- way, Mr. Nicholas Meriwether and Mr. Robert Bolling a
committee to co-operate with the vestry in the undertaking.
This building, which was completed in 1715, has remained continuously in use and has well withstood the rough usages of war and the devastating touch of time. Its ministers, as shown from cotemporaneous records, were, without a single exception, men of superior culture and godly piety. Most of them were Masters of Arts from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or full graduates of the College of William and Mary, and that they served the cause of Christ with devotion and fidelity is attested in every instance by resolutions of the vestry.
Official distinction was recognized and emphasized in the church. To His Excellency the Governor and his Council of State was assigned a pew elevated from the floor, overhung with a rich red canopy, around which his name was emblazoned in letters of gold, the name being changed as Spotswood, Drysdale, Gooch, Dinwiddie, Fauquier, Lord Botetourt and Lord Dunmore succeeded to office. In the square pews of the transepts sat the members of the House of Burgesses, the pews in the choir being assigned to the Surveyor-General and the Parish Rector, while in the overhanging galleries, in the transepts, and along the side walls of the church sat the Speaker of the House of Burgesses and other persons of wealth and distinction to whom the privilege of erecting these private galleries was accorded from time to time.
The Church and the Revolution
With the approach of the American Revolution, the services in old Bruton assumed a tone of tenderness and of thrilling interest, unique in character, and fervent with power. Men, as they listened to the proclamation of the Gospel of redemption, saw clearer the vision of liberty, and felt a deeper need of the guidance and help of God. Washington makes mention in his diary of attending services here and adds, "and fasted all day." A cotemporaneous letter, written by one
