Rev. W. Ward

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The Philander Chase letters were written in the 18th and 19th century and therefore may contain language that we understand today as harmful or offensive. You may encounter paternalist descriptions of Native Americans, racial slurs, or sexism. For more information, see our policy page.

Description

Rev. Ward tells Chase to rejoice for his troubles and difficulties, as it shows the favor God has bestowed upon him. He expresses his concerns with Republicanism and updates Chase on the success of his own endeavors, as well as the health of his family.

Date

9-11-1833

Keywords

Gilead, G.W. Marriott, G.M. West, Republicanism, Bishop Wilson, Bishop Hildesley, Bishop Barrow, King William's College, Michaelmas Day, Lord Kenyon, Mrs. Marriott, Mary Ohio, Mary Ward, Great Horkesley, Fitzherbert Marriott

Transcript

Bishop’s Court. Isle of Mann

Sept. 11 - 1833

My ever dear and beloved Brother

Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourges every Son whom he receiveth. When I read your letter, and look into the Gospel, I congratulate you in this being made a Child of God and a Friend of Heaven. If through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven what reason have you to rejoice! The man who feels persecution, troubles, and afflictions drawing him nearer to God, would not be without chastisement for all the World. His light afflictions that are but for a moment are working out for him a far more exceeding & eternal weight of glory. Comfort yourself with this, and go on your way rejoicing. At the same time I have read your long tale of suffering & sorrow, with deep & heartfelt sympathy. You must have had the heart of a Lion to have stood it so well, and you must have derived that heart from the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Nothing but a good conscience could have stood it, but a good conscience, is like the deep rooted Oaks of your Forest, firm & unshaken by all storms. The storm may strip your leaves for a season, but the Spring will return, and restore your verdure. When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes his enemies be at peace with him, & besides this, he raises up Friends to support. I can promise you that your own Friends here, are still your Friends, & as much as in me lies I shall endeavour to rekindle all their love for you. Our lamented Marriott is gone to his eternal rest. If he were still living, it would be the labour of his life to atone for all the pain that he has given you; he was sensible of his error, before his death, & deeply repented of it. He discovered the villany [sic] of West, & your innocency. When I think of the accumulated sorrow that was heaped upon you at the time, between West & the nest of hornets in Kenyon College, nothing but the hand that made you could support you under it, & carry you in health to the Land of Gilead. I trust the Lord will continue to support you & prosper his own work in your hands. You have only to persevere, form schemes for his glory & the benefit of souls. Lay the foundation of your new Church, without first sitting down to count the cost, only lay it, in faith & hope, and God will raise the means to finish it. Remember your helpless, hopeless state when the sainted Marriott first visited you in London, and the career of success which you had in consequence, before you left Old England, only he of good courage, put your trust in God & persevere, & let us [hear] from you from time to time. There have been more wonderful events in your life, brought about by the over-ruling hand of God, than if you were yet to form a new Diocese, & erect another Theological College in the land of Gilead; surely your Episcopal Brethren will shortly see the wrong they have done you, & the breach they have made in their own Church, & will do their best to atone for their error. I attribute all that has befallen you, to the Republican spirit, a bad spirit, which pervades Church and State. The Republican government is the invention of restless man, and never had the sanction of heaven. We read of no Republics in the Bible, either in Heaven or Earth; there are no Republics in Heaven, but we read of Angels & Archangels, principalities & powers, subordination & government but no presbyterian parity. You have experienced the bitter fruits of not having kept the power & authority in your own hands, and of constituting a College on Republican principles. I prefer living under the most arbitrary, monarchical Government, under the most absolute Autocrat, than under the monstrous majesty of the people. The first government upon earth, was that of a Father over his Family, and every government, that departs from that model, departs from the order which God has established, & brings misery upon man. Remember this, should it ever please kind Providence, to bring you into power once more; keep the absolute rule in your own hands, and leave it in the hands of those, who are to succeed you.

(Surely your successors at Kenyon College, have broken through the terms & conditions on which your English Trustees, transmitted our English money to your hands) If the College be open to all denominations and republican principles, they have forfeited our money, and can be called upon to refund it. Would that this could be done, and the money transferred to you. I must confess, I sadly grudge, so much of our Church Country being transmitted for Presbyterian purposes. I know feel the want of dear Marriott in this & in a hundred other instances. I feel his loss every day of my life. He was a perfect Being except in the case of West. On that I wrote him volumes, and said enough to provoke a hundred common men, but he never for a moment ceased to love me.

I must now give you a short sketch of my own history since it pleased God first to put me over this Diocese. I found this Church had been suffered to fall into decay in spiritual & temporals, from the days of Bp. Wilson, or rather from the time of his excellent successor, Bp. Hildesley, about 70 years. The old Churches in a state of dilapidation & from the increase of population not Church room for the half of the people, & no efficient Seminary of Education. But after your own example I threw myself on the piety of the wide world, and the bounty of my English Friends. I drew up an Appeal, which had rapid success among the whole Bench of Bishops, nobility & Gentry. In short I have raised about €6000 in England for Church Building, & near €5000 in the Island for a new College on an estate bequeathed by one of my Predecessors, Bp. Barrow 170 years ago for the purpose of educating young men for the ministry of the [Manse] Church. With this one sum I have erected 6 new Churches & laid the Foundation of the seventh, enlarged others. I have nearly finished the college, called “King William’s College. Isle of Mann, have appointed a principal & Vice - Principal & four under masters & commenced the work of education. You see the influence of your good example, & I say it with a thankful heart to Heaven that it has pleased God to give his blessing to every work I have undertaken. At the same time that it has pleased him thus to [prosper] all my endeavours, you are not to suppose that I have found it all smooth sailing. I have met with some of the perversity of man as every one must expect to experience who undertakes to build either the spiritual or material Temple. Still there remains much for me to do before I have supplied all the spiritual wants of my people, but with God’s help I will persevere, and “work while it is day”. The day is far spent with me [?] Michaelmas Day I shall have completed my 74th year.

I grieve to tell you that your levelling republican principle is finding a footing, in our own once happy Country, & the Roman Catholics of Ireland are rapidly gaining the ascendancy over the Protestants. Our Church is under the verge of a severe trial, but like yourself whatever it may lose in temporals, it will gain ten-fold more in spirituals. It may like you have to pass through the fire of persecution & the wilderness, but will be sure to rest in the Land of Gilead. Dear Kenyon you may be sure will never forget you, & the amiable Mrs. Marriott was always your friend & advocate, & still retains an unabated veneration & love for you. & constant anxiety about your hard fate. Let her have the consolation to know that your love for the memory of her Husband, is like that which you would feel for the memory of a Benefactor & a Saint. Will you tell me how your Successor in Kenyon College has conducted himself towards you. Has he taken any part for you or against you, or has he been [?] in the business? Do you know how the present system is working there? Are they [?], or can their present constitution admit other Teachers, Discipline or Government than that of Protestant Episcopal?

You will now be glad to hear a little of my own Family. Thank God! we are all in tolerable health. Your lover, Mary, the most delicate, tenderly mourning over your past sufferings, but rejoicing in your present peaceful rest in your parish of Gilead. My other two Daughters are hands, feet, & eyes to me. The hand of one of them is writing these lines from my dictation to you. My only Son is reading at Gt. Horkesley for his degree, which he is to take next October in Oxford. Fitzherbert Marriott is reading with him, who has just taken his degree, & is intended for Holy Orders, & promises fairly to walk in his Father’s footsteps. The Widow & the rest of his numerous Family, are at present gone down into Devonshire. As for myself & my health is much as it has been for the last 50 years, always suffering from a weak stomach, but never deprived, during the whole course of those many long years, of the power of performing my duties, no, not for one day, on any one occasion. At last however the once bright windows of the old house are growing dim - in short - I have read myself blind - suddenly & without warning about 6 months ago, I lost the use of one eye, by an incipient cataract, the other eye is so weak, & I am so much afraid of straining it, that I am obliged to employ an Amanuensis to write, & a Wife, a Son, or a Daughter to read to use You to see then, how many hands & eyes, the bountiful God has supplied use with to make up for the loss of one eye. May he lift up the light of his countenance upon us! & grant us life & light everlasting. I must not forget to tell you that my dear Wife is one with me in loving and feeling for you - And now tell your dear Wife from me that it was the saying of an ancient Father, “that God has hit one Son without sin but none without suffering” If he gives us spiritual strength, we shall rejoice no tribulation, & never complain of the weight of our sufferings.

You give us a tempting description of the Country around you. Pray is it but thinly peopled? and is there much of it yet unreclaimed? Could an industrious able bodied man, with €50 or €100 in his pocket, be able to maintain himself or Family all at once? Or could an able bodied Labourer find bread & employment? There are one or two good young men of that description, that I should like to throw under your protection. Pray let me know your mind upon this. What sort of a Climate have you in the territory of Michigan? In short give me a particular account of the geography, geology, soil and features of the Country, [but] particularly very thing respecting yourself.

And now I shall conclude, desiring my Daughter, to draw a sketch of King William’s College, on the other side of this sheet. But I just remember that good Mr. Wilks, loves you and is grateful to you, & promises, that should it please Providence to favour his object, & bestow on his Family the American Lands of which he is in pursuit, he will divide the tenth of their value, between Bp. Chase & Bp. Ward, to apply any spiritual object or objects that they may like. Do you thinke [sic] there is any chance of his ever recovering those Lands. I fear your republican Lawyers are not better, than the rest of the republican - you see I do not consider you as a Republican, I consider you as a convert to Monarchy after the scourging you have got from your republican Brethren.

Adieu - here is a long letter - accept it as the unabated regard of

Your ever affecte. & faithful Brother

W. Sodor & Mann

Mary’s sends her love, and says she sent a letter pilgrimage to you about 5 months ago - written in May

The 2nd Story of the College

Similar to the 1st Story

[Map drawing of King William’s College]

Letter to Philander Chase

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