated and in- fluential Bishops have been taken to their rest, — the Right Rev. Horatio Potter, Bishop of New York, on the 2d day of January ; the Right Rev. William Mercer Green, Bishop of Mississippi, on the 13th of Febniary ; the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, Bishop of Delaware, and the Presiding Bishop of the House of Bishops, on the I2th of April ; and very recently, on S. Barnabas' Day, the Right Rev. William Bacon Stevens, of Penn- sylvania. Each of these, except Bishop Stevens, had served for a remarkably long period in his office. Bishop Lee was consecrated in 1841, Bishop Green in 1850, and Bishop Potter in 1854. The youngest of the three by birth, Bishop Lee, had reached nearly four- score years, and had served longest in the Episcopate, having been called at the age of thirty-four years, and when he had been in priests* orders but three years, to become the first Bishop of Delaware. The oldest, Bishop Green, was bom in 1798, less than ten years after the adoption of the American Constitution, and was chosen as the first Bishop of Mississippi at the age of fifty-two, having previously held important posts as a presbyter. Bishop Potter, born in 1802, was or- dained to the priesthood in 1828, and served in the Episcopate nearly thirty-seven years. It is unneces- sary that I should undertake to review the lives of these eminent and venerated men, since that has been already done in the case of each of them by those more familiar than myself with their careers. Nor could we form a just estimate of the value of their services to the Church from any data within our knowledge or reach. From a full record of their official acts and utterances, from their private diaries and correspondence, and from the reports of those who were intimately associated with them, much could be learned respecting the nature and extent of their labors and their mental and moral characteristics. But when I consider what constitutes real success in the Christian ministry, and the condi- tions of it, and when I consider, furthermore, that the humblest of His servants, laboring in some obscure corner of His vineyard, made instrumental by God in bringing a particular man to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, and in turning him from sin to righteousness, may have done more for the cause of Christ than he who has been most conspicuous and most abundant in labors, I realize how impossible it is for us to judge as to the comparative importance in the spiritual sphere, of the life-work of individuals. Thus much may be truly said of these three departed Bishops, that they were all alike men not only of irre- proachable character, but of notable piety, and won for themselves not only esteem for their integrity and admiration for their ability and learning, but rever- ence for their godliness. They were, therefore, as Shepherds, meet ensamples to the flock of Christ, and when He, the Chief Shepherd, shall appear, they shall receive from Him their crown and their reward. 21 I 196 EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAI, ADDRESSES. EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAI. ADDRESSES. 197 Missouri. Bishop Lee, of Delaware, the late Presiding Bishop, was well fitted to be the Primate, by eminence in scholarship, strength of intellect, and dignity and kind- ness of demeanor. One was at a loss which to admire the more, the rigid accuracy of thought which gave power, or the pure simplicity of style which gave charm to all that he said or wrote. The painstaking fidelity which he brought to the discharge, in their minute details, of the duties which his high ofiice imposed upon him, was characteristic of his whole life. Vermont. Bishop Lee was consecrated in 184 1. His Episco- pate reached the unusual extent of forty-six years. He had a high reputation as a careful student of the Scriptures ; and was selected to be one of the mem- bers of what was called the American Commission to aid in the late revision of the Bible. As a preacher, he was earnest and forcible, impressing his hearers with the sincerity and strength of his own convictions. In his small Diocese he was able to hold, with his higher duties, the happy relations of the Rector of a Parish to the end of his life. He became the Presid- ing Bishop of the Church, on the decease of Bishop Smith, in 1884. Long Island. April 1 2th, 1887, our late Presiding Bishop, Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., laid aside the robes of office and rested from his labors on earth, as he rounded out his fourscore years. He was one of the men whose outward quiet and modest reserve greatly misled the world and the Church as to his industrious energy and aggressive force. Of sweet and humble piety, always disinclined to promi- nence among men, even when thrust upon him ; with a personal manner and tone of character that seemed to imply a readiness to give up an opinion rather than to defend it at the risk of controversy ; he was, in fact, a man of the most positive convictions, and of undaunted boldness and courage in uttering them when occasion required it. So with regard to his in- tellectual ability and his learning, he deceived most people by his tranquil simplicity and utter absence of all parade of strength. He did not court emergencies, but when they arose he was always equal to them. Somehow he was never lacking in needed power, and yet when his power manifested itself, it was of the nature of a sur- prise. The habit of his mind was essentially judicial. His great ambition was to be just and fair in deal- ing with opinions, parties, men. Nothing was more alien to his nature than to prejudge or to misjudge what came before him for arbitration or final adjudi- cation. Of his ecclesiastical sympathies and theologi- iqS EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL ADDRESSES. cal learning it is the less needful to speak, because, from beginning to end of his long career, none who knew him ever had any reason to be in doubt. He bore his high honors with modest dignity, lived among men without reproach, toiled on in every official relation hopefully to the last, and closed his career of honorable usefulness in the Church without a murmur, without an enemy, without a stain or a flaw on his record. Such men enrich the Church while they live and impoverish it when they die. Albany. Three of the most venerable and distinguished of our Bishops, and one of the youngest and most be- loved, have died since we were gathered here. * * * It is a great comfort to me to realize how the last few years of frequent intercourse and interchange of thought drew me into a far clearer comprehension of the late Presiding Bishop, and of the Bishop of Pennsylvania, and I think materially modified their judgment of my views. There are some who think it quite impossible, that men who differ strongly upon principles can come to any close relation, without some weak withholding of convictions. I am quite sure that the respect, which grows into appreciation, is built far more, upon a clearer understanding among men of differing views, and upon the recognition of the facts and reasons of their tenacious holding. Cer- EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL ADDRESSES. 199 tain it is that while there came, as there must, I think, to all men growing old, or growing at all, a broaden- ing of character and mind, there was never any lack of outspokenness when principles and policies were discussed. We all knew perfectly well where each one of us stood, and especially in the Mexican Com- mission, whose wretched outcome broke Bishop Lee's heart. The absolute agreement that we came to, was due to the clear, seen result, in the outworking to evident disaster, of elements which had escaped the notice of the Bishops in their first dealing with this question. I want to bear my testimony to the patience and earnestness, and purity of purpose, with which the Bishop of Delaware especially, took up with san- guine hope the work in Mexico. His** heart, and hopes, and prayers and tears'' were with it, and if the faith of others had been as good as his faith was, if the hopes which inspired the beginning of the en- terprise had been as sound as they were sincere, there might have been a witness for primitive faith and order in Mexico, rooted and grounded in love and peace. Bishop Lee was to me the type of a learned and earnest evanger^^l, '* godly and well learned, '» I may say ; and his endurance and energy were really marvellous. Central New York. Four venerable figures disappear from the House of Bishops ; four honored Chief Shepherds are missed and mourned in the jurisdictions where they ruled % 198 EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAI, ADDRESSES. EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL ADDRESSES. 199 cal learning it is the less needful to speak, because, from beginning to end of his long career, none who knew him ever had any reason to be in doubt. He bore his high honors with modest dignity, lived among men without reproach, toiled on in every official relation hopefully to the last, and closed his career of honorable usefulness in the Church without a murmur, without an enemy, without a stain or a flaw on his record. Such men enrich the Church while they live and impoverish it when they die. Albany. Three of the most venerable and distinguished of our Bishops, and one of the youngest and most be- loved, have died since we were gathered here. * * * It is a great comfort to me to realize how the last few years of frequent intercourse and interchange of thought drew me into a far clearer comprehension of the late Presiding Bishop, and of the Bishop of Pennsylvania, and I think materially modified their judgment of my views. There are some who think it quite impossible, that men who dififer strongly upon principles can come to any close relation, without some weak withholding of convictions. I am quite sure that the respect, which grows into appreciation, is built far more, upon a clearer understanding among men of differing views, and upon the recognition of the facts and reasons of their tenacious holding. Cer- tain it is that while there came, as there must, I think, to all men growing old, or growing at all, a broaden- ing of character and mind, there was never any lack of outspokenness when principles and policies were discussed. We all knew perfectly well where each one of us stood, and especially in the Mexican Com- mission, whose wretched outcome broke Bishop Lee's heart. The absolute agreement that we came to, was due to the clear, seen result, in the outworking to evident disaster, of elements which had escaped the notice of the Bishops in their first dealing with this question. I want to bear my testimony to the patience and earnestness, and purity of purpose, with which the Bishop of Delaware especially, took up with san- guine hope the work in Mexico. His '* heart, and hopes, and prayers and tears*' were with it, and if the faith of others had been as good as his faith was, if the hopes which inspired the beginning of the en- terprise had been as sound as they were sincere, there might have been a witness for primitive faith and order in Mexico, rooted and grounded in love and peace. Bishop Lee was to me the type of a learned and earnest evangelical, ** godly and well learned," I may say ; and his endurance and energy were really marvellous. ^ Central New York. Four venerable figures disappear from the House of Bishops ; four honored Chief Shepherds are missed and mourned in the jurisdictions where they ruled \ 200 EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL ADDRESSES. prudently with all their power, in the families where they were fatherly and provident and watchful,— Bishop Green, the first Bishop of Mississippi; Bishop Potter, the sixth Bishop of New York; Bishop Lee, the first Bishop of Delaware, and Bishop Stevens, the fourth Bishop of Pennsylvania. My acquaintance with no one of them could be called intimate, though we were all often together. They were as unlike one another almost as gentleness, prudence, acuteness and con- scientiousness are unlike one another. There was no stain on the life of any one of them. Beyond ques- tion they were all ** wholesome and godly examples and patterns for the people to follow,'* all using the authority given them, **not to destruction but to sal- vation; not to hurt but to help,'» all gifted with the spirit ** of power and love and soberness.'' EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAI, ADDRESSES. 20 1 New Hampshire. Since we were last here assembled five Bishops of this Church have been called from the toils of earth to the rest of Paradise,— Green, Potter, Lee, Stevens and Elliott. What men of renown. The Bishop of Delaware and Presiding Bishop was a very ripe scholar, a prudent counsellor, stout in debate, a meek Chris- tian, and a strong Bishop and faithful man. South Carolina. Since we last met three venerable members of the House of Bishops have been removed by death : the Right Rev. Dr. Green of the Diocese of Missis- sippi ; the Right Rev. Dr. Potter of the Diocese of New York; and the Presiding Bishop, Right Rev. Dr. Lee, of the Diocese of Delaware. Bishop Lee had served in the Episcopate forty-six years. Bishop Green thirty-seven years. Bishop Potter thirty-three years. Long lives all of them; and lives without stain, spent to the glory of God and for the welfare of men. Our American Church afiectionately places their names upon her diptychs. Central Pennsylvania. Tuesday in Easter week, April 12, the sad tidings went abroad that the Presiding Bishop of the Church, the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., had been advanced to a higher ministry in the presence of the Lord. Dr. Lee throughout his clerical life had been a slender and apparently delicate man, but we never heard of him as sick, or laid aside from duty by acute or chronic disease. He was always at his post of duty, with careful preparation for all its require- ments. Although for so many years he has been known as one of the Fathers of the Church, yet in his appearance the indications were not conspicuous that he was approaching the common boundary of man's earthly course. , When he last stood as the senior among his brethren, there seemed no reason to apprehend that the same relation might not still continue through yet succeed- 1 202 EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAIv ADDRESSES. ing years. The Church was startled and surprised by his removal. He had a marked individuality of character. He leaves no man in the Episcopate whose opinions on doctrinal and ecclesiastical subjects are more distinctly defined or more firmly fixed than his— perhaps no one entirely accordant with him on all points. He was always ready to give an answer to every man that asked a reason of the faith that was in him with meekness and fear. Yet he was no polemic. He did not provoke and defy controversy. No acrimony of language or voice ever fell from his pen or lips. With dispas- sionate calmness and simple cogency he vindicated the truth as it is in Jesus, whenever challenged to its de- fense. He never strove for mastery — only for right. His learning befitted his office. His administration was eminently paternal. His personal holiness of character and meekness of deportment rendered him an object of universal veneration. . EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAI, ADDRESSES. 203 Massachusetts. On the 1 2th of April last, our venerable, honored and beloved Presiding Bishop, Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., fell asleep in Jesus, at his own home in Wilmington, Delaware, in the eightieth year of his age, and the forty-sixth year of his Episcopate. Only important du- ties, laid on me by the General Convention, and which could not be abandoned without loss to others, could have kept me from paying my last token of life-long respect to this good and great servant of God. For my memory of him goes back to my boyhood days, when, as one of my father's parishioners, he was mak- ing his transition from the legal profession to the sacred ministry. My first Parish Church in Norwich, Connecticut, saw and heard him gladly on his occa- sional visits to his old home, he little thinking that in later years he should be one of my consecrators to the office of your Bishop. Bishop Lee was a ripe scholar, a wise man, a fearless but loving and sympa- thetic Bishop, a most humble and exemplary Christian, in all things **a pattern of good works.'' The admir- able clearness, calmness and judicial quality of his intellect, the sweetness and modesty of his disposition, the depth and holiness of his spiritual life, the courage and absolute dutifulness of his daily life, the unvary- ing nearness to God of the whole man, — these qualities will ensure him perpetual remembrance among all good Christian people. North Carolina. Our venerable Presiding Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Lee, of Delaware, has also been taken from us. He was a man of very decided ability ; of calm and well- balanced judgment ; of great gentleness of spirit ; and wherever he was known, he was held in universal respect and honor. As Presiding Bishop, he won for himself the increasing love and reverence of all his brethren. 204 EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAI, ADDRESSES. L t i Colorado. The late Bishop of Delaware, for three years the Presiding Bishop, was not the least of the three great Bishops of the Church, who have entered into rest during the past year. It was given to him to unite, in a remarkable degree, clear thinking and accurate scholarship with intensely practical views of policy and administration. With a small Diocese, which he could work effectively, and yet pass his years in the enjoyment of the quietness and confidences of pastoral life, he was able to pursue, even to the last, his scrip- tural studies, and give them practical direction for teaching purposes, and also to devote much time and thought to the general work of the House of Bishops and of the Church at large. Whether as serving on the Mexican Commission and on committees of the General Convention, or as fulfilling the duties of Pri- mate of the American Church, he was ever the careful, painstaking, clear-sighted, practical Christian Bishop,' commanding the respect and confidence of all in his ability, sincerity and conscientiousness of character, and as one who ever had the courage of his convic' tions. The great deference paid him as presiding offi- cer in the House of Bishops and in the Board of Mis- sions, at their late sessions, was very marked. None could but feel that he eminently deserved the high regard and honors paid him. EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL ADDRESSES. 205 Milwaukee. Bishop Lee, of Delaware, and Bishop Stevens, of Pennsylvania, intimately associated in their lives, were not long separated in death. They were both men of eminent abilities, of wide experience, of deep per- sonal piety and abiding influence. They filled posi- tions of great responsibility, and were faithful and conscientious in the discharge of duty. Kentucky. In the last seven months three of our most venera- ble and venerated Fathers in God have entered into their rest. Bishop Potter, of New York, departed this life on the 2d day of January last, having accomplished the fourscore years of service ; Bishop Green, of Mis- sissippi, departed this life on the 13th day of February last, in the eighty-ninth year of his age ; and Alfred Lee, Bishop of Delaware and Presiding Bishop, de- parted this life on the I2th day of April last, in the eightieth year of his age. Each of them came to his grave as a shock of corn fully ripe and ready for the garner. Each of them possessed to the very end the undiminished spiritual vision, the unabated spiritual force, and could bear testimony, in death as in life, to the power of His grace whom for so many years he had served. Let us thank God for the good examples of these His servants. Let us pray for strength to follow them even as they did follow Christ ■A 2o6 EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL ADDRESSES. Hi f New Jersey. Three of our oldest and most venerated Bishops have died in the past few months. ******* Bishop Lee, the oldest of the three by consecration, though not in years, was called hence amid the Easter songs of the Church. Though seemingly frail in body, he had a strong and vigorous mind. He had clear convictions of truth, which he did not cover up nor conceal. His theology was not of the hazy indefinite type, which is becoming quite too much the fashion in this day. He was a Biblical scholar of no mean attainments. In the House of Bishops he was always listened to with most respectful attention. He was one of the best Presiding Bishops the Church has ever had, his early training making him a man of affairs. I had a loving letter from him just before his last ill- ness, in which he spoke with tender feeling of the affectionate confidence of his brother Bishops, all through the sessions of the late General Convention in Chicago. He was buried in the church yard of the old Swedes' Church, Wilmington. The manifestations of respect shown to his memory proved that his residence there of near a half a cen- tury had given him a place in the hearts of the peo- ple, such as any man dying might covet for himself. Western Michigan. The Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Delaware, and for three years Presiding Bishop, extracts from annual addresses. 207 died on Tuesday in Easter week, April 12, 1887. The gentle manner of the Prelate was expressive of his character. No dignity of age or position could force him out of the bearing of **a meek and quiet spirit'' Yet he was *' valiant for the truth'' he loved. No mind, unless swayed by prejudice or partiality, could but admire him in the last General Convention, so pronounced for the Church's self-respect, while yet she extended the hand of fellowship; so willing to recog- nize what time and circumstances demanded in her worship, and withal so resolute not to give place **by subjection, no, not for an hour," to relaxing the Creed, or moulding the Ritual to a pernicious ceremonialism or modern taste. **He would never arrogate to the Church what belonged to individuals nor would he allow individuals to assume what belonged to the Church." (Sermon by Rev. H. C. Dyer.) His Chris- tian scholarship was recognized in his selection as a member of the American Branch of the New Testa- ment Revision Committee. / Chicago. With the whole Church we mourn the death of three venerable Bishops, men of different types of char- acter and thought, but wonderfully alike as we see them in the softened light of an honored old age, alike in this, that the fruits of the Spirit hung upon them in clusters so thick as to hide from sight the varied shapes of the branches beneath. When such men as % through grace, did bring there ; and when, next to the honor they render unto Him who washed them in His blood, they shall come about him to call him blessed, and acknowledge the sweet fruits of his labors to their souls." And as we look back upon his life, we may rejoice that there was such a marked answer to the prayer offered at his consecration in the sermon then preached : **The Lord look down from heaven upon his servant, now to be made a shepherd of His shepherds and His flocks, under Him, the chief * Shepherd and Bishop of souls ;' and grant him grace for all his work, so that in spite of all the opposition of the devil, the flesh and the world, he may both save his own soul and the souls of them that hear him, through the inworking Spirit and the interceding righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ." But we shall see him again, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. And there will be many witnesses there to testify, *'We were hungry and he fed us ; we were sick and in prison and he ministered unto us." And from the arches of Heaven will ring the plaudit, — Crown him, crown him, the faithful pastor, teacher. Bishop, the saintly scholar and servant of God. Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like that of this venerated Father in God. Amen and Amen. If / I I, I »