14
November 1784 A.D. Samuel
Seabury: Episcopal Bishop—England Said
“No” While Scotland Said `Yes.’”
Graves,
Dan. “England `No’ and Scotland `Yes’ to Samuel Seabury.” Christianity.com.
Apr 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/england-no-scotland-yes-to-samuel-seabury-11630252.html?utm_source=nextArticleBox&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=next-article-box. Accessed 19 May 2014.
When Britain's former colonies fought their
Revolutionary War against the motherland, churches were affected. Most notably,
the Church of England in the United States renamed itself the Episcopal Church.
But if it were to function, it needed bishops. And if the bishops were to be
valid (under the theory of apostolic succession) they must be consecrated by
legitimate bishops who had themselves been consecrated by bishops all the way
back to the apostles. The problem was, British law forbade consecration of
anyone who would not swear loyalty to the crown.
When one of the Episcopal leaders, Samuel Seabury,
sailed to England, seeking consecration, the bishops of London refused it. The
British cabinet took the position that to consecrate Seabury was interference
in the affairs of the United States. What were the churchmen to do?
It was not as if Seabury were a rebel. Quite the
contrary; his witty pamphlets against the rebellion and the Continental
Congress had so angered the Patriots that they had thrown him into prison.
After his release, Seabury escaped to the British lines where he gave valuable
information to General Howe's army. Seabury stayed behind the British lines the
rest of the war, doctoring the king's soldiers. After the war, he was chosen
bishop by Church of England clergymen in Connecticut.
With consecration in England out of the question,
Samuel Seabury traveled to Scotland. On this day, November 14, 1784, the Scottish bishops of Aberdeen, Moray and Ross
consecrated Samuel Seabury as the first Episcopal bishop of the United States.
A few years later, the spirit of charity reasserted itself and London
consecrated additional bishops.
Meanwhile, Samuel Seabury returned to Connecticut.
Because he had sided with the monarchy during the war, he was never popular in
his homeland. And his consecration always seemed tainted, because it had come
in the "irregular" church of Scotland, rather than at the hands of
the highest leaders of the Church of England. Because the Scottish
Episcopalians had refused to swear allegiance to William and Mary (when James
II was driven into exile), their church had been given no official recognition
by the government and operated under legal disabilities.
Controversy did not stop Seabury from working hard
as a bishop, visiting his entire see and opening new churches. His prodigious
labor is verified by the fact that he confirmed over 10,000 individuals!
Bibliography:
1. Brown, Wallace. The King's
Friends; the Composition and Motives of the American Loyalist Claimants.
Providence, Brown University Press, 1965.
2. Crary, Catherine S., Editor. The
Price of Loyalty; Tory writings from the Revolutionary era. New York,
McGraw-Hill, 1973.
3. Fisher, Sydney George. The True
History of the American Revolution. Philadelphia, London, J.B. Lippincott
Company, 1902.
4. Perry, William Stevens. The
Episcopate in America. New York: Christian Literature, 1895. Source of the
Image.
5. "Seabury, Samuel."
Dictionary of American Biography. New York : Scribner, 1958 - 1964.
6. Thoms, Herbert. Samuel Seabury;
priest and physician, Bishop of Connecticut. Hamden, Connecticutt: Shoe String
Press, 1963.
Last updated April, 2007.
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