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 | Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia. |  |
Absent.
Mr. Alex. Forbes, Mr. John Bell, Mr. Giles Rainsford, Mr. James
Breghin, Mr. John Span, Mr. Owen Jones, Mr. John Prince, Mr. James
Tenant, (out of the country,) Mr. Daniel Taylor, (excused by letter,) Mr.
Saml. Bernard, (sick,) Mr. James Cleck, (sick,) Mr. Wm. Black.
Then Mr. Commissary Blair read two letters from the Lord-Bishop of
London, our Diocesan, one to himself, and another to Reverend the Clergy
of Virginia, and recommended the particulars of them, which letters are as
followeth,—viz.:
To the Rev. Mr. Blair, Commissary of Virginia.
You will find in the enclosed the reason I have for
writing it, and will, I doubt not, agree in opinion with me that it cannot
but be useful to put the clergy under you in mind of their duty, even if
there should be no failing, much more if there be any. I therefore desire
you to communicate this letter to them, and to use all proper means
to redress any deviations from our rules, considering that both you and I
are to be answerable if we neglect our duty in that part.
I have wrote to the Governor, and entreated him to give you all proper
countenance and assistance in these matters, and am persuaded he
will be ready so to do upon any application you may have occasion to
make him.
I should be glad to hear from you what vacant churches are in your
parts, to the end I may use my best endeavours to procure you a supply.
Your assured friend and brother,
To the Reverend the Clergy of Virginia.
It is always a joy to me to hear of the good
success of your ministerial labours, and no less a grief to hear of any defaults
and irregularities among you; to which disadvantageous reports I am not
forward to give credit, finding that wrong representations are frequently
made. Some occasions have been given to apprehend, there may have
been faults and miscarriages in the life and conversation of some among
you, which I trust are corrected; and that the grace of God, and a sense
of duty you owe to Him, his Church, and to yourselves, will so rule in your
hearts, as that I shall no more hear any thing to the disadvantage of any
of you upon that head. Nevertheless, I cannot but give you notice, that
I have information of some irregularities, which, if practised, will need
very much to be redressed; and I cannot but hope, if such things there
be, you will not be unwilling to do your part, as I think it a duty to do
mine by this advisement.
Whether any ministers be settled among you who have not a license from
my predecessor or myself, I must leave to the inquiry of your Governor,
who is instructed in that case, and will, I believe, upon notice given, be
ready to act accordingly, as also in reference to institutions and inductions.
At least I must hope, that, by this case and yours, none will be suffered
to officiate in the public worship of God, or perform any ministerial offices
of religion, but such only as are Episcopally ordained; and from all such
I cannot but expect a regular conformity to the established Liturgy,
from which none of us can depart without violating that solemn promise
we made at our ordination.
I have desired Mr. Commissary to communicate this to you, and, as I
hope he will use all fitting earnestness in pressing the observation of these
things, so I doubt not he will be able to procure a redress for those or any
other disorders in the worship of God, when the same shall come to his
knowledge.
Your affectionate brother and assured friend,
Then the Convention received a letter from the Honourable the Governor,
directed to the clergy, which was read, and with it a copy of a
letter from the Governor to the vestry of St. Anne, in Essex, which was
read also, which letters are as followeth, viz.:—
You are now come hither at your Commissary's
desire, that he might have the easier opportunity to communicate
to you a letter from your Right Reverend Diocesan. And seeing his Lordship
has been pleased to make mention of me in that letter, taking notice
that I have instructions to act in reference to institutions and inductions,
and that he must leave to my inquiry whether any ministers be settled
among you who have not license from him or his predecessor, and as his
Lordship seems to rely on my care as well as yours, that none may be
suffered to officiate in the public worship of God, or perform any ministerial
offices of religion, but such only as are Episcopally ordained, I ought not
to be silent on this occasion, and thereupon must remark to you, that the
very person whom his Lordship expects should use all fitting earnestness
in pressing the observations of these things is he whom I take to be the
least observer thereof himself. For none more eminently than Mr. Commissary
Blair sets at naught those instructions which your Diocesan leaves
you to be guided by, with respect to institutions and inductions; he denying
by his practice as well as discourses that the King's Government
has the right to collate ministers to ecclesiastical benefices within this
Colony; for, when the church which he now supplies became void by the
death of the former incumbent, his solicitation for the same was solely to
the vestry, without his ever making the least application to me for my collation,
notwithstanding it was my own parish church; and I cannot but
complain of his deserting the cause of the Church in general, and striving
to put it on such a foot as must deprive the clergy of that reasonable
security which, I think, they ought to have with regard to their livings.
As to the disorders in the worship of God, which are pointed at in the
said letter, it appears as if my Lord of London knew not that this Commissary
is more apt to countenance than redress the same; for I myself have
seen him present in the church while a layman (his clerk) has read the
divine service to the congregation, he himself vouchsafing to perform no
more of the ministerial office than to pronounce the absolution, preach,
and dismiss with the blessing. I have also seen him present in the churchyard
while the same clerk has performed the funeral-service at the grave.
And I remember when he was for having the churchwardens provide lay
readers, who should on Sundays read to their congregations some printed
sermons; and so far he declared in Council his approbation thereof, that
such practice had like to have had the sanction of the Government, had I
not withstood it as destructive to the Establishment of the Church.
Those and many other instances that might be given induce me to believe
that a reformation of what has chiefly (as I apprehend) given occasion
to your Diocesan's letter will not be pressed very heartily upon you
ordination as his Lordship reminds you all of: wherefore I judge it to be
the more incumbent upon the several members now in this Convention
diligently to inquire of the disorders which your Diocesan takes notice of,
and earnestly to apply yourselves to proper means for redressing them.
As to any faults and miscarriages in the life and conversation of some
among you, which your Diocesan likewise touches upon, I trust your Commissary
will use all fitting earnestness in pressing the reformation of such
manners as may give offence and bring scandal upon your holy profession;
and I have so good an opinion of the present body of the clergy, that I
do not in the least doubt of a very general concurrence to censure and
admonish any one of your fraternity here whom you shall know to have
erred in either his doctrine or manners. For my part, I hope, after so
many years' experience of my conduct in this Government, there is little
need to express in words my disposition toward the Church; and I cannot
suppose that any one of you doubts of my real inclination to support the
interest thereof, or that I am otherwise than, reverend gentlemen,
To the vestry of St. Anne, in Essex, September 3, 1718.
Though the hurry of public business, wherein I was
engaged, did not allow me time immediately to answer your letter of the
1st of August, yet I told Mr. Short on his going hence, on the 5th of that
month, that you might expect my answer in a few days; and if he has done
me justice he has informed you that I advised your forbearing, in the mean
time, to run too rashly into the measures I perceived you were inclining to;
assuring him my intentions are to make you easy, if possible, in relation to
your minister. But, whether that advice was imparted to you or not, it is
plain, by your proceedings of the 8th of the same month, that you resolved
not to accept of it, seeing you immediately discarded Mr. Bagge and sent
down Mr. Rainsford with a pretended presentation of induction. As soon
as that came into my hands, I observed it expressly contrary to a late
opinion of the Council, whereby it is declared that the right of supplying
vacant benefices is claimed by the King, and by his Majesty's commission
given to the Governor; and for that reason I let Mr. Rainsford know that
before I could admit of such a presentation it was necessary for me to
have likewise the advice of the Council thereon. But, not content to wait
their resolution, I understand you have taken upon you the power of induction,
as well as that of presentation, by giving Mr. Rainsford possession
of the pulpit, and excluding the person I appointed to officiate. I have,
according to my promise, taken the advice of my Council upon your pretended
presentation, and here send it enclosed, by which you will find that
the Board is clearly of opinion that I should not receive such presentation:
please bring a "quare impedit" to try your title; and then it will appear
whether the King's clerk or yours has the most rightful possession of this
church. In the mean time I think it necessary to forewarn you to be
cautious how you dispose of the profits of your parish, lest you pay it in
your own wrong.
Should I end my letter here, it might be imagined that I am as willing
as you to keep up contention; but, as I am rather desirous to prevail with
you by reason than to convince you at your own expense, I think it necessary
to exhort you to some just terms of accommodation: but I must
tell you, that this is not to be accomplished by the interposition of such
faithless deputies as Mr. Short, your late messenger hither; for if upon
his return he reported what I have seen attested under Mr. Winston's
hand, he ought to be excluded all human conversation; for I do assure
you that no such discourse happened between Short and me as he has
related, neither did Mr. Bagge ever solicit me to turn out any one of
your vestry, nor did I ever receive such a proposal from any man else,
except Mr. Rainsford, who in a letter last year did importune me to remove
one of your vestry, whom he terms a Judas among the number of the
twelve Bishops of St. Anne's, but, because I never pretended to intermeddle
in the choice or removal of vestries, I never answered his letter. By the
same hands it is like you received such another piece of news,—to wit: that
Mr. Commissary Blair advised your insisting on your right, for that you
had the law, and the major part of the Council is on your side. I have
taxed Mr. Commissary with this, and he has publicly denied it, and even
given it under his hand that he never did such a thing; but, if he did, the
enclosed proceedings of the Council (wherein he joined) will convince you
how much he was mistaken. Another thing, which perhaps may have
given you a fallacious assurance, is, that the vestry of James City were
taking the same measures with you to dispute the King's authority; but,
to undeceive you on that point, that vestry has thought fit to drop the
dispute, and the person they pretended to fix in their parish has been fain
to supplicate me to put him into some other benefice.
Having thus endeavoured to remove the impression which false rumors
and public insinuations may have made on you, I shall in the next place
remind you of some particulars which probably some of you have forgot
and others perhaps have never come to the knowledge of. In the year
1712, Mr. Bagge was so much in the esteem of your parish that, though
he had then the care of another, he was the only person you would think
of to supply yours, and you represented him to me as a sober man, a good
preacher, and of a life and conversation blameless; when I yielded to
supply your parish by collating Mr. Edwards, the only objection to Mr.
Bagge was his non-residence in your parish; when, upon Mr. Edwards's
decease, I was willing to prefer Mr. Bagge to that vacancy, you then only
objected against him his not being in Priests' Orders; and when, in order
to England, you gave him a very ample testimonial of his pious and laudable
life and doctrine, all which are yet extant, under the hands of those
who now so violently oppose him. It was on the testimony of your vestry
that your Diocesan,—the Bishop of London,—after having admitted Mr.
Bagge into Priests' Orders, recommended him to me that he might be
collated into that parish where he had gained so good a reputation; and
who could imagine he would not be acceptable to a people who had given
such encomiums of his life and doctrine, after he had taken such pains to
remove the only thing that could be objected to him? And what opinion
your Bishop will have of men who, without any new experience of Mr.
Bagge's behaviour, act so inconsistent with themselves, I leave you to
judge.
That I may the better prevail with you to reflect in time upon what you
are going about, I shall plainly lay before you the power by which I act,
leaving you to judge whether I ought to give up a right so well founded
both on law and reason: As the King is the sovereign of these plantations,
so he is vested with the right of patronage of all ecclesiastical benefices,
unless when it appears that he has by apt words granted the same away to
private subjects.
That his Majesty doth claim the right here in Virginia appears by the
commission under the broad seal, whereby his Majesty gives his Governor
full power and authority to collate any person or persons to any churches
or chapels, or any other ecclesiastical benefices, as often as any of them
shall become void, (which power is also expressly excepted out of the
Bishop of London's patent as Bishop of the Plantations;) and in his Majesty's
instructions the Governor is particularly directed as to the qualifications
of the persons so to be collated by him, and enjoined to cause all
persons not so qualified to be removed, and immediately to supply the
vacancies, without giving notice to the vestries, which is always done in
England (in the case of deprivation) where there is a patron. This shows
that the King acknowledges no other patron but himself. But, besides this
commission, there is a further and very early evidence of the King's not
looking on the law you hinge on to give the vestries any right of patronage:
it is a lease made by King Charles II., to the Lords Arlington and
Culpepper, of the whole Territory of Virginia for thirty-one years, wherein,
among other things, there is this remarkable grant,—viz: "And we do
further give and grant to the Lord Henry Earle of Arlington, and Thomas,
Lord Culpepper, that they shall, for and during the said term of thirty-one
years, be sole and absolute patrons of all the churches and chapels already
built, or shall hereafter be built, within the said Territory," &c. Now, this
grant being made in 1672, just ten years after the law for inducting of
ministers passed here, is it to be supposed that the King's Counsel-at-law,
who prepared the grant, and the Lord-Chancellor, who put the great seal
to it, would have suffered it to pass had they judged it incompatible with
memory, especially considering that the Lord-Chancellor was always one
of the Committee for Foreign Plantations? And the then Government,
Council, and House of Burgesses, though they sent home agents to remonstrate
against this law, did not plead that this grant of the patronage
of churches was repugnant to the right of the vestries; neither could the
agents prevail to get the grant set aside, though they were particularly
charged to endeavour it. If you consider Sir Edward Northey's opinion,
(which I find mentioned in your letter,) it is plain he never had the
King's right under consideration; nor doth he at all determine that the
vestries are the undoubted patrons; but, after he had cited the several
laws relating to the churches, he declared that the right of advowson must
be determined by the laws of England, (there being no law of this country
that gives any further direction therein,) and the whole scope of his arguments
thereafter is only to show what is the practice in England, where
there are such undoubted patrons; which is but supposing what the King
has not yet yielded in this country, seeing he still claims the right of
supplying the vacancies of all ecclesiastical benefices, as the Council hath
declared to be the true meaning of his Majesty's commission and instructions.
Lastly, I shall set forth to you the reasonableness of believing that the
King looks upon the right of disposing of the benefices here as still vested
in the Crown.
Every minister sent here is denominated one of the King's Chaplains,
employed in his Majesty's service abroad, and as such receives twenty
pounds out of his treasury to defray the charge of his passage. If any of
the King's ships are coming hither, those ministers have the passage and
provision gratis. The Bishop of London recommends them to the Government
to be preferred to some ecclesiastical living. But they bring no
recommendation to any vestry as patrons of the churches; nor doth either
the King or the Bishop direct or desire the Governor to intercede with the
patrons of the churches to bestow on such ministers the vacant livings in
their gift. Now, to what purpose is the King at so much expense to send
over clergymen to the Plantations, if they are to starve here till a lay patron
thinks fit to present them? To what purpose doth the Bishop recommend
them to the Government, if he has no preferment to bestow? To what
purpose do they bring the Bishop's testimonial and license to preach, if
their qualifications are to be again tried by a vestry here, and they to
depend on popular humour for their livings? Can it be supposed that the
Governor's instructions, prepared by the Board of Trade, (who are well
acquainted with all the laws of this country,) and afterward read and
approved of in Council, where the King's learned judges are present,
should enjoin the Governor, upon the removal of a minister, immediately to
supply the vacancy without waiting the six months' lapse, and should not
rather direct him to follow the practices of England by giving timely notice
that the law of Virginia gave the right of patronage to the vestries?
Whatever wild notions some people may entertain of his Majesty's ministers
intrusted with the inspection of the Plantations, I am confident they
would never advise his Majesty to enjoin any thing repugnant to law; and
therefore, till the King thinks fit to alter my commission and instructions,
I hope I cannot be blamed for not giving up a right which his Majesty
has intrusted me with, unless it be otherwise determined by due course
of law, to which I shall be as ready as any man to submit; and I doubt
not you will allow me to be a fair adversary in so fully informing you beforehand
of the merits of the cause I am to defend. However, you have it
in your power to bring this dispute between us to an accommodation; and
I do again assure you that I shall be ready on my part to show myself an
indulgent Governor, and, in order to make you easy, to yield what I can
without betraying my trust to my master.
The said letter being read, a motion was made that the Commissary be
desired to print his sermon preached this day before the members of the
Convention, at the parish church of Bruton, in the city of Williamsburg.
Mr. Commissary answered that he had never yet appeared in print; but,
if the members of the Convention wished it, he would transmit a true copy
of it to the Lord-Bishop of London; and it was desired accordingly.
Resolved unanimously that the Governor be addressed.
Then a committee of the seven members following was appointed to
prepare the address,—viz.: Mr. Emanuel Jones, Mr. Hugh Jones, Mr.
George Robertson, Mr. Skaife, Mr. Seagood, Mr. Brodie, and Mr. Yates,—
and return it to the House by to-morrow morning, nine o'clock.
Ordered, That the Convention be adjourned to that hour.
Thursday, April 9, 1719.
Mr. Brodie, one of the committee that was appointed to draw up an
address to the Governor, being absent by reason of sickness, the rest of
the said committee—viz.: Mr. Emanuel Jones, Mr. Hugh Jones, Mr.
George Robertson, Mr. Skaife, Mr. Seagood, and Mr. Yates—appeared,
and Mr. Emanuel Jones in their name delivered it in; which, being read
and examined paragraph by paragraph, passed without amendment, and is
as followeth, viz:—
To the Hon. Alexander Spottswood, his Majesty's Lieutenant-Governor
and Commander-in-Chief of this Colony.
May it please your Honour, should we, the clergy of his Majesty's Province
of Virginia assembled in Convention, (who have, with the utmost
indignation and resentment, heard your Honour affronted and abused by a
few prejudiced men,) be silent upon this occasion, we should appear
ungrateful in both capacities as ministers and subjects. Therefore, with
government,—a government that has raised this Colony to a flourishing
condition by exercising over it no other authority but that wherein its
happiness and liberty consist, and which nothing but the groundless suspicions
and unreasonable jealousies of the eager and violent can render
liable to exception. Your Honour is happy to us rather than to yourself,
in that you are perpetually toiling for the public, constantly doing good
to many, whilst you do injury to none.
We approach you, therefore, not only as our Governor, but as a common
good, and think we cannot better declare our love to this country than in
our hearty wishes and fervent prayers that you may long, very long,
preside over it, which we assure you are the sincere desires of your
Honour's very much obliged and most humble servants.
The Convention next took the Lord-Bishop of London's letter into consideration,
which being again read and considered paragraph by paragraph
the first question that was put by Mr. Commissary was, Whether any of
the members present knew of any person who officiated in this country as
a minister without license from our present Diocesan or his predecessor?
and the whole House declared they knew of none. The next question
upon it was, Whether any of the members present knew of any minister
that officiated in the Colony without Episcopal ordination? to which the
following members answered they knew of none,—viz.: Mr. Monroe, Mr.
Mylne, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fountaine, Mr. Brunskill, Mr. Sharpe, Mr. George
Robertson, Mr. Finney, Mr. James Robertson, Mr. Thomson, Mr. Cargill.
The following members were doubtful whether Commissary Blair had
Episcopal ordination or not,—viz.: Mr. Skaife, Mr. Latane, Mr. Yates, Mr.
Bagge, Mr. Emanuel Jones, Mr. Bowker, Mr. Seagood, Mr. Scott, Mr.
Hugh Jones, Mr. Falkoner, Mr. Downal, and Mr. Worden. Mr. Selater
suspended his judgment. The next question was, Whether any member
knew of any minister who did not conform punctually to the rules of the
Established Church?
It was owned that there were many rules which were not observed by
any of them, because of the circumstances of the country.
Ordered, That it be an instruction to the committee that shall be appointed
to answer the Lord-Bishop of London's letter, that they set forth
the particulars wherein at present they cannot help being deficient in the
discharge of their function, and that his Lordship's directions be requested
therein, and that they inform him that none of the members refuse to
conform to the rubrics and canons to the utmost of their power.
The next thing inquired into was the irregularity of the lives of the
clergy.
To which it was answered, that no member had any personal knowledge
of the irregularity of any clergyman's life in this Colony.
Whereupon it was ordered, that it be an instruction to said committee
modestly to vindicate the lives of the clergy from the aspersions (thrown
on them by former informations to his Lordship) of faults and miscarriages
in the lives of some among them.
Ordered, That it be an instruction to the committee to inform his
Lordship that visitations have been attempted by Mr. Commissary, but
have been found very difficult, and that his Lordship's directions be desired
in that matter.
The next things in his Lordship's letter taken into consideration were
institutions and inductions.
Upon which the question was put, Whether, in order to the redress of
the grievances we labour under with reference to them, the difficulties
which render our livings and circumstances precarious should not, in the
said answer, be represented to his Lordship?
It passed in the affirmative.
Ordered, That the said committee be instructed accordingly; and that
they let his Lordship know that, whenever the Governor has been applied
to, he has been always ready to redress us in this matter to the utmost of
his power.
Ordered, That the committee to be appointed to draw up the representation
and answer to his Lordship's letter consist of seven members. Then
the House named Mr. Commissary, Mr. Bagge, Mr. Hugh Jones, Mr. Cargill,
Mr. Mylne, Mr. Finney, and Mr. Pownal to be that committee.
Ordered, That the committee meet this evening at six o'clock.
Resolved, That the address be presented to the Governor.
Ordered, That the committee that prepared it attend him to know when
he will be pleased to be waited upon therewith. Then the Convention
adjourned to 9 o'clock to-morrow.
Mr. Selater and Mr. Smith being absent when the House was called
over, Mr. Bagge moved that no member should be allowed to be absent
from the Convention without leave, which was seconded and ordered.
Mr. Yates moved that when the committee was engaged in drawing the
answer to the Bishop of London's letter, a copy of the proceedings of the
Convention should be laid before the rest of the members to inspect them,
in order to reducing the same into a regular journal, which was seconded
and granted.
Mr. Emanuel Jones reported that the committee which prepared the
address had waited on the Governor to know when he would be pleased to
be waited on by the House to present the same, and, his Honour having
signified his pleasure that he would receive it at seven of the clock in the
evening, the members accordingly presented it him, who was pleased to
receive it very graciously, and to return an answer that he thanked us for
our kind address, and that we should always find him willing and ready to
us that we should not only have his protection but affection.
Mr. Bagge moved that the several letters, together with the address mentioned
in the minutes, be inserted in the fair transcript of them in their
proper places.
The committee desiring more time to finish the representation and
answer to the Bishop of London's letter, the Convention adjourned till six
of the clock in the evening.
Accordingly, the House meeting at that hour, the committee appointed
to prepare the said representation and answer delivered in the same, which
was read, and considered paragraph by paragraph.
The 1st paragraph being read, ordered that it pass.
And 2d paragraph being read, it passed unanimously.
And the 3d, it likewise passed unanimously.
And the 4th, ordered that it pass.
And the 5th, it passed unanimously.
And the 6th, ordered that it pass.
And the 7th, it passed unanimously.
And the 8th, it passed unanimously.
And the 9th, ordered that it pass.
And the 10th, ordered that it pass.
And the 11th, ordered that it pass.
And the 12th, ordered that it pass.
And the 13th, it passed unanimously.
Accordingly, the whole passed, which is as followeth,—viz.:
May it please your Lordship:—
We, your Lordship's dutiful sons and servants, the clergy of Virginia,
being, in obedience to your Lordship's monitory letter, in Convention duly
assembled, and having in the fear of God impartially considered the import
and contents thereof, beg leave to return your Lordship the following
answer and representation.
We are extremely sensible of your Lordship's tender care of us in reminding
us of our duty, and of the prudent manner of it, in that you have
not been forward to give credit to disadvantageous reports concerning the
clergy of this Colony, but have given us this opportunity of answering for
ourselves, which we humbly and gratefully accept, and make use of with all
sincerity.
We find, upon examination, that there is no minister among us who has
not license from your Lordship or your predecessor.
We are fully satisfied that we all of us are Episcopally ordained, except
Mr. Commissary, of whose ordination a major part doubt,—a true account
of which he has promised to transmit to your Lordship, together with the
journal of this Convention.
We must confess the circumstances of this Colony are such that, in many
respects, they will not permit us to perform that regular conformity to the
requires; particularly we beg leave to inform your Lordship, that the
parishes are so large, the inhabitants so dispersed, and so distant from the
church, (some twenty, thirty, forty miles and upward,) that throughout
this whole country we have divine service but once every Sunday, and but
one sermon; and, for the same reason, the people neglect and refuse to
bring their dead to be buried in the churchyards, and seldom send for the
minister to perform the office, but make use of a layman for that purpose,—
alleging for reasons the extremity of heat in summer, and the great distance
from the habitation of the minister. Also, that people observe no
holy days except those of Christmas-day and Good Friday,—being unwilling
to leave their daily labour; and you are well satisfied that we are
obliged to administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to persons who
are not confirmed.
We must confess that we have some laws of the Colony which might
favour us in the discharge of our sacred function; but, should they be put
in execution, the defect or obscurity of others would expose us to the
greatest difficulties; for which cause we are obliged to baptize, and church
women, marry and bury, at private houses, administer the Lord's Supper
to a single sick person, perform in church the office of both Sacraments
without the decent habits and proper ornaments and vessels which our
established Liturgy requires.
We have inquired into the irregularities among us which were intimated
to your Lordship, and we have discovered none such to our personal knowledge,
but observe that the lives of the clergy and laity are much improved
of late years.
We deplore the unhappy precariousness of our circumstances, to which
many of the afore-mentioned deviations from the established Liturgy are
to be attributed, and beg to lay them in the most pressing manner before
your Lordship for your advice and direction.
The people in general are adverse to the induction of the clergy,—the
want of which exposes us to the great oppression of the vestries, who act
often arbitrarily, lessening and denying us our lawful salaries,—the opinion
of the Attorney-General being that we are incapable of taking the benefit
of the law to oblige them to do justice, without that necessary qualification,
or a compact.
Our Governor, who is, under God, our chief support here, has never been
wanting to us in redressing our grievances to the utmost of his power, and
would willingly act in our favour with respect to institutions and inductions,
according to the King's patent and instructions; but he imputes the opposition
he meets with in this affair to some of the Council, and particularly to
Mr. Commissary, whom he also accuses of some other irregularities, as your
Lordship, by his Honour's letter to us and by another to the vestry of the
parish of St. Anne, in Essex, may perceive, and which we most humbly
and earnestly pray your Lordship to interpose your advice and assistance.
Visitations have been attempted by Mr. Commissary; but he met with so
many difficulties, from the churchwardens refusing to take the oath of a
churchwarden or to make presentments, and from the general aversion of
the people to every thing that looks like a spiritual court, that little has
been done.
Could your Lordship procure any thing that might tend to the promotion
of religion and the knowledge of the clergy or laity of this dominion from
the Venerable Societies for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and
for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, we assure your Lordship that
we will use our utmost endeavours in the right application of any such
charitable favours, and shall gratefully esteem it a signal instance of goodness
from you and them.
We return our most hearty thanks for your Lordship's admonitions and
advice, and, begging your Episcopal benediction, take leave to subscribe
ourselves,
Your Lordship's most dutiful sons
and most humble servants.
burg, Virginia, April 10, 1719.
The members of the Convention having desired Mr. Commissary to sign
the said letter and representation, he refused the same. Ordered it be
entered accordingly. Mr. Hugh Jones moved that the members of the
Convention sign the said letter and representation.
Ordered, That it be signed; and it was signed accordingly.
Ordered, That Mr. Commissary, Mr. Hugh Jones, Mr. Seagood, Mr.
Bagge, or any two of them, examine the journal of this Convention, and
transmit two copies, one to the Bishop of London, and one to the Governor,
attested by them.
Then Mr. Commissary asked whether the members had any thing more
to prepare, &c. It being answered in the negative, he dissolved the Convention.
(A true copy.)
Mr. Commissary's Speech to the Convention, April 8, 1719.
As in my letter for calling you together at
this time I acquainted you that it was in pursuance of the directions of
our Right Reverend Diocesan, my Lord-Bishop of London, I shall first
read to you his Lordship's letter about it to myself, and his letter to the
clergy of this country, which he has desired me to communicate to you;
and then I shall (as I find my Lord expects of me) endeavour to resume the
particulars and press the observation of them with all fitting earnestness.
Then, having read both these letters, he went on thus:—
Brethren, it is plain that the ground of this admonition is an information
my Lord-Bishop has received of some irregularities among us that need
very much to be redressed. I wish the informers, whoever they are, before
they had given our worthy Diocesan this trouble and uneasiness, had
first made known their complaint to me, who have the honour to be deputed
by his Lordship for that purpose; and then, by your concurrent
advice, matters might have been redressed among ourselves, without exposing
us to his Lordship's suspicions, or bringing us under the character
of a clergy guilty of several irregularities. As in secular affairs no man
carries a cause from this country to England till it has been first tried in
our Virginia courts, and, if any one is dissatisfied with their sentence, in
weighty causes there lies an appeal for England, it is most regular that
it should be so too in spiritual affairs. It would be too great a burden for
my Lord-Bishop of London to be troubled in "prima instantia" with all
the irregularities of the numerous clergy under him, especially in the remote
Plantations, where he can't have the parties before him, or be sufficiently
informed of the circumstances or the facts, the witnesses living at
so great distance. But this piece of justice, which was not designed us
by the informers, my Lord of London himself, out of his great prudence
and unbiassed justice, has done us. He tells us that he "is not forward
to give credit to disadvantageous reports, finding that wrong representations
are not unfrequently made," and perhaps never more frequently than
now. And therefore his Lordship has reduced this complaint into the
right method; that is, he has given you and me notice of it; and, like a
good Bishop, he stirs us up to do our parts toward redressing any irregularities
that may be among us.
And, seeing our Diocesan has been so just and kind as not to proceed to
censure upon this private information, but has left both the inquiry into
the truth of the information and the redressing the irregularities, in great
measure, to ourselves, let me with all earnestness exhort you to discharge
a good conscience in this matter, and to speak freely, if ye know any that
officiates as minister of any parish in this country, without license from
my Lord-Bishop of London or his predecessor; if you know any among
us who has not had Episcopal ordination; if you know any who does not
comply with the established Liturgy; and, lastly, if you know any that
are scandalous in their lives and conversation. These are the chief things
pointed at with relation to our duty in my Lord's monitory letter. There
is one word added concerning institutions and inductions, intimating that
the Governor will be ready, upon notice given, to act accordingly, if any
minister is settled among us who has not a license from the present Bishop
of London or his predecessor, as also in reference to institutions and inductions.
As to this of institutions and inductions, I say, I do not so well
apprehend what is required of us in them. They are in the Governor's
hands, who does not fail to institute and induct when presentations are
duly made. But for want of these the clergy of this country have been
procure a remedy for this evil, and, in the revival of the laws about sixteen
or seventeen years ago, particular care was taken of it; but it miscarried
in that Assembly which was in Governor Nott's time, when the great body
of the revisal passed.
The common remedy in England is for the ordinary to take the benefit
of the lapse, which is not so easy in this country, for want of men in Orders
who are unprovided. And, indeed, this makes it much harder, too, on
their side who are to present, if they are strictly limited to the six months,
as in England,—there being no vacant ministers here for our vacant
parishes. In the year 1703, Governor Nicholson had the opinion of Sir
Edward Northey—then Attorney-General—as to the business of presentations
and inductions. He gave his opinion that the right of presentation
by our laws was in the parishioners, and the right of the lapse in the
Governor; only, he added, that if the parishioners have never presented,
they may have a reasonable time to present a minister. But, if they will
not present,—being required so to do,—the Governor may, in their default,
collate a minister.
These are the subjects of my Lord of London's letter and of our consultations,
which, I think, we must go upon in the first place, and then, if
any one has any thing further to propose, it will be time to consider it
Our consultations will be much shortened if we proceed regularly and with
Christian temper, and speak on at once, without heat, or passion, or partiality,
and without breaking in one upon another.
There is one thing more I have to recommend,—namely, a unanimity
and brotherly love among ourselves, which will be a great ornament of our
profession and a great mutual support to our interest.
I need not put you in mind that there are now many censorious eyes
upon us, and therefore we must be very circumspect in our behaviour:
prudence, gravity, sobriety and modesty, and moderation, are great ornaments
of our profession at all times. I hope we shall leave a good character
behind us in this place, that the very adversaries may have nothing to
reprehend in our example or conduct, and so God, of his infinite mercy,
accompany all our consultations with his blessing, and direct them to his
glory and the welfare of that part of the Church in which we are more
particularly concerned.
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