The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-30
THE OLDEST CHURCH
CLAIMS OF sMITHFIELD, vIR- II GINA.
St. Luke's, Erected in 162 and Re stored in 1894, Has Been in Service for Two and Q
 Half Centuries.
W. F. Curtis in The Chicago Record Herald.

| hefalQ.
 Oldest Church in the Country.
 The oldest Protestant church in the | United States is St. Luke's, at Smith, field. Va. A little Roman Catholic
 chapel at Santa Fe. N. M, claims to | St. Luke's was erected in 1882, and | was restored in 1894 as nearly as pos- sible to it's original condition and ap- pearance. It is beautiful old struc- | ture. of early English gothic. with mullioned windows and a stately tow CT. and has been used for public wor- ship almost continuously for two cen- | turies and half. The original church was erected on Jamestown Island by the first English colonists in North America. under Captain John Smith the church in which Pocahontas was baptized and married-has all disap- peared except a picturesque, ivy-clad tower of brick, surrounded by grove
 of trees. It was allowed to lie in ru- ins until Mrs. Barney of Dayton, O., bought the island, cleared away the rubbish and underbrush and present.
 ed the site and the ruins Of the tirst white settlement in North America to Virginia Antiquities. The place is now carefully protected. It was there that the seat of the colonial govern ment was established and maintained until the Bacon rebellion, whic his so graphically described in a recent novel. When Jamestown was de- stroyed the Governor moved up 10 Williamsburg, or 'Williams-Cittie, with his court.
 City is Also Famous for Its Homes.
 St. Luke's at Smithfield was erected | few years after the original church | at Jamestown, and, being in an isolat- cd situation has not suffered from | the ravages of war the tooth O time. | or other means of destruction. Besides | this church Smithfield is famous for hams. although the greater part of l those sold under it's name are raised and cured elsewhere. The island on | which the town stands is referred to in | the old records as "Ye Isle of Hogges. ' so that its reputation for pork was es- tablished at the beginning of things: l have never been able to discover why | the swine raised in that locality should have any better flavor than those | which come from the region around and other parts of the universe, but | epicures assert that Smithfield pork Is | unrivaled, and hams bring double price in the market if they bear the | Smithfield brand. The old church stands among most | picturesque surroundings, and is faV- orite study for artists. In the cnancel are two tonbs upon which the lnscflp- | lions are almost obliterated. The cpl Jo IslsIuIN leaLD e2sI eA selI od0H
 That Royal Virtue, had and Royal Fate
 To Charles His Councils did such Hon. our bring,
 His own Express fetched Him to At tend ye King.
 * <
 Where Washington Was Married.
 Another picturesque old church is St. Peters, at New York, about fifteen
 miles north of Williamsburg. It was built in 1703 and has been continuous | ly used for public worship. In this church Washington was. married, and l White House." the residence of John
 Dandridge. the father of Martha Wash
 ington, is the chief plantation In the | parish and the county. The executive mansion in. Washington was named in
 honor of Mrs. Washlngton's birthplace. Bruton church, at Williamsburg, which was designed by Sir Christopher
 Wren, is much larger and more impos- ing than either of the two have men rioned, and it's simple dignity, with a dense robe of ivy, gives ta pictur- esque beauty equaled by few ecclsisas-
 al structures in this country. The old
 bricks, with a yellowish red tone and l the mellow harmony of the whole structure excites the admiration of ar-
 chitects and artists and furnishes a
 picture the like of which Is often seen | in England, but nowhere else in the | United States. Inside is the font at
 which Pocahontas was baptised. It
 was removed from Jamestown with the seat of government. There are two
 communion services of silver. one pre- sented by Queen Anne and the other | by George ILL, both bearing the royal | arms. Clergy Inclined to Be Worldly. They tell pretty tough stories about | the morals of the ministers who were
 sent over by the Bishop of London to | look after the spiritual welfare of the | Virginia ecolonists, but their sermons were sound in doctrine and they did not hesitate to call other sinners to | repentance. Bishop Meade of the Epis- copal church in his charming reminis-
 cences of "Old Families and Old Church of Virginia" tells us that the | clergy were devoted to cards, horse l racing, .cockfighting, dissipation and drunkenness: that they were 'slothtul a md debauCheQ ana bent on all HldIIeT of yices." but had very stiff ideas of the duty of their parishoners toward the church and the creed which they
 nrefessed Nor did they allow heretics to interfere with their teachings. Peo-
 ple who neglected to attend church on the Sabbath were severely punished;
 those who denied the doctrine of the
 Trinity were deprived of the care of
 their children, put in the stocks and
 publicly whipped. Catholics, Quakers,
 Methodists. Baptists and Presbyterians
 ,yere not allowed to sit on juries. and
 inc importation of any book whose con
 tents were contrary to the true faith
 was a felony.
 The preachers seasoned their sermons
 with plenty of birthstone. Bishop
 Meade tells of lady of the old
 school who attended the ministrations
 of Rev. MT. Shields at Bruton church
 o+ the time when brocades were the
 Fsshion for those who could afford to
 1,,ear. them. She came home from ser
 vice fone Sunday morning in a great
 stste. of agitation and called her maid
 to take off her clothing as rapidly as roossihle for she had heard so much 1T 9Rul uoIlBumep pue qlBsQ 'Heu Jo
 would take her all the evening to get
 cool"
 Dressed Down by Angry Dominic
 That charming old story teller called
 Tradition relates that Rev. MT Mos
 ATRWwF