The citizens and friends of the church were blessed with the energetic aid of the Rev. Mark L. Chivers, chaplain at Fortress Monroe, who for several years officiated once on each Sabbath in Hampton. It is not saying too much when we assert that mainly through his efforts, the church was resuscitated. The present rector, the writer of this, with pleasure makes this acknowledgment.
With the zeal and energy which were brought to bear, the results were most favorable; and on Friday morning, the 8th of January, 1830, a crowd might have been seen wending its way to those venerable walls. A rude staging was erected for the prominent actors, and on that platform knelt a white-haired soldier of the cross, the venerable Bishop of Virginia, his face radiant with "faith, hope, and charity." The ritual of the church was heard once more in that old pile, and in answer to the invitation, "Oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord, let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation," there might soon have been heard those beautiful words:
"And wilt thou, O Eternal God,
On earth establish thy abode?
Then look propitious from thy throne,
And take this temple for thine own."
In the archives of the church the event is thus recorded:
"Know all men by these presents, that we, Richard Channing Moore, D.D., by Divine permission, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia, did consecrate to the service of Almighty God, on Friday, January 8th, in the year of our Lord 1880, St. John's Church, in the town of Hampton, Elizabeth City County. In which church the services of the Protestant Episcopal Church are to be performed agreeably to rubrics in such case made and provided. It is always to be remembered, that Saint John's Church thus consecrated and set apart to the worship of Almighty God, is by the act of consecration thus performed, separated from all worldly and unhallowed uses, and to be considered sacred to the service of the Holy and undivided Trinity.
"In testimony whereof, I have on the day and year above written, subscribed my hand and affixed my seal.
[Seal.] Richard Channing Moore."
The Rev. Mr. Chivers having resigned his afternoon appointment, after officiating for sixteen years, and ministering to them in their day of destitution, the Rev. John P. Bausman was elected Rector in 1843, and resigned in 1845; the Rev. William H. Good was elected in 1845, and continued until the close of 1848; and the parish remained without regular rectoral services, until the 1st of January, 1851, when the writer took charge; since which time an organ (the first one) has been put up, new pews have been added, and money enough obtained to make permanent and comfortable repairs. If the design of the true friends of the church, to make it a temple in which generations to come may worship God in comfort, fail, the fault and the punishment will lie with those who "knew their duty and did it not."
FOOTNOTES:
[C] De Quincey.