CHAPTER XXVIII.

A. D. 1790-1838.

ECCLESIASTICAL · - Rev. Samuel Spraggs-Rev. Menzies Rayner-Rev. Frederick Beasley, D. D.-Rev. Samuel Lilly-Introduction of Methodism Lists of Methodist Ministers-Rev. Thomas Morrell.

AT the time of the decease of the Rev. Dr. Chandler, in June, 1790, the Rev. Samuel Spraggs had been the resident minister of St. John's church, since April of the previous year. Mr. Spraggs had given such general satisfaction in his work as an assistant, that on the 1st of January following he was appointed by the Wardens and Vestrymen to fill the vacant rectorship, with good promise of usefulness in his vocation.

REV. SAMUEL SPRAGGS,

the newly-appointed rector, was in the forty-fourth year of his age, and had, for a considerable period, been an acceptable preacher in connection with the Methodist Episcopal Church, having been admitted on trial, at the second Conference, held at Philadelphia, May 25, 1774. Of his parentage and the place of his nativity, no record remains. It is said that he came from England. Like all the Methodist preachers of that day, he had probably enjoyed but few advantages of education, in which respect the contrast between him and Dr. Chandler was very noticeable.

Mr. Spraggs' first appointment, after being "admitted on trial," was to Brunswick Circuit in S. E. Virginia, May 25, 1774. In May, 1775, having been admitted to full connection, he was appointed to Philadelphia, and re-appointed in May, 1776. The following record, made at Philadelphia, in Mr. Asbury's Journal, refers to Mr. Spraggs :

Lord's Day, June 2. Went to the chapel, and preached after brother S. S. and the people appeared to be deeply affected. But brother S. does not seem to enter into the Methodist plan of preaching. He uses a few pompous, swelling words, which pass for something great with short-sighted people; but are not calculated to do them much spiritual good.*

In May, 1777, he was appointed to the Frederick Circuit in Maryland. After the capture of Philadelphia by the British army, Sept. 26, 1777, he found his way again to Philadelphia, and in the course of the following winter or spring to New York. As the only travelling preacher there in the connection, he took charge of the old John st. Chapel from that time to the close of the war in 1783. In common with his fellow-itinerants, he was regarded by the British authorities as a loyalist, and so neither he nor the chapel was disturbed, during the war. His ministry there terminated in July, 1783, from which time his name disappears from the connection. It is probable, that, about this time, he married and located at Mount Holly, N. J. His wife's name was Mary. She was twelve years his senior.

It is not known how he was occupied during the next few years. He had, in all probability, become connected with the Episcopalians, and had been ordained a deacon. His salary at the first was £120. It was increased, Ap. 1, 1793, to £150. His ministry was cut short by his unexpected decease, Sep. 7, 1794.

Mr. Spraggs was an affectionate and useful pastor, (says Dr. Rudd,) and enjoyed the confidence and regard of his flock, with whom he was on terms of affable and cordial intercourse.t

His widow survived until June 27, 1821, dying at New York, in the 87th year of her age. She left the parish a small legacy. +

REV. MENZIES RAYNER.

At a meeting of the Vestrymen and Wardens, Feb. 10, 1795, a committee was appointed to write to the Rev. Menzies Rayner, "respecting his residing here as minister of St.

* Asbury's Journal, I. 139.

+ Dr. Rudd's Notices of St. John's, p. 21.

Clark's St. John's, pp. 164-8. Wakeley's Lost Chapters of Am. Methodism, pp. 262, 8, 279-83, 287, 293. Records of St. John's Chh.

John's Church." Mr. Rayner had been on the Methodist circuit that included this town, and so was well known here. The application was not successful. At the Easter meeting of the parish, April 6, 1795, Rev. Joseph Pilmoor was ap-. pointed the rector, but declined, in favor of Christ church, (Ann st.) New York.*

The call to Mr. Rayner was shortly after renewed and accepted. He began his ministry here as early as Jan. 1, 1796. He was a native of Hempstead, L. I., had entered the Methodist ministry in 1790, and had successively been appointed to the Dutchess, Hartford, Lynn, Elizabeth Town, and Middletown (Ct.) circuits.

He was a young man of promise, (says Dr. Stevens,) and very acceptable among the people as a preacher. Having engaged himself to marry a young lady whose family was unwilling that she should share his privations as an Itinerant, he chose the alternative of resigning his ministerial post. It was done with deliberation, with frank notification of his purpose to his Presiding Elder, Rev. George Roberts, and with the avowal of undiminished confidence in the doctrines and discipline of Methodism.

He had just left the connection, when he was called here, in 1795. He was ordained to the priesthood, on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 1797, by Rt. Rev. Samuel Provoost, D.D., on which occasion, the Rev. Abraham Beach, D.D., of New York, read the prayers, and the Rev. Mr. Gardiner, Assistant Minister of Trinity church, Newark, preached. His pastorate continued nearly six years. In September, 1801, he accepted an invitation to the rectorship of the Episcopal church of Hartford, Ct., which position he held about twelve years. Afterwards he took charge of a church in Huntington, Ct. In his later years, he withdrew from the Episcopal ministry, and became a Universalist preacher. In 1839, he supplied the pulpit of the Bleecker st. Universalist church of New York.t

At a parish meeting, Sept. 5, 1801, as Mr. Rayner was

Sprague's Annals, V. 266-70. Berrian's Trinity Chh., pp. 183, 4, 191. Wakeley's Lost Chapters, pp. 198, 207-18.

↑ Records of St. John's. Dr. Rudd's Discourse, pp. 21-2. Stevens' Memorial of Methodism, I. 127. Journals of the Gen. P. Ep. Convention, I. 209, 284, 818. N. J. Journal, No. 735.

about to leave his charge, a committee was appointed to waiti on the

REV. FREDERICK BEASLEY,

who was then in town, and invite him to the rectorship of St. John's, with a salary of £250. The call was accepted, and he was instituted in February, 1802.

Mr. Beasley was a native of Edenton, N. C., where he was born, in 1777. He graduated in 1797, at the College of New Jersey. In 1798, he was associated with Henry Kollock, of this town, as a Tutor in Princeton College, and served two years, pursuing, at the same time, under the direction of Pres. Samuel Stanhope Smith, D.D., the study of theology. He was employed as a Reader, for several months previous to Nov. 1800, by Christ church, New Brunswick, N. J. In the summer of the following year, he was ordained Deacon by Bishop Moore of New York, and soon after was invited to serve one of the churches of New York City, but declined in favor of St. John's of this town. In February 1802, arrangements were made for his regular induction as rector; and, not long subsequently, he was ordained Priest, also by Bishop Moore. His salary was £250 a year. His college friend, Henry Kollock, had, scarcely more than a year previous, become the pastor of the Presbyterian church. of this town. Their intimacy, thus, was very happily renewed for a season.

His ministry here was soon terminated. He resigned his rectorship, June 5, 1803, (six months before Mr. Kollock's removal), to accept a call to St. Peter's church, Albany, N. Y. In August 1809, he resigned this charge, to become the Colleague of the Rev. Joseph G. J. Bend, D. D., of St. Paul's, Baltimore, Md.* This position he resigned in July, 1813, to become the Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia. In 1815, the honorary degree of D.D., was conferred on him, both by the University over which he presided, and by Columbia College. He retired

*The Rev. Dr. Bend, in April, 1790, had married Mary, daughter of Abner Hatfield, of this town, and niece of Elias Boudinot, LL.D. He died, at Baltimore, Sept. 18, 1812, in his 50th year. His wife died in 1801, leaving two sons and one daughter.

⚫ from the University in 1828, and, in 1829, became the rector of St. Michael's, Trenton, N. J. He resigned this charge in June, 1836, and withdrew from public life.

While rector of St. John's in this town, he had become tenderly attached to Susan W., daughter of Gen. Jonathan Dayton, whom he married, August 22, 1803, just as he was removing to Albany, N. Y. Mrs. Beasley, having given birth to a daughter, died, Nov. 27, 1804, in her 22d year, greatly lamented. Mr. Beasley subsequently (June 29, 1807) married Maria, daughter of Matthias Williamson, also of this town. On his retiring to private life, in 1836, he came hither, and spent the remainder of his days, among his relatives by marriage, in the prosecution of his studies. His publications had been somewhat numerous, of which the most profound were," A Search of Truth in the Science of the Human Mind; Part I.," 8vo. 1822. (Part II. was completed, but not published):-"A Vindication of the Fundamental Principles of Truth and Order in the Church of Christ, from the Allegations of the Rev. William E. Channing, D.D." 1830. He was a superior scholar, but excelled chiefly in the Philosophy of the Mind, being of the School of Locke. Though conscientiously attached to the Episcopal Church, he was not illiberal towards other Churches.

He died, of dropsy in the chest, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 1845. His wife survived until July 2, 1852. They had nine children, seven of whom came to mature years. One of them [Frederick W.], took orders in the Episcopal Church, and settled in Bucks County, Pa.; another practised law at Trenton, N. J., and has attained great eminence at the bar and on the bench.*

Mr. Beasley's successor was the

REV. SAMUEL LILLY.

He was appointed rector of St. John's, August 28, 1803. He was admitted to Priest's Orders, shortly after, and inducted April 2, 1804, on an annual salary of five hundred dollars and the use of the parsonage. He had charge, also,

*Records of St. John's Chh. Clark's St. John's, pp. 168-70. Sprague's Annals, V. 477-84.