Early Clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware, S. F. Hotchkin, 1890 - Chapter 12, St. Peter's Church Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja and Sally Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ________________________________________________ EARLY CLERGY OF PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE. BY REV. S. F. HOTCHKIN, M.A. Author of The Mornings of the Bible, History of Germantown, &c. P. W. ZIEGLER & CO., PUBLISHERS, NO. 720 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1890 Copyright, 1890, by Rev. S. F. Hotchkin. NOTE: Use URL: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/1picts/hotchkin/early-clergy.htm to access other chapters. ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 120 CHAPTER XII. ST. PETER'S CHURCH. "Mine house shall be called an House of Prayer for all people." - Isa. 56:7. THESE Divine words are inscribed above the ancient pulpit of this church, and we will endeavor to trace the lives of those who have here led the prayers and praises of the "joyful" people of God. In 1754 a largely signed petition was presented to the proprietaries, Thomas and Richard Penn, for the gift of a lot for a new church. The late John William Wallace owned the original document. The lot was increased by purchase, and is now a square in extent, and sacred as the burying place of many who have died in Christ. The present wall has guarded the cemetery for about a century. On the 4th of September, 1761, the present church was opened, the celebrated Dr. William Smith preaching the sermon. He was Provost of the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania. There was no bishop to consecrate the building, as Pennsylvania was then a dependence of Great Britain, ruled by George the Third. The Church in Pennsylvania was under the care of the Bishop of London. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was aiding the American churches nobly, and its reports, collected by Bishop Perry, are used in these notes. ST. PETER'S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 121 The rector of Christ Church, when St. Peter's was opened, was Rev. Robert Jenney, LL.D. He became the rector of the new church, as the parishes were united. The Rev. Dr. Sprague, in his "Annals," which have aided my investigations, states that this clergyman was the son of the Archdeacon of Waneytown, in the North of Ireland. He came to America in 1715, and assisted Rev. Wm. Vesey, in Trinity Church, New York. He was afterward at Rye and Hempstead, L. I., and in 1742 became rector of Christ Church. He died at the age of seventy-five in 1762, having been fifty-two years in the ministry and over nineteen years rector of Christ Church. He is buried under the middle aisle of that church. Provost Wm. Smith, in his funeral sermon, says: "He was a man venerable in years, and a striking pattern of Christian resignation under a long and severe illness. Those who knew him best in that situation know that his chief concern was not for himself, but for the distressed and perplexed state of his congregation. He was a man of strict honesty, one who hated dissimulation and a lie, exemplary in his life and morals, and a most zealous member of the Episcopal Church." He held the office of Commissary. He receives notice in Rev. Mr. Anderson's "History of the Colonial Church," and in Dr. Dorr's "History of Christ Church." Dr. Jenney begs the Propagation Society for a catechist, and writes of the one church in New York City. Think of the multitude of churches on Manhattan Island from Trinity Spire to King's Bridge, and thank God for the increase. Dr. Jenney refers to Mr. Charleton's excellent catechtical work in New York, and declares that the negroes in Philadelphia need a catechist. The negroes were generally disposed to religion. The rector baptized many, and several were communicants. The ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 122 numerous congregation in Philadelphia made the duty "exceedingly severe" for an aged man, who expected soon to be worn out with fatigue, and an assistant is asked for, as a younger man than the rector could perform the work alone. In 1747 the Doctor writes the Society that he has lately had a "fit of a dead palsey," and gives the vestry special advice as to what kind of a man should succeed him when a change became necessary. He made his wife promise that his successor should have the privilege of reading his books about the Constitution of the Church, like St. Peter providing for things after his decease. This indicates a scarcity of books, contrasting strongly with the flood of literature printed to-day. There was, however, a parish library for Christ Church. The society gave books on theology to the parishes, some of which may yet be preserved. The heavy folios did not look like our small and handy volumes. Dr. Jenney labored under the Propagation Society from 1744 in New York and Philadelphia. In 1760 he had been fifty years a minister of the church, and was unable to write through "great bodily indisposition." In 1765 Rev. Wm. Sturgeon, the faithful assistant, writes that "Dr. Jenney was seized with a palsey which continued to his death," and for more than five years "the whole duty of the parish had fallen on him." The good soldier of Christ had finished his work and went to his heavenly home for rest and refreshment. The Rev. Dr. Richard Peters was the next rector of the united churches in 1762. He was the uncle of Judge Richard Peters who resided at Belmont, in Fairmount Park, as Watson notes in his "Annals." He was for a time assistant to Rev. Archibald Cummings, and afterward served as Secretary of State under various governors. He was from Liverpool, England, and was ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 123 well educated. He came to Philadelphia as an English Church clergyman in 1735. The vestry of Christ Church note his influence when assistant in drawing dissenters in "great numbers" into the Church of England. He resigned the assistantship, but in 1762 took the place of Mr. Duche, then an assistant, who went to England to receive priests' orders. On Mr. Duche's return, Dr. Peters was elected rector. In 1764 he visited England, and returning in 1765 was welcomed by the vestry at the parsonage. Oxford University made him a Doctor of Divinity. Thomas Coombe and William White became his assistants in 1772. In 1775 he resigned the united churches by reason of bodily infirmity, having held the rectorship thirteen years. The vestry passed appreciative resolutions, for which the rector thanked them in a loving manner. He lived among his congregation till his death in July, 1776, at the age of seventy-two. Dr. Peters was liberal in pecuniary aid to his church, and appeared kind and genial in his letters perused by Dr. Sprague. According to Bishop White, he was interesting in discoursing on literature, classics or history Jeremiah Langhorne wrote the Bishop of London, requesting that Mr. Peters might be assistant to Mr. Cummings, as he was so satisfactory to the congregation. His father is spoken of as Ralph Peters, town clerk of Liverpool, and the son is described as an able man. He had been educated at Westminster School and in Leyden, and had studied law. He was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Winchester in 1730, and priest the next year. He served Latham Chapel in Lancaster County, England, in the Diocese of Chester. Mr. Langhorne styles him "the worthiest clergyman that I have known." In 1763 John Ross writes that he has been chosen rector, and was "eminent ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 124 as a divine preacher." He was satisfied that he would "be of vast service to the Church of England in this province." In 1763 Dr. Peters writes the Archbishop as rector. He led a laborious life, which Bishop Perry says was "closed by an honored and useful ministerial service of thirteen years." Dr. Peters arranged the particulars of the union of Christ and St. Peter's Churches with Archbishop Secker, of Canterbury, when he was in England. This rector was buried under the middle "aisle of Christ Church, near the chancel rail," as Dr. Dorr records. The successor of Dr. Peters was that brilliant man, Rev. Dr. Jacob Duche. He was the son of Jacob Duche, a vestryman of Christ Church, and the grandson of Anthony or Andrew Duche, who came to this country with William Penn as a Protestant refugee from France. The life of this gifted clergyman was striking and romantic. Born in Philadelphia in 1737, he was the first graduate of the College of Philadelphia under Provost Smith. There were many letters from him to Dr. Smith among that gentleman's papers. Young Duche was sent by his father to Clare Hall, in the English University, of Cambridge, to continue his studies, and was ordained by Bishop Sherlock. In the records of the venerable Propagation Society there is a letter from Provost Smith to the Bishop, to be delivered by Mr. Duche, which commends him as a "young gentleman of good fortune, bred up in our college under me. He has distinguished himself as a scholar and orator on many public occasions, and from the most disinterested motives has devoted himself to the Church. He proposes to spend some time at the University in England, and goes from this place in company with Mr. Hamilton, our late governor. He is in every respect a ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 125 youth of the most hopeful parts and not unworthy the honor of your lordship's protection and notice." Dr. Smith, in writing of Mr. Duche to the secretary of the Society, in 1760, styles him "that shining youth," and speaks of his popularity. The Rev. Samuel Nichols, secretary of the Bishop of London, describes him at his ordination as "a very promising young gentleman." Dr. Peters commends him to the Archbishop as deservedly esteemed for piety, and "strong, lively manner of enforcing Christian doctrines and duties." When Dr. Peters resigned Mr. Duche was the senior assistant, and was chosen rector September 25th, 1775. He and his two assistants, the Rev. Messrs. Coombe and White, were natives of Philadelphia. Mr. Duche had been assistant for sixteen years. His election to the rectorship indicates his reputation, though he was only a little over two years in the active exercise of that rectorship. Most of the vestry had known the new rector from childhood, and wrote the Bishop of London of his excellent religious character. Dr. Duche married Elizabeth Hopkinson, whose brother Francis was noted in the Revolution, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. She died in 1797. The Doctor was affectionate and benevolent, cheerful and resigned, and eminently religious. Bishop White was the lifelong friend of Parson Duche. He describes his voice and action in preaching as commendable. Being near-sighted, he memorized his sermons effectively. The Bishop styled Whitefield the best reader of the Prayers that he ever heard, and places Duche next. The Bishop also acknowledges the benefits of the instructions received from him. Many thought Duche a rival of the eloquent Whitefield, and he held the office of Professor of Oratory in the ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 126 College of Philadelphia. Bishop White deemed him not inferior to Whitefield in correct pronunciation. The house of "Parson Duche," as he was called, stood on the northeast corner of Third and Pine Streets, and is said to have been patterned after "one of the wings of Lambeth Palace." His father gave it to him. Those who read the early records of the missionaries are struck with their constant and earnest pleadings that Bishops might be sent to this country. Duche tried to secure the Episcopate for the United States after the Revolution, and was present, at Bishop White's request, on the glad day when he was consecrated in the chapel of Lambeth Palace, in 1787. His presence gratified the Bishop, who had received his care almost from infancy, and who had worked harmoniously under him as assistant minister. When the Junius Letters appeared, Dr. Duche wrote concerning them over the acrostic signature "Tamoc Caspipina," that is, "the Assistant Minister of Christ Church and St. Peter's, in Philadelphia, in North America." On September 7th, 1774, he appeared before Congress, in Carpenters' Hall in his vestments, with his clerk, and read a service from the Prayer Book, adding a moving and earnest extemporary prayer. One of the Psalms in the Morning Psalter was the thirty-fifth, which prays God to "lay hand on shield and buckler," and to give His help. John Adams wrote his wife that it seemed as if "Heaven had ordained its reading." Sparks and Irving note the circumstance in their "Lives of Washington," and many of you are familiar with the picture of the scene. He preached a patriotic sermon before Congress on a Fast day, and also on the death of its first president, Peyton Randolph. He was made chaplain. Moore's "Patriotic Preachers ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 127 of the Revolution" gives his Congressional sermon. When chaplain he devoted his salary to the families who had had relatives slain in battle. He became discouraged with the progress of the war, and wrote Washington advising its cessation. The trouble that followed this act, for himself and family, is noted in the printed archives of the State of Pennsylvania, but after the lapse of over a century we can understand that one bred to obey a king might conscientiously hesitate, and allow him to rest in peace at your altar, where he has long been buried, where the Blessed Sacrifice of Christ is remembered as a link between the dead and the living. Duche went to England it is supposed, to communicate with Bishop Terrick, of London, about his political views. Anderson's "Colonial Church" notes that Bishop Terrick died in A.D., 1777, and Bishop Lowth succeeded him. While in England Duche was a preacher in Lambeth Asylum. In 1790 he returned to Philadelphia, in poor health, and died in 1798, nearly sixty years old. He never resumed his connection with the united churches of Philadelphia, but rejoiced in the work of Bishop White, taking a lively interest in the churches. Bishop White followed Dr. Duche in the rectorship, kindly stipulating that if it was thought best for Duche to resume it, if he returned from England, he would give place to him. The Rev. Professor Bird Wilson has given a volume to the life of the Bishop, and Dr. Sprague's account was aided by Dr. Dorr's "History of Christ Church," and a manuscript from T. H. White, Esq. The Bishop's father was Colonel Thomas White, who came from London to the eastern shore of Maryland, where he practiced law. The Bishop's sister was Mary, wife of Robert Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence. William White was born in ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 128 Philadelphia, March 24th, old style, 1747, or April 4th, 1748, new style. His "Reminiscences" to his special friend, Bishop Hobart, give an account of his early life. At seven he was in the preparatory school of the College of Philadelphia, under Ebenezer Kinnersly, and at ten in the grammar school taught by Paul Jackson, and at fourteen in college, graduating in 1765. His good mother instructed him religiously, and he was affected by the preaching of Whitefield. From childhood he was religious. In 1770 he went to England for ordination, finding at times a pleasant home with his father's sisters, who resided there, and seeing something of the English Church and of Oxford. This pious lad, who had been baptized in Christ Church, the first English church built in Philadelphia, and had, like St. Timothy, as a boy praised God and prayed unto Him in those scared walls, was ordained deacon by Bishop Young, of Norwich, and priest by Bishop Terrick, of London; and was seven years assistant minister of the united churches, and fifty-seven years longer their rector. He and the Rev. Thomas Coombe became assistants to Rev. Dr. Peters. In the Revolution, Bishop White was chaplain to Congress, and held the post until its removal to Washington. In 1779 he became rector, which position he occupied at his death. He was the first person who received a Doctorate in Divinity from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1782. He was consecrated Bishop in 1787 by Archbishops Moore and Markham, and Bishops Moss and Hinchcliffe. Drs. Provoost and White reached England in eighteen days, which is said to have been the shortest passage made up to that time. The last sermon of Bishop White was preached in St. Peter's Church, on the last Sunday in June, 1836. He died on ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 129 the 17th of July following, on Sunday morning, when the churches had just been praying for their beloved ruler. He was in his 89th year. His dying faith in Christ was firm, and he asked that hymns should be sung in his sick room. He was buried in the family vault at Christ Church. His assistant, Rev. John W. James, read the Burial Service. The Bishop died in his house, on Walnut Street, above Third Street (No. 89, now demolished), where he had lived over fifty years. At the funeral the city stood still; the stores were generally closed where the procession passed. The public authorities and the clergy in general combined to honor the memory of the departed prelate, while silent thousands thronged the streets. Bishop Alonzo Potter compared the streets to "one hall of mourning." Bishop Onderdonk, in his funeral sermon, said that while the Bishop had spent his life in one place from infancy to extreme age there was not a whisper against him. Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll mentions his "purity and single ness of purpose." Rev. James S. M. Anderson, in his "History of the Colonial Church," gives an English estimate of his character, which moved the praise of the Archbishop of Canterbury, when Dr. Hawks conveyed a letter from him to that prelate. Mr. Anderson speaks of the memory of Bishop White as a great benefit to Pennsylvania and the whole American church, and declares that his name "will ever be held in grateful memory on either side of the Atlantic" for labors "to renew and strengthen" Christian bonds between England and the Colonies after the Revolution. The Bishop was a voluminous writer, because he was very industrious. He left many printed works behind him. Inman and Sully have given us portraits of him. Dr. Sprague describes his appearance as majestic, and his countenance as intelligent and lovely, lighting sometimes into ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 130 sunbeams. He was amiable, and his manner was dignified, though winning; while his conversation was edifying. Bishop Alonzo Potter says that in his old age he was erect and not attenuated, with a benignant face, and without self-consciousness, though beloved by all denominations in the city beyond anyone else, as the notice he received in walking the streets indicated. When the wrinkles multiplied, and the hairs whitened, and the step grew feebler, the brave old Bishop still tried to walk without the aid of others, but at last the clay cottage broke down and the spirit escaped heavenward. The wife of Bishop White was Mary Harrison, of English birth, whose father was a warden of Christ Church, and mayor of the city of Philadelphia. She died in 1797. Rev. William Sturgeon, assistant minister, graduated at Yale in 1745, in the class of Rev. Dr. Chandler and Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Leaming, and began to assist Dr. Jenney in 1747, continuing his work until 1766, resigning on account of ill health. He died Nov. 5th, 1772. He was ordained in England, and held his post for nineteen years. He catechised the white children and the negroes, and was very useful. Dr. Jenney styles him "a very good man, sober in his conversation and diligent in his business." For over seventeen years he performed the pleasant duty of preaching the Gospel "to the poor" at the City Almshouse on Tuesdays. He officiated at the opening of St. Peter's Church. Dr. Jenney commends him as "a faithful and painful minister" who assisted him in his illness. Mr. Sturgeon wrote the Archbishop of Canterbury about conferences he had held with some Lutherans as to their uniting with the Church of England, and "one of their chief ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 131 ministers" wrote him on the subject, and he sent a copy to Dr. Bearcroft, the secretary of the Propagation Society, asking him to lay it before the governors of the Church. Rev. Thomas Coombe became assistant in 1772. He was commended with John Montgomery for holy orders in 1768. Both were educated at the College of Philadelphia. They and three other young men had delivered "Sunday Evening Exercises" so that about a thousand persons generally attended them. They were "excellent speakers," Mr. Coombe being especially striking. Mr. Coombe, with his associate, Mr. White, was respected and beloved, but having espoused the American side for a time, his conscience and his oath made him a Royalist, and he went to England and never returned. The vestry commended him to the Bishop of London for his good service. He resigned in 1778, and became chaplain to Lord Carlisle in Ireland. Trinity College, Dublin, made him a Doctor of Divinity. He was a Prebendary of Canterbury, and one of the numerous chaplains of the king. He loved Bishop White, and wrote affectionately to him from his English home. Rev. Robert Blackwell, D.D., was assistant from 1781 to 1812. This gentleman was eminent in the early councils for the formation of the American Church. The great grandfather of Dr. Blackwell was Robert Blackwell, who took up much land on Long Island, opposite New York City, and the whole of Blackwell's Island, in the East River. Colonel Jacob Blackwell the father of the assistant minister of Christ and St. Peter's Churches, inherited these lands. The Doctor was born on the 6th of May, A.D., 1748. He graduated at Princeton in 1768. Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, rector of Trinity ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 132 Church, New York, commended him to Rev. Richard Peters as one calculated to gain love and esteem from the people, and as being of a very pleasant disposition. He was ordained in England, and a missionary of the Propagation Society to Colestown, Gloucester and Clarksborough, in New Jersey, and was a chaplain of the American Army at Valley Forge. In 1781 he became assistant in this parish, where he worked for thirty years. The vestry and Bishop White commended him. He was a member of various benevolent societies, and Bishop White said that he had aided him in the noble Corporation for the Relief of the Widows and Children of the Clergy for fifty-six years, and after the close of the Revolution that aid was very effective, as pecuniary matters were greatly disturbed in the whole country. Dr. Blackwell was the senior assistant in the united churches, and was a scholarly preacher. His first wife was the daughter of Joseph and Ann Harrison, of Gloucester, N. J. Her name was Rebecca. His second wife was the daughter of William Bingham. This clergyman died February 12th, 1831. He founded by will a scholarship in the General Theological Seminary. Charles R. Hildeburn's Inscriptions in St. Peter's churchyard furnish the materials which I have given you, as recorded by John William Wallace. The other day I visited Dr. Blackwell's former residence, 224 Pine Street. It is an antique brick house, two and a half stories high, with a semicircular window over the front door, and an ample hall and old-fashioned stairway within, while the wainscot and the beautiful woodwork over the inner doors tell of a former day. A door opened toward the Delaware River, on the east, but a block of houses now crowd their ancient neighbor, and forbid a sight of the water. The black and red ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 133 alternated brick wall in front is divided at each story by a stone band. Here lived also Bishop De Lancey, and the house has hence a double interest to the members of this parish. At No. 238 Pine Street lived Mrs. George Willing, the daughter of Dr. Blackwell, and in olden times a garden extended where eight houses have now intruded. The last named dwelling has been modernized. Rev. Joseph Grove John Bend, D.D., was assistant from 1787 to 1791. The Rev. Dr. Ethan Allen gave an account of him in Sprague, from the records of St. Paul's Church, Baltimore, and his letters, and from Hugh Davy Evans, LL.D., who was his parishioner. He was born in New York, educated in Barbadoes for commerce, but ordained in New York in 1787 in Bishop Provoost's first ordination, Bishop Moore, of Virginia, being ordained with him. He was a delegate from Pennsylvania to the General Convention. He became rector of St. Paul's Church, Baltimore, and a member of the Standing Committee of Maryland. Christ Church, Baltimore, grew up under his care, with an associate rector. He was very successful in his work, but died in his fiftieth year, in 1812. He was generous and liberal to the poor, and indefatigable in parish work. After Bishop White's death the rectorship of St. Peter's fell to the Rev. Mr. De Lancey, according to the arrangement when he became assistant. Those who knew this noble man need no description of him. He was every inch a bishop. In person and manner there was a quiet but commanding dignity about him. He was large and well-formed, and one to draw the attention of a stranger. I was once at his hospitable board, and listened to his counsel, in Geneva, which, like its Swiss parent, lies on a beautiful lake. There, honored in his ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 134 Diocese and by the church at large, this scholarly bishop ended his days on earth in 1865. His sermon at Bishop Eastburn's consecration on the faithful Bishop painted his own life. He was faithful to death, looking for the promised "crown of life." In that sermon he traced the Episcopate in Scripture and antiquity. He believed in his office, and discharged its weighty duties accordingly. While Bishop of Western New York, in 1861, he preached a most interesting centennial sermon in this church, which was printed. Bishop Odenheimer succeeded Bishop De Lancey from 1839 to 1859 in this rectorship, when he was quite young. As Bishop of New Jersey, and afterward of Northern New Jersey, now Newark, he left a record of noble work for the Master, which fittingly followed his patient and successful rectorship here. He started the daily service. From 1860 to 1867 the Rev. Dr. George Leeds held the rectorship of this ancient parish. He was a graceful and polished man, whose scholarship and knowledge of church affairs made him useful in the General Convention, as well as in this Diocese. He has closed his earthly work. The present assistant, Rev. A. J. Miller, son of Rev. A. A. Miller, who assisted Bishop De Lancey for a time, writes me that the following clergy are buried in St. Peter's churchyard: Rev. Hugh Roy Scott, of the African Mission, the Revs. Robert Mackie, Lewis C. Newman, Dr. James Abercrombie, Dr. Robert Blackwell, Dr. George Alexander Crooke, Rev. Joseph Jacquet and Rev. Julius Townsend. To these must be added the name of Rev. Augustus Foster Lyde, who may be said to be the originator of the China Mission, to which he had devoted himself. When told that he must die, BISHOP DAVIES. ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 135 he wept and paced his room, crying, "Can it be so? Shall I never be allowed to preach the Gospel in China?" He added that he would labor for the cause while he lived. He did thus labor, and one of his fellow-students at the General Seminary went to China by his influence, as Rev. S. D. Denison notes in his "History of Foreign Missions." St. Peter's holds a precious trust in the grave of this devoted man, to stimulate her zeal in calling the heathen to a knowledge of Christ and His salvation. This church has had but eight rectors in one hundred and twenty-nine years. Dr. Davies succeeded Dr. Leeds in 1868, and is the only one of these rectors now living, and he has so approved himself to the church at large, in religious life and church work, that, like four of his predecessors, he has been called higher in position and duty as Bishop of Michigan. For about a score of years he has baptized your children, and presented them for confirmation, and broken for you the Bread of Life. He has blessed those who were entering into holy matrimony, and uttered the words of Christian hope over your dead. You are sadly, and yet joyfully, to lend him to the Lord. Your prayers and alms will follow him, and when invested with his new office may he often return, as "a Bishop in the Church of God," to bless you and to tell you of new conquests won over "sin, Satan and death" in the Diocese where Bishop Harris has so well prepared the way for his work. Canada lies next this jurisdiction, and there is an opportunity of continuing Bishop White's work in brightening the links which join the American Church with the Church of England, which gave us life and fostered us in our weakness, as St. Peter's "Church History" shows. It is interesting to note that the great uncle of Dr. Davies, named Thomas Davies, was a missionary of the ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 136 Propagation Society in Connecticut. Sprague has a sketch of him. He was born in England and brought to this land in infancy, but in mature years returned to be ordained by Archbishop Sherlock. He did a noble work, and an aged clergyman gave his opinion that if the time had then come for establishing the American Episcopate he might have been considered a fit person to receive it. His father, John Davies, Jr., built a church, and the clergyman's grandfather, John Davies, donated a tract of land to the church which still yields an income to Litchfield and several neighboring parishes. St. Michael's Parish was organized by the efforts of John Davies, Sr. When St. Peter's was opened, Pittsburgh was a fort, and the empire of Pennsylvania mostly unimproved. Now it has three dioceses and hundreds of clergy. Michigan was a desert, the home of the savage and the wild beast; now it is entering on the third million of population; while Detroit, with its many churches, has about a quarter of a million inhabitants. When your ancestors came to the opening of St. Peter's in their Continental dress they passed gardens and yards adorned with flowers where now are solid blocks of houses. Their lives and business varied from ours, but the same sins led them to the same Saviour, and the same joys brought them hither to thank God. They needed the plaintive Litany, and cheerful Psalm, and jubilant Te Deum, and instructive Scripture lessons which we have heard to-day; and they came here and heard them, and stepped heavenward by their aid. Perhaps those who are buried around us join in our devotions this morning, for a thin wall separates earth and paradise. The church below thus becomes "the gate of heaven," and introduces to heaven, where the ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 137 laity and clergy of past generations shall meet to continue their ceaseless worship of Christ, and "Pastors and people shout His praise, Through the long round of endless days." It is St. Michael and All Angel's Day, and while we try to learn to join "with angels and archangels" in worshiping Good here, let us hear how Waller, in his "Art of Divine Poesie," blends the adoration of men and angels: "The church triumphant and the church below In songs of praise their present union show; Their joys are full, our expectations long, In life we differ but we join in song; Angels and we assisted by this art, May sing together, though we dwell apart." In closing this sketch it is worthy of note that three clergy, Bishops White and Odenheimer and Bishop-elect Davies, held the rectorship for about a century, though not consecutively. Few parishes can show such a record. The loyalty of the parish to its clergy has been constant and is commendable, while Bishop De Lancey noted that its wardens had been in general men of age and experience, and so the parish has stood firm, not given to change in any way, like St. Peter, the Rock-man, whose name it bears. The large graveyard, where the trees lovingly shelter the dead in Christ, who, as Dr. Duche's inscription beautifully expresses it, "have passed from temporal to eternal and angelic life," has a country look in a city street, as Trinity churchyard faces busy Wall Street, in New York, teaching of something more important than worldly wealth. As the thoughtful observer passes St. Peter's yard he may be thankful that there were those who, like Abraham at Sarah's burial, wished a sure ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 138 resting place for their beloved dead. Just above lies the Pine Street Presbyterian cemetery, and for over a hundred years those who had been friends in life have quietly slept under the summer green covering and winter's pure snow. As their monuments look on each other in the broad sunlight or under the still moon, may we not imagine their spirits as associated in paradise, and hope and pray for a time on earth when God's people may be one. The quiet and dignified St. Peter's, and the simple and staid Presbyterian Church which is its neighbor, are old landmarks. When good Dr. Brainerd, the faithful pastor for many a year of the Pine Street Church died, Dr. Leeds wrote a letter testifying to his worth, which I have read in the memoir of that clergyman, written by his wife. The bell of St. Peter's Church tolled on the day of his funeral. Is this not a premonition of the time when "there shall be one fold under one Shepherd, and when believers in Christ shall fulfill the dying prayer of their Lord, that they may be one, as He and the Father are One, may we all come to those "still waters" and "green pastures" where strife ends and eternal love reigns; and then shall we better understand what is meant by All Angel's Day. Since this discourse was delivered Dr. Davies has been consecrated and Rev. Dr. W. H. Vibbert, has become rector of St. Peter's, having resigned St. James's Church, Chicago to enter on this work and may the Lord give him great success in continuing the labors of his illustrious predecessors for Christ and His Holy Church. It is pleasant to note that Bishop Morris, of Oregon, was present in the chancel at the delivery of this sermon. He was once called to St. Peter's Church, and has written valuable notes on the history of the Church in Pennsylvania, as may be seen by a reference to "Pennsylvania" in the Church Cyclopaedia.