F 1704 1904 AN HISTORICAL SERMON IN CONNECTION WITH ST. BARNABAS CHURCH, (also known as "Brick Church,") QUEEN ANNE'S PARISH, AT LEELAND, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND. DELIVERED BY THE REV. WILLIAM C. BUTLER, A FORMER RECTOR, AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PARISH, ON TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE ELEVENTH, 1907. Being A Reprint, with Additions, of a Sermon entitled "An Historical Sermon in connection with St. Barnabas Church, Queen Anne's Parish, Prince George's County, Maryland, BY THE Rector, the Rev. William C. Butler. Second Sunday After Trinity, 1878. Baltimore, 1878." WASHINGTON. D. C: R. Beresford, Printer. 618 F Street, N. W. 1907. l>Ki;SKNTi;i) liY Yen/. 3o. /^cy^ ■^\ I704 I '9°4 AN HISTORICAL SERMON IN CONNECTION WITH ST. BARNABAS CHURCH, (also known as "Brick Church,") QUEEN ANNE'S PARISH, AT LEELAND, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND. DELIVERED BY THE REV. WILLIAM C. BUTLER, A FORMER RECTOR, AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PARISH, ON TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE ELEVENTH, 1907. Being A REPRINT WITH Additions, of a Sermon entitled "An Historical Sermon in connection with St. Barnabas Church, Queen Anne's Parish, Prince George's County, Maryland, BY THE Rector, the Rev. William C. Butler. Second Sunday After Trinity, 1878. Baltimore, 1878." ■^as^ingVon. D.^.: 1907. The following Historical Sermon is printed at the request of the many friends of the REV. Wiluam C. BuTler, with notes by Mrs. Butler and the present Rector, Rev. Wm. J. Wii^uams. Edited and published by Leroy S. Boyd, Esq., Washington, D. C. Washington, D. C. November 2S, igoj. ST. BARNABAS. PARISH CHURCH OF QUEEN ANNE'S PARISH. An Historical Sermon, in Connection with St. Barnabas Church, Queen Anne's Parish, Prince George's County, Maryland, by the Rev. William C. Butler, on June iith, 1907. SERMON : ''Look unto the rock whence ye are hew7i, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.'' — Isaiah, li : i. The civilized peoples of the world have never before been re- sponding, more intently than now, to the call of these words, ''Look unto the rock zchence ye are hewn." Where lie the roots of your life ? The thoroughbreds of the past have made the thoroughbreds of today ; and the thoroughbreds of this day will make the thor- oughbreds of the future. This is the lesson that the world is learning, and most emphatically announcing. Hence, the James- town Ter-Centenary which is proclaiming the advent, on the shores of the James River in Virginia, of the men who brought to this land an Open Bible, the Church of the Living God with its Ministry and its Sacraments, and the Civil Liberty of Magna Charta of Old England. And so we of today, in this two hundred year old, your old Church of St. Barnabas, Queen Anne's Parish, Prince George's County, Maryland, are celebrating our Bi-Centennial. Let us, then, " Look to the rock whence ye are hezvn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. ' ' Over two hundred years ago, that is to say, in the Year of Our Lord 1692, the then ten counties of the Province of Maryland were divided, for the more convenient administration of Church matters, into thirty-one Parishes, of which "St. Paul's" was one, stretching from the southernmost line of what is now Prince George's County to wliat is now the northern boundary of " Holy Trinity" Parish. 4 ST. BARNABAS CHURCH. Twelve years later, /. ioo.] " To Altar Linen and Surplice, .69 [ " 32.] " To Fine Purple Velvet Altar Cloth, 3 3 [ " 16.] "To a Velvet Altar Cloth, with the Glory 16 15 [ " 80.] " To Embroidery. .... 4 [ " 20.] "To Marble Font, . . . 11 14 [ • 57.] [Total] [ •• 305.] Such was the loving care of these, our forefathers, that God's Holy places should be provided and beautified with the best ap- pointments that they could bring from the Fatherland. Yonder Marble Font at which so man}' of the living, and so many more of the dead, have received the Sacrament of sonship — that, with the solid silver Altar Vessels, alone remains, in its massive strength, of all the articles of use and of beauty brought across the ocean by the good ship " Booth" in the year of Our Lord 1719, for St. Barnabas Church. For exactly one hundred and eighty-eight years it has stood here, and within the walls that preceded these, pleading silently, yet eloquently and ceaselessly, the obvious and beautiful truth that under the roof-tree of God's House, and not elsewhere, except in case of overwhelming neces- sity, should the Father's children be born into the Father's family. lO ST. BARNABAS CHURCH. Know ye, this daj^ O God's people I that it is your duty to fight against the bad habit that has become so prevalent, in causing your children to be baptized at 3'our houses instead of in God's House ; that you must take trouble, yea, much trouble if need be, to bring your children here to receive the blessing and honor of adoption ; that here, and not elsewhere, as a rule, is the fitting and appointed place for Baptisms, and for Burials, for Marriage Services and for all other Holy Offices. And the Prayer Book recognizes this fitness when it tells us that ' ' the people are to be often admonished that it is most convenient that Baptism should not be administered but upon Sundays and other Holy Days, and, unless upon great necessity, that they procure not their children to be baptized at home in their own houses." In the month of July, 17 18, we find the beginning of a fund for the purchase of Silver Vessels for the Holy Communion ; the first amount of £2 los. Sterling, about $12.50, is given by Basil Warren (Waring). Other sums are offered from time to time, the total amount given and sent to England for the Communion Silver — the same that stands on the Altar before our e3^es today — was ^47 135., about JS235.00. The modern cheaper methods of manufacture were then unknown. Each vessel is made of a solid plate of silver, not molten or rolled into shape, but hand- hammered into form, and called technically "beaten silver." There are four pieces : the Chalice and the small Paten, from which the people are communicated ; and the Flagon and the larger Plate, for bread and wine, when a large number of com- municants are to receive. The words and date engraven on each vessel are: "St. Barnabas Church In Merreland : 1718." I cannot account for the misspelling unless it be that it was an error of some very ignorant engraver who did that part of the work, and the in.scription was so deeply cut into the body of the silver that it could not be effaced and rectified ; and therefore the vessels were taken with the misspelling. The value and interest of these sacred vessels are greatly en- hanced, in my esteem, from their association with the holiest hopes, the deepest penitence, the highest inspiration, and the most loving and devout worship of men and women and children of so many generations. May they yet serve, for centuries to come, to convey to the lips and to the hearts of God's children ST. BARNABAS CHURCH. II the Broken Body and the Shed Blood "to their great and end- less comfort." The first mention of "The Chapel," now " Holy Trinity" at Collington, the Parish Church of that highly esteemed and learned brother, the late Rev. Dr. Harvey Stanley, occurs in the year 17 19. This Chapel to St. Barnabas was built by the Rev. Mr. Hen- derson and his wife, as is stated on the Record, and in a commu- nication April 26, 1737, "To His Excellency the Governor, and to the Honourable the Upper and lyower Houses of Assembly, the Rev. Jacob Henderson offers to make a present of the Chapel (with two hundred acres of very good land on which it stands), to the Parish for a Glebe forever." The consummation of this most liberal offer was barred, so far as the extent of the land was concerned, by the restrictiv^e and jealous legislation which prescribed that the Lord shall have only so much of His own earth for His own honor, and that an exceedingly small moiety. The Rectorship of this faithful and laborious man of God ex- tended from 17 1 7 to 1 75 1, a period of 34 years.* And today he lies beneath the sod which he gave to the Church, with not the simplest stone or name to mark his resting place. f An item of considerable interest in the history of the first " Brick Church," (a term which is used for the first and indeed the only time in the Record in an entry in the year 1734, and doubtless then began to be commonly employed to distinguish it from "Henderson's Chapel," which was a frame building), is the preparation of a painting, by Gustavius Hesselius, of our *He married a wealthy lady and lived at Bel-Air, afterwards the home of Gov. Ogle, and now the property of Mr. Woodward of New York. Rev. Mr. Brogden, who succeeded him, lived at Roe-down in Anne Arundel County. Rev. Mr. Boucher lived at " Magruder Lodge." Mr. Henderson built at his own cost " Henderson's Chapel," now Holy Trinity, CoUington; but there was no Rectory in the Parish until after the Revolution. — Mrs. "W. C. Butter. fl purpose that this congregation lay upon the Altar today an oflFering ■wherewith to place, in one of the windows of this Church, a memorial to the Rev. Jacob Henderson, to whom we and ours, and God's Church, owe so much, in his patient, wise, liberal and solid labor in laying the founda- tions of this Parish. — Sermon of iSjS. The offering was made and the win- dow placed. 12 ST. BARNABAS CHURCH. Lord and the Apostles at the Last Supper. The entry noting the contract is under date of September 5th, 1721, and read»s : " The \'estry agrees with Mr. Gustavius HesseHus to paint the History of our Blessed Savior and the twelve Apostles at the Last Supper and the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood — the Painting to be proportionable to the Space over the Altar Piece — to find the Canvas and all other necessa- ries for the same, — (the frame and the gold leaf excepted, which Mr. Henderson engages to procure and to bestow on the Church, as well as to hav^e the Painting put in its place over the Altar at his own Cost)." An entry in the Treasurer's Account the following year men- tions the receipt of the picture and the payment to Mr. Hes-selius of ^17 Sterling, for his work on the completed painting. The question forces itself upon our notice, what could possibly have become of this painting? How could an object of such in- terest and historical value to the Parish, standing conspicuously and constantly before the eyes of the entire people, have, at last, utterly disappeared from the knowledge of the Parish, without one note to mark the mode of its disappearance ? It were very much to be desired that some light could be thrown upon this point.* *In the present church of 1772 there is no provision made for the placing of a picture above the Altar, this space being filled by a window. It may have been that the rector and the vestry sold the picture to augment the Church funds ; or, as seems probable, it may have been kept at the rector's house for safety, and in the confusion of the times may have been sold as part of the confiscated property of the Tory rector, the Rev. Mr. Boucher. At all events, from that time all trace of the painting is lost ; and no one in the Parish was even aware that it had ever existed until the Rev. Wm. C. Butler found the entries concerning it in the old Records thirty years ago (1877), when rector of Queen Anne's.— Mrs. Wm. C. ButlER. It is strange, yet an interesting fact, that little is known of the missing picture since Revolutionary times. For some unknown reason no interest was ever taken to recover it. There are different stories about it, and al- though the statement that it was sold or confiscated is very plausible, the present rector does not consider it the real one. He thinks it was taken away because no place was provided for it in the present building, and was kept by some one of the rectors, and during the long hiatus in the Parish was taken away or sold without the consent of the vestry, thus eventually getting into the hands of the present owners or holders. He believed and said that the picture was still in existence and would be found. He now claims he has found it in a certain house not many miles from the City of Washington, ST. RARXAKAS CHURCH. I3 111 the list of " Marriages" the following is noteworthy : "The Honourable Charles Calvert, Ksq., Governour of Maryland, was married to Rebecca Gerrard (daughter of John Gerrard, late of Prince George's County, deceased, and Kliza his wife), per the Revd. Jacob Henderson, Rector of St. Barnabas Church in Queen Anne Parish, November 21st, 1722." And, as illu.strating the su- perior postal advantages which we enjoy today, the following en- try in the Treasurer's account, is not without interest: "By a journey down to Nottingham to carry a letter to Richard Lee, Ksq., Ten vShillings" (about $2.50"). The movement towards building the present Church (erected about thirty feet north of the site of the former), which, with its increased capacity, was needed by reason of insufficient room in the former to accommodate the parishioners, culminated in carry- ing out a contract, in 1772, with Christopher Lowndes, "to make, erect, build, and set up a new Brick Church, near the place where the old Brick Church in said Parish now stands, to contain sixty feet in length, and forty-six feet in width" — (the other specifications and details of brick and woodwork being duly mentioned) — " to be completed on or before the last day of Au- gu.st, A. D. 1774. In consideration of which, said building to be done and finished in manner and form aforesaid, the said Christo- pher Lowndes shall be paid the sum of ^^312 los., and on or before the 20th day of August, A. D. 1773, /312 los. more, and also the further sum of /312 los. on or before the last day of August in the year of Our Lord 1774" — in all about $4,700. The clergy in charge from the date of the death of the Rev. Mr. Henderson to the erection of the present Church in 1772, w'ere the Rev. William Brogden, the Rev. John Forljes, the Rev. PMward Gant, and the Rev. Jonathan Boucher, the latter having been the last before the Revolution.* in this State, having been purchased at an auction sale in Georgetown, D. C, over fifty years ago. It corresponds exactly with the description given in the old Records, and it is hoped by the kindness of the present owners to have it restored to its original home in St. Barnabas Chuich, for which it was especially ordered and painted. — Rkv. W. J. Williams. * Rev. Jonathan Boucher was a notable person. He was a friend of \Va.sh- ington, and when Rector of St. Anne's, .Annapolis, was tutor to John Parke Custis, the son of Mrs. Washington. He was a loyal Englishman and a Tory. An account of him and his difficulties with his revolutionary Parish- ioners is an exciting event in the annals of the Parish. In 1775 he sailed 14 ST. BARNABAS CHURCH. Among the names prominent among the Laity, dnring this whole period of 1705 to 1772, are such as Duvall, Tyler, Odell, Gittings, Ridgley, Pottinger, Gerrard, Mills, Cook, King, Cheney, Peach, Waring, Gant, Bell, Hyatt, Lee, Bloggett, Grimes, Sprigg, Harding, Wootton, Lamar, Brown, Carrick, Duval, Brashear, Hall, Duckett, Boyd, Berry, Hodges, Bowie, Brogden, Coutee, Clark, Brooke, Magruder, Hillary and scores of others, the de- scendants of most of them still faithful in their allegiance to the principles of the true Catholic faith as transmitted through the Church of England ; some wanderers to the right hand, some to the left. I would they were all back home again ; they cannot afford to do without the Church, nor can the Church afford to lose their faithful service. In connection with this brief review of the period of the history of this Parish, as set forth in its old Records from 1705 up to the Revolution,* we, today, men and brethren, may learn two grand lessons : First, to make it part and parcel of our life work, of our daily work, to manage and control and plan that we may ever have somewhat to offer, be it land or money or crop, with ready hand and loving heart, to further the interests of Christ's Holy Cath- from Annapolis in the last ship which was permitted to sail from that port to England before hostilities began. His property in America was confiscated. He married Miss Eleanor Addison, of Annapolis.— Mrs. Wm. C. Butler. * There is a long hiatus in the Parish Records during and after the Revo- lution. In the Spring of 1793, the Maryland Convention met in Easton, Talbot County, and was presided over by Bishop Claggett, who had been consecrated in New York six months previously. During the Convention Bishop Claggett ordained the Rev. Walter Dulany Addison as Deacon of the Church. His was the first ordination by the first Bishop of Maryland. Mr. Addison then took charge of Queen Anne's Parish. In an account of his life by his granddaughter, Elizabeth Hesselius Murray, he describes the Parish as inhabited by rich planters and others widely scattered. Mr. Addison served "Henderson's Chapel" and "St. Barnabas" for two years with acceptability, but finding his labors, on account of the great distances' too arduous, he resigned the rectorship, though he often visited and preached in the Parish afterwards. In a sketch of St. Thomas' Church, Baltimore County, by Rev. Ethan Allen, he states that Rev. Joseph Jackson, one of the rectors of that Church, was rector of Queen Anne's Parish in 1795. The Rev. Clement Brooke also served, but the length and date of his incumbency are not known. The Rev. Stephen Tyng, Sr., took charge in 1823.— Mrs. Wm. C. Butler. ST. HARXAliAS CHURCH. I5 olic Church, to broaden its foundation.s, to strengthen its walls, and to make bright and beautiful all its Holy things and places; and. Secondly, never forget that "your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord." Your work for a whole year on your farm may be a failure — may be swept away in a week or in a day. Our most thoroughly-perfected and most earnestly-guarded purposes for personal advancement may be utterly thwarted in a single hour. The most carefully laid scheme of statesmanship, by which a throne is propped or a State is buttressed, may become a thing of air in one moment of popular storm and be dissipated into nothingness. The most gigantic financial interest, with its foundations most shrewdly- cemented in millions of gold, may and does sink in a single night, and the next morning's sun shines upon the place that knew it yesterday, but shall know it no more forever. But every dollar, every acre, every wall, every roof, every tower, every memorial window, and every sweet- toned memorial bell, every altar-cloth and sacred vessel, and every beautiful flower laid by children on cross and on font, — and above all else, every beautiful bloom of gentle or noble deed, or kindly word, or loving wish, or fervent prayer, or kindh' praise done for Christ or the Church's sake, "which is His Body," shall be transmuted by the very giving of it in such spirit, into a wealth that shall grow and enlarge forever, and its benefaction extend from generation to generation. Where are, today, the acres and the names of John Duvall and Mary, his wife? Perished and gone utterly from man's knowl- edge, except in connection with their oflFering to God of the ground on which this Church stands. Amid all the shifting cur- rents of the world's w^ork, that alone which we do for God's Church abides. And this, because He, who receives every such gift, our Divine Lord with the Father and the Holy Ghost, loves and blesses and defends, amidst all the changes and chances of this mortal life, both the giver and the gift. This month is also one of anniversaries to me. Fifty years ago, in June, 1857, I was ordained to the Diaconate by Bishop Meade, of Virginia. Thirty years ago, in June, 1877, I took charge of this Parish. A generation has passed away. Many of those who filled these pews then have gone to their reward ; but thanks be to God, among all these changes and chances, our God 1 6 ST. BARNABAS CHURCH, and His Church are the "same yesterday, today and forever. "^ The Church has the same words for the babe at yonder old font — the same blessing for her children who kneel at this rail for confirmation — the same comfort and renewed life for those who partake of the Blessed Sacrament at this altar — and the same holy benediction for those who have departed this life in her com- munion. Many changes for good and for evil have I seen in our land ; but over them all the Lord reigneth. He sitteth between the Cherubim, be the people never so unquiet, and the voice of his Holy Word ever proclaims, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Laus Deo. Bibliography. Vestry Proceedings, Queen Anne's Parish, Prince George's County, Md., 1705-1773. Diocesan Ijibrary, Baltimore, Md. An historical sermon in connection with St. Barnabas Church, (Jueen Anne's Parish, Prince George's County, Md. By the rector, the Rev. Wil- liam C. Butler, second Sunday after Trinity, 1878. Baltimore, 1878. An old Maryland Parish, by Mrs. Frances M. Butler. In "The Church Militant," Washington, D. C, March, 1899, pp. 40-43- Ihus. One hundred years ago ; or, the life and times of the Rev. Walter Dulany Addison, 1769- 1848. By Elizabeth Hesselius Murray. Philadelphia : Geo. W. Jacobs & Co., 1895. Bacon's Laws of Maryland, Annapolis, 1765. " The Churchman," New York, June 22, 1907, p. 934. "Washington Post," June 12, 1907. " Washington Times," June 11, 1907. "Washington Herald," June 12, 1907. " Baltimore Sun," June 12 and 21, 1907. ST. BARNABAS CHURCH. IJ The following is a list of clergymen who ministered as Rectors of St. Barnabas since the year 1S57. with dates of incumbency and present addresses : Rev. John W. Ciiksley, St. Michael's, Md., April I, 1857, to April 30, 1870. =^Rev. H. a. Skinner, 1870 to 1872. fREV. Thos. Farmar Bili.opp, 1873 to 1876. Rev. Wm. C. Butlkr, Baltimore, Md., June, 1877, to August, 1889. Rev. Francis Burneli. Randall, Defl Rapids, S. Dak., September, 1890, to June, 1894. Rev. Wm. R. Barker Turner, Leonardtown, Md., December, 1894, to September, 1901. Rev. Chas. J. WiNGATE, Washington, D. C, Nov. 15, 1903, to May 1906. Rev. Wm. J. Williainis, present Rector, since January i, 1907. The present \'estry consists of the following gentlemen ]\'ardi'ns : UpTON BroOKE, Julian Hall. Treasurer: GEORGE W. Brooke. A'txish-r : W. Seton BelT, Lee C.-vrrick, William Berrv, Charles M. Berrv, William Roberts. * Died in Wisconsin about 1S91. t Died Sept. 5, 1876, near Leeland, Md. l8 ST. BARNABAS CHURCH. ITS TWO-HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY. Establishment of Old St. Barnabas Church is Celebrated. special to the Baltimore Sun. Xeeland, Md., June ii, — The two-hundredth anniversary of the establishment of St. Barnabas Church, Queen Anne's Parish, was celebrated here today with appropriate exercises. Thirty members of the choir of St. Andrew's Church, Washington, gave a beautiful choral service. A history of the old church was read by Rev. W. C. Butler, of Baltimore, former rector of St. Barnabas. Rev. George Car- ter, rector of St. Andrew's Church, Washington, read a letter from Bishop Satterlee regretting his inability to be present and extending congratulations upon the auspicious occasion. Rev. F. E. McManus, of Trinity Church, Upper Marlboro, spoke of the church in Southern Maryland today, and an address was made by Rev. W. J. Williams, rector of St. Barnabas, upon the present needs of the church. After the ceremonj^, a luncheon was served by the ladies of the Parish, the arrangements being in charge of a committee headed by Miss Mildred Carter of Goodwood, near Leeland, Prince George's County. Queen Anne's Parish is one of the oldest in Maryland, having been established in the year 1704. — " Baltimore Sun," June 12, 1907. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0014313815 A