University of Virginia Library

ADDRESS
Delivered by Hon. William Wirt Henry,
GRANDSON OF PATRICK HENRY, AT OLD ST. JOHN'S CHURCH,
JUNE 10, 1891, 150TH ANNIVERSARY.

Few buildings in our land have withstood the varied casualties
of time for one hundred years; very few have remained
for one hundred and fifty years. We would fain believe
that a special providence has watched over and preserved this
frail wooden structure since 1741, when it was erected, and
kept it as a sacred shrine, where piety and patriotism have
mingled their devotions. It is most appropriate that this
generation should be reminded of its history by these exercises,
and their veneration be quickened in recalling the important
events in Church and State of which it stands as a
witness. In attempting to perform the part with which I
have been honored on this interesting occasion, I shall be
forced to take but a hurried view of the civil events, and of
the distinguished actors in them, which have made this the
most memorable building which remains in our State. Any
attempt to do full justice to the subject would far transcend
the limits of an address and would reach the proportions of
a volume.

In the Vestry Book of Henrico Parish the following entries
are found:

"At a Vestry held for Henrico Parish, on the 20th day of
December, Anno 1739: Present—Mr. William Stith, Minister;
James Powell Cocke and James Cocke, Church Wardens;
Richard Randolph, John Redford, John Povall, James
Williamson, William Fuller and Robert Mosby, Gent., Vestrymen.
It is agreed that a Church be built on the most convenient
spot of ground near ye spring, on Richardson's Road,

on the south side of Bacon's Branch, on the land of the Honorable
William Byrd, Esq., to be sixty feet long and twenty-five
feet broad, and fourteen feet pitched, to be finished in a
plain manner after the moddle of Curl's Church. Richard
Randolph, Esq., Gent., undertakes the said building and
engages to finish the same by the tenth day of June, which
shall be in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and
forty-one; for which the Vestry agrees to pay him the sum of
three hundred and seventeen pounds, ten shillings, current
money, to be paid by the amount of sales of twenty thousand
pounds of tobacco annually, to be lev'd on the Parish and
sold here for money, till the whole payment be compleat."

"At a Vestry held for Henrico Parish, the 13th day of
October, Anno Dom. 1740: Present—Mr. William Stith,
clerk; James Powel Cocke, James Cocke, Gent., Church
Wardens, Richard Randolph, John Redford, Bowler Cocke,
John Williamson and Wm. Fuller, Gent., Vestrymen.

"Richard Randolph, Gentleman, produces a letter directed
to him, from the Hon'ble William Byrd, Esquire, which is
read as followeth, viz.:

"Whereupon the question is put whether the said Church

should be built on the hill called Indian Town at Richmond,
or at Thomas Williamson's plantation on the Brook Road,
and is carried by a majority of voices for the former.

"It is thereupon ordered that the Church, formerly agreed
to be built by Richard Randolph, Gent., on the south side of
Bacon's Branch, be built on Indian Town at Richmond, after
the same manner as in the said former agreement, was mentioned."

"At a Vestry held at Richmond Town, on Tuesday, the
8th day of December, 1772, for laying the Parish levy:
Present—The Rev. Miles Selden, Richard Randolph, Samuel
Duval, Jos. Lewis, Rich'd Adams, Daniel Price, George Cox
and Turner Southall, Vestrymen.

"It is the opinion of the Vestry that an addition of forty
feet in length and the same width as the present Church at
Richmond, be built to it, at the north side, with gallery on
both sides, and one end, with proper windows above and
below; and ordered that the Church W'dns lett to the lowest
bidder the said addition."

These entries mark the erection and enlargement of the
venerable building, the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary
of whose existence we this day celebrate.

Let us turn the clock of time back one hundred and fifty
years, and contemplate for a few moments our surroundings.

Frederick the second, afterwards known as Frederick the
Great, had just mounted the throne of Prussia, and without
provocation had made an attack upon Austria, which proved
to be the signal for a general European war, lasting seven
years, and known as the war of the "Austrian succession,"
as it involved the right of Maria Theresa to the throne of
Austria. The weak and prodigal Louis XV. was king of
France, and the corruptions of the nobility and priests, together
with their oppressions of the peasantry, were fast
kindling the sulphurious flames which burst forth in the
terrible revolution of the last of the century. His nephew,
Philip of Anjou, was king of Spain, and thus the two kingdoms
were linked together by Bourbon rulers, a fact destined
to be of great importance in the history of Europe. Peter
the Great was in his grave, and his daughter, Elizabeth, ruled

over the people he had elevated to a position among the great
kingdoms of this world.

George II. was in the midst of his long reign in England,
and was taking sides with his nephew, Frederick of Prussia.
The strife raging in Europe had extended to America, where
the English were at war with the Spanish and French. Thus
all the world, so far as Virginia was brought in contact with
it, was at war.

The political firmanent of England was undergoing important
changes. The corrupting influence of the celebrated
Sir Robert Walpole was on the decline, and Wm. Pitt was
rising in prominence, and already acknowledged to be the
greatest of British orators, was soon to prove himself to be
the greatest of English ministers.

Dissent from the established Church was growing apace,
the first steps towards religious liberty having been taken in
the act of Parliament of 1689, granting religious toleration.
John Wesley and George Whitfield were stirring the religious
world to its depths, and founding what is now one of the
strongest of religious denominations.

In nothing was Virginia more dependent on England than
in literature. Pope and Swift had finished their life work,
and were rapidly hastening to their graves. Samuel Johnson
was growing in reputation, but still struggling with poverty.
Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Thomson, Ramsey,
Addison and Steele had won commanding positions in English
literature, and delighted the Virginians, no less than the
residents of England, with the charming productions of their
pens.

Hogarth was giving to the world those inimitable drawings,
satirizing vice, which have immortalized him.

Du Fay had, by his experiments, lately brought into
notice the study of electricity, soon to be taken up and greatly
enlarged by Benjamin Franklin, and destined to grow in
importance, till now mankind utilizes the subtle fluid in the
generation of heat, light and locomotion.

Kepler and Newton had not been long in their graves, the
first having with almost incredible labor and patience discovered
the laws which regulate the motions of the heavenly
bodies, and the second having added the great discoveries contained

in the (Principia), the two having extorted from
nature her dearest secrets, and laid the foundation for the
wonderful knowledge we have of astronomy and natural
philosophy.

John Locke had performed the same office for moral philosophy
in his memorable essay on the human understanding,
and Bishop Butler had erected an imperishable bulwark to
Christianity in his immortal "Analogy."

At home we find ourselves in the midst of a most interesting
period. William Gooch was Governor of Virginia, which
contained about 300,000 inhabitants, of which about 125,000
were slaves. He had just agreed that the Scotch-Irish might
settle the valley and enjoy religious liberty; under which
agreement a bold stream of that hardy race soon poured down
the valley and overflowed the Alleghanies, not only protecting
the Eastern settlements from the savage foe, but in a
few years controlling the political destinies of the colony.

A band of 400 Virginians, commanded by the Governor,
had just returned from the disastrous expedition against the
city of Carthagena, where the discord between Admiral
Vernon, commanding the English fleet, and Gen. Wentworth,
commanding the attacking army, resulted in the sacrifice of
so many brave men, and the failure of the expedition. The
Virginians had nothing to console them but the fact that they,
with Lawrence Washington as a leader, had displayed the
greatest bravery in holding their position under a destructive
fire of several hours. The expedition would have been gladly
relegated to oblivion by the Virginians had not Captain
Washington named his home on the Potomac after the
Admiral and afterwards made it the home of the father of
his country.

The Spaniards, taking the offensive, had marched from
Florida upon the settlers in Georgia, and been repulsed by
Gen. Oglethorpe, the head of that colony, then but lately
planted.

Virginia had advanced rapidly in the development of her
agricultural and mineral resources during the government of
Governor Gooch, and of his distinguished predecessor, General
Alexander Spotswood, and her tobacco had already
become the source of great wealth, and was destined to be her

mainstay in the troublous times which were to follow. It
had at this time come to the aid of specie as a medium of
exchange in the business of the colony. In 1736 the first
newspaper was published in Virginia at Williamsburg. It
was a weekly issue and called "The Virginia Gazette." A
weekly post carried it northward, and a monthly post carried
it southward.

Looking more immediately to our surroundings on this
spot, we find that the "Hill called Indian Town," as it is
described by the Vestry, was so called because of an Indian
settlement, which doubtless was found by Capt. Newport,
John Smith and their companions, when they first explored
the river to the falls, within a few days after landing at
Jamestown in 1607. This settlement remained for years,
and was broken up probably by one of the exterminating
attacks of the whites, which gave the name of Bloody Run to
the little stream which runs near by. Here on the north side
of the river lay the quarter plantation of Nathaniel Bacon,
Jr., at which the murder of his servant and overseer occurred,
which caused that accomplished but impulsive man to make
war on the murderous Indians against the order of the Governor,
and gave rise to the celebrated Bacon's Rebellion of
1676.

After the death of Bacon the Legislature in 1679 granted
this in a large tract on both sides of the river, extending five
miles in length and three and a half miles in width, to Capt.
William Byrd, on condition that he settle on it not less than
250 tytheables, who were to be ever ready for military service
against the Indians.

In the year 1682, the fear of the Indians having ceased,
the military force was disbanded and a trading post was
established, and afterwards a tobacco warehouse was erected
and called "Shockoes." In 1733 Col. Wm. Byrd, the son of
Capt. Wm. Byrd, having inherited the lands at the falls of
the James, determined to lay off a city at Shockoes, to be
called Richmond. Major Mayo agreed to lay out the lots.
In 1737 Col. Byrd advertised for settlers for the new town,
and in May, 1742, the General Assembly incorporated it,
and gave it the privilege of holding two fairs a year for four
years.

Col. Wm. Byrd, to whose generosity the Parish was indebted
for a site for the Church, was the most remarkable
Virginian of his day. He was a man of vast fortune, lived
at Westover in a style of hospitable splendor before unknown
in the colony, had collected the largest private library in
America, which included a copy of the records of the London
Company which settled Virginia, and was the most learned
man in the colony. His writings display not only great
learning, but true wit, and sometimes biting sarcasm and
ridicule. His journal as commissioner to run the dividing
line with North Carolina has become celebrated. He did
not survive the completion of the Church more than three
years, and lies buried in the garden at Westover under a
marble monument which bears the following inscription and
epitome of his life:

"Here lieth the Honorable William Byrd, Esq. Being born
to one of the amplest fortunes in this country, he was sent
early to England for his education, where, under the care and
direction of Sir Robert Southwell, and ever favored with his
particular instructions, he made a happy proficiency in
polite and various learning. By the means of the same noble
friend he was introduced to the acquaintance of many of the
first persons of that age for knowledge, wit, virtue, birth or
high station, and particularly contracted a most intimate and
bosom friendship with the learned and illustrious Charles
Boyle, Earl of Orrery. He was called to the bar in the middle
Temple; Studied for some time in the Low Countries,
visited the Court of France, and was chosen Fellow of the
Royal Society. Thus eminently fitted for the service and
Ornament of his Country, he was made Receiver General of
his Majesty's revenues here; was thrice appointed public
agent to the Court and Ministry of England; and being
thirty-seven years a member, at last became President of the
Council of this Colony. To all this were added a great
elegancy of taste and life, the well bred gentleman and polite
companion, the splendid economist and prudent father of a
family; withal the constant enemy of all exorbitant power,
and hearty friend to the liberties of his country."

Next to Col. Wm. Byrd, the Rev. Wm. Stith, the Rector of

the Parish, was the most accomplished man in the Colony.
He was at this time living at Varina, and preparing his admirable
history of Virginia; for the materials of which he
was confessedly greatly indebted to Col. Byrd. His culture
and piety caused him to be transferred from his Parish to
the Presidency of William and Mary College in 1752, which
position he held till his death, in 1755.

Richard Randolph, who undertook the building of the
church, was also a man of mark. He lived at Curls, and
had erected the church there, which was taken as a model
for the original of this building. He was the son of Wm.
Randolph, of Turkey Island, and he married Jane Bolling,
the great-great-grand-daughter of Pocahontas. He was a
member of the House of Burgesses from Henrico, Treasurer
of the Colony, and the grandfather of the celebrated John
Randolph of Roanoke. He died in 1748 while on a visit
to England.

Concerning the other Vestrymen who were present when
the building of the church was determined on, we know but
little. James and Bowler Cocke were successively clerks of
Henrico county. John Povall and Robert Mosby were kin
to if not the ancestors of the talented Valentine family of
our city, to which belongs the distinguished sculptor. Thomas
Williamson, whose plantation on the Brook Road competed
for the site of the church, and John and James Williamson,
of the Vestry, were of the family whence is descended Miss
Amanda Williamson, now the widow of John Stuart, deceased,
whose beautiful home, Brook Hill, was doubtless a
part of Thomas Williamson's plantation.

In the course of years this became the principal church in
the Parish, and after being designated successively as the
"Upper Church," the "Church at Richmond," "Henrico
Church," the "Church on Richmond Hill," finally, about the
year 1829, was named "St. John's."

Since its erection some of the most important events in
human history have taken place. Civil and religious liberty
have advanced beyond all previous experience, not alone in
America, but throughout christendom. The thirteen feeble
colonies, with some two and a half millions of inhabitants,
have shaken off their connection with England, and have

constituted themselves into a grand republic, which has
grown till it now stretches from the lakes to the Rio Grande,
and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and has sixty-five millions
of inhabitants. Science has advanced in every department
along the path pointed out by Sir Francis Bacon, until
the human race may be said to live in a different world from
that of our forefathers of a hundred and fifty years ago.
Steam and electricity have made neighbors of the most distant
nations, and the very destructiveness of the new implements
of war has become the guarantee of peace. Christianity
has advanced in the forefront of the world's progress,
and now has a lodgment in every quarter of the globe.

Could this old building speak, what a tale it would tell;
not only of happenings of the outside world, but of those in
and around itself!

Doubtless of all the secular events which it has witnessed,
the first it would speak of, as being the most important,
would be the famous Convention which met within its walls
on the 20th of March, 1775, and with which its name will be
forever associated.

Let us look for a moment at the stirring events which
brought that celebrated body of men together.

By the peace of Paris in 1763, England was left in possession
of the whole North American Continent east of the
Mississippi river, except the portion bordering on the Gulf
of Mexico known as the Floridas. The wars she had been so
long engaged in, had exhausted her treasury, and she sought
to force her American Colonies, against all precedent, to contribute
to her relief by a tax known as the Stamp Act, imposed
by Parliament, a body in which the Colonies were not
represented. This tax the Virginia House of Burgesses, in
May, 1765, denounced as unconstitutional, null and void,
and their resolutions aroused the Continent to the violent
resistance of its enforcement. Finding it impossible to collect
the tax, Parliament repealed the act, but in doing so
reasserted its right to tax the Colonies. Later it attempted
to collect a revenue by a duty on tea, and the effort met with
opposition throughout America, and with such violence at
Boston that the King, in order to make an example of the
town, occupied it with British soldiers and closed the port.

At the same time the Colonial Government of Massachusetts
was changed and her liberties were restricted.

In this condition of affairs the Colonies became alarmed
for their rights and a General Congress was called, at the
instance of Virginia, which met at Philadelphia in September
in 1774 to consult as to the best steps to be taken to
obtain the repeal of the oppressive acts of the British Government,
under which their liberties were so sorely threatened.
That celebrated body, upon which Lord Chatham and other
English statesmen passed the highest encomiums, formulated
a statement of the rights claimed by the Colonies; and
among other able papers addressed communications to the
people of Great Britain, to Parliament, and to the King, urging
the repeal of the obnoxious acts. As an earnest of their
determination to stand by those rights, they fixed on certain
days for the stopping of all imports and exports in case their
appeal was not heeded. It was the general expectation of
the people and of their leaders that these measures would
result in the repeal of the acts and the relief of Massachusetts.
But there were one or two among the leaders who had
properly estimated the stubbornness of the King and the subserviency
of Parliament on the one hand, and the inflexible
determination of the Americans on the other, and saw that
war would be the inevitable consequence.

A few months after the adjournment of the Congress the
Virginia Convention convened to hear the report of its proceedings,
and to deliberate on the political situation. It met
in Richmond and in this church. The bitter hostility of
Governor Dunmore to the patriotic cause made it unsafe to
meet in Williamsburg, the capital of the Colony, and the
importance and sacredness of the cause which brought the
body together made it appropriate that they should deliberate
in the sanctuary of God, to whom they humbly looked
for guidance upon the sea of troubles on which they were
launched. This the pious patriotism of the Vestry recognized,
and offered to the Convention this, doubtless the largest
building in the town. The interest in its deliberation was
intense throughout the Colony, and many came from far and
near to witness its action. The list of the members who
answered to their names on assembling was as follows:

The Hon. Peyton Randolph, Esq., a delegate for the city
of Williamsburg.

Isaac Smith, Esq., for Accomac county.

Thomas Jefferson and John Walker, Esqrs., for Albemarle.

John Tabb and John Winn, Esqrs., for Amelia.

William Cabell, Jr., and Joseph Cabell, Esqrs., for Amherst.

Thomas Lewis, Samuel McDowell and John Harvie,
Esqrs., for Augusta.

John Talbot and Charles Lynch, Esqrs., for Bedford.

Andrew Lewis and John Bowyers, Esqrs., for Botetourt.

Frederick Maclin and Henry Tazewell, Esqrs., for Brunswick.

John Nicholas and Anthony Winston, Esqrs., for Buckingham.

Robert Rutherford and Adam Stephen, Esqrs., for Berkeley.

Edmund Pendleton and James Taylor, Esqrs., for Caroline.

Benjamin Harrison and William Acrill, Esqrs., for
Charles City.

Paul Carrington and Isaac Reed, Esqrs., for Charlotte.

Archibald Cary and Benjamin Watkins, Esqrs., for Culpeper.

William Fleming and John Mayo, Esqrs, for Dinwiddie.

Johnathan Clarke, Esq., and Peter Muhlenburg, Clerk,
for Dunmore.

Henry King and Worlich Wetswood, Esqrs., for Elizabeth
City.

James Edmundson and Meriwether Smith, Esqrs., for
Essex.

George Washington and Charles Broadwater, Esqrs., for
Fairfax.

Thomas Marshall and James Scott, Esqrs., for Fauquier.

Isaac Zane, Esq., and Charles Minn Thurston, Clerk, for
Frederick.

William Christian, Esq., for Fincastle.

Thomas Whiting and Lewis Burwell, Esqrs., for Gloucester.

John Woodson and Thomas Mann Randolph, Esqrs., for
Goochland.

Nathaniel Terry and Micajah Watkins, Esqrs., for Halifax.

James Mercer, Esq., for Hampshire.

Patrick Henry, Jr., and John Syme, Esqrs., for Hanover.

Richard Adams and Samuel Duval, Esqrs., for Henrico.

Robert C. Nicholas and William Norvell, Esqrs., for
James City.

John S. Wills and Josiah Parker, Esqrs., for Isle of Wight.

Joseph Jones and William Fitzhugh, Esqrs., for King
George.

George Brook and George Lyn, Esqrs., for King and
Queen.

Carter Braxton and William Ayelett, Esqrs., for King
William.

James Selden and Charles Carter, Esqrs., for Lancaster.

Thomas Peyton and Josiah Clapham, Esqrs., for Loudon.

Thomas Johnson and Thomas Walker, Esqrs, for Louisa.

Richard Claiborne and David Garland, Esqrs., for Lunenburg.

Edmund Berkeley, Esq., for Middlesex.

Robert Burton and Bennett Goode, Esqrs., for Mecklenburg.

Lemuel Riddick and Willis Riddick, Esqrs., for Nansemond.

Burwell Bassett and Bartholomew Dandridge, Esqrs., for
New Kent.

Thomas Newtown and James Holt, Esqrs., for Norfolk
county.

John Burton, Esq., for Northampton.

Rodham Kenner and Thomas Jones, Esqrs., for Northumberland.

Thomas Barbour and James Taylor, Esqrs., for Orange.

Peter Perkins and Benjamin Lankford, Esqrs., for Pittsylvania.

Robert Lawson and John Nash, Esqrs., for Prince Edward.

Richard Bland and Peter Poythress, Esqrs., for Prince
George.

William Robinson and Christopher Wright, Esqrs., for
Princess Ann.

Henry Lee and Thomas Blackburn, Esqrs., for Prince
William.

Robert Wormley Carter and Francis Lightfoot Lee, Esqrs.,
for Richmond.

Edwin Gray and Henry Taylor, Esqrs., for Southampton.

George Stubblefield and Mann Page, Jr., Esqrs., for Spotsylvania.

John Alexander and Charles Carter, Esqrs., for Stafford.

Allen Cocke and Nicholas Faulcomn, Esqrs., for Surry.

David Mason and Henry Lee, Esqrs., for Sussex.

William Langhorn, Esq., for Warwick.

Richard Henry Lee and Richard Lee, Esqrs., for Westmoreland.

Dudley Diggs and Thomas Nelson, Jr., Esqrs., for York.

Champion Travis, Esq., for Jamestown.

Joseph Hutchings, Esq., for Norfolkburrough.

These were all well tried patriots, who did not hesitate to
risk their lives in attending what was denounced by the Royalists
as a revolutionary body. As the Governor had frequently
dissolved the House of Burgesses during the controversy
with England, when they uttered sentiments not in
accordance with his own, the patriots had fallen on the plan
of holding conventions, which were not under his authority,
and consequently were held by him to be treasonable.

No Virginian can read this roll without a feeling of pride;
for in all the annals of history no State has been able to collect
in one deliberative body so many men of pure lives, of
unselfish patriotism, and of the highest order of genius.
The race and the civilization which could produce such a
body of men at one period may well be held up to the admiration
of the world.

The members came together in ignorance of the effect of
the papers of Congress in England; indeed, their latest information
was contained in a letter of 14th December, 1774,
relating the gracious reception by the King of the address to
him; and adding that, "The buzz at court is, that all the

acts will be repealed, except the admiralty and declaratory,"
which had not been considered very grievous.

The Convention organized by electing the venerable Peyton
Randolph president, who had just presided over the Continental
Congress. He was escorted to a chair placed where
the eastern door of the building is at present.

The Rev. Miles Selden, the rector of this church, was
then requested to act as chaplain to the Convention. The
body next recorded their hearty approval of the proceedings
of Congress, and their thanks to the Virginia delegation for
the faithful discharge of the very important trust imposed
on them. On the third day a petition and memorial of the
Assembly of the Island of Jamaica, addressed to the King,
was laid before the Convention and read. It ably defended
American rights, but indicated Toryism in tracing all colonial
rights to the King, and denied that the Colonists ever would
attempt forcible resistance to Great Britain, dwelling at the
same time on their weak condition. Upon the reading of
this paper a member offered a resolution of thanks to the
Assembly of Jamaica, adding: "That the Assembly be assured
that it is the most ardent wish of this Colony (and we are
pursuaded of the whole Colonists of North America) to see
a speedy return to those halcyon days when we lived a free
and happy people."

Neither the address nor the resolution of thanks suited
Mr. Henry, who had not hesitated to declare on the floor of
the Continental Congress his conviction that war was inevitable,
and who was painfully impressed with the importance
of immediate preparation for it. He at once arose and
offered the following resolution, to which a suitable preamble
was prefixed:

"Resolved, That this Colony be immediately put into a
state of defence, and that—————
be a committee to prepare a plan for embodying, arming,
and disciplining such a number of men as may be sufficient
for that purpose."

This resolution was opposed by Richard Bland, Benj.
Harrison of Berkley, and Edmund Pendleton, who had been

Mr. Henry's associates in Congress, and by Robt. Carter
Nicholas, the Treasurer of the Colony. They insisted that
it was premature, and that no such step should be taken till
the replies to the addresses of the Congress had been received.
The reply of Mr. Henry has been rendered immortal
by the report of Mr. Wirt, made up from the recollections
of the hearers, and by his sounding the watchword of the
revolution in the sentence, "Give me liberty or give me
death." I need not repeat here his speech, which is familiar
to every school boy in our land, and which has been well
epitomized in the lines—

I will, however, read an account of the scene by one of the
Vestry of the Church, Edmund Randolph, an eye witness.
He says: "A resolution was passed for immediately putting
the Colony into a posture of defence, and for preparing a
plan of embodying and disciplining such a number of men as
might be sufficient for that purpose. Henry moved and
Richard Henry Lee seconded it. The fangs of European
criticism might be challenged to spread themselves against
the eloquence of that awful day. It was a proud one to a
Virginian, feeling and acting with his country. Demosthenes
invigorated the timid, and Cicero charmed the backward.
The multitudes, many of whom had travelled to the
Convention from a distance, could not suppress their emotion.
Henry was his pure self. Those who had toiled in the artifices
of scholastic rhetoric, were involuntarily driven into
an inquiry within themselves, whether rules and forms

and niceties of elocution would not have choked his native
fire. It blazed so as to warm the coldest heart. In
the sacred place of meeting, the church, the imagination had
no difficulty to conceive, when he launched forth in solemn
tones, various causes of scruples against oppressors, that the
British King was lying prostrate from the thunder of heaven.
Henry was thought in his attitude to resemble St. Paul
while preaching at Athens, and to speak as man was never
known to speak before. After every illusion had vanished,
a prodigy yet remained. It was Patrick Henry, born in
obscurity, poor, and without the advantages of literature,
rousing the genius of his country, and binding a band of
patriots together to hurl defiance at the tyranny of so formidable
a nation as Great Britain. This enchantment was spontaneous
obedience to the working of the soul. When he uttered
what commanded respect for himself, he solicited no admiring
look from those who surrounded him. If he had, he
must have been abashed by meeting every eye fixed upon him.
He paused, but he paused full of some rising eruption of eloquence.
When he sat down, his sounds vibrated so loudly,
if not in the ears, at least in the memory of his audience, that
no other member, not even his friend who was to second him,
was yet adventurous enough to interfere with that voice
which had so recently subdued and captivated. After a few
minutes Richard Henry Lee fanned and refreshed with a
gale of pleasure; but the vessel of the revolution was still
under the impulse of the tempest which Henry had created.

"Artificial oratory fell in copious streams from the mouth
of Lee, and rules of persuasion accomplished everything
which rules could effect. If elegance had been personified
the person of Lee would have been chosen. But Henry
trampled upon rules, and yet triumphed, at this time perhaps
beyond his own expectation. Jefferson was not silent.
He argued closely, profoundly and warmly on the same side.
The post in this revolutionary debate belonging to him was
that at which the theories of republicanism were deposited.
Washington was prominent, though silent. His looks bespoke
a mind absorbed in meditation on his country's fate; but a
positive concert between him and Henry could not more

effectually have exhibited him to view than when Henry
with indignation ridiculed the idea of peace `when there was
no peace' and enlarged on the duty of preparing for war.

"The generous and noble-minded Thomas Nelson, who
now for the first time took a more than common part in a
great discussion, convulsed the moderate by an ardent exclamation,
in which he called God to witness that if any
British troops should be landed within the county of which he
was the lieutenant, he would wait for no orders, and would
obey none which should forbid him to summon his militia
and repel the invaders at the water edge. His temper, though
it was sanguine, and had been manifested in less scenes of
opposition, seemed to be more than ordinarily excited. His
example told those who were happy in ease and wealth that
to shrink was to be dishonored."

The motion of Mr. Henry was adopted, and thus Virginia
threw down the gauntlet of war in the face of Great Britain,
and by determining to arm for the conflict made it inevitable,
unless England receded from her position towards the Colonies.

The committee appointed under the resolution were Patrick
Henry, Richard Bland, Thomas Jefferson, Robert
Carter Nicholas, and Edmund Pendleton. The Convention
then entered upon a series of war measures, putting the
Colony in a state of defence not only by raising an army, but
by establishing manufacturies of articles needed in a state of
war. The wisdom of Mr. Henry's motion was demonstrated
by events which had already happened in England, but which
were unknown in America.

In January Lord Chatham had moved in the House of
Lords the withdrawal of the troops from Boston, and in February
he had introduced a bill for settling the troubles in
America by the repeal of the obnoxious acts. Both had been
voted down by large majorities, and an address to the King
had been moved and carried in the House of Commons, in
which it was declared that a "rebellion at this time actually
exists in the province of Massachusetts Bay." Orders had
also been sent to the royal officers in America to take possession
of the ammunition in the Colonies. The execution of

this order soon brought on the battle of Lexington, and the
march of the Hanover Volunteers upon Williamsburg to
force Governor Dunmore to replace the gunpowder taken
from the Powder Horn Arsenal.

The Virginia Convention assembled again on July 17,
1775, in this Church, and at this session the organization of
the Virginia troops was completed by the election of officers,
and further war measures were adopted, including the appointment
of a Committee of Safety, which took charge of the
affairs of the Colony and entirely superseded the Royal Government.
All men saw by this time the wisdom of Mr.
Henry's motion for arming the Colony, as the war had actually
commenced, and Washington had been placed at the
head of the American army.

In justification of its action in entering upon war with
Great Britain, the Convention issued an address, which is
one of the ablest of the State papers of that period. It preceded
the Declaration of Independence a year. In it causes
of the difficulties with England are clearly set forth, and the
Colony is fully justified to the world for entering upon war
with the mother country. In the spirit of piety which animated
our forefathers of the Revolution, and which so appropriately
exhibited in this sacred edifice, this memorable paper
concludes with these words:

"It remains a bound duty on us to commit our cause to the
justice of that Supreme Being who ruleth and ordereth all
human events with unerring wisdom, most humbly beseeching
Him to take this Colony, and the whole continent, under His
fatherly and divine protection, and that He will be graciously
pleased to soften the hearts of all who meditate evil against
our land, and inspire them with the purest sentiments of justice,
moderation, and brotherly affection."

It thus happened that this church is directly connected
with the first decisive step in Virginia in the Revolutionary
War; and the fact that within its walls sat the men who debated
the great question of arming the Colony and determined
on taking the decisive step, trusting their all to the
God of battles, has made it the object of the deepest interest

to every patriot. The Revolution which followed saved not
only the liberties of America, but of Great Britain as well, as
has been declared by some of the greatest statesmen.

Within less than six years, and near the close of the arduous
struggle for independence, a very different scene was
witnessed in this venerable building. During the last days
of 1780 a British fleet entered Chesapeake bay and steered
for James river and the city of Richmond, which had become
the capital of the State. Governor Jefferson had not taken
steps to defend the city in time, and on January 6, 1781, the
traitor, Benedict Arnold, having landed at Westover, and
marched from thence, entered the city on this side at the head
of some 900 troops. Colonel Simcoe was sent to Westham
and destroyed the military stores there, and Arnold destroyed
what he could find in the town. That night part of his
troops were quartered in this building, thus desecrating, as
far as in their power, the sacred edifice. On the next day
Arnold retired to his ships at Westover, annoyed on his retreat
by the militia, which were gathering in force from every
quarter. The traitor, despised by his own troops as well as
those he had betrayed, was soon recalled from Virginia.

Cornwallis, with his shattered army from the Carolinas,
not long after joined the British forces here, and was met by
men smarting under the disgrace of the capture of their
capital. The ravages in the State and the desercration of
this church were fully avenged in a few months, however,
by the capture of the entire British force at Yorktown, which
secured the independence of America.

In the thanksgiving services which were held in the
churches throughout America, none were more sincere than
those within these walls. As the wheels of time rolled on
civil events of the utmost importance crowded each other.
Peace with England, and independence, was followed by a
stronger Federal Constitution, which was adopted by Virginia
in a Convention which sat in another building in Richmond,
after high debate. War with the Indians, with England,
and with Mexico followed in succession, but none of
these disturbed the devout worshippers in this building. At
last the irrepressible conflict over slavery, which smouldered
and flickered ever after the Revolution, burst forth in a

furious flame, and the terrible conflict between the States
commenced in 1861. Richmond became the Confederate
capital, and was beleaguered by immense armies, and for
months the roar of battle resounded around these walls. At
last the end came, and the troops of the beseigers marched
past the old church to occupy the twice fallen city.

In a discourse on the connection of this church with the
civil history of the country, we cannot overlook the long roll
of Vestrymen, among whom were so many who made their
impress on their country, and who exemplified in their daily
lives the truths of Christianity taught them from this sacred
desk. Only a few can be mentioned here, and these mostly
from among those whose names appear after 1785, when the
church had a separate Vestry.

Edmund Randolph was the most distinguished on this list.
He was the son of the accomplished John Randolph, the
King's Attorney-General for the Colony, who adhered to the
Royal cause and embarked for England on the breaking out
of hostilities. His son, only twenty-two years of age, made
his way to the camp of Washington and offered his services to
the patriot cause. He was taken into the General's military
family as aide-de-camp. Soon afterwards he was elected to
the Virginia Convention of May, 1776, which declared independence,
and was one of the committee which framed the
Bill of Rights and the Constitution—memorable papers,
which have shaped the government of America, and through
them are influencing all Christendom in liberalizing their
governments. It should never be forgotten that this Convention,
with a majority of the established Church, placed
in the Bill of Rights the principle of religious liberty. The
Convention placed Mr. Randolph in his father's office in organizing
the new government, and he served in it and as a
member of Congress till 1786, when he was made Governor
of the State. While Governor he was sent to the Convention
which framed the Federal Constitution, and on behalf of the
Virginia delegation introduced that plan which proved to be
the skeleton on which the system of government was framed.
He was a member of the Virginia Convention of 1788, which
adopted the Constitution, and was the first Attorney-General
of the United States, and the second Secretary of State.

While in that position he fell under the suspicion of Washington
as the betrayer of State secrets, a suspicion which we
now know was created by the false translation by an enemy
of an intercepted dispatch of the French minister, Adet, to
his home government. Indignantly resigning his seat in the
Cabinet, he gave the key to his department to the porter, without
arranging his papers. His enemies afterward claimed
that he was a defaulter to the government. Conscious of his
innocence of the charges which were brought against him, he
yet was forced to pass the latter part of an honorable life
under a cruel suspicion. Fortunately for his memory, there
has now been found a letter from the French Minister to his
government, written before he knew of the capture of his
previous letter, which absolved Mr. Randolph from the charge
of betraying State secrets, and the matter charged as a default
has been fully explained, and Congress has ordered his
account at the Treasury to be marked satisfied. In his latter
days Mr. Randolph composed a history of Virginia, and in it
he showed the true nobility of his character by the ample
justice he has done his contemporaries, even where politically
opposed or personally aggrieved by them.

Colonel Edward Carrington entered the Revolutionary
army as lieutenant-colonel of artillery in November, 1776,
and was engaged in the memorable campaigns in the Carolinas,
and as quartermaster to General Greene saved his army
on its retreat before Cornwallis by securing its passage of the
Dan. His services have been imbedded in history by Light
Horse Harry Lee, in his volume on the war. This brilliant
soldier, orator and writer, after describing the difficulties
which beset General Greene and his retreat, adds: "In this
most difficult crisis Carrington commenced his official duties;
his subordinate officers, habituated to expedience, and
strangers to system, his implements of every sort in a
wretched condition, without a single dollar in the military
chest, nevertheless he continued, by his method, his zeal, and
his indefatigable industry, to give promptitude to our movements,
as well as accuracy and punctuality to the supplies of
subsistance, and to collect in due time all the boats upon Dan
above Boyd's Ferry, at the two points designated for the
passage of that river." He was afterwards at Yorktown.

After the Revolution Colonel Carrington enjoyed the closest
intimacy with Washington, and was consulted as to his appointments
in Virginia. He also served the State as member
of the Continental Congress, and was appointed Quartermaster-General
by Washington when he again was put at the
head of the American army.

Dr. William Foushee was a prominent man in his profession
and in the affairs of the city. He had the honor of giving
his name to one of our streets, an honor also accorded to
Colonel Richard Adams. Dr. Foushee was a graduate of the
Medical College of Edinburgh, was made medical director of
Virginia during the Revolution, was the president of the
James River Company, was the first Mayor of Richmond,
and afterwards for many years its postmaster. One of his
daughters married Thomas Richie, the famous editor. Says
Dr. Mordecai in his "Richmond in By-Gone Days": "Dr.
Foushee was a gentleman of fine personal appearance and
deportment, and a favorite physician with the ladies, who said
his visits were restoratives without the aid of medicine, so
bland and kind were his manners and conversation. This
calm and sunshine which distinguished his medical character
could be changed to storm and thunder in his political one."

Thomas Adams was for years a member of the Continental
Congress, and afterwards a State Senator and a member of
the Convention of 1775 from Augusta county; as a member
of Congress he was one of the delegation entrusted with the
duty of signing for the State the articles of confederation,
the first Federal Constitution in America. Thus his name
is forever impressed upon the page of his country's history.

Colonel Richard Adams and Samuel Duval were the members
from Henrico in the Convention of March, 1775, which
met in this building, and each were men of great prominence
in their day. They were afterwards placed on the committee
charged with the execution of the act removing the seat of
government from Williamsburg to Richmond, in 1779. Richard
Adams was frequently a member of the House of Burgesses,
and of the Virginia Assembly. He was a man of
large means, and to him the Church was indebted for its
parsonage. His elegant mansion on Church Hill is still
standing, and is now used as a Catholic Convent. It shared

the fate of the church during the occupancy of the town by
Arnold, and sheltered some of his troops; and doubtless the
traitor himself.

Samuel Duval was a member of the House of Burgesses
and a gallant officer in the Revolution. He was a business
man of high character, as is evidenced by his appointment as
sheriff of the county and parish collector, offices then only
conferred on men of merit and spotless integrity.

Joseph and William Mayo were two brothers from Barbadoes,
whose names are linked with the history of this city.
They first settled at Powhatan, the residence of the Indian
King, who met the English on their first visit to the falls of
our river in 1607, and the second was the surveyor who in
1728-'29 ran the dividing line with North Carolina for the
commission on which Colonel Byrd served. He was the Maj.
Mayo who laid off the town of Richmond for Colonel Byrd,
in 1737. He served in the State line during the Revolution,
and in the House of Delegates afterwards. The name of
these brothers is not alone preserved by their numerous and
worthy descendants, but in the bridge which spans our river,
erected by Colonel John Mayo, an achievement deemed of
such importance that it was inscribed upon his tombstone.

Colonel John Harvie was a successful lawyer, who served
his country ably in many capacities. He served in the House
of Burgesses, the House of Delegates, and the continental
Congress, and was united with John Walker as a commissioner
to treat with the Indians at Fort Pitt. He served for
years as Register of the Land Office. He enjoyed the friendship
of Washington, and this he could not have done had he
not been, as he undoubtedly was, a man of strict integrity,
and of the highest sense of honor. Through the marriage of
one of his sons the family became connected with that of
Chief Justice Marshall.

Near Colonel Harvie resided Jacqueline Ambler, a man of
similar character, who was a member of the Executive Council
during the Revolution, and afterwards treasurer of the
State for many years.

Daniel L. Hylton, a wealthy and influential merchant, also
served in the Council of State, and will be remembered when
most of his contemporaries are forgotten, as his name is imbedded

in the reports of the Supreme Court of the United
States in the great case of Ware vs. Hylton, involving the
collection of the British debts contracted before the Revolution,
and confiscated by Virginia during the war.

Turner Southall was a member of the Legislature for
years during and after the Revolution. He was one of the
most highly useful citizens of Richmond, and filled many
local offices of trust and importance.

Oliver P. Baldwin, the accomplished Belles Lettres scholar
and brilliant writer, must not be omitted, nor George M. Carrington
and John Enders, who did more, perhapse, to sustain
the church than all others in its most trying time.

But time would fail me to notice at length the representative
men among the foremost families of Richmond who
have acted as Vestrymen of this church. The families of
McRobert, Pollard, McRae, Nicholson, Williamson, Greenhow,
Hay, Taylor, Ambler, Baker, Shepherd, Shelton, Enders,
Myers, Dove, Burton, Burwell, Lancaster, Crump, Mitchell,
Cosby, Whitlock, Sublett, Van Lew, Massie, Williams,
Womble, Fisher, Isaacs, Grant, Taliaferro, Palmer, Alfriend,
Yarbrough, Greanor, West, Baldwin, Randolph, Johnston,
Knox, Brown, Stokes, Yerby, Carrington, Glenn, Bossieux,
and others who are equally worthy of mentioning, but whose
representatives are still living or lately lost by death.

Let us turn now for a few moments from the church to
the cemetery which surrounds it. The lots given by Colonel
Wm. Byrd adjacent to the church were early used for the
burial of the dead, and in 1799 the city added to them and
enlarged the grounds to their present proportions. For years
and until the establishment of the cemetery on Shockoe Hill,
in 1815, all denominations used this church-yard for the
burial of their dead. The oldest date remaining on any
tombstone is that which commemorates the death of Rev.
Robert Rose, in 1751. This learned and able clergyman of
the established Church was a prominent character in Colonial
history. He was a man of affairs. He first proposed
the canal along the falls of James river, and he was the friend
and executor of Governor Alexander Spottswood. He left a
diary which is of great value, as it gives an interesting picture
of his times. Without following any chronological order, let

us note a few of the graves of other prominent men who lie
buried here. And first I would name Governor John Page,
soldier and statesman, and at the same time so much of a
theologian that his friends urged him to take holy orders.
He was with Washington in the French war, served afterwards
in the House of Burgesses, in the Colonial Council,
in the Committee of Safety, in the Convention of 1776, which
framed the State Constitution, in the first Executive Council
of the State, in Congress, and finally in the office of Governor,
succeeding Monroe, in 1802. On the invasion of Arnold
he headed the Gloucester militia and attacked him on his
retreat. He was an eminent patriot, and like Governor
Thomas Nelson, he did not hesitate to use his own fortune to
aid his State in the hour of her need.

Near the western entrance of the church there is an unmarked
grave, which is filled by one of the most illustrious
of our Revolutionary patriots, the learned and accomplished
Chancellor, George Wythe. From 1758 to the Revolution
he served in the House of Burgesses, and prepared some of
the ablest papers which appeared during the controversy with
England. In 1765 he opposed Mr. Henry's resolutions
against the stamp act, and in 1775, as a member of the Convention,
he opposed the motion to arm the Colony, but in both
instances it was because he differed with Mr. Henry in judgment,
not in principle. As a member of Congress in 1776,
he advocated the motion for independence, and signed the
declaration. Afterwards he was made Chancellor, in which
office he served many years with great distinction. He will
ever be remembered as the friend and patron of Henry Clay,
who read law in his office. His integrity, patriotism, urbanity,
learning, and impartiality endeared him to his country,
and a greater shock could not have been given to its
people than was experienced when he was poisoned by a dissolute
nephew, his heir expectant, who could not wait the
course of nature to enjoy the inheritance, but who happily
was cut off by a change of his will on his death bed.

The next grave that should be mentioned is that of James
Mercer, a judge of the first Virginia Court of Appeals, who,
previous to his election, had the honor of serving in the House
of Burgesses, in all of the Virginia Conventions, on the Committee

of Safety, in the Continental Congress, and as a judge
in admiralty. He died in Richmond while attending a session
of the Court of Appeals, October 31, 1793, in the fifty-seventh
year of his age, greatly respected and admired.

Charles Coupland and General Andrew Ronald will complete
my mention of the lawyers. The first was a man of
great eminence in his day, and the second of such standing in
his profession as to be one of the counsel in the celebrated
British debt cause.

Here we find the remains of that saintly man, Rev. John
Buchanan, long a rector of the church, whose affectionate
relations with his Presbyterian brother, the Rev. J. D. Blair,
has been so often the theme of tongue and pen, and were so
beautifully described in the eloquent sermon of the Bishop
this morning.

One minister's grave attracts our attention as seemingly
out of place. It is that of Rev. William Graham, the intellectual
giant of the Valley. Commencing life as a laborer
on his father's farm, he acquired the rudiments of an education
by studying after his day's work was over. Afterwards
by teaching while studying, he passed through a classical
course at Princeton, and was selected as principal of Liberty
Hall Academy, which has become Washington and Lee University.
He entered the ministry, but continued to conduct
the academy, and when soldiers were called for in the Revolution
he formed the students into a company, of which he
took command, and offered their services to the State. As
evidence of his varied acquirements it may be mentioned, that
he wrote the Constitution adopted by the men who attempted
to set up a new State in the western part of North Carolina,
called the State of Franklin. And he entered into the discussion
of the Federal Constitution when it was proposed, resisting
its adoption in its unamended form. He was one of
the most active and powerful advocates with his pen and
tongue of the measures which resulted in the entire separation
of Church and State in Virginia. As a clear and cogent
reasoner, it is believed he had no superior among his contemporaries,
and the impress of his mind has been continued on
his country in the distinguished pupils he trained. The
ablest of them all was Dr. Archibald Alexander, who through

his presidency of the Theological Seminary at Princeton may
be said to have moulded the Presbyterian Church in America.
Dr. Graham died June 8, 1799, in this city, while on a visit
to his friend, Colonel Robert Gamble. More than one memoir
of him exists, but perhaps the most interesting is that
by his distinguished pupil, Dr. Alexander.

Colonel Robert Gamble, the friend of Dr. Graham, also
lies buried in the yard. He was of the Scotch race which
settled in Augusta county. After gallant service in the Revolution,
he acquired a large fortune as a merchant, and removing
to Richmond, occupied an elegant residence on the
hill that bears his name. At that residence his two accomplished
daughters were wedded, one to William Wirt and the
other to Judge William H. Cabell.

Colonel Edward Carrington lies buried, according to his
request, at the spot where he stood and heard through an open
window the great debate on the arming of the colonies. He
felt that here the ennobling spirit of patriotism was kindled
in his bosom, which animated and sustained him ever afterwards
in war and in peace, and here he desired that his last
resting place might be.

Among the eminent physicians who are buried here may
be mentioned Drs. James Currie, Andrew Leiper, with whom
President William Henry Harrison studied medicine; James
McClurg, one of the most eminent men of his time, who
served with great distinction on the medical staff during the
Revolution, and was one of the Virginia delegates to the
Convention that framed the Federal Constitution; John
Dove, beloved by more than one generation, and especially
honored by his Masonic brethren, and James Beale, whose
grave is still fresh. In this yard we also find the grave of
Geddes Winston, son of the emigrant William Essex Winston,
and a representative of the numerous and honorable family
of Winston.

But I must bring these short notices of the dead to a close,
and yet there is one other I cannot omit, as his early life was
most intimately linked with mine, and the recollection of his
name and person fills me with the deepest emotion. In the
fall of 1848 there matriculated at the University of Virginia,
a youth of slender frame and of a remarkable handsome face,

in which were blended sweetness and genius in an unusual
degree. We attended a number of classes together, and were
members of the same literary society. Soon a friendship
sprung up between us such as only schoolmates enjoy, and this
grew and strengthened for two sessions, until in June, 1850,
we graduated together, he taking the degree in two years, an
unusual feat, and only achieved by youth of extraordinary
capacity and industry. When the day came for us to part,
we exchanged our society badges in token of our lasting
friendship, and wrote sentences in each other's autograph
books breathing the warmest affection. I can recall now the
pale student, in whom all had come to recognize the happy
blending of the lion and the lamb, as he wrote in my book
these words: "When hereafter you think of your college
friends, may the most pleasant emotions be experienced by
you when thinking of the most sincere of them all. John
Tevis Points, Staunton, Va."

Our lives, which had flowed so intimately together for two
years, now diverged. I entered upon the drudgery of the
law, he chose the higher calling of the Christian ministry,
and prepared himself as a missionary to China, for which
his great aptitude for languages seemed so well to fit him.
But the deadly climate of that country soon shattered a physical
constitution, never strong enough for the spirit it held,
and he was forced to return with impaired health. When
sufficiently restored he entered upon the duties of a country
charge. In the winter of 1859-1860 he was called to this
church, and was recognized at once as a model rector. Listen
to the recorded testimony of his Vestry: "He found our
church destitute of means and material. From a bankrupt
congregation, cold and listless audience, and an emaciated
Sunday school, and general supineness pervading the whole
church, he introduced warmth, activity, vigor. Seats heretofore
vacant suddenly became filled to repletion, and an extension
of the accommodations became necessary; our treasury
became adequate to the demands made upon it, and that
treasury which was always the object of his deepest solicitude
had accessions made to its members. The interest imparted
by him to the church soon found its way to its adjunct, the
Sunday school, and its crowded walls soon resounded to the

glad voices of a happy little congregation. We do not mean
to attribute this success solely to the frequency of his public
ministrations. It would be unjust to his memory were we,
while according him praise in this particular, to omit to
enumerate his constant devotion and attachment to his congregation,
incessantly manifested by his untiring energy in
visiting the sick, consoling the afflicted, sympathizing with
and appropriating to himself their afflictions; ever on the
alert to administer the consolations of his office and heal the
wounded and broken hearted. Whether affliction visited the
parlor or the garret, there was he to be found, and if one of
those accustomed happy little faces was absent from its place
in the Sunday school, straightway he bent his steps to know
the cause of detention."

But this happy pastorate was not to last long. It became
apparent that the seating capacity of the building must be enlarged
or a new church built. This last, which involved the
abandonment of this venerated building by the congregation,
was not to be thought of, and it was determined to close the
building for a short period, in order to add new pews. The
rector in the mean time visited his old parish in King William.
While there, a guest of his kinsman, Robert E. Hill,
the disease which had driven him from China returned upon
him with great violence, and after a sickness of a few days,
death on the 10th of June, 1860, ended his short but brilliant
career. The ladies of his congregation and his brother
Masons claimed the honor of placing a stone over his grave.
Seldom has one tomb closed over so much consecrated learning
in a youthful form. He was learned beyond his years,
and was fitted with an unquenchable desire for knowledge.
But he loved knowledge only as she was the handmaid of
wisdom; out of the service of her heaven-born mistress he
trusted her not.

But my task is done. It only remains for me to utter the
sincere prayer which finds a response in the heart of every
Christian patriot, that the same kind providence that has heretofore
preserved this building and filled it with sacred memories
may continue to keep it as the Mecca towards which an
ever-increasing throng of liberty-oving pilgrims shall bend
their steps; and when the sands of another hundred and fifty
years shall have fallen from the hand of time, and our children
and children's children shall lie with us in the tomb,
may a new generation, in the full enjoyment of civil and religious
liberty, gladly commemorate its three hundredth anniversary,
and find a pure religion still ministering at its altar.