1 WGW, vol. 35 5-15-1796.
2 See Peter A. Lillback, Proclaim Liberty, (Bryn Mawr: The Providence Forum, 2001), p. 11, n. 29. Mark A. Beliles and Stephen K. McDowell, America’s Providential History (Charlottesville, Vir., Providence Press, 1989), p. 81.
3 Bishop Meade, Old Churches, vol. 1, p. 64
4 Mark A. Beliles & Stephen K. McDowell, America’s Providential History, p. 81.
5 “ … When there was no service at the chapel or we were prevented from going, my father read the service and a sermon; and whenever a death occurred among the servants he performed the burial service himself, and read Blair’s Sermon on Death the following Sunday. Of the character and conduct of the old clergy generally I have often heard them speak in terms of strong condemnation. My father, when a young man, was a vestryman in Price George county, Virginia, but resigned his place rather than consent to retain an unworthy clergyman in the parish.” Meade, Old Churches, vol. I p. 22.
6 William W. Sweet, Religion In Colonial America (New York: Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1965), pp. 55-56.
7 “…Governors, Commissaries, and private individuals, in their communications with the Bishops of London and the Archbishops of Canterbury, all declare that such was the scanty and uncertain support of the clergy, the precarious tenure by which livings were held that but few of the clergy could support families and therefore respectable ladies would not marry them. Hence the immense number of unmarried, ever-shifting clergymen in the colony.” Meade, Old Churches, vol. I. p. 92.
8 “The reigning vice among the clergy at that time was intemperance; as it probably has been ever since both among the clergy and laity of all denominations, having given great trouble to the Church of the every age. The difficulty of proof is stated in one of these schemes for reformation; and the following mortifying tests of intoxication are proposed to the Bishop of London, for the trial of the clergy in Virginia. They were these: “Sitting an hour or longer in company where they are drinking strong drink, and in the mean time drinking of healths, or otherwise taking the cups as they come round, like the rest of the company; striking, and challenging, or threatening to fight, or laying aside any of his garments for that purpose; staggering reeling, vomiting; incoherent, impertinent, or rude talking. Let the proof of these signs proceed so far, till the judges conclude that the minister’s behaviour at such a time was scandalous, indecent, unbecoming the gravity of a minister.” Bishop Meade, Old Churches, vol. I pp. 163-164.
9 Allan Nevins, The American States: During and After the Revolution 1775-1789 (New York: Augustus M. Kelley Publishers, 1969) p. 429-230. “Every Anglican clergyman in Maryland had his house and glebe, or farm; he was guaranteed a tax, settled by law and collected by the sheriffs; and he had various fees, as those for performing marriages. Secure in his emoluments, and since he was appointed by the Proprietary of Governor, virtually free from fear of dismissal, the ordinary cleric was no model of virtue. The term “a Maryland parson” was a byword farther north. In 1753 Dr. Chandler, a frank American minister, wrote home that “the general character of the clergy is wretchedly bad,” and that it would “make the ears of a sober heathen tingle to hear the stories” told of some of them. A contemporary tells us that a current couplet ran:
Who is a minister of the first renown?
A lettered sot, a drunkard in a gown.
There was no proper disciplinary authority, and favoritism entered into the appointments; so that the majority of the ministers had the brains, education, and moral elevation of Parson Trulliber. Yet the people were taxed heavily, as taxes went in America, for his clerical crew. The quarrel between the Legislature and Governor Eden which came to a head in 1770 involved, among other factors, the question whether every poll should pay thirty or forty pounds of tobacco to the Church, the Governor insisting on the latter amount. Since the price of tobacco was high, and they had other sources of income, the Maryland clergy were rated the best-paid in America. In 1767 one parish was worth about £500 a year. The people also had to pay special taxes for church-building, for fencing graveyards, and other purposes, and even in wartime beneficed clergymen were exempt from the general taxes. “I am as averse to having religion crammed down my throat,” wrote Charles Carroll of Carrollton on July 1, 1773, “as to a proclamation”—Governor Eden having usurped certain legislative rights by proclamation. The burdens under which the Calvinists, Catholics, and Quakers lay were one of the real if minor causes of the Revolutionary spirit.”
10 Peter Marshall & David Manuel, The Light and the Glory (Old Tappan, New Jersey, Fleming H. Revell 1977), pp. 80-105.
11 In 1733, for example, the Reverend Lawrence De Butts was called to preach three times a month in various churches, one of those times being “old Pohick Church,” the church where Washington was baptized. His salary was to be “the sum of eight thousand pounds of tobacco clear of the Warehouse charges and abatements.” Reverend Philip D. D. Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish in Virginia (Philadelphia: Geroge Jacobs & Co., 1907) p. 5. Washington was Church Warden in 1764. One of his duties was to auction tobacco at the Court House for the Vestry which is described in the Vestry minutes, “Ordered that 31,549 lb. Of tobo. In the hands of the Church Wardens for the year 1764, to wit, George Washington and George Wm. Fairfax Esqrs. be sold to the highest bidder, before the Court House door of this County on the first day of June Court next between the hours of 12 and 4, and that publick notice be given of the sale.” Ibid., p. 51.
12 Sanford H. Cobb, The Rise of Religious Liberty in America (New York: Macmillan Company, 1902) p. 479, N. 3.
13 The Diaries of George Washington. vol. 1. Donald Jackson, ed.; Dorothy Twohig, assoc. ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976). “A Journal of my Journey over the Mountains began Fryday the 11th. of March 1747/8.” Vol, 1, p. 7. 1748, “Wednesday March 23d. Rain’d till about two oClock & Clear’d when we were agreeably surpris’d at the sight of thirty odd Indians coming from War with only one Scalp. We had some Liquor with us of which we gave them, Part it elevating there Spirits put them in the Humour of Dauncing of whom we had a War Daunce. There Manner of Dauncing is as follows Viz. They clear a Large Circle & make a great Fire in the Middle then seats themselves around it the Speaker makes a grand Speech telling them in what Manner they are to Daunce after he has finish’d the best Dauncer Jumps up as one awaked out of a Sleep & Runs & Jumps about the Ring in a most comicle Manner he is followd by the Rest then begins there Musicians to Play the Musick is a Pot half of Water with a Deerskin Streched over it as tight as it can & a goard with some Short in it to Rattle & a Piece of an horses Tail tied to it to make it look fine the one keeps Rattling and the other Drumming all the While the others is Dauncing.”
14 WGW, vol., 37, Last Will And Testament.
15 “And to my Mulatto man William (calling himself William Lee) I give immediate freedom; or if he should prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him, and which have rendered him incapable of walking or of any active employment) to remain in the situation he now is, it shall be optional in him to do so: In either case however, I allow him an annuity of thirty dollars during his natural life, which shall be independent of the victuals and cloaths he has been accustomed to receive, if he chuses the last alternative; but in full, with his freedom, if he prefers the first; and this I give him as a testimony of my sense of his attachment to me, and for his faithful services during the Revolutionary War.” Ibid.,
16 Bishop Meade, Old Churches, vol. I. 14.
17 Ibid., p. 122.
18 Ibid., p. 66.
19 Ibid., p. 67.
20 Ibid., p. 63.
21 Ibid., p. 63
22 Ibid., p. 62.
23 WGW, vol. 29, 5-2-1788. Washington’s letter began “Reverend Sir: I have received your obliging letter of the 28th of March, enclosing a copy of some remarks on the Customs, Languages &c. of the Indians, and a printed pamphlet containing the stated rules of a Society for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen for which tokens of polite attention and kind remembrance I must beg you to accept my best thanks.”
24 Ibid., vol. 29, 5-2-1788.
25 One of the documents that accompanied Ettwein’s letter to Washington read as follows:
Extract from the instruction or rules for the Society of the United Brethren as are used as missionaries or assistant in propagating the gospel among the Indians.
God our Saviour will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 1st Timothy 2:4. He wills therefore in these our days as well as in the times of the apostles that the Gospel be preached to the heathen.
The United Brethren have undertaken to preach the Gospel to the heathen, firmly believing they thereby serve the will of God.
It is an undertaking of great importance to preach the gospel to the heathen that they be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Acts 26:18.
And it is likewise no light thing when heathen are converted and become sheep of Christ to exercise the faithfulness of a shepherd and servant of Christ.
It appeared in process of time and experience that the missionaries could not be of sufficient effectual service without the assistance of some sisters among the heathen women. To prevent some inevitable if not hurtful consequences, it was determined the sisters should accompany their husbands as helpers among the female heathen congregations of God, gathered among the heathen through the gospel.
When several brothers are engaged together in a mission among the heathen, they ought to be very careful to preserve and maintain in particular brotherly love among themselves, for nothing is more hurtful and shameful in a mission among the heathen then discord among those who are to preach peace and love and good will towards all men.
The more the lives of most people called after Christ, Christians, prove a scandal to the heathen, the more should our brethren be induced to God an unblameable life among them, for not withstanding all sins and abominations are generally practiced among the heathen. Yet they know they ought to do the very reverse, hence if they see people walking in love to God and their neighbors, they receive a good impression.
Our brethren are to take all possible pains to learn the language of those heathen with whom they have to do. They must be very careful what interpreter they use at public services, until they shall be able to express themselves intelligently to the heathen, they must rather be contented with preaching by their walk and conversation.
That custom to delay the baptism of the heathen until they have learned by heart so many questions and answers, which they are to repeat previous to their being admitted to baptism, is not to be recommended, but yet some instruction is required.
Those heathen who have the favor to be the first among their nation who become obedient to the gospel, should be to her care of with the utmost attention and faithfulness.
The baptized are to receive frequently further instructions; the more they are made acquainted with the doctrine of the Gospel, the more they lose those ideas which arose from the former heathenish ways. They are to be taught to observe all things, whatsoever Jesus has commanded his disciples and us.
