Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-04
r1Ra1S1A.s OLD CHURCHES.
Interesting Lecture by W. $ BOgart at
St Ionn,s Parish Hall.

Interesting Lecture Dy w. = DOs0A' -
st. Johns Parish Hall
Mr.. W. :. Bogart delivered his lecture
on ssVireinia's Churches and Church
LIFE before an appreciatlve audience at
& Johns Parish Hall last night. Mr..
Bogart is well known as an enthusiast in
Virginia's history and traditions,
and. having visited all the old
churches of the State, his lee
ture was replete with interesting
facts gathered from personal observation
and study among the monuments Of the
past.
The lecturer was introduced BY Rev.
Charles d. Strong, rector Of 81. JOINS
Church.
In beginning he referred to the early
civil and political history Of virginia ana
the changes which the State had under
gone in her great career, and Opened nls
lecture proper with the foundation OF the
Church of England upon American sou al
jamestown on the 18th Of May l0y.-Z"
wears ago: afterwards reviewing the IN
{ dfvf1uaI history Of the principal churches
Of the State which have become land
marks in her history. The only memorial
/ now left Of the first church at jamestown
! is q norton Of the tower fast crumbilng
awav and the stones that cover the dust OF
its dead. Its records are nearly all gone,
but some Of the peculiar customs ana laws
I i'm force have been handed down to history.
In those days absence from church was
an Oifense punishable with a severe fine.
Two sermons were delivered on Sunday
and one on Thursday. If a parishiOner
was absent from one service without
satisfactory excuse, fine Of one pound
Of tobacco was imposed. and for continued
absence corporal punishment was ln-
flicted. Tobacco was, in those days, the
f-.ss- H. Inn nj
/ ministers were paid in tobacco, and in 100,
I the minister Of the jamestown Church.
/ received a salary Of $50. which was equiv
alent to 1890 pounds of tobacco, the
! average price in those days being ID. per
pound. His salary was also lien on the
I parishiOner's crop. which could not be
/ sold until the full salary was paid. In the
I second church built upon the same site
as the first there took place in 1914, go
I years ago, two historical eyents-the
/ baptism and marriage of POcahOntas. In
/ 1916 this church Was burned, and the third
/ was erected on the same spot as the nrst
| and second. The silver communion SER
/ vice taken from its altar is now in the Ii
/ brary OF the Theological Seminary at
/ Alexandria. Among the other old
! churches. the speaker alluded to that at
/ Williamsburg, which IS to-day In com
l plete state Of preservation and contains
4 number of monuments and tablets with
I quaint inscriptions. Its paten and chalIce
| were said to have been of solid gold. One
I hundred years before w ashingtOn was born
/ It. Luke's Church was built in Newport
parish, and is now used once month.
/ St. Johns Church at Richmond was
/ prominent in the political history Of the
| State. but with no claim to age. Patrick
| Henry's battle cry, "Giye me freedom or
/ give me DEATH" first rang out within its
| walls, and on the same floor the American
! Demosthenes pictured the tyranny of
| British rule. The oldest regularly used
| church in the State is st. Johns, at
/ Hampton, in which there has been no
/ interruption of service for pa years.
/ After reference to the churches at
/ Elizabeth and Yorktown the lecturer
/ proceeded to st. PauFs at Norfolk, which
| still shows in its walls a cannon ball fired
during the days that tried mems souls"
The edifice was erected in 1873 upon
/ ground donated by Samuel Bush, the
/ Mayor of Norfolk, whose silver mace still
/ remains in the church archives.
Christ Church at Alexandria, the parish
church of both Washington and Lee, holds
page in the history of the State.
The pew occupied by Washington,
| with its silver plate bearing his
| name, is reserved for strangers and visitors
who attend the church to-day. In the
same church Gen. Lee was baptized and
/ confirmed. In the eastern wall are two
! memorial tablets, one inscribed to the
memory Of George Washington and the
other Robert Edmund Lee"
With a reference to Christ Church in
! Lancaster county, built in 1872, the lecturer
| closed his review Of the historical editices
| Of the state and turned his attention to
| the customs the church people and their
| life. and developed a narrative which
held MS audience interested to the close.