Parliament passed in 1746 and 1748, which were plainly intended to
annihilate the Scottish Church, and were unrepeated when Bishop
Skinner wrote the words just quoted, can wonder at the hesitation
of the Scottish bishops. For in executing these laws in days not
long passed, "so vigilantly were the Scottish Episcopal clergy
watched...that it was with the utmost difficulty they could
celebrate any of the services of religion. There are instances of
individual clergymen performing public worship no less than
sixteen times in one day.....The service was often performed in
farm-houses, or in the out-houses of the farmhouse, if these were
conveniently constructed. In either case the clergyman, the
family, and four persons were in the apartment, and dozens or
hundreds of others stationed themselves in as favorable positions
as they could, to listen to the prayers of the Church. Sometimes
divine service was celebrated under a shed, in which was the
number allowed by law, while the people stood at a small distance
in the open air. At times, again, when there was no apparent
danger; pastor and people met in the recesses of woods, in
secluded glens, and on the sides of sequestered mountains, where
the vault of heaven was their covering, the moss turfs their
humble altar, and perhaps a solitary seat their pulpit."
[Footnote: John Parker Lawson's _History of the Scottish
Episcopal Church_, pp. 300-302. See also the Rev. W. Walker's
most interesting _Life of John Skinner of Linshirt_, chap.
iii. To make the general statements in the text plainer, I add, in
a foot-note, some details which time forbade me to introduce into
the sermon. By the Act of 1746, "every person exercising the
function of a pastor or minister in any Episcopal meeting in
Scotland, without registering his letters of orders, and taking
all the oaths prescribed by law, and praying for his Majesty King
George and the royal family by name" was "for the first offence to
suffer six months' imprisonment; and for the second, or any
subsequent offence, was to be transported to some of his Majesty's
plantations in America for life; and in case of his return to
Great Britain, to suffer imprisonment for life." All chapels were
to be closed; and even in a private house only four persons
besides the family were allowed to be present at any service. In
1748, no letters of orders, not given by some bishop of England or
Ireland, were allowed in Scotland; and no persons were allowed to
officiate as chaplains in private families, or to preach or
perform any divine services in houses of which they were not the
masters, unless they belonged to the Presbyterian establishment.
These atrocious acts were, undoubtedly, intended to destroy "root
and branch" the Scottish Church. Happily some laws are so
stringent that their very stringency prevents their thorough
execution. It should never be forgotten that the English
Episcopate unanimously opposed the Act of 1748 in the House of
Lords.] In very truth, so far as the worship of God was concerned,
"they wandered"--these churchmen of Scotland--"in deserts and in
mountains and in dens and caves of the earth."
We may not sympathize with the political scruples of the non-
jurors of Scotland. But any men who so possess the courage of
their convictions as not to shrink from loss of goods and danger
of life, and who accept the trials of martyrdom without posing as
martyrs in personal comfort and security, deserve and will receive
the veneration of all true-hearted and right-minded men. And in
this matter, "let all history declare whether in any age or in any
cause, as followers of Knox or of Montrose, as Cameronians or as
Jacobites, the men--aye and the women--of Scotland have quailed
from any degree of sacrifice or suffering." [Footnote: Lord
Stanhope, History of England, in. 210.]
To return:--The correspondence between Bishop Skinner and Dr.
Berkeley was continued through the winter of 1782-1783, but
without any actual result. [Footnote: Scottish Church Review, i.
36-43.] In the autumn of 1783--some four months after Seabury's
arrival in England--a letter was sent to the Scottish Primus by
Mr. Elphinstone, a man of literary reputation, the son of a
Scottish clergyman, in which the following question was put: "Can
consecration be obtained in Scotland for an already dignified and
well vouched American clergyman, now in London, for the purpose of
perpetuating the Episcopal reformed Church in America, particularly
in Connecticut?" [Footnote: Wilberforce, American Church,
p. 205.] At the same time Dr. Berkeley renewed his correspondence
with Bishop Skinner in these words: "I have this day [Nov.
24] heard (I need not add with the sincerest pleasure) that
a respectable Presbyter, well recommended from America, hath
arrived in London, seeking what it seems in the present state of
affairs he cannot expect to receive in our Church. Surely, dear
sir, the Scotch prelates, who are not shackled by any Erastian
connexion, will not send this suppliant empty away. .... I scruple
not to give it as my decided opinion that the king, some of his
cabinet counsellors, all our bishops (except, peradventure, the
Bishop of St. Asaph [Footnote: Dr. Jonathan Shipley.]), all the
learned and respectable clergy of our Church, will at least
secretly rejoice if a Protestant bishop be sent from Scotland to
America--more especially if Connecticut is to be the scene of his
ministry." [Footnote: _Scottish Church Review,_ i. 106; where
the rest of the correspondence is also given.]
The question now brought before the Scottish bishops, was, as will
be readily seen, a different one from that proposed nearly two
years before. Then they were asked to originate action and to send
out a bishop, selected by themselves, to take his chances of being
received by the clergy and church-people in America. Now the
proposition was to complete action already begun, and to invest
with the Episcopal character a person selected in America and sent
out to obtain consecration. Wisely did the Scottish prelates
decline to take the former course, which could only have increased
the difficulties of the situation. As wisely, and with a noble
recognition of the importance of what they clearly regarded as the
great responsibility and solemn duty laid upon them, did they
decide to adopt the latter. Said one of them: "Considering the
great Depositum committed to us, I do not see how we can account
to our great Lord and Master, if we neglect such an opportunity of
promoting His truth and enlarging the borders of His Church.
"These words have in them the ring of a firm conviction of duty,
and a thorough understanding of the true character and position of
Christ's kingdom upon earth.
Still, ready as they were to take the responsibility, and even the
possible dangers, of consecrating the applicant for the
Episcopate, there were some further questions to be asked, and at
least one doubt to be removed. They owed it to themselves, and to
the Church of God, to be well assured of "the candidate's
learning, piety, and principles," and also "to know whether the
proposal was only from himself, or if it was a plan laid with his
American brethren, and if he was recommended and his consecration
solicited by them." It is needless to say that ample and entire
satisfaction was given on both these points.
One thing--and it brings out the doubt just alluded to-the
Scottish bishops could not quite comprehend. Says Bishop Skinner,
speaking for his brethren as well as for himself: "I should be
glad to know why he [Dr. Seabury] has been refused consecration in
England; as I cannot conceive any good reason for denying this,
after what Government has already yielded to the United States.
The Bishop of London, I presume, does not now think of exercising
any spiritual jurisdiction where the secular power of Britain is
no longer acknowledged. And if all the respectable characters you
mention would secretly rejoice at the establishment of Protestant
Episcopacy in America, even through Scotland, there must be some
ostensible reason for their withholding that confidence and
support they would otherwise give to this proposal." [Footnote:
Letter to Dr. Berkeley, under date of Nov. 29, 1783.]
Long years of suffering had taught the Scottish bishops caution,
nor can it be wondered at that while they were "keenly alive to
the necessity of preserving the Scottish Church from the odium
that would have been incurred by any hasty or mistaken step," they
were also "utterly at a loss to understand why considerations of a
purely political kind should have had such enervating influence on
the English bishops as to render them passive spectators of the
destitution of their American children." Brave men, men ready to
run needful risks and meet unavoidable dangers, are not the men
who are willing to be made cat's-paws. How the doubt was resolved
I am unable to say. That it was resolved is certain; since on the
8th of December, 1783, it was known that consecration could be
obtained in Scotland.
Just here the questions arise: Why, if the Scottish bishops were
ready to proceed to consecration in December of 1783, was that
solemn act deferred for near a twelve-month--till November of the
following year? And why did Seabury himself delay his application
to Scotland till August of the same year? The answer is found in
Seabury's own letter of August, 1784, already quoted, in which he
formally applies to the bishops of Scotland. He says: "With regard
to myself, it is not my fault that I have not done it before, but
I thought it my duty to pursue the plan marked out for me by the
clergy of Connecticut, as long as there was a probable chance of
succeeding." [Footnote: Seabury's letter to Dr. Cooper of August
31, 1784. On the back of this letter there is a note, written
either by Bishop Skinner or, more probably, by his father, the
Rev. John Skinner of Linshart, in these words: "Dr. Berkeley, in
consequence of some fear suggested by Bishop Skinner, wrote the
present Archbishop of Canterbury [Dr. John Moore] that application
had been made by Dr. Seabury to the Scottish bishops for
consecration, and begged that if his Grace thought the bishops
here ran any hazard in complying with Seabury's request, he would
be so good as to give Dr. Berkeley notice immediately; but if his
Grace was satisfied that there was no danger, there was no
occasion to give any answer. _No answer came._" _Scottish
Church Review_, i. 113. In view of all these facts and circumstances,
how utterly preposterous is the gossiping story retailed by Granville
Sharpe!]
The explanation was satisfactory, and on the 2nd of October,
Bishop Kilgour, the Scottish Primus, wrote: "Dr. Seabury's long
silence, after it had been signified to him that the bishops of
this Church would comply with his proposals, made them all think
that the affair was dropped, and that he did not choose to be
connected with them; but his letter, and the manner in which he
accounts for his conduct, give such satisfaction, that I have the
pleasure to inform you that we are still willing to comply with
his proposal to clothe him with the Episcopal character, and
thereby convey to the Western world the blessing of a free, valid,
and purely ecclesiastical Episcopacy; not doubting that he will so
agree with us in doctrine and discipline, as that he and the
Church under his charge in Connecticut will hold communion with us
and the Church here on catholic and primitive principles; and so
that the members of both may with freedom communicate together in
all the offices of religion." Reasons are also given why the
consecration should take place in Aberdeen.
To this letter of the Primus, Seabury replied at once, expressing
to the Scottish bishops his thankfulness "for the ready and
willing mind which they manifested in this important affair," and
giving utterance to the prayer--how wonderfully answered!--"May
God accept and reward their piety, and grant that this whole
business may terminate to the glory of His name and the prosperity
of His Church!"
The way seemed now to be cleared; and the 5th of November found
Seabury in Aberdeen. One might reasonably have supposed that all
difficulties were now surmounted. But it was not so. It is not
necessary to go into details; they would simply set forth a
painful story of human infirmity and self-seeking. It is enough to
say that while Seabury was travelling northward a letter--inspired
at least by a clergyman in America--was sent from London to the
Scottish Primus, containing a personal attack on the bishop-elect,
and warning the Scottish bishops of the unknown evils that would
follow on his consecration. The manly uprightness and good sense
of Bishop Skinner dispersed these unsubstantial mists of
detraction if not of malice, and he thus disposed of the unworthy
attempt to injure Seabury and intimidate his consecrators: "I
cannot help considering the whole of this intelligence as a mean
and silly artifice of some enemy to Dr. Seabury, who secretly
envies us the introducing such a worthy man into America in the
character of a bishop, a character I am fully satisfied he is in
every way qualified to support with honor to himself and all
concerned with him. For if there be truth and candor in man, I
honestly declare I think it is in Dr. Seabury." [Footnote: The
letter to the Primus with the other correspondence is given in the
_Scottish Church Review_, i. 111-118.]
We have reached, at length, the consummation of this more than
knightly quest, this veritable pilgrimage, the story of which I
have tried to tell. When I began it last year, I asked you to go
with me, in thought, to a secluded inland village in our own
Diocese. Now I must ask you to go with me to a grey old city, the
capital of northern Scotland, which looks out upon the German
ocean. It is a place of old renown, for it had a name before one
civilized man had set foot on this northern continent. Did time
permit, much might be said about it; for it was once the home of
Hector Boethius, praised by the great Erasmus, and in far later
times the home, also, of Forbes of Corse and Henry Scougal; and
its clergy and people in 1639 refused the "solemn League and
Covenant" until it was forced upon them at the point of the sword,
and renounced it when the pressure was withdrawn. It is sometimes
called "the city of Bon-Accord," from the legend of its arms. And
that legend must always for us have a higher than any earthly
application, for it must always speak to us of "the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace." Nor ought another thing to be
forgotten to-day. The first place in which a clergyman in English
orders ever officiated in Connecticut--as a clergyman of the
Church of England--was here in New London, destined to be the home
of our first bishop; and that clergyman was the Rev. George Keith,
a native of Aberdeen. [Footnote: He was the guest of the Rev.
Gurdon Saltonstall, minister of the town, who afterwards presided
at the discussion in the Library of Yale College in 1722. The
service in New London was Sept. 13, 1702.]
Passing into the part of New Aberdeen known as the Long Acre, and
ascending to "a large upper room" in the house occupied by the
Coadjutor-Bishop of the Diocese, we find ourselves in the midst of
a large congregation of the clergy and the faithful and in the
presence of the three officiating prelates. Two [Footnote: Robert
Kilgour, Bishop of Aberdeen, and Arthur Petrie, Bishop of Moray. ]
are men far on in years; one [Footnote: John Skinner, Coadjutor of
Aberdeen.] is in the full maturity of his manhood, and to him is
committed the office of the preacher. As the sermon ends, we hear
the words of the concluding verses of the ninetieth Psalm, in the
version of Tate and Brady--the last two of which, as we read them
with the story of the succeeding century in mind, may also seem a
prophecy:
"To all Thy servants, Lord, let this Thy wondrous work be known;
And to our offspring yet unborn, Thy glorious power be shewn
"Let thy bright rays upon us shine, Give Thou our work success;
The glorious work we have in hand, Do Thou vouchsafe to bless,"
The supreme point of the solemn office is reached. A young priest,
who has not yet seen thirty summers, holds the book from which the
aged Primus reads the awful sentence of ordination and the charge
which follows it; that youthful priest is Alexander Jolly,
afterwards the saintly Bishop of Moray. The imposition of
Apostolic hands is given; the work begun here in 1783 is
consummated, and our Diocese rejoices in its first bishop.
Nor is this all. The golden chain of the succession that starts
from the Master's hand is stretched westward across an ocean. The
"Church of Jesus Christ, The blessed Banyan of our God,"
sends out a branch to root itself in our western world; a branch
which our eyes have seen "rise, and spread, and droop, and root
again," until in its self-repeating life it has crossed this
continent, and is firmly rooted on our, then unknown, Pacific
coast.
"Long as the world itself shall last, The sacred Banyan still
shall spread; From clime to clime, from age to age, Its sheltering
shadow shall be shed; Nations shall seek its pillared shade, Its
leaves shall for their healing be; The circling flood that feeds
its life, The blood that crimsoned Calvary."' [Footnote: Bishop
Doane of New Jersey; _Ficus Religiosa_.]
And here I pause to-day. Another year, please God, we must bring
to remembrance what followed the consecration in Scotland, the
newly-consecrated bishop's return to America, and the share that
he and his Diocese had in organizing this Church in the United
States.
Here and now it is enough to have told the story--not as it should
be told, but as I have had power to tell it--of his consecration.
Standing above the honored sepulchre [Footnote: Bishop Seabury's
remains rest under the chancel of St. James's Church, New London.
] that holds the mouldered remains of him who a hundred years ago
knelt down in that distant land to receive the warrant of his high
commission in the Church of God; in this fair temple, which
replaces the far humbler one in which he ministered as a parish
priest; beside that monument, which attests the loving gratitude
of a Diocese that will never let his memory be forgotten; two
thoughts--bringing with them a thankfulness too deep for
utterance--fill mind and heart alike: the first, the thought of
that brave, patient, self-sacrificing soldier of the Cross, who
dared all and gave all, that he might win for us the precious gift
that binds us to the historic Church and through it to the great
day of Pentecost and the mount of the Ascension; the second, of
those venerable fathers who, to communicate this gift, rose above
all personal considerations, and put aside possibilities that
might have daunted many a brave soul, because on their hearts was
written--as with a pen of iron on living rock--that charge to all
Christ's ministers which comprehends and covers all duties and
responsibilities: "It is required in stewards that a man be found
faithful."
THE Centenary of the Consecration of Bishop Seabury was
commemorated in Aberdeen by services on the seventh and eighth
days of October, 1884, at which the Bishop of Connecticut and a
delegation of the clergy attended. In the appendix will be found
an account of these services, including Bishop Williams's sermon,
Dr. Beardsley's historical paper, and other addresses.
The anniversary was observed by the Diocese of Connecticut on the
fourteenth day of November, 1884, at Christ Church, Hartford. The
Church was decorated with flowers and ferns; Bishop Seabury's
mitre was placed on the right of the Chancel, and a _facsimile_
of the Concordate which he made with his consecrators was
hung opposite. At 11 o'clock a long procession of the clergy
entered the Church, followed by Bishop Paddock of Massachusetts
and Bishop Williams, before whom the Rev. W. F. Nichols
carried the pastoral staff presented to him at Aberdeen;
the processional hymn was "The Church's One Foundation." Bishop
Williams began the Communion-office, using as a Collect that for
St. Simon and St. Jude's Day. The Epistle (that for St. Mark's
Day) was read by the Rev. W. B. Buckingham, successor of Bishop
Seabury as Rector of St. James's Church, New London (wearing a
surplice which once belonged to Bishop Seabury); and the Gospel
(that for St. James's Day) was read by the Rev. J. J. McCook,
Rector of St. John's Church, East Hartford. After the Nicene
Creed, the latter part of the old metrical version of the
ninetieth psalm was sung, as it had been sung at Aberdeen a
hundred years before:--
To satisfy and cheer our souls, Thy early mercy send; That we may
in all our days to come In joy and comfort spend.
To all Thy servants, Lord, let this Thy wondrous work be known;
And to our offspring yet unborn, Thy glorious power be shown.
Let Thy bright rays upon us shine, Give Thou our work success; The
glorious work we have in hand Do Thou vouchsafe to bless.
DR. TATLOCK'S ADDRESS.
After the hymn, the Rev. William Tatlock, D.D., Rector of St.
John's Church, Stamford, a member of the Standing Committee of the
Diocese, and during Dr. Beardsley's absence its President,
addressed the Bishop as follows:
_Dear Bishop_:
The clergy of your diocese, assembled to welcome you on your
return from Scotland, can find no better words in which to do it
than some which were used on the similar occasion one hundred
years ago. "We embrace with pleasure this early opportunity of
congratulating you on your safe return to your native country, and
on the accomplishment of that enterprise in which, at our desire,
you engaged. Devoutly do we adore and reverently thank the great
Head of the Church that He has been pleased to preserve you." The
voyage to-day is neither "long" nor "dangerous," but we have
followed you with our prayers, and have rendered our thanksgivings
that He has conducted you in safety to the haven where you would
be. We are glad to know that the voyage was more prosperous than a
century ago it was wont to be, and that you and the four honored
brethren who accompanied you have not experienced the old
proportion of fatalities. We greet them and welcome them with you.
We appreciate most warmly the courtesy with which you were
received--how could it have been otherwise, indeed?--and the
greeting you have had from those who in this generation bear the
historic names of Nelson and Douglas and Gordon; and that
Wordsworth and Harold Browne have met with the master in theology
at whose feet so many of the American clergy have sat. The desire
has at last been gratified, which of late years has been so
generally-felt, that the mother churches of Scotland and England
might have opportunity to receive and welcome _you_ as the
representative, duly accredited by her bishops, of the Church in
America; that one who does not seek occasions, but whom occasions
seek, should speak for her on this worthy occasion in commemoration
of the great founder of her Episcopate. We believe that this
interchange of courtesies and sympathies, especially between
the Churches in Scotland and Connecticut, will gladden and
strengthen both in their common work for the Master through the
century to come.