Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

young man he was very talkative, but later on he became taciturn, and it was said that the verse "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin" caused him to change in this respect. He was an untiring worker, preaching as rector at Bristol three times on Sunday and teaching all the week. Once, crossing Narragansett Bay in a storm, he had to lie down in the bottom of the boat as ballast, being so large and heavy. As a Bishop, though his health was never strong, he labored with unflagging zeal, continuing twenty-four years longer as a rector, besides superintending his vast Diocese. The year after his consecration he reported twelve hundred confirmations, and the Church grew in grace as well as in numbers, so that he lived to see the parishes increase five-fold, and his jurisdiction divided into five dioceses able to support four bishops, instead of the one whom they could not support. He was seventy years old when he ordained me, and in 1838 he became Presiding Bishop. He took a great interest in Foreign Missions and nominated the first foreign missionary ever sent out by our Church. He increased the circulation of the Prayer-Book, which he was wont to declare was "second only to the Bible in its utility." He would never give up in despair. Being asked to consent to sell a church in a decayed parish to the Congregationalists, he said, "I can never indorse or consent to such a measure." Where there was no church he would hold services

in groves.

His last official act had been the consecration of Rev. Dr. Manton Eastburn on December 29, 1842, as his assistant. On February 11, 1843, he walked through the snow to call on him and fell dead on his doorstep.

No greater character have I known of in our history than Bishop Griswold and his influence and work were never surpassed in certain lines.

Bishop Eastburn was preaching and noticed that a woman near the pulpit seemed very much affected and shed tears. In the vestry room he spoke of it and said he would like to speak with her. The rector called her in and the Bishop said, "What affected you so much in my sermon?" She replied, "I was thinking all the time of dear Bishop Griswold, and that we would never see his like again."

I left for Alexandria early in October, 1836. It was a long trip and by various conveyances. I first took steamer from New York to Amboy, then by railroad to Camden, then by steamer to New

72

ARRIVAL IN VIRGINIA.

Castle, where I took a short railroad to Frenchtown; thence I took a steamboat again to Baltimore. As late as 1844 there was no railroad between Baltimore and Philadelphia.

I came from Baltimore to Washington by the railroad opened the year before, and I remember the almost unbroken forests between Baltimore and Washington. There was only one steamboat, going twice a day from Washington to Alexandria at II and 4, and Joe Johnson was its name. Rev. Frederick D. Goodwin, who had been ordained with William M. Jackson exactly five years before me, July 17, 1831, was on board, and was just removing to another parish, I think. He spent a long and most useful ministry and handed over his work to his sons, Revs. Robert A., rector of old St. John's, Richmond, where Patrick Henry made his famous speech; Edward L., also of Richmond, both of whom have labored most faithfully. His grandsons, Revs. William A. R. Goodwin, of Petersburg, Frederick G. Ribble, of Culpeper, John F. Ribble, of Newport, all laboring in Virginia, and G. W. Ribble, a devoted missionary in Brazil, and a daughter, Mrs. Thomas H. Lacy, of Lynchburg, testify to the influences that must have existed in that Christian home.

I hired a hack and came out to the Seminary October 17. On Shooter's Hill I met James A. Buck and William T. Leavell, whom I had known at Bristol, and after seeing them I felt more at home. The Seminary that year had 29 students; in 1833 there were 36, in 1834, 32, and in 1835, 22; and three professors-Rev. Reuel Keith, Rev. E. R. Lippitt and myself.

The following notice appeared in the Southern Churchman about this time:

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF VIRGINIA.—We understand that the Rev. Joseph Packard, late Professor of the Latin, Hebrew and German languages in Bristol College, Pennsylvania, has accepted the chair of Professor of Sacred Literature in this institution. From the character we have heard of Mr. Packard, we feel authorized to congratulate the friends of the Seminary upon the accession of such valuable aid. He will enter upon his duties as Professor in October next.

The Trustees, in their report to the Convention of 1837, kindly said of me: As a scholar and a Christian he has the entire confidence of all who know him, and as an instructor is highly acceptable to the students."

When I came to the Seminary, in 1836, we note from the Jour

TRUSTEES AND FRIENDS.

73

nal that the Board of Trustees of the Seminary consisted of the Bishop or Bishops "and thirteen members, to be chosen by the Convention of the Church, who shall be elected every three years, and no Professor of the institution shall be eligible as Trustee." Also this rule: "The Board of Managers shall keep a regular record of their proceedings and report the same regularly to the annual meetings of the Convention." Among the Trustees elected in 1836 for three years are the names of Rev. John Grammer, father of Rev. Dr. James Grammer, for many years now a Trustee also, two Nelsons, two McGuires, James M. Garnett, grandfather of Prof. James M. Garnett, Ph. D., and of our present Trustee, Judge Theodore S. Garnett, who filled many public positions and was a very popular writer. All of them were noble men and good friends to me.

Of the seventy-nine men ordained Deacons in the year 1836 all have passed away except two-Bishop Clark and John Linn McKim of Delaware. Nine of that number were deposed; four were Bishops-Clark, Boone, Payne, Atkinson; twenty-six died before 1860; Minor, Payne and Savage went as missionaries to Africa the next year, and Boone to China. Others were prominent as ministers; among them Rev. Martin P. Parks (the father of Rev. Drs. Leighton and J. Lewis Parks), who succeeded Bishop Meade at Christ church, Norfolk, and was a very striking preacher; Dr. C. M. Butler, so useful in Washington and Philadelphia; Rev. John F. Hoff, beloved and honored in Maryland; Rev. Dr. A. T. Twing, our General Secretary of the Board of Missions many years; and many others, beloved and useful ministers.

I was ordained to the priesthood in the basement of the Seminary by Bishop Meade on Friday, September 29, 1837-a very solemn occasion to me. There was no chapel at the Seminary and no regular Sunday services there until 1840, and the students walked into Alexandria to church. The churches in Alexandria, Christ and St. Paul's, had strong rectors-Revs. C. B. Dana and J. S. Johnston, who came there about the same time, 1833.

I knew Mr. Dana very intimately and sometimes preached for him. He was very particular and precise, and once when I had not my bands, he was much disconcerted. This seems strange now, but the bands were an important part of the clerical dress at that time.

Bishop Atkinson once after getting to church sent to his home for a pair of fresh bands. The warden thought he asked for a

74

DANA AND JOHNSTON.

pair of pants. Mrs. A., wondering why he wanted them, sent his winter pants. The warden called the Bishop from the pulpit, and he was much astonished at receiving his trousers instead of the bands.

Another story illustrates the use of the bands. A rector came into church one day as his curate had entered the reading desk, and sent word that he wished to preach but had forgotten his bands. The only way was for the curate to untie his own bands and hand them up when the rector mounted the three decker to preach. Unluckily as he untied them, the string of the bands got into a knot. By a strange coincidence the singers struck up the anthem, "Loose the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." As they repeated the words over and over-"Loose the bands of thy neck, loose the bands, loose the bands," the helpless curate became more baffled in his efforts to untie the strings, and supposed the anthem directed at him.

Mr. Dana gave out the Psalms in metre in regular order every Sunday till all were sung, when he would begin again. He was cold and impassive in his manners, a graduate of Andover, an accurate scholar and nearly related to Mr. Dana, editor of the New York Sun. He was at Christ church from 1833-1860, and, while not aggressive, as men are now, he did good work and was much respected there and was influential in the Diocese, especially as a Trustee of the Seminary. Professor Parks of Andover, a famous man, visited him and attended the Episcopal church. Mr. Dana was not a popular preacher, being somewhat formal and dry. I recall one of his anecdotes in a sermon. Two noble Romans were friends, and on parting they divided between them a tessara and agreed if they ever met or needed anything to show it. One was arrested and tried before a judge, who happened to be his old friend. He held up the tessara, Knowest thou this tessara?" and escaped sentence.

Mr. Johnston was much admired and respected. He was dignified and stately, and took great pains with his sermons, learning them by heart; he was very popular as a preacher. He had the professors to preach for him Sunday afternoons when the congregation was smaller, for which he paid us. Mrs. Johnston while at the North knew Rev. Dr. Francis L. Hawks. Once riding together her horse ran away; Dr. Hawks could not overtake her, but in his beautiful and stentorian voice called after her, "Hold on tight." When the horse stopped and he came up, she

CONTEMPORARY EVENTS.

75

said to him: "Did you think I was such a fool as to let go if I could help it?" Dr. Johnston lived to a good old age. Once I went to see him before his death, and asked him if I should pray and for what. He said: "Yes, pray that I may recover and live longer."

"The tree of deepest root is found
Reluctant still to leave the ground."

Few indeed are like Sir David Brewster, who felt that he had done all that he desired to do. Many are like one of the best of servants and friends, as Dr. Boyd says, whose words were, "I never could have lain down at a worse time."

Several interesting events occurred about the time of my coming to the Virginia Seminary. The Baltimore Sun, which has for two-thirds of a century grown ever greater as a clean reliable newspaper, made its first appearance, and I have its first number, a small folio sheet. Roger B. Taney of Maryland that year was appointed Chief Justice and Philip P. Barbour of Virginia, Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Martin Van Buren was the first President I saw inaugurated. Victoria became Queen of England one year after my appointment, but has passed away while I am still living.

Sir Isaac Pitman invented his shorthand system. Windham Robertson of an old and honored family became Governor of Virginia. How strange it seems to know that thousands of settlers in Georgia and Alabama left their homes that year, 1836, through fear of the Indians! Of all the families that then lived and received me, a stranger from the North, so cordially and hospitably, few survivors remain. Dr. Wilmer kindly wrote my son, "What grand men the North furnished us and what good Southerners they became! Dr. Dame, Dr. Woodbridge, Dr. Packard, and others."

« PreviousContinue »