Samuel Seabury (1729-1796)

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First american episcopalian bishop

American Anglican . Samuel Sea-bury was a key figure in founding the American Episcopal Church from what was left of colonial Anglicanism after the Revolution. Sea-bury was born into the family of the Congregational minister in Gro-ton, Connecticut, on 30 November 1729. The next year Seabury’s father converted from Congregationalism to Anglicanism, as did several other young ministers drawn by the richness of Anglican sacramental life and the association with English ways. Seabury followed his father into the priesthood in 1753 and became a missionary in New Jersey and New York, sponsored by the Anglican Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. He continued this work through the pre-Revolutionary years. During this time he became embroiled in the controversy over the ordination of an Anglican bishop for the American colonies, a possibility many Americans feared, however irrationally, as one more sign of British tyranny. Seabury, naturally, favored the proposal. He was also a notorious opponent of American independence, writing a series of Loyalist pamphlets in 1774 which Alexander Hamilton answered. The next year Seabury was captured by a Patriot mob searching for a Loyalist printer. Despite these troubles Seabury persisted in his loyalty to England and served as a chaplain to American Loyalists serving in the British army.

An American Bishop . Seabury returned to Connecticut after the war and began the effort of rebuilding the Anglican Church. The church was greatly weakened by the departure of many Loyalists for Canada and England and by anti-Anglican sentiment among the victorious American Patriots. The Connecticut clergy sent Seabury to England in 1783 to seek ordination as their bishop, feeling reconstruction of their church was impossible without the establishment of this office and the installation of a man of Seabury’s abilities to fill it. Seabury faced opposition on both sides of the Atlantic. The English church refused to ordain him because it required its bishops to swear loyalty to the English king, which Seabury could not do. The Scottish Episcopal Church had no scruples on this point, however, and made Seabury the first American bishop on 14 November 1784. In exchange Seabury happily promised to promote High Church principles, namely an emphasis on the sacraments, especially holy communion, and adherence to a system of leadership by bishops and clergy. This made some American Anglicans angry, especially those from Virginia and Pennsylvania who were more skeptical about the need for a bishop and more interested in allowing for lay leadership of the church.

From Anglican to Episcopalian . Seabury returned to Connecticut and led a series of meetings of former American Anglicans which established the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1789, a church separate from the Anglican Church but in “communion” with it, that is, sharing its structure and beliefs. Seabury then began to compromise with his opponents in order to unify the denomination, a difficult process made harder by Seabury’s unpleasant personality. One important task was the writing of the American Book of Common Prayer, the church’s worship manual, which helped give the church a more American style, even as it adhered to its traditional English ways. As bishop Seabury led the church while also continuing his pastoral work, visiting Episcopalians and their parishes throughout New England. He died in his home parish of New London, Connecticut, on 25 February 1796.

Source

Bruce E. Steiner, Samuel Seabury, 1729–1796: A Study in the High Church Tradition (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1971).