Year: 1872

From James Parton on Jefferson as Law


Student" in the Atlantic for February.l
The tales we read of the clergy OF old
Virginia stagger belief, though it is cler.
gymen who report them. The reverend
rector of Wicomico, we read, not ap-
proving the bread placed upon the com
munion table, cried out from the altar,
in the midst of the service, to one of the
church wardens, George, the bread is
not fit for dog" We read of another
who was invited after church to dinner
at planters house, where he drank SO
much that he had to be tied in his gig,
and servant sent to lead his horse
home. One jolly parson comes down to
us as s.reeling up and down the porch of
tavern bawlipg to the passers-by to
come up and drink with him. Another
lives in the memory of his country be-
cause he fought duel within sight of
church in which he had formerly Off
ciated. Another is remembered as
jovial hunter who died cheering on the
hounds to the chase. One is spoken of
as pocketing annually hundred dollars.
the revenue Of legacy, for preaching
four sermons a year against atheism,
gambling, racing, swearing, though him
self notorious swearer, racer and gam
bier Another is the hero of story that
one day parson and vestry differed in
opinion, quarreled and came 10 blows.
The parson, giant in strength, put
them all to. fight. Not content with his
victory, he renewed the battle on Sum
day morning in church, when from the
80 no s,a oround of tba ,,nl,1;t ba burlad
at them this text from Nehemiah: And
eontended with them, and cursed them,
and smote certain of them, and plucked
off their hair" which had the keen sting
of literal truth.


One old clergyman is remembered as
staggering toward the altar at the time
Of communion, when the rector who
was officiating ordered him back to his
seat. The monthly dinners of the cler-
gy have not yet passed out Of mind, to
which men would ride for thirty or forty
miles, and revel far into the night. The
court records of Hampton show that
clergyman of that parish was pre-
sented by the grand jury for drunken
ness, and on another occasion for SLAM
der, and that when before the court he
behaved with such insolence as to be
committed for contempt. Bishop Meade,
Of Virginia, to whom the reader is in
debted for several Of these incidents,
relates that a lady came to one of his
clergymen, asking rebaptism, as she had
doubts whether the christening of her
infancy was valid. The clergyman who
had performed the ceremony, she said,
dined with her father that day, and after
dinner her father wen back from the
priest at cards the very guinea he had
paid him before dinner as his baptismal
fee


The. Bishop of London, hearing of
these scandals, would sometimes urge
his commissary, the president of Mary
and William college, to proceed against
the clergy known to be drunkards. The
difficulty of proof was submitted to the
bishop as an excuse for not complying
with his commands. At what point of
intoxication does it become a scandal2
How shall we decide when a clergyman
has been drunk enough for ecclesiastical
censure The Bishop of London sent
over directions on this point. He thought
that if a clergyman sat an hour or more
with a company that were drinking
strong drink--not wine-and took the
cup as it went the rounds of the table,
and drank the health proposed, like the
rest of the company, there was ground
of proceedings He was also of opinion
IN At striking and challenging or threat
eniny to fight, or laying aside any Of his
garments for that purpose, staggering,
FEELING, vomiting, incoherent, imperti-
neut obscene or rude talking" was suf-
fioient 10 Justify judges in deciding that
g the ministers behavior, at such time,
was scandalous, indecent, unbecoming
the gravity Of a minister" For many
wears, too, as before observed, the com
missary president was himself too fond
of the bottle to prosecute a drunken
clergyman without calling attention to
his own habits.