Thk American Jurisdiction Ok the Bishop of London in Colonial Times
The Jarisdictioi} of the Bi.shop of London. 17!* THK AMERICAN JURISDICTION OK THE BISHOP OF LONDON IN COLONIAL TIMES. BY SIMEON E. BALDWIN. No one can stud}' tiie ecclesiastical history of the Colonies in America before tho Kovolution, withcmt ()b.serving indications from ftrst to last of the infînencc of tlic lîislio]) (tf Tjoiidon. AViierevcr the Church of Enjrliind took loot, it was to him esj)ocially thfit its adherents looked for coLiiitcnance and direction, and for a Century or more lie exercised over them something very closely approaching episcopal authority. In the Repertoriiim Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londin- ense (London, 1708), which gives a full description of every parish in the diocese and a history of the see down to 1700, no mention is made of any American church or living. A few years later. Dr. Edmund Gibson, then occupying the see, in an interview with a representative of the parish of King's Clia[H'I in Boston, ex]>re.ssly disclaimed ïi.ny right of presentation to tiie rectorshiji which was then vacant.' How was it then that tho Bisiiop of Iiondon could send commissaries to the colonies, and that the clei'gymon of the Church of England wbo came to tliis country were generally expected to produce a license to officiate, from him? Bishop Perry, in his elaborate " History of the American Episcojial Church,"^ follows An<]erson in attributing the origin of this jurisdic^tion to the fjict that in the early days of the colony of Virginia, Dr. King, who then held the see of Ivondon, was a member of the Koyal Council constituted under the chaiter of the Virginia Company, and warmly Greeuwood's Hist, of King's Chapel, 88.
[Show full text]