Sermon Preached at the Consecration of Rev. Elisha Smith Thomas as Assistant Bishop of Kansas, in St. Paul’s Church, St. Paul, May 4, 1887.

“A few years ago the country west of the Mississippi was almost an unknown wilderness…”

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Presentation copy, inscribed by Whipple to Robert Charles Winthrop (1809–1894), former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who was active in the Episcopal church in Boston.

A very scarce ordination sermon preached in 1887 by Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822–1901), the first Episcopal bishop of Minnesota. Bishop Whipple spoke on the occasion of Rev. Elisha Smith Thomas’ consecration as Assistant Bishop of Kansas. In 1899, Thomas became the second Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas.

Whipple describes Kansas as “not a whit behind the fairest portion of our [nation’s] goodly heritage. It will be the home of millions. If the entire population of the Eastern and Middle States was placed within its borders it would not be as densely populated as England is to-day. In the life of our brother the fortunes of the Church will be settled for more than one hundred years [...] the Church in Kansas has only entered upon its work. The work is everywhere. Missions to plant. Churches to build. Homes of mercy to found. Schools to endow. Work to make the stoutest hands weary and the strongest heart faint.”

Price: $85.00