27

CHAPTER II.

BISHOP CHASE AND KENYON COLLEGE.

Brief memoir of the Bishop's previous life.—Situation and circumstances of the College.-Character of the Students.-Religious influences exercised by and among them.

WHILE considering the eventful history of the human race, and the manifold changes which have marked the progress of society, it is cheering to be enabled to trace the beneficial effects which have been sometimes produced on the character of nations, by the energy of solitary individuals. From such individuals it is impossible long to withhold the meed of admiration; and although by their contemporaries they may be little esteemed, though their immediate associates may be unable to appreciate the greatness of their conceptions, though even many real blemishes and infirmities may partially obscure the lustre of their virtues, impartial posterity will ultimately award them the honour which is their due, as chosen instruments in the hands of the Almighty.

But, in order to constitute a character adapted to the accomplishment of beneficent and difficult designs, a peculiar and uncommon combination of qualities is absolutely necessary. Strength of mind must be united with readiness of invention, and the ardour of a sanguine temperament must be blended with constant perseverance and submissive patience. There must be clearness of perception to soar above . the prejudices of the vulgar, while there must be hardihood of nerve to remain unmoved by the sneers, and open opposition of adversaries. A firm conviction of being engaged in the cause of Truth and Duty, must be coupled with a settled determination to maintain that cause at all hazards, while a constant trust in God must be accompanied by deep submission to the divine will, and an habitual expectation of providential assistance.

A combination of qualities such as these, might be found in the remarkable person, to whom the last chapter has already introduced the reader. It is considered, therefore, that no apology will be necessary for the insertion, in this place, of a brief memoir of his life and labours prior to the year 1828.

Philander Chase was born at Cornish, on the banks of the river Connecticut, on the 14th of December, 1775. His ancestors were English Puritans who migrated to New England, from the county of Cornwall, during the reign of King Charles the First. His father was a Deacon of the same persuasion, and is described by him as having possessed great vigour of character, together with a discriminating judgment and religious habits. The

subject of our memoir has also spoken with much feeling of the lessons of piety and virtue communicated to him by his beloved mother; and thus, by both parents, he was trained up from early youth "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." In 1791 he entered Dartmouth College, a Dissenting institution in New Hampshire, and gladly exchanged the labours of agriculture for literary pursuits, with the expectation of becoming a Congregational (or Independent) preacher. Accidentally, as some would say, but providentially, as he always regarded it, he became acquainted, while at College, with the Prayer-book of the American Church, and lost no time in making known his favourable opinion of it to his parents and other relatives. Much ignorance and many prejudices were in the way; but the more the Prayer-book was examined by them, the more striking did its excellences appear. Amid the manifold divisions by which they were surrounded, the Prayer-book appeared as a light to guide them to the paths of peace; while amidst the multiform heresies which had grown up among the descendants of the Puritans, it seemed no less adapted to direct them to primitive truth. The consideration of the Liturgy and Creeds, led to an investigation of the claims of the Church to an Apostolical origin and constitution in her Ministry, and ultimately the family of the Chases abandoned the Independent ranks, demolished their old meeting-house, and erected a Church in its stead, not a voice being raised against the measure throughout the neighbourhood. As for Philander, he employed his vacations and his Sundays, by the advice

of some of the few Episcopal clergy, in reading prayers and printed sermons, at several places in Vermont and New Hampshire, where, before he had attained his twentieth year, he had succeeded in establishing permanent congregations.

In 1795 he took his degree, and soon afterwards became a candidate for holy orders, and entered upon a course of theological study under the tuition of an English clergyman, educated at Oxford, then officiating as Rector of the Church in Albany. While thus engaged he supported himself by teaching a school, and after nearly three years of study was ordained a deacon, in May, 1798, by Bishop Provoost, of New York.

His first sphere of clerical duty was in the western part of the diocese of New York, then almost a wilderness, where he was employed as a missionary among the hardy pioneers of civilization. He laboured with his whole heart, and having been familiar with toil from his earliest youth, he little regarded the difficulties and privations inseparable from his position. In the course of two years he saw the abundant fruit of his labours, many flourishing congregations having grown up under his pastoral superintendence. Parishes had been already organized by him in Canandaigua, Utica, and Auburn; in Hampton and other villages on the borders of Vermont; at Oswego, Stamford, and various places on the Susquehannah, Unadilla, and Delaware rivers, and in many intermediate stations. The Churches in most of those places, though planted originally in the woods and among log cabins, are now in the midst

of flourishing and populous towns and cities, and afford a conspicuous and lasting testimony to the importance of attending to the development of religious principle in the infancy of society. In the winter of 1800, Mr. Chase took charge of the congregations of Christ Church, Poughkeepsie, and Trinity Church, Fishkill, on the Hudson River, about eighty miles above the city of New York. At the same time he discharged the onerous duties of principal in the academy at Poughkeepsie. In 1805, Mrs. Chase having become afflicted with a pulmonary complaint, he proceeded with her, by the advice of his Bishop, to New Orleans, the capital of Louisiana. While there he organized a congregation, the first of any Protestant communion established in the city. After officiating about six years in New Orleans, he returned to the northern states, and in the autumn of 1811 was established as rector of Christ Church, at Hartford, in Connecticut. The number of the faithful in that city was in a short time greatly multiplied, and under his zealous ministrations the attendants at the Lord's Table increased to a considerable number. In the bosom of an enlightened society, and blessed with an abundance of temporal comforts, his enjoyments were more numerous than can be expected to fall to the ordinary lot of an American pastor. Yet his thoughts often wandered to the desolate regions of the West, and to the growing villages where the name of Christ was well-nigh forgotten. He recollected his own labours in former times, till his heart yearned to be again employed in similar holy undertakings, and,