paralytic nature came upon him, without seriously interrupting his
duties. His sound and vigorous constitution, and his unimpaired
mental faculties, afforded encouragement to believe that his life
might be prolonged for years. This was in 1795. Late in the month
of February of the next year, "Mr. Jarvis of Middletown was
sitting before the fire," so says an eye-witness, "his wife near
him, engaged in some domestic employment, and his little son
playing about the room. A messenger entered with a letter, sealed
with black wax, and handed it to Mr. Jarvis in silence. He opened
it, and his hand shook like an aspen-leaf. His wife, in great
alarm, hastened to him, and his son crept between his knees and
looked up inquiringly into his face. He could not speak for some
moments. At last he said, slowly and convulsively: 'Bishop Seabury
is dead.'"
In the evening of Thursday, the 25th of February, he walked with
his daughter to the house of one of his wardens. He complained,
when there, of an extreme pain in his breast, and at the moment of
rising and retiring from the tea-table, fell in an apoplectic fit,
and expired in forty minutes after entering the house.
He was buried from the church on Sunday; and this circumstance,
and the impediments of travelling at that season of the year,
joined with the few facilities for conveying intelligence,
prevented the clergy of the diocese from gathering in mourning and
sorrow around his grave. A single clergyman attended his funeral
and preached a sermon.
Thus one who was a little more than eleven years a bishop, and who
has filled the American Church and your Scottish Church with the
memory of his worth, rises and stands before us in history to-day.
What would he have thought and said, if he could have cast his
vision forward a century, and comprehended the contrast between
the gathering in the upper room in Longacre and the vastly greater
gathering here now, to express devout thankfulness for an act
which has been blessed of God to the good of so many souls! From
the then poor see of Connecticut, to which he was going in faith
and hope, have come his third successor in that see and a company
of clerical brethren, to represent its present strength and zeal,
and at the same time to show that we keep ever fresh in our
remembrance the gift that we received, and are glad to join with
others in congratulating you most heartily on the prospect of yet
brighter days for your own Scottish Church.
Professor George Grub, LL.D., then read a paper on The Relations
of the American and Scottish Churches; after which Bishop Williams
and others spoke.
The exercises of the commemoration were concluded with a large and
enthusiastic meeting in the evening at the Music Hall.
After his return to Connecticut, the Bishop received from the
Clergy and Trustees of St. Andrew's Church, Aberdeen, a letter,
beautifully engrossed upon parchment and illuminated, in the
following words:
_The Clergy and Trustees of St. Andrew's Church, Aberdeen, to
the Right Reverend John Williams, D.D., Bishop of Connecticut.
Right Reverend Father in God:_
It would have given us unfeigned pleasure, as the representatives
of the congregation in which your great predecessor was
consecrated and in which the centenary commemoration of that happy
event was celebrated, to have expressed to you and your
accompanying delegates, on the occasion of your memorable visit in
October, the pride with which we cherish the links that bind us to
the Church of America. Sensible, however, of the incessant demands
made upon your time on every day of the festival, we postponed the
expression of our feelings until the approach of Christmas, when
we might add to the salutations of the season our congratulations
upon your safe arrival in your own diocese, a prosperous
termination of your visit to Scotland for which we both publicly
prayed and gave thanks to Almighty God.
Right Reverend Father, we beg you now to accept the assurance of
veneration and respect with which your presence inspired us, and
of gratitude for your fatherly counsel and encouragement to us and
our fellow-churchmen; and we further pray you to receive the
accompanying photographs of St. Andrew's, to remind you of a
church so closely associated with the history of your own See.
We beg to subscribe ourselves, Right Reverend Father,
Your faithful servants in Christ,
J. M. DANSON, M. A., Incumbent of St. Andrew's;
ROBERT MACKAY, M. A., Curate;
JAMES CHIVAS, Church-warden and Canonical Lay Representative;
JAMES THOMSON, Church-warden and Trustee;
R. B. HORNE, Trustee and Lay Representative;
H. T. PATERSON, Trustee;
ALEX'R WALKER, Trustee;
JAS. TURREFF, Trustee;
JAMES TAYLOR, Secretary.
_Advent_, 1884.
_SIT DOMINUS DEUS NOSTER NOBISCUM, SICUT FUIT CUM PATRIBUS
NOSTRIS._