Report of Commemorative Services with the Sermons and Addresses at the Seabury Centenary, 1883-1885.Episcopal Church. Diocese of Connecticut
Religion
Report of Commemorative Services with the Sermons and Addresses at the Seabury Centenary, 1883-1885.
Episcopal Church. Diocese of Connecticut
Seabury, Samuel, 1729-1796
Enough has been said in this paper to show the admirable spirit of
Seabury all through his Episcopate. "Forgetting those things which
were behind, he reached forth to those before"; and if assailed
for the part he took in the war of the Revolution, he let his
conscientious pursuit of what he believed to be right at the time
pass into history without apology or vindication. He aimed to
promote peace among his brethren, and was lenient in dealing with
their prejudices. One venerable presbyter of his diocese,
supported by his people, was reluctant to adopt the revised
Prayer-Book, and he wrote him a kind letter, and said in it: "The
question is not which book is the best in itself, but which will
best promote the peace and unity of the Church. Such was the
temper of the people to the southward, that unity could not be had
with the old book. Is not, then, the unity of the whole Church
through the States a price sufficient to justify the alterations
which have been made, supposing (and in this I believe you will
join with me) that there is no alteration made but what is
consistent with the analogy of the Christian faith? Let me,
therefore, _entreat you as a father_ to review this matter,
and I have no doubt but that you will join with your brethren, and
_walk by the same rule_ in your public ministrations. This
will rejoice their hearts, and mine also. May God be your director
in all things, and grant that we may meet together in His own
heavenly kingdom."
Signs of failing health began to appear, and symptoms of a
paralytic nature came upon him, without seriously interrupting his
duties. His sound and vigorous constitution, and his unimpaired
mental faculties, afforded encouragement to believe that his life
might be prolonged for years. This was in 1795. Late in the month
of February of the next year, "Mr. Jarvis of Middletown was
sitting before the fire," so says an eye-witness, "his wife near
him, engaged in some domestic employment, and his little son
playing about the room. A messenger entered with a letter, sealed
with black wax, and handed it to Mr. Jarvis in silence. He opened
it, and his hand shook like an aspen-leaf. His wife, in great
alarm, hastened to him, and his son crept between his knees and
looked up inquiringly into his face. He could not speak for some
moments. At last he said, slowly and convulsively: 'Bishop Seabury
is dead.'"
In the evening of Thursday, the 25th of February, he walked with
his daughter to the house of one of his wardens. He complained,
when there, of an extreme pain in his breast, and at the moment of
rising and retiring from the tea-table, fell in an apoplectic fit,
and expired in forty minutes after entering the house.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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