by Laura Chase smith, Dutton Press, 1903 Chapter XVI Labor and Sorrow Of this time, the fall of the year 1817, Mr. Chase says: "The declining health of Mrs. Chase was the subject of the deepest solicitude and incessant watchfulness, which, joined to the care of building and furnishing a comfortable home for my family during the coming winter, caused the circle of my duties as missionary to be somewhat confined. Worthington was given half my services, and Delaware and Berksire each its portion. In these alone I baptized more than one hundred, and before winter the communicants had increased from a very few to sixty-five." On the 5th of January, 1818, there was holden, according to previous notice, a Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Columbus, Ohio, nearly in the centre of the state. It consisted of two clergymen in full orders and nine delegates only; and though few in number, they proceeded with the order and regularity required in the most numerous assemblies. They had met together in the name of the Lord and His blessing they implored. A President and Secretary were appointed, and the following resolution was unanimously adopted previously to all other business. "Resolved: that we, the members of the Convention, are in communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and also that we do unanimously adopt the general constitution and canons of said Church." At this convention. a diocesan constitution was adopted, a report made on the state of the Church, and a committee of respectable persons appointed, whose duty it should be to raise means for the support of a bishop. At the close of the proceedings of the convention, is the following record: "Resolved: That the members of this Convention view with lively emotions of pleasure the flourishing, though infant state of our Church in Ohio, and that the committee earnestly recommends to the several parishes in the state that each send at least one delegate to the convention to meet in Worthington on the first Monday in June. Philander Chase, President of Convention "David Prince, Secretary" This was indeed the day of small things, as shown in the above Convention, but the spirit of its members, its unanimity, its hopefulness promised well for what has been accomplished in the Church of the Living God, since this event, now eighty-four years in the past. In the mind of the dear wife and loving mother, whose year of life with her husband , in this new land, was now drawing to a close, this meeting of the small number of churchmen was in reality the planting of a standard in this Western world, which would gather the soldiers of the Cross to contend for the "faith once delivered to the Saints" to the end of the world. To quote from the "Reminiscences": "To her eye it was like the cloud arising from the sea betokening abundance of rain in spiritual showers upon a dry and parched land. All therefore who were present at this convention were treated by her with the utmost respect, as instruments in God's hands of planting the Church; she honored them and gave them all the attention, personally, her feeble frame would permit." >From that time she failed; her prayers that she might be spared the agony of losing her dear son were granted. Not in the way her friends would have chosen. She went on her way to the world of light to the will of God, blessing her husband and children with her last breath when, on the fifth day of May, 1818, she found her rest. A little less than a year ago, she had left her dear home in Hartford, where her life had been surrounded by the loving presence of congenial friends, and where her sons now in college could spend their holiday with her. This happy circle was now broken, her first born son who had been kissed for the last time on the day she left, she never saw again; and her son at Harvard, the beloved Philander, also never meet his mother again in this life. Within a few years these beautiful boys too had passed beyond. The little son Dudley, who could not feel his loss, was alone left of those whom she had loved, and for whose welfare her life had been one continual prayer. There were other friends, dear brother and sisters in Vermont, who all would have ministered to her comfort, and who by the stern necessities of life were deprived of this privilege. And thus this beloved woman died, and was buried under the chancel window of the new church at Worthington. Her prayer was answered that she might never be called upon to find a second home, or to endure the sorrow of parting again from those she loved. The tablet to the memory of Mary Chase, in the church at Worthington, bears the inscription: SACRED TOO THE MEMORY OF MARY CHASE. FIRST WIFE OF THE FIRST BISHOP OF OHIO PHILANDER CHASE, SEN. D.D. AND DAUGHTER OF DANIEL AND MARY FAY BORN AT BETHEL, VERMONT, 1779 MARRIED JULY 19TH, 1796 DIED MAY 5TH, 1818. ............... To the husband and father, there was little time for the luxury of sorrow, stern realities were before him. The strong man buried his dead, cared for his infant son as best he could, and faced the facts of his almost hopeless condition. The Convention, called for the Primary meeting in Columbus, was close at hand, and it met at Worthington on June 3, 1818, not a month since Mrs. Chase's death. At this meeting Mr. Chase was elected to the bishopric of the Diocese of Ohio. Proper notices of this event were sent to the standing committees of the various dioceses, and the Bishop-elect started off for his consecration <on horseback> at Philadelphia. And now comes one of the most inexplicable and malicious, almost diabolical events, which cannot even now be accounted for, except by the agency of some evil spirit from the nether world. It is difficult to imagine a man or men bad enough to give harbor to such evil thoughts against an innocent man whose life and work distinctly gave the lie to the infamous story. Upon his arrival at Baltimore, Bishop Kemp informed Bishop Chase that there was opposition to his consecration as bishop. What rendered the matter peculiarly distressing was that the Standing Committee refused to act on this case, except by withholding their consents. Bishop White observed that if there were a majority of the standing committees in other dioceses beside Pennsylvania, the consecration might take place, but in that case he should decline being one of those who would join in the consecration. To this Mr. Chase replied that he himself, would never think of proceeding a step in pursuit of consecration until all were satisfied of its lawfulness and propriety; yea more, he would think it his duty to cease from preaching and ministering in holy things altogether; for, understanding that the objections affected his moral character, it was obvious that, if true, they unfitted him for the discharge of his duties as presbyter, as they did for those of bishop To meet the objections, therefore, was both his wish and his indispensable duty. "Then, " said Mr. Chase, " I request a meeting of the General Convention, and stand pledged that the Diocese of Ohio will demand the same; for it seems unreasonable that a Bishop-elect of any diocese should, by reason of agitation affecting his character, be sacrificed for want of a proper tribunal before whom he can meet his accusers and repel their charges." The justice of this position was obvious. The Standing Committee took the matter in hand, and after due investigation, all was found satisfy actory by the board. Bishop White was present at every meeting, and when all was brought to a close, that venerable prelate was heard to say he was "satisfied that the gentleman who had opposed the consecration of the Bishop-elect of Ohio would do well to consider if, upon a similar charge, their own lives would bear a like investigation." And thus, without even naming his assailants, Mr. Chase records the fact that this shameful scheme to ruin the life of a true man came to an ignominious end. He also remarks, apropos, of this defeated plot, that he is "grateful to a Divine Providence that there are some now living who can bear witness to the truth of this statement." This event occurred more than eighty years ago; now, of course, there is no man living who can fully explain the true inwardness of this plot,so cunningly prepared and which so nearly succeeded, -- the courage of its victim alone preventing its accomplishment. As was stated in a previous chapter, the foundation of this incredibly malicious effort to destroy the Bishop of Ohio was the fact that, at the request of a respectable gentleman of New Orleans, Mr. Chase, then a resident, admitted two sick negros taken from a slave ship into the servants quarters of his home as an act of mercy. The gentleman to whom the cargo was consigned was evidently not a monster of a cruelty, but a man of conscience enough to care for the comfort of two wretched human beings, utterly helpless and without friends. Mr. Chase was requested to give shelter to these poor wretches in their extremity, to which request he acceded. After weeks of suffering, cared for by the family, one of the men died and the other recovered. This is all the accusation brought forward, so far as known, against the bishop-elect of Ohio, to prevent his consecration. One can only wonder how such a base transaction could have been so far successful that even Bishop White had evidently pre-judged the matter and practically decided against the Bishop-elect, until the latter brought home to him the obvious injustice of the scheme, when Bishop White could not but consent to give Mr. Chase the opportunity to refute the charges brought against him. In the end Mr. Chase simply refers to it in these words: "To an ardent mind, thus assailed in a strange city, with few or no acquaintances and far from home, the delay of nearly four months required to answer the most futile and malicious accusations was long and painful." And then he goes on to say what few men could say under such galling circumstances: "But I am thankful it was then so ordered, for it taught me patience, and by the grace of God, qualified me for far greater trials which were in store for me." On the 11th of February, 1819, the concentration of the Bishop-elect of Ohio took place in the city of Philadelphia, by the Rt. Rev. William White, D.D.; Bishops Hobart of new York, Kemp of Maryland, and Croes of New Jersey, being present and assisting. The Rev. Dr. Beasley preached the consecration sermon, in St. James's Church. In connection with this simple record of little known events, which will never be fully explained, we find the following affecting words written long after; "blessed be the Hand that covered the events of the future and the suffering afterward endured in Ohio. One opposition by God's grace had been overcome; yet the fact of its being of an unrighteous and cruel character, groundless as well, and evidently at every step of danger, and the necessity of unremitting prayer and vigilance." At this time, eighty-four years ago, the gentle wife and mother had gone to her early grave only a few months previous. Even now one may be thankful that she at least was spared this trial, which was borne in such spirit by the lonely man, who very human as he was, able to overcome all his enemies by that faith which sustained him unto death. End Chapter XVI Harriet M. Chase hatchase@uswest.net