The Building of a State: VII. Early Days of the Protestant Episcopal Church in California [pp. 203-206]

204 Early Days of the Protestant Episcopal Church in California. [Aug.
those to whom he had ministered in holy
things tenderly bore his ashes to the new
Trinity Church, and beneath that chancel
the first Rector of the Parish awaits the
sound of
"The high trump that wakes the dead."
He was succeeded by the late Reverend C.
B. Wyatt, so well known and so much respected by many of our fellow citizens for
his virtues and successful work.
During these years, however, other clergy
came to the coast, and the services of the
Church were established in Sacramento during i849. St. John's Parish, Stockton, was
founded in i850, and services were held in
Marysville by Reverend Augustus Fitch, who
was obliged to leave there in i852. But the
difficulties in the way of establishing regular
services were very great; and often were the
bright hopes of the faithful clouded with
grave disappointment; so that in i853 we
find the standing committee confessing very
little progress; that the work was standing
still; and that the deaths of devoted clergymen, and the departure of others-and what
was infinitely worse, the disciplining of others
still - had contracted the number of the
clergy very materially.
In order to properly understand the attitude of the Church, it will be necessary to
explain that a Convention had been called,
and met on the evening of July 24th, I85 0;
the result of which was a body of canons, a
standing committee, and the election of
Bishop Southgate to the office of Bishop of
the Diocese of California, an offer which he
promptly declined. This disappointment
was very great, and as the general Church
took no steps to supply a Bishop to the struggling little Church in the far West, the
churchmen were much disheartened; and
as Doctor Ver Mehr relates, it was gravely
proposed by one of the members of the late
Convention to apply to the Russo-Greek
Church; a step which, of course, was never
seriously considered.
The Convention did not meet again until
I853; on May 4th of that year the Convention re-assembled in Trinity church; Doctor
Ver Mehr, in the absence of a Bishop, was
elected President, and Major E. D. Town.,
send was chosen Secretary. Only three
clergymen were entitled to seats: Reverend
Messrs. Ver Mehr, Wyatt, and ChaplainJonas
Reynolds, U. S. A. Four parishes were represented, Sacramento, Stockton, and two
from San Francisco. The principal work
of the Convention was the alteration and
amending of the canons of i 850; and strenuous efforts towards obtaining, at least, an
Episcopal visitation, were made by the members, both clerical and lay.
The following year, however, saw all these
difficulties as to the Episcopate solved by the
arrival of a missionary bishop for California. The Right Reverend William Ingraham
Kip, D.D., I,L.D:, had been consecrated to
his high office on the Festival of SS. Simon
and Jude, Oct. 28th, i153; and sailing very
soon after his consecration, he reached San
Francisco January 29th, i854, on a Stinday
morning. The Bishop began his ministry
that day, attending divine service both morning and evening at Trinity Church, thenunder
the rectorship of Rev. C. B. Wyatt. The
Bishop, notwithstanding the fatigue of a
perilous voyage, preached twice that day.
The arrival of a Diocesan soon placed the
Church upon its scriptural and historical
basis, and its future was assured and began
at once to brighten. In his first address,
delivered to the Convention of i854, which
met three months after his arrival, the Bishop, in referring to his new relation, laments
the small number of his fellow-laborers; but
the next report shows that the body of clergy
had increased to one Bishop and hine priests,
while the two or three parishes of'the previous year had increased to eight. Certainly,
the work began to look more encouraging,
and it is very touching to read these early
convention reports, and learn how the Bishop and his clergy went from point to point,
over great distances, journeying by land and
by sea to reach the scattered flock, going
fifty miles to visit the dying bed of a sick
man, and administer the consolations of religion to one who craved the Church's privileges; and again, a little later, making a
like journey to lay away, with the glorious