builded, also, as "wise master-builders," not with the "wood, hay,
stubble" of man's gathering, but with the "gold, silver, precious
stones" of the "New Jerusalem that cometh down from heaven."

There is another thought that ought not be passed by. Says an old
Father, speaking of the Episcopate: "_Nomen oneris non honoris";
"It is the name of a burden rather than of an honor." So here, the
question was not, To whom shall we give the honor? but, Who can
best take up and bear the burden? And what a burden it was! The
wearisome quest for consecration, sure to be protracted and
doubtful as to its result; the insufficient provision--if indeed
any provision at all was made--for the maintenance of the bishop-
elect during the period of his anxious waiting; [Footnote: Bishop
Seabury wrote under date of Jan. 5, 1785: "Two years' absence from
my family, and expenses of residence here, have more than expended
all I had."] the return, if unsuccessful, with the certainty of
being told that another might have succeeded where he had failed;
if successful, with the alternative certainty of coming to a weak
and despised Church, poor in this world's goods and "everywhere
spoken against"; the life-long struggle with its tremendous
uncertainties; surely, he who should undertake the burden of these
things and many more besides, would need not only the "_robur et
aes triplex circa pectus_" of the heathen poet, but the faith
that "could remove mountains" also. Who was to be the man?

"All eyes were turned to the venerable Jeremiah Leaming, who had
defended the Church with his pen, and suffered for her in mind,
body, and estate," and he was the first choice of the clergy at
Woodbury. It was felt, however, that his acceptance was doubtful,
and the difficulties which might prevent it were fully recognized.