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 From the Library of 
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: x A Memorial 
 ii ishop Atkinson 
 
A MEMORIAL 
 
 — TO- 
 
 BISHOP ATKINSON 
 
 Reprint from the * Messenger of Hope*' 
 August, J906. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/memorialtobishopOOunse 
 
The late Rt. Rev Thos. Atkinson; third Bishop of 
 the Diocese of North Carolina. 
 
A MEMORIAL TO BISHOP 
 ATKINSON. 
 
 The Church of the Holy Comfort- 
 er Preparing to Erect a Beauti- 
 ful Stone Church in Memory 
 of North Carolina's Greatest 
 Bishop. 
 
 The Church of the Holy Com- 
 forter is one of the most progres- 
 sive as well as the largest of the 
 Charlotte missions. It is situated 
 in Dilworth, the southern suburb 
 of Charlotte, amid surroundings 
 which encourage growth and pro- 
 gress. Three years ago this mis- 
 sion was organized by a mere 
 handful of loyal Church people, 
 who had made their residence in 
 this new section of Charlotte and 
 felt the need of the Church's min- 
 istrations not only for their own 
 children but also for the commun- 
 ity. Rev. Mr. Tolson, now Arch- 
 deacon of Raleigh, was put in 
 charge of this and the other Char- 
 lotte missions and served efficient- 
 
ly until January, 1904. Then, for 
 seven months, followed a critical 
 period in the life of the mission, 
 for no ordained minister was in 
 charge ; but the continued lay ser- 
 vice by Mr. C. E. Frick, an occa- 
 sional sermon by Archdeacon K. 
 A. Osborne and the determination 
 of the warden and members pre- 
 served the continuity and life of 
 the congregation and Sunday 
 School until a minister could be 
 secured. Tn September, 1904. Rev. 
 Francis M. Osborne, then Deacon, 
 was given the care of this place 
 and St. Martin's Chapel. When 
 he was ordered Priest the follow- 
 ing March he still remained, and 
 is now in charge of the same work. 
 
 In the fall of 1004 a notable 
 meeting of the congregation was 
 held and plans for work were dis- 
 cussed and laid out. The great 
 need was a suitable church build- 
 ing, for the congregation were 
 then and still are using a hall over 
 a store, an "upper room" — apos- 
 tolic enough to suit our historic 
 body, but too primitive, perhaps. 
 
 A committee of good business 
 men was appointed and collections 
 were at once solicited for a lot. 
 
Fifteen months from that date a 
 $3,000 lot, measuring 150 x 150 
 feet, located on the principle street 
 of Dilworth, was bought and paid 
 for. Since that day the Building- 
 Fund has been begun and at the 
 date of this publication has reach- 
 ed the sum of $2,100, a total of 
 $5,100 raised in twenty months— 
 not a bad result for a congrega- 
 tion of a little over half a hundred 
 communicants. Of course, the 
 members of St. Peter's, Charlotte, 
 and other friends have generously 
 aided in this result. 
 
 In many respects the life of the 
 congregation has kept pace with 
 its financial progress and the con- 
 gregation has a well-organized 
 Sunday School, a Woman's Parish 
 Guild, an active Woman's Auxili- 
 ary, a Men's Missionary League 
 and other helpful activities. It is 
 their determined policy to push 
 forward and soon take a place 
 among the larger and stronger 
 churches of the Diocese. 
 
 On last Whitsunday (which is 
 observed by this mission as a par- 
 ish day each year) a congregation- 
 al meeting was held ; just after the 
 close of the Communion service, 
 
to act on the suggestion of the rec- 
 tor, who proposed erecting this 
 anticipated church as a memorial 
 to the late Right Rev. Thomas At- 
 kinson. Rev. Mr. Osborne had 
 made this suggestion in his ad- 
 dress that day and it met a prompt 
 and enthusiastic endorsement from 
 the laymen. A. motion was put 
 and carried unanimously. 
 
 The Building Committee re- 
 ported that it had accepted the 
 plans proposed by Mr. Charles C. 
 Haight, of New York, for the 
 stone building shown in the ac- 
 companying cut. This building is 
 so planned that it may be built in 
 sections. The first section. consi3t- 
 ing of a chancel and nave, seating 
 150 persons, and an ample base- 
 ment for Sunday school and par- 
 ish purposes, will cost ten or twelve 
 thousand dollars. This will be be- 
 gun as soon as half of this amount 
 is raised. To complete the church 
 will double the cost of the first por- 
 tion built. 
 
 The words of the rector in which 
 the idea of erecting a memorial 
 church was brought before the 
 congregation are here given. They 
 are a part of his Whitsunday ad- 
 
dress and as containing a short 
 sketch of the life of Bishop At- 
 kinson may be of interest to oth- 
 ers besides those especially ad- 
 dressed. 
 
 After referring to matters of lo- 
 cal need and progress in the mis- 
 sion Mr. Osborne said* "We have 
 been speaking of some encourag- 
 ing things in the life of our con- 
 gregation. 
 
 "Whence comes the progress 
 upon which we congratulate our- 
 selves? From pursuing, under the 
 grace of God. a settled and de- 
 termined policy to be something 
 and to do something, to become a 
 useful factor for the Church not 
 only among our own children, in 
 our own community, but also in 
 the Diocese and in the general 
 Church. 
 
 "To-day T want you to take an- 
 other step that will help us to carry 
 out this policy. I want you to take 
 this step, but I do not want you to 
 do so just because 1 desire it. T 
 want it to be an act of yours — one 
 you are satisfied with and in favor 
 of. For this reason T shall present 
 you my reasons for proposing such 
 a step to your consideration. I 
 
would convince you that what I 
 am about to propose is in itself a 
 worthy thing to do, approved not 
 by myself alone, but also by trje 
 Archdeacon of this Convocation 
 and the Bishop of the Diocese. T 
 would convince you that it would 
 be an honorable recognition of our 
 duty to this Diocese and an oppor- 
 tunity of prestige of which no 
 church in the Union has availed it- 
 self — (to my great wonder!)— in 
 paying a debt which the whole 
 Church in America owes to the 
 memory of a great Christian lead- 
 er and Bishop. In the meeting 
 of the congregation which is to 
 follow I am going to propose, have 
 you discuss, and urge you to pass 
 a resolution that we erect the beau- 
 tiful church which we are planning 
 to the memory of the third of the 
 five Bishops that have guided the 
 Church in North Carolina, the no- 
 ble, the great, the beloved, the late 
 Bishop Thomas Atkinson, D.D.. 
 LLD. 
 
 "I can conceive of but one rea- 
 son why the very suggestion of 
 this step should not receive unani- 
 mous applause from this congre- 
 gation and that is the fact that 
 
there are among us some who 
 have lived in North Carolina but 
 i short while ; some here who were 
 rot reared in the Episcopal 
 Church, and some whose youth has 
 given them no opportunity to know 
 more than the name of this great 
 man. If these circumstances have 
 stood in the way of your knowing 
 Bishop Atkinson in person or in 
 history, will you bear with me if 
 I lengthen this address to sketch 
 his life and show you why your 
 rectOT, the Archdeacon, and your 
 present Bishop, as well as some of 
 this congregation, consider his 
 name worthy of memory — aye, 
 more — that this is an opportunity 
 of honoring ourselves. 
 
 "Tht lone and useful life of 
 Thomas Atkinson covered three- 
 fourths of the century that has re- 
 cently closed, having Seen bora 
 August 6, 1807, and having lived 
 till January 4, 1881 — 74 years. 
 
 "As 2 young man he graduated 
 with distinction at Hampden- Sid- 
 ney College, in Virginia, and en- 
 tered, vrith marked promise of suc- 
 cess, upon the practice of law be- 
 fore he turned his attention to 
 prepara T ion for the ministry. At 
 
the age of 29 he was ordered Dea- 
 con and the next year was ad- 
 vanced to the priesthood after a 
 year's work in St. Paul's Parish 
 Norfolk. Later he moved to 
 Lynchburg, Va v and still later on 
 he was called to St. Paul's. Balti- 
 more, to fill the place made vacait 
 by the election of Dr. Henshaw to 
 the Episcopate of Rhode Island. 
 Here in Baltimore he was instru- 
 mental in the building of beautiful 
 Grace Church, a building still 
 standing an honor to his.wori and 
 ability, wherein nearly a thoisand 
 communicants have their cfiurch 
 home. Though he was rector of 
 Grace Church but little bver a 
 year, so highly was he esteemed 
 that when you go there to-day you 
 find his name commemorated and 
 reverenced. 
 
 "His election to the Episcopate 
 in the Diocese of North Carolina 
 (then the whole State) called him 
 away from Baltimore. Our Bishop- 
 elect was consecrated in St, John's 
 Chapel, New York, along vrith Dr. 
 Davis,. Bishop-elect of South Caro- 
 lina, at a session of the General 
 Convention in the fall of 1853, a 
 Canadian and a British Indian 
 
Bishop joining with the American 
 Bishops in the consecration. The 
 fact that ere long this worthy man 
 received honorary degrees from 
 the University of North Carolina, 
 Trinity College, Connecticut, and 
 Cambridge University, England, 
 showed that his recognition was 
 not only diocesan, but national and 
 world-wide. 
 
 "Now to understand the courage 
 and strength of this man we must 
 remember two things : The difficul- 
 ties under which his Episcopate 
 was begun and the devastation of 
 the war which broke in upon him 
 before the first obstacles were fair- 
 ly overcome. The former difficul- 
 ties were those that arose from the 
 desertion of Bishop Ives to the 
 Roman Catholic Church. Bishop 
 Ives, the second Bishop of North 
 Carolina, was in office during that 
 period of church history known as 
 the Catholic Renaissance, which, 
 some said, would carry the Church 
 of England and the American 
 Episcopal Church bodily into the 
 Roman Church. In England it 
 did move for a time with power 
 and such great men as Newman, 
 Manning, Paber, etc., were lost to 
 
the English Church. In the Unit- 
 ed States Bishop Ives and some 
 others of lesser office were caught 
 by the infection and became Ro- 
 manists, Now, while in North 
 Carolina no other minister follow- 
 ed in this course and no laymen 
 except two women — one the Bis- 
 hop's wife and the other a woman 
 who afterwards returned — still 
 such a startling event as this left 
 the people's minds unsettled, cre- 
 ated an impression among outsid- 
 ers that the tendency of the Epis- 
 copal Church was toward Roman- 
 ism ; created friction among those 
 who admired and those who con- 
 demned the decision of Bishop 
 Ives and generally demoralized a 
 diocese already weak in numbers 
 (having little over two thousand 
 communicants) and scattered over 
 a State 500 miles long. 
 
 "But God had raised up a man 
 for this troublesome and turbulent 
 time. 'The (very) qualities need- 
 ed for the time and circumstances 
 were found in the new Bishop/ 
 says the late Bishop of East Caro- 
 lina. 'He was both firm and gen- 
 tle, vigorous and cautious. His in- 
 tellect was all the sort to command 
 
respect of all. His power as 
 speaker and pracher was excep- 
 tional, both dignified and genial, 
 devout and agreeable. His views, 
 while broad, were defined and 
 positive. He was 'broad-minded 
 and of sound judgment that came 
 of wide knowledge and experience. 
 In person he was noble and com- 
 manding. In 'his face sweetness 
 and noble manliness were in an un- 
 usual degree combined and in his 
 mental contact with others there 
 was magnetism which made him 
 respected and beloved. He was, 
 indeed, the very man, called of 
 God, to take up the broken lines of 
 church w r ork and reunite them, to 
 restore confidence and peace, to re- 
 move doubts and suspicions that 
 were festering in the body ecclesi- 
 astic, to bring the Diocese back to 
 safe and quiet moorings.' 
 
 But hardly had the smoke of 
 this battle of doctrine, faith and 
 feeling cleared away, the wounds 
 been healed and peace restored be- 
 fore the roar of civil strife filled 
 the country with its din. The great 
 war of North and South had be- 
 gun and as the chasm marked by 
 the Mason and Dixon line yawned 
 
wider and wider not only was the 
 nation, but also the Church divided 
 into two parts — the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church in the Confeder- 
 ate States and the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church in the United States. 
 
 "But let us not misunderstand 
 the principle upon which the Epis- 
 copal Church divided North and 
 South. It did not follow the course 
 already marked out by the division 
 of the Methodist Church in 1845 
 ( !) over the question of the rights 
 of a Methodist minister to hold 
 slaves. It did not divide like the 
 Presbyterians by taking sides on 
 the question of the fugitive slave 
 law in 1857. ^ was not divided 
 upon principles of mbrals and pol- 
 itics before the war began. The 
 Episcopal Church did not attempt 
 to settle the questions upon which 
 the country was in dispute. 
 
 Laymen, priests and bishops, 
 North and South, differed widely 
 in their views of slavery, but the 
 unity of the Church was sacred to 
 them. But when political separa- 
 tion, secession, became a fact the 
 Southern Churchmen maintained 
 that it carried with it ecclesiastical 
 separation — that they had no 
 
choice- — that it was as natural as 
 the existence of a national Church 
 of England and a national Church 
 in the United States. Bishops Polk 
 and Elliott wrote a circular letter 
 at this time in which they sum up 
 the position of the Southern 
 Church as follows : "This necessi- 
 ty does not rise of any division 
 which has occurred within the 
 Church itself, nor from any dissat- 
 isfaction with either the doctrine 
 or discipline of the Church. We 
 rejoice to record that we are to- 
 day, as Churchmen, as truly breth- 
 ren as we have ever been, and that 
 no deed has been done, or word ut- 
 tered, which leaves a single wound 
 rankling in any breast/ So, when 
 the General Convention met a year 
 after the war began the South was 
 not represented. The South held 
 its own convention, adopted the 
 name "The Protestant Episcopal 
 Church in the Confederate States 
 of America," drew up a constitu- 
 tion, published the Prayer Book 
 with Confederate States substi- 
 tuted for United States, and pro- 
 ceeded to do the work of a national 
 church. 
 
 "Now, one might infer that a 
 
separation so quietly and peacea- 
 bly effected might as quietly have 
 been adjusted at the close of the 
 war. Such an inference were true 
 if no account is taken of human 
 passions. But we must take ac- 
 count of human passions, for when 
 the close of the war declared the 
 nation undivided the chasm of sep- 
 aration was filled — yes, but filled 
 with lives and fortunes and to 
 reach across this abyss of horror 
 and shake friendly hands would 
 take more manliness and self-con- 
 trol than the great majority of hu- 
 man beings are capable of. Yet 
 that was the step now necessary 
 for a united church. The genera- 
 tion of that day has now almost 
 passed away before some of our 
 denominational brethren have been 
 able to take the step. Would the 
 men of the South have courage 
 to master their passions? Would 
 the men of the North veil their 
 triumph ? 
 
 ''Was it in human power for 
 these Southern churchmen to for- 
 get their smarting wounds? Had 
 not Dr. Wingfield, of Portsmouth, 
 Va., been sent to the chain gang 
 for praying for the President of 
 
the Confederate States, and Dr. 
 Smith, of Alexandria, arrested for 
 refusing to pray for the President 
 of the United States? And were 
 not many churches throughout the 
 South closed by Northern arms 
 because they used this Confederate 
 Prayer Book? Had not the blood 
 of a brave Bishop-General been 
 shed upon the battlefield? Were 
 not military reconstruction Gov- 
 ernors in occupation in Southern 
 States? Tlie theory of union was 
 as easy as that of separation, hut 
 the passions or chagrin, humilia- 
 tion, anger and hate made the ap- 
 plication of the theory a very diffi- 
 cult thing. 
 
 "On the other hand, Churchmen 
 in the North had never admitted 
 the right of the Confederate States 
 to organize a separate convention. 
 Bishop Wilmer had been made 
 Bishop of Alabama by this South- 
 ern Church, with the consent of all 
 of its Bishops but without consul- 
 tation with the Bishop of the 
 North. This was regarded as 
 high-handed anarchy. Some even 
 suggested a severe discipline for 
 the traitorous ( ?) Southerners. 
 
 "Wounds on one hand and tri- 
 
timph on the other made the situa- 
 tion a most intense and delicate 
 one. 
 
 "But there were men in the 
 North and men in the South who 
 saw that the path of duty lay on 
 the other side of these obstacles 
 of human passion. The large- 
 hearted Bishop Hopkins, of Ver- 
 mont, sent a letter to all the South- 
 ern Dioceses assuring them of a 
 welcome to their old seats in the 
 Convention. But human passion 
 was strong and the Southern men 
 hesitated. It was easier for a 
 triumphant North to offer hospi- 
 tality than for a defeated South 
 to accept it and so those eager for 
 union awaited the roll call of the 
 convention of '65 in Philadelphia 
 with trembling dread. The roll 
 began with Alabama but not a 
 Southern representative answered 
 to his name, till the secretary had 
 passed half-w r ay through the alpha- 
 bet. Then came 'North Carolina/ 
 Bishop Atkinson stood upon his 
 feet to assure the Convention that 
 there were in the South not only 
 heroes of war but also heroes of 
 peace — men who had the courage 
 
to conquer self for the sake of 
 duty and the Church. 
 
 "Another Southern Bishop, 
 Bishop Lay. of the Southwest, also 
 answered to his name, as well as 
 some deputies from North Caroli- 
 na, Tennessee and Texas, and all 
 promised to move in peace and 
 harmony. But this harmony was 
 soon threatened from an. unexpect- 
 ed source. A resolution was pro- 
 posed that a thanksgiving service 
 be held "for the restoration of 
 peace and the re-establishment of 
 the National Government over the 
 whole land/ These w r ere the words 
 of the resolution, Imagine for a 
 moment the feelings of our great 
 Bishop ! How could he give thanks 
 for the victory of the army of the 
 North? It was an intense moment. 
 All the pacific interests of the lov- 
 ers of the unity were about to be 
 dashed to pieces, it seemed. The 
 Bishop of North Carolina was 
 upon his feet — to rage? to storm? 
 to resent the sting of this unwise 
 and tactless resolution with anger 
 and scorn? No! But with power- 
 ful self-control, with surpassing 
 tenderness, with over-powering 
 gentleness to offer an amendment 
 
— 'To give thanks for your victor- 
 ies when we prayed for another 
 issue is a mockery— impossible ! 
 But let us hole! a thanksgiving ser- 
 vice and return thanks for the res- 
 toration of pence to the country 
 and unity to the Church, and we 
 here present and the whole South 
 which we represent will join as 
 heartily and sincerely as any !' 
 The amendment was carried— the 
 crisis passed and in the person of 
 Bishop Atkinson and Bishop Lay 
 the Church was once more united 
 and all references to North and 
 South forever settled as far as the 
 Episcopal Church in this country is 
 concerned. A generation of dis- 
 cussion, diplomacy and adjustment 
 was averted and the great question 
 settled once for all by the prompt- 
 ness, far-sightedness and courage 
 such as that of Bishop Atkinson. 
 
 ''After this convention Bishop 
 Atkinson returned to North Caro- 
 lina to restore his diocese now 
 shattered by the war. In spite of 
 the discouragement in the Diocese 
 at the beginning of his Episcopate 
 and the terrible effect of the war, 
 in 20 years after his consecration 
 the number of clergy had increased 
 
25 per cent, and the communicants 
 100 per cent. For ten years longer, 
 with Bishop Lyman as assistant, 
 the apostolic man was permitted to 
 serve his flock and to see the ori- 
 ginal number of communicants 
 multiplied by three and the setting 
 apart of the Diocese of East Caro- 
 lina. Tn January, 1881, his life 
 ended, quietly at home among his 
 people, in the 44th year of his min- 
 istry, the 28th of his Episcopate 
 and" the 74th vear of his saintly 
 life. 
 
 ''Do you ask my reasons for a 
 proposed memorial to this man? 
 His life i°. reason enough. And 
 will other returns come to us? 
 
 "Yes. T. The sense of satisfac- 
 tion in having done a worthy thing. 
 
 "II. The thanks, gratitude and 
 sympathy and perhaps assistance 
 of a 'thousand or more of those 
 still living upon whom his hands 
 were laid for confirmation and of 
 those ordained to the sacred min- 
 istry at his hands. 
 
 "III. The reactive influence of 
 the discharge of a duty to this .Dio- 
 cese. The memories of all of our 
 departed Bishops are perpetuated 
 but to this one, the greatest of al! r 
 
there is no memorial in this whole 
 State except a dining hall and tab- 
 let at the Thompson Orphanage 
 and some chancel furniture in St. 
 James's Church, Wilmington. 
 
 "Do we desire to do something 
 and to be something worthy of our 
 calling? To do this worthily is a 
 big undertaking. In the attempt 
 we can honor ourselves. Here is 
 an opportunity!" 
 
This book must not 
 be taken from the 
 Library building. 
 
 Form No. 471