In 1825 the Rev. Benjamin Gerrish Gray,
D.D., succeeded Dr. Willis as rector of St. John. He was born in Boston 1768, and on the departure of the British troops from that city, while yet a child, he went with his father to
Halifax. He graduated at King's College, Windsor, completed his education in England, and was ordained minister in 1796 by Bishop Inglis at Halifax. Some years were spent by him as minister among the Maroons, a discontented body of savages which the British Government placed in Nova Scotia to the great annoyance and fear of the inhabitants. The Doctor spent several years in connection with various missions throughout Nova Scotia until 1819, when he became rector of St. George's, Halifax. He laboured as rector in St. John on the death of Dr. Willis, for fifteen years, when in 1840 he resigned his position. He lived till 1854, when at the advanced age of 86 he died full of honours and respect. He was a man of elevated tastes and liberal ideas. He loved science, art and literature, and was a well informed and polished writer and thinker. In 1833 one of the greatest calamities which ever befell man happened to Dr. Gray. His house in Wellington Row took fire, and before aid could come it was burned to the ground, together with the rector's wife and a female domestic. No sympathy could alleviate the suffering of the distracted husband, no words of man could take away the agony of his deep grief and sorrow. It pressed heavily upon his mind, and he was never again the same man. At this fire he lost his valuable library which contained many rare and costly books and manuscripts, together with the complete records of his parish.
He was succeeded by his son, Rev. John William D. Gray, D.D., a very able man. He was born in 1798, at
Halifax, and graduated at King's College, Windsor. He became rector of Amherst, N.S., and in 1825, when Dr. Willis resigned his office in St. John, a movement was made to get the rectorship for Dr. Gray. This was not done, however, for the father was appointed, and the son became his assistant. In 1840, on the retirement of Dr. Benjamin Gray, the sixth rector received the appointment which he held until his death, in 1868. For twenty-eight years this eminent clergyman laboured for his church and his people, and all remember him as a kindly, thoughtful, generous man. He had abilities of the highest order, and, whether as a preacher or a writer, his reputation filled no second place. He wrote with a nerve and a boldness which carried all before it, and his extensive erudition and vast powers of concentration of thought made his works valued and esteemed. His notable writings were chiefly controversial pamphlets, and few entered the lists with him and gained a victory. His vigorous pamphlets on the Catholic question, and the Moses and Colenso controversy will be remembered by many who read these pages
to-day, and all will regret that the great rector never published a theological book or placed his ripe thoughts on some enduring record. He was an able exponent of the Scriptures, and he wrote in a superior and beautiful style. His sermons were models of elegant English and sound doctrinal ideas, and no rector of Trinity ever filled the position so grandly and so loyally as good old Dr. Gray. He died at the age of seventy years, and in the forty-seventh year of his ministry. He was accounted
the best reader in the Province, and his delivery was forcible, and distinguished for a certain gracefulness of style. The Rev. James J. Hill, M. A. succeeded Dr. Gray. He is a native of Nova Scotia. His failing health caused him to resign the rectorship in a few years. At a meeting of the St. John Parish, held on the 21st of July, 1873, the Rev. F. H. J. Brigstocke, of Jesus College, Oxford, was unanimously nominated to the rectorship. He had been in orders twelve years, and for five years had been curate to the Dean of Canterbury. Mr. Brigstocke assumed his duties in October, 1873, and is the present rector of the parish.
The stained-glass windows in the chancel of the old church were placed there in 1859, and were presented by John V. Thurgar, Esq., a respected retired merchant of this city, whose old stand was burned down on the North Wharf during the great fire.
The old arms of Trinity Church have an historic interest of very great importance. A glance at them will reveal the fact that they are military arms and not those of the church. They have escaped fire once or twice, and in the early years of their existence witnessed many a heated controversy, and experienced marvellous escapes from destruction. The first we hear of them was in Boston where they adorned the walls of the Council Chamber of the Old Town House. On March 17th, 1776, they sailed out of Boston Harbour and were carried to Halifax, where they had a temporary abiding place in the old chapel there. They were afterwards placed, in 1791, in
Trinity Church, where they have remained ever since, until Captain Hazen rescued them from the flames on Wednesday afternoon. A story is current that a hundred years ago, these arms were snatched from Trinity Church, New York, when that edifice was in flames, but this lacks confirmation, and the best authorities are unanimous in holding that their peculiar build unfitted them for church use, and that they were certainly intended to adorn the walls of council chambers. That they were with the British army, whether on its march or at its station, is settled beyond dispute. This ends the story of old Trinity, the most historic edifice in the city—the first church—the quaintest structure—the last link which bound the old and the new together. The school-house fronting on Charlotte Street was burned at the same time as the church.