Evening star., 1928-10-10

| IN new England we're devoted TO a
| fundamentally different school of re-
| ligiouS philosophy which did not recog-
| nize the legitimacy and desirability of
sacraments and which considered the
| established church of Great Britain as
| their traditional oppressor. In New
! York, however, the church found well
come. The Dutch settlers had no quar-
rel with the Anglican communion.
! When the province came into English
possession the Dutch Reformed Con-
gregation shared with their Anglican
brethren the use of the church in the
! fort, one congregation worShiping In
| the morning and the other in the after
noon.
The Rhode Island Plantation had
been established by Roger Williams as
haven of religious liberty and gave
the Episcopalian missionaries q cordial
| welcome. Four churches were estab-
lished in the colony, at Newport, Kings
ton. Bristol and Providence. The Sec
ond rector at Providence was blown
out Of the church one Sunday by IAN
extraordinary gust of wind and the
congregation, seeing in this objection
an act of God, refused to let him in
again.
Three Churches i'm Boston.
In Boston. under the protection of
the royal governors three churches
were established. the most noted of
which was Kings Chapel, whose old
graveyard is one of the historic treas
ures of the Massachusetts, city. But
the great gain of the Anglican church
in New England came in Connecticut
in 1772 when the faculty of Yale Col
lege. together with five prominent
pastors of the colony, called the trus-
tees into the library and presented
them letter stating an extraordinary
change of mind. They said that they
had become convinced of the invalidity
of Presbyterian ordination and felt that
they should enter the Anglican COM
munion. This was hard blow at the
Puritan regime of the colony and be-
came known as 'the dark day at Yale"
The movement at Yale was furthered
by the visit of an extraordinary man
the Rev. George Berkeley, afterward
Bishop of Cloyne. Berkeley's name is
best known in connection with the SyS-
tenn of philosophy which he promul-
gated. which asserted that matter was
only a function of mind But he also
was notable religious leader and edu-
Gator He came to Connecticut in 1729
and stayed until 1881. He was inter-
eSted primarily in the establishment of
two universities, one in New York and
the other in Philadelphia. Samuel
johnson, president of Yale. was invited
to head both these institutions. He
chose to go to Kings College, New York,
The other child of Berkeley's brain is
now the University of Pennsylvania.
In the middle of the eighteenth CEN
tury the current Of religious life both
in England and America was shaken
by new kind of preaching Hearts of
the Protestant peoples were stirred as
they had not been stirred since the
Reformation. The prophets of the great
awakening in America were George
Whitefleld and John Wesley.
| Wesley first came to America as a
missionary of the Episcopal Church.
He was made rector of Christ Church
| in Savannah. His insistence upon the
strict letter Of the canons, with all the
incidental ceremonial was i'll adapted
to backwoods community. He made
little progress and returned to England
where he became one of the great
| leaders of the Methodist movement.
Preaching Filled Church.
Whitefield was his successor in the
Savannah parish. His preaching filled
the church so that people stood out
side at the doors and windows. He re-
signed his parish and became a mission
preacher. His appearance drew great
crowds everywhere. He stressed more
and more an emotional appeal and
gradually drifted away from the Epis-
copal Church into Methodism. His work
both hurt and helped the church. 1t
reawakened religious feeling, but at the
same time it turned many of the bet
ter educated and more substantial cit
liens to seek refuge in the greater
dignity of the established Anglican
Church.
Whitefield died In Newburyport In
ITO. On the last day of his life he
preached from morning until night and
even then was followed to his lodgings
by the eager people. He came down
out of his bedchamber. stood In the
doorway holding lighted candle in
his hands, and preached until the fame
went out in the socket. A few hours
| later he was dead
This history of the Episcopal Church
In the New World is split in two ap-
proximately equal halves by the Amer
| lean Revolution. The church-the eS-
| tabliShed communion of England and
actually a part of the British govern
ment-found itself in a peculiar and
difficult position. 1t still was under the
| jurisdiction of the Bishop of London,
an official of the government with whom
the country was at war. Petitions for
the King were part of the estab-
liShed prayer book There are several
old prayer books still extant in which
those parts of the text are crossed out
with pen. But the structure of the
| church was built up on a corner stone
| of EPISCOPAL authority
| Nevertheless many of the leaders in
| the Revolution were EpiScopalians, in
| cluding Washington Franklin, Robert
| Morris and James Madison. The first
, session of the Continental Congress
was opened by Jacob Duche, rec
| tor of Christ Church. Philadelphia,
who was described by John Adams as
appearing in his pontificals." Never
| theleSs, many of the clergy were loyal
lists. This was the natural result Of the
lack of bishops. All ordinations were
performed in London. The clergy for
| the most part had come over from
| England In mature life, they had been
| supported by an English society, and,
naturally, they had English Sympathles.
This crisis was met by three ministers,
! DR.. William Smith OF Maryland, DR..
Samuel Seabury of Connecticut and DR..
William White of Philadelphia. DR..
| N0AiAtI, IlOAACI Vi q OAfAAty NCSACC IIOlAA
| Oxford and first provost Of the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, In 1880 called
conference of the Maryland clergy
which pettioned the State Assembly to
give the disestablished church a civil
existence. This request was granted,
forming an essential precedent for pre-
serving the church property in the
hands OF the congregations.
The next vital step-and the most
at.1f 70 ~ in
episcopal succession A bishop must
be ordained by bishop, and this cere-
mony could hardly be performed by any
of the English bishops for candidate
who could not give his assent to the
whole body of Episcopal doctrine, in
Guiding loyalty to the king.
Or. Samuel Seabury was q chaplain