September 12: John Henry Hobart, Bishop, 1830

The Collect of the Day

John Henry Hobart

Revive your church, Lord God of hosts, whenever it falls into complacency and sloth, by raising up devoted leaders like your servant John Henry Hobart; and grant that their faith and vigor of mind may awaken your people to your message and their mission; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John Henry Hobart

Revive thy church, Lord God of hosts, wheneverit falls into complacency and sloth, by raisingup devoted leaders like thy servant John Henry Hobart; and grantthat their faith and vigor of mind may awaken thy people to thy message and their mission; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Titus 1:7–9
Psalm 78:3–7
Mark 8:1–13

John Henry Hobart was one of the leaders who revived the Episcopal Church, following the first two decades of its independent life after the American Revolution, a time that has been described as oneof “suspended animation.” Born in Philadelphia on September 14th, 1775, Hobart was educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Princeton, graduating from the latter in 1793. Bishop William White, his longtime friend and adviser, ordained him as a deacon in 1798 and as a priest in 1801.

After serving parishes in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Long Island, Hobart became assistant minister of Trinity Church, New York City, in 1800. He was consecrated Assistant Bishop of New York on May 29th, 1811. Five years later he succeeded Bishop Benjamin Moore, both as diocesan bishop and as rector of Trinity Church. He died at Auburn, New York, September 12th, 1830, and was buried beneath the chancel of Trinity Church in New York City.

Within his first four years as bishop, Hobart doubled the numberof his clergy and quadrupled the number of missionaries. Before his death, he had planted a church in almost every major town of New York State and had begun missionary work among the Oneida tribe of Native Americans. He was one of the founders of the General Theological Seminary, and the reviver of Geneva, now Hobart, College.

A strong and unbending upholder of church standards, Hobart established the Bible and Common Prayer Book Society of New York, and was one of the first American scholars to produce theological and devotional manuals for the laity. These “tracts,” as they were called, and the personal impression he made on the occasion of a visit to Oxford, were an influence on the development of the Tractarian Movement in England. Both friends and foes respected Hobart forhis staunch faith, his consuming energy, his personal integrity, and his missionary zeal.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

Psalm

³That which we have heard and known, and what our forefathers have told us, *we will not hide from their children.

⁴We will recount to generations to come the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the Lord, *and the wonderful works he has done.

⁵He gave his decrees to Jacob and established a law for Israel, *which he commanded them to teach their children;

⁶That the generations to come might know, and the children yet unborn; *that they in their turn might tell it to their children;

⁷So that they might put their trust in God, *and not forget the deeds of God, but keep his commandments;

Gospel

¹In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, ²“I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. ³If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.” ⁴His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” ⁵He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” ⁶Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. ⁷They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. ⁸They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. ⁹Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. ¹⁰And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha. ¹¹The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. ¹²And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.