New England sects, he had early learned to value the distinctive features of his own communion; and receiving the consecration from the Scottish bishops, the affections of his heart opened freely towards them, and drew the whole bent of his mind towards their forms and practices. Had it been left to him alone to form the temper and mould the institutions of the Western Church, there would have been little hope of its ever embracing the whole of the jealous population of that wide republic. But his views were a wholesome check upon those with whom he had to act. Of these, Bishop Madison had been bred a lawyer in the worst days of Virginia laxity. He was an elegant scholar, a good president of a college, and a mild and courteous gentleman; but he had none of the Christian learning and little of the untiring energy in action which his difficult position rendered needful. Bishop White, mild, meek, and conciliatory, inclined always to those councils which bore most faintly the stamp of his own communion, and fulfilling, through these qualities, a most important part in the common work, was indisposed by character and temper from taking resolutely the position which the times required. From that which he was sure was right, nothing indeed could move him; but he was naturally over-tolerant of all opinions.

"These very qualities made him a most useful coadjutor to the Bishop of Connecticut. For, as it was his great endeavour to secure unanimity of action, he was ready to take part in many things to which he was himself indifferent, when he saw his brother's earnestness concerning them. The same easy temper as to things he judged indifferent, which would have led him, for the sake of peace, to concede to the most opposite objections what ought not to be yielded, now made him take the stricter side in matters which he saw would not be given up by Bishop Seabury. On this principle he voted for reinserting in the

liturgy the Athanasian Creed, whilst he scrupled not to say that he would never use it; and agreed to place in the Communion Office the prayers of invocation and oblation, though he himself had never regretted their omission.”*

"Aug" 15th, 1734. Cecilia Mumford, Grand Daughter of the Rev' Mr. James Honyman, of Rhode Island, an Infant and Daughter of Mr. William Mumford," of S° Kingstowne, was baptized by Mr. M'Sparran of Narraganset; Sureties, said Mr. M'Sparran, Mrs. Honyman and Mrs. Wickham." "79

"July 10th 1735 Mr. M'Sparran baptized William Mumford a child, Son of Mr. William Mumford Shopkeeper in South Kingstowne, the Sureties were the Grandfa' viz. the Revd Mr. James Honyman and the Grandmo' Mrs. Elizabeth Honyman and the uncle of y' child viz' Francis Honyman.”

280

In 1704, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, at the solicitation of the wardens, appointed the Rev. James Honyman their missionary at Trinity Church, Newport. Mr. Honyman discharged the duties of his mission with great faithfulness and diligence for nearly fifty years. "Besides the cares of his own particular district," says Hawkins, "he made frequent visits to the neighbouring towns 281 on the continent, until another minister was assigned to them. Very early in his career, he felt the great disadvantages under which the Church was labouring, for want of a superintending head. Writing to the Secretary of the Society, in 1709, he says, 'You can neither well believe, nor I express,

Archdeacon Wilberforce.

what excellent services for the cause of religion a bishop 282 would do in these parts;' and he expresses a conviction that if one was sent, 'these infant settlements would become beautiful nurseries, which now seem to languish for want of a father to oversee and keep them. In 1714, he presented a memorial to Governor Nicholson, on the religious condition of Rhode Island. The people, he says, were divided among Quakers, Anabaptists, Independents, Gortonians and Infidels, with a remnant of true Churchmen. He then proceeds to suggest a remedy, in the settlement of a competent number of clergy in the several townships, under the jurisdiction of a bishop, the establishment of schools and a proper encouragement from the civil government. A new and most painful duty was imposed on him, in 1723, in attending daily, for nearly three months, a great number of pirates,283 who were brought into Rhode Island, tried, condemned and executed.

"There is not, probably, a single mission, at the present time, in the whole of the North American Colonies, so beset with difficulties and discouragements and so entirely dependent upon the zeal and judgement of individual clergymen in charge, as were most of the parishes in the now independent states, at the commencement of the last century. No better instance can be given than this of Rhode Island, where a single clergyman was set to labour in the midst of a population hostile, for the most part, to the Church and without the smallest support from secular authority. In 1728, Mr. Honyman and another clergyman, the Rev. J. MacSparran, who, since 1719, had occupied the mission of Narragansett, sent home 'a joint memorial,' complaining of the frowns and discouragements,' to which they were subjected by the government.

"The only further extract that need be given from

Mr. Honyman's correspondence, is dated September, 1732, and occurs in connection with an application to the Society for a small increase of his stipend, to enable him to provide for his family: 'Betwixt New York and Boston, the distance of three hundred miles, and wherein are many Missions, there is not a congregation in the way of the Church of England that can pretend to compare with mine or equall it in any respect; nor does my Church consist of members that were of it when I came here, for I have buried them all; nor is there any one person now alive that did then belong to it, so that our present appearing is entirely owing to the blessing of God upon my endeavours to serve Him.""*

The late Henry Bull,284 in his manuscript history of Trinity Church, says, "Mr. Honyman was a gentleman well calculated to unite his own society, which grew and flourished exceedingly under his charge, as well as conciliate those of other religious persuasions, all of whom he 'embraced with the arm of charity.' In 1750, the Rev. Mr. Honyman died, after having lived to an advanced age and to see his Church large and flourishing. He was buried at the expense of the Church, on the south side of the passage from the gate to the Church, where his tomb-stone now lies, being engraved with the inscription given on the next page.

There is a bust portraits of him in Trinity Church, Newport.

•Hawkins's Historical Notices, pp. 165-7.

HERE LIES THE DUST OF

JAMES HONYMAN,

OF VENERABLE AND EVER WORTHY MEMORY

FOR A FAITHFUL MINISTER OF NEARLY FIFTY YEARS,
IN THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THIS TOWN,
WHICH BY DIVINE INFLUENCE ON HIS LABOURS,
HAS FLOURISHED AND EXCEEDINGLY INCREASED.
HE WAS OF A RESPECTABLE FAMILY IN SCOTLAND,
AN EXCELLENT SCHOLAR, A SOUND DIVINE

AND AN ACCOMPLISHED GENTLEMAN.

A STRONG ASSERTER OF

THE DOCTRINE AND DISCIPLine of the church of engLAND,
AND YET, WITH THE ARM OF CHARITY,

EMBRACED ALL SINCERE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST.
HAPPY IN HIS RELATIVE STATION IN life,

THE DUTIES OF WHICH HE SUSTAINED

AND DISCHARGED IN A LAUDABLE AND EXEMPLARY MANNER. BLESSED WITH AN EXCELLENT AND VIGOROUS CONSTITUTION, WHICH HE MADE SUBSERVIENT

TO THE VARIOUS Duties of a numerous PARISH,

UNTIL A PARALYTIC DISORDER INTERRUPTED HIM IN THE PULPIT, AND IN TWO YEARS,

WITHOUT IMPAIRING HIS UNDERSTANDING,

CUT SHORT THE THREAD OF LIFE,

ON JULY 2D, 1750.