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Over the course of the 334-year history of King’s Chapel, ministers have contributed a substantial amount to the church’s written history. A large portion of these written works consists of sermons given as part of these ministers’ regular responsibilities—sermons for weekly services, as well as those celebrating a marriage or baptism, or commemorating a life at a funeral service. However, many historic ministers of King’s Chapel also wrote poems, prose, hymns, or histories on subjects religious or otherwise.

The Reverend Ephraim Peabody (1807-1856) was the minister of King’s Chapel for about a decade before his death, though he also served other congregations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Throughout his life, Peabody contributed as a writer and editor for religious literary magazines, including The Western Messenger and The Christian Register. One of Peabody’s published poems, “New-England Emigration Westward”, was presented in front of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard in 1835. He came to King’s Chapel toward the end of his career, when he was already a prolific writer, yet continued to publish works.

​While the majority of his published work was spiritual in nature, it is important to acknowledge the troubling views on slavery and anti-abolitionist stances that are found throughout several of his works, which we do not condone.

In addition to his published poetry and prose, Peabody wrote poems intended for a sole recipient: his wife, Mary Jane. For years, Ephraim Peabody wrote a new love poem for his wife in celebration of her birthday. Folders of these poems remain in King’s Chapel’s collection today, allowing us a glimpse of Peabody’s more private writings.
​


Read Reverend Peabody's Romantic Poetry

Birthday Poem from Rev. Ephraim Peabody to his wife, Mary Jane Derby (n.d.)

Thy birthday! [word crossed out] Do the years that go
Make true affection cold,
Does love thus lengthened out by time
Grow weak as it grows old?
Oh no! For winds another [elaspe?] 
    A [?] - of that strong chain
To [cinatum] still move fast my heart
To my own Mary Jane.

The view while yet tis young with ease
Is loosened from the stern
Round which is twines in graceful folds
Garland & diadem-
Each tendril grows
But when by our? Hardens each firm clasp
Fixed in its firm embrace
In each familiar place
You break if you but try to loose
The tendrils close embrace.

And so young love its unfixed hands
Aside may lightly cast
And some the wound will ?
The shortlived pain be past
But hearts whose fibers each with each
Long years together wind
Your hand may [read? need?] these hearts apart -
may break but not unbind.

They say that Time wears out the lines
    Of beauty from the face
And robs from the elastc form
    Its roundup [& its?] grace
But there is One on whom stern time
    A gentle hand hath lain
The love of years - the wife of years
    My own dear Mary Jane.

If when she first dawned on my eye
    She shown a vision bright
A stately creature moving in
    An atmosphere of light
Time hath not diminished her - to my eye
    A lighter beauty bears?
From ?? ?? than in the days
    Of Loves first- warmest -dream 

Since those warm dreams - those first love dreams
    I’ve wandered wide & far
Have seen rich lips & cheeks that bloom
    Beneath New England star
The South’s luxurious child I’ve seen
    Fair daughter of the Son
In whom all feelings hapions throulits?
    In fervent pulses? ??

Many fair faces have I seen
    And bright & glancing eyes
Whose dazzling beaus or soft [wen?] caught far divided
    From many different skies
But all - they all - my hath said
    Again & yet again
Their charms are cold & pale besides
    My own dear Mary Jane.

From radiant form & sparkling face

    My fancy ever starts
To look at one whom pictures his
    Cased in my heart of hearts
From galaxies of beauty [means?]
    My eye is ever fair
To turn & gaze at its own star
    My own dear Mary Jane.


​
And why is she the one bright star
    Brighter than all besides?
Why seen alone of all that ?
    Heaven’s ? blue & [wide?]
Because I know wherever I go
    It still would shine on me
With gentle beam to guide & [?]
    However dark it be.

But why tell how I loved her first
    And her alone I loved-
And how the [blessed?] bridal year
    Her pure affection proved
And how watched & [blessed?] time
    Her first babe on her breast
And now a father on his life
    A fonder life [imprest?]

How when in death that sweet fair flower
    Cut down & withered lay
And sickness touched the spring of life
    In him who was to stay
How in the [petulance] of sick
    And sad desponding days
She bore with me & from myself
    ?? them by gentle ways
How her pure thoughts have taught to me
    More love of what is pure
Her cheerful self denial shown me how
    How trials to endure

Returning how her brightening [faith?]
    ?? must ?? at the door
And absent from the thought of her
    Lays with me evermore.

Why tell the reasons why I love
    It is an idle task
Nay, the unnumbered reasons why 
    I can not e’er to ask
[two lines crossed out. I know and feel that it is so. I know and can not why]
I feel it. Why with idle search
    Then for its reasons pry?
It is enough to feel the blip: -
    I ask & can not why.

Time trial charges have made that love
    Stronger  more ?? reason dear
Till to the soul it has become
    A vital atmosphere-
So may it ever grow more strong
    More full more pure with time
Till earthly love be fitted for
    A spiritual climb

Then o’er the grave’s horizon [drawn?]
    The Hopes stern [studle] brightly rise
Speaking of [fairs] [hour’s] than earths
    [Profound] beyond the skies
Thus with own dear departed child
    And him, in his place given
United we may hope to have
    A family in heaven.

​​
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Est. 1686
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  • Home
    • About Us >
      • Welcome
      • Calendar
      • Clergy & Staff
      • Contact Us & Directions >
        • Send A Message
      • Employment Opportunities >
        • Church Sexton Position
        • Assistant Minister Position
  • Worship
    • Holy Week 2023
    • Sunday at 9 AM
    • Sunday at 11 AM
    • Lent 2023
    • Sermons
    • Special Annual Services
    • Book of Common Prayer
  • Music
    • Tuesday Recitals
    • Concert Series
    • Musical Inquiries
  • History & Tours
    • Plan Your Visit >
      • 2023 At A Glance
      • Guided Tour Offerings >
        • Group Tours
    • Explore Our History >
      • A Brief History
      • The Stone Chapel: Art & Architecture >
        • The Wooden Chapel
        • Georgian Architecture
        • Box Pews
        • Interior Colors
        • Memorials
        • The Chancel Windows
        • The Last Supper Painting
      • Crypt and Burying Ground >
        • Crypt >
          • Crypt Highlights: Crypt Entrance
          • Crypt Highlights: Tomb Structure
          • Crypt Highlights: The Stranger's Tomb
          • Crypt Highlights: Research and Family Connections
          • Crypt Highlights: Remaining Memorials
          • Crypt Highlights: Hand-Hewn Beams
        • Burying Ground
      • Religious History >
        • Online Exhibit: Independent Country, Independent Church
        • 334 Years of Ministry
      • Slavery at King's Chapel
    • Online Exhibits >
      • Queen's Chapel: Women's History at King's Chapel
      • Revolutionary King's Chapel: Online Exhibit
      • Literary King's Chapel
      • Uncovering the Past: Exploring Black History Through Primary Sources
    • History Events & Programs >
      • Past Events & Programs
      • Recorded History Programs
    • Christmas History at King's Chapel >
      • Decking the Halls: The History of Decorating with Greens
      • Christmas Lights: Then and Now
      • 18th & 19th Century Christmas Services & Music
      • Christmas Feasts & Treats Throughout History
      • Holiday History Trivia
    • History Program Blog
    • About Us >
      • History Program Staff
      • Contact Us
    • Support the History Program
  • Community
    • News & Updates >
      • Parish Community News
      • Between Sundays Archive
    • Community from Home
    • Community Action Committee >
      • Anti-Racism Resources
    • Memorial to Enslaved Persons
    • Environmental Action Initiative
    • Join King's Chapel
    • For Members >
      • Budget Meeting 2023
      • Partner Church Sunday 2022
      • KC Bylaws
      • 2022- 2023 Church Leadership
  • Giving
    • Why Give
    • Ways to Give
    • Stewardship >
      • Pledge
  • Weddings & Baptisms
    • Weddings >
      • Dear Prospective Couple
      • Wedding Inquiry
      • Wedding Service
    • Baptisms
  • Space Rentals
  • Member Action Initiative