USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, N.J. : from the first settlement of the town > Part 28
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RULES AND ARTICLES FOR THE SOCIETY.
"I. When the Pastor of the congregation in which the Society is formed attends, it will be natural to expect that he should begin the Exercises by Prayer or singing, give an exhortation, Lecture, or exposition of a part of scripture or catechism as may appear good to him, and then call upon someone of those who profess religion, as may be determined among themselves, to conclude the exercises by singing and Prayer,-always remembering that both religion and prudence dictate that the exercises should be short,-perhaps the whole not exceeding an hour, unless something particular or un- common should justify it.
"II. If the Society should at times indulge themselves in devotional conversation, which may be thought profitable, no subject, whether giving opinions upon the sense of passages of Scripture, or religious principles shall ever be admitted which may lead to disputations.
"III. No person, except the Pastor, shall ever pretend to exhort, instruct or Lecture to the Society.
"IV. When the Pastor is absent, one or more of those agreed upon by the Society shall sing or pray-read passages of Scripture-ap- proved devotional writings-or short sermons, and conclude by sing- ing and prayer."
In a sermon, without date, by Mr. Armstrong, on prayer, he said : "There are other stated times which ought to be attended to, such as prayer meetings and religious societies, where people meet sometimes to converse together about the things of God, but more commonly for social prayer and praise, for reading the Holy Scriptures and such books of practical piety and devotion as may tend to the in- struction and edification of God's people. Such societies and meetings with us, are and ought to be voluntary, and attendance on them ought not to be made terms of communion or discipline, at the same time
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it is highly discreet and becoming to attend them as regularly as our circumstances and our callings and private concerns will admit."
In another sermon, no date:
"It is no new custom in our churches to have divine service once a month, beside the stated weekly service. It has long been practiced, and continues to be practiced by many. Yet, my brethren, I enter upon it with trembling because I know ye propensity of the human heart to view human institutions * * as of equal importance with the word and command of God. This day is not appointed to be ob- served as a day of fasting and prayer in a congregational way; but rather to fix in our remembrance the importance of this commanded duty."
3. This name has become so venerable and familiar that it strikes one with surprise to find that in the sermon preached by Provost Ewing at his ordination and installment (May 15, 1787,) it is given both on the title page and in the resolution of the corporation of the Second Church calling for its publication, as Ashibald Green.
4. The region of New York around the Cayuga and Seneca Lakes was named sixty years since, "the north-western frontiers" of our Church. In 1798 Mr. George Scott, of the Presbytery of New Bruns- wick, was sent to that region to "itinerate for at least five months as a missioner." The minutes of 1805 contain an interesting historical docu- ment in a "general report concerning those districts within the juris- diction of the Synod of New York and New Jersey which most par- ticularly require the labors of missionaries and the distribution of pious tracts among the people."
5. The Academy was in Academy street on the ground now (1912) occupied by the Public Library. See the History of the Academy written by Dr. Hall in the State Gazette, April and May, 1847, ten num- bers. Also, "An Historical Sketch of the Trenton Academy" read at the centennial anniversary of its foundation, February 10th, 1881, by Hon. William L. Dayton.
6. Sedgwick's Life of Livingston, ch. vii., viii. The Legislature (Dec. 9, 1777,) exempted Mr. Collins "and any number of men, not exceeding four, to be employed by him at his printing office," from militia service during the time they were occupied in printing the laws or the weekly newspaper. The pacific but courageous printer vindicated the liberty of the press by refusing to give the name of a political correspondent (1779) on the demand of the Legislative Council. "In any other case, not incompatible with good conscience, or the welfare of my country, I shall think myself happy in having it in my power to oblige you." (Selections from Correspondence of Executive, 1776-86, published by Legislature in 1848, p. 199.)
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7. The American historiographer of printing makes no mention of this edition but speaks only of Collins's octavo New Testament of 1788, and Bible of 1793-4. (Thomas's History, ii., 124.) Collins printed in Trenton two thousand copies of Sewel's History of the Quakers, of nearly a thousand pages folio; Ramsay's South Carolina, two volumes, and other large works.
In 1848 the surviving family of Mr. Collins printed for private use a memoir of their venerated parents, for the help of which I am indebted to my friend Isaac Collins, of Philadelphia. See also Blake's Bio- graphical Dictionary, 13th edition.
I find in a Philadelphia newspaper, Sept., 1867, notice of the death of a son of Mr. Collins, as follows :
"Joseph B. Collins, President of the United States Life Insurance Company, died yesterday morning at his residence in Eleventh St., in the 74th year of his age. He was born in Trenton, N. J., where his family have dwelt nearly two centuries. His father, Isaac Collins, was the founder of the noted publishing house of Collins and Co., whose books were once reckoned among the standard publications of the country and are still regarded by our old families as precious heir- looms."
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CHAPTER XVII.
I. "In the graveyard at Cape May Court House, N. J., there is a tombstone to the memory of Sarah Hand, widow of Jonathan Hand, born at Trenton, N. J., July 22, 1778, died April 3, 1871. This lady was daughter of Nathaniel Moore, of Trenton, and in her eleventh year, with several other little misses, strewed flowers in the path- way of General Washington at Trenton, in 1789." "Pennsylvania Historical Society Magazine," vol. i., 473.
Another of the party was Mrs. Sarah Vandegrift (then Miss -), who died November 30, 1864, in her ninety-fifth year, for forty-eight years a member of this church. Irving says of the incident at Tren- ton : "We question whether any of these testimonials of a nation's gratitude affected Washington more sensibly than those he received at Trenton."
2. Among the sermons left by Mr. Armstrong is the one used at the ordination of Finley (the Colonizationist) and Hunt. The subject is Ministerial Zeal, and the sermon was used on more than one occa- sion. One of the leaves has this endorsement: "First page of the sermon preached at the Mr. F. and Mr. Hunt's ordination in 1795." It was again used, in part, at the ordination and instalment of George Spafford Woodhull, at Cranbury, June 6, 1798. Mr. Arm- strong said to the new minister: "You have succeeded two pastors, both lately, suddenly and unexpectedly called away by death, men of upright hearts and irreproachable lives. The memory of a Smith, whose accents were those of gentleness and love; the memory of a Snowden, who was all zeal and activity; these yet live in the hearts of a people who esteemed them highly for their works' sake." Thomas Smith, pastor of Cranbury, died in 1789, and Gilbert T. Snowden, February 20, 1797.
There was a coincidence of names about that time. Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith being in the Princeton pulpit, as President of the College, and Samuel Finley Snowden, brother of Gilbert, as pastor of the Princeton congregation (1795-1802).
Mr. Armstrong gave the charge at the ordination of Cyrus Gilder- sleeve, as evangelist, at Trenton, September 9, 1792, and preached at the instalment of Henry Kollock, in Princeton, June 12, 1804. He was appointed to preside and preach at Rev. Thomas Grant's instal- ment at Amwell Second Church, December 15, 1791, but was prevented from fulfilling the service by absence. Mr. Grant was the pastor of Flemington in 1794, when Mr. Armstrong preached at the opening of the new church, as mentioned on page 203. Mr. Grant died in March, 1811, and in a sermon at the time, Mr. Armstrong spoke of
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"being early and long intimately acquainted with him and enjoying his friendship from his entrance into the ministry to his death."
3. To the instances of Mr. Armstrong's character as a philanthropist may be added a sentence incidentally dropped in a sermon referring to prisoners condemned to death: "I have more than once in my life been instrumental in procuring pardon for persons in such a situa- tion."
The prevalence of the yellow fever in Philadelphia, at the close of the last century, gave occasion for many efforts of the Trenton pastor to call attention to its warnings. In one sermon (on Isaiah 9: 12, 26: 9, Micah 6: 9) he said he would not presume to call that pestilence a judgment for special sins, "yet there is one thing I beg leave to mention. In all my recollection I do not remember to have read or heard that ever the Saviour of sinners was insulted in a public news- paper, except in the city of Philadelphia not long since."
It appears from Matthew Carey's "Short Account of the Maloignant Fever lately prevalent in Philadelphia," fourth edition, 1794, that the people of our town and neighborhood were much alarmed by the danger of persons flying from the city in this direction. He says : "The inhabitants of Trenton and Lamberton associated on the 13th of September and on the 17th passed several resolutions to guard themselves against the contagion. They resolved that 'a total stop should be put to the landing of all persons from Philadelphia at any ferry or place from Lamberton to Howell's ferry, four miles above Trenton; that the intercourse by water should be prohibited between Lamberton, or the head of tide-water and Philadelphia; and that all boats from Philadelphia should be prevented from landing either goods or passengers anywhere between Bordentown and the head of tide-water ; that no person whatever should be permitted to come from Philadelphia or Kensington while the fever continued; that all per- sons who should go from within the limits of the association to either of those places should be prevented from returning during the con- tinuance of the fever; and finally, that their standing committee should inquire whether any persons, not inhabitants, who had lately come from places infected, and were therefore likely to be infected them- selves, were within the limits of the association, and if so, that they should be obliged instantly to leave the said limits.'" Mr. Carey gave his opinion "that the exercise of the duties of humanity towards the fugitive Philadelphian would not have been attended with the danger universally imagined," as although, "in defiance of all resolu- tions, many of the infected citizens took refuge outside the city, in very few instanced cases was the infection communicated." He after- wards modified this opinion upon hearing of several cases by communi- cation ; among them "three people, of one family in Trenton, took it from a sick person from Philadelphia, and died of it."
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4. "Ordered, that Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Singer, and Mr. Taylor work the large engine in time of fire, and that Conrad Kotts and Isaac Barnes work the small engine." "Ordered, that Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Taylor be a committee to have good trail ropes put to botlı engines, and a necessary harness for one horse for the large engine." The members being at one time required to give account whether they had done their duty, it is entered that "Mr. Armstrong, ladder- man No. I, attended, and brought forward his ladder and hook to the late fire."
5. I have looked in vain for the New Brunswick history in the archives of the Assembly.
6. In an interleaved almanac of 1794, I find a memorandum of Rev. Mr. Weems' preaching in the evening in the Presbyterian church. This was the author of the poor but widespread "Life of Washing- ton." I have a poem of his with his autograph, "Mrs. Frazer, from M. L. Weems." Mrs. Frazer was the wife of the rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church.
7. The result of the experience of such uses of the Church as are related on this and other pages, was given by Mr. Armstrong in his sermon at the opening of the new church in 1806. The position taken by him in the annexed paragraph is now an established rule of our Trustees. "I know," said the preacher, "that superstition has often conferred upon churches a degree of sanctity which can only belong to the object of all religious worship. But I know also that in the attempt to wipe out this vestige of superstition, too many have swept away with it that respect and veneration which we ought to cultivate for places where God has promised his presence to his people. The use of churches, for purposes not immediately connected with religious exercises, though innocent in itself, must have a tendency to weaken our respect and veneration for them. Civil, political, or literary scenes and exhibitions, mingled at intervals, though not on the Lord's day, will more or less weaken a sense of that seriousness and solemnity which is associated with a house set apart for the worship of God. Nothing, therefore, but urgent unavoidable necessity should open the doors of our sanctuaries for exercises which are not immediately subservient to the purposes of religion or devotion."
8. At that time, and for many years, the custom obtained in Trenton of adorning the windows and fronts of the houses on the Fourth of July with flowers and evergreens, instead of the former practice of illumination. It was also a custom to spend the evening at the State House, where the usual entertainments of an evening party were pro- vided by the ladies.
9. The Rev. Andrew Hunter, D. D. (already mentioned on p. 204), was a personal friend, and in the pulpit a frequent assistant, of Mr.
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Armstrong. He graduated at Princeton, 1772; was chaplain in the Revolutionary army ; taught a classical school at Woodbury; cultivated a farm on the Delaware near Trenton; was professor of Mathematics and Astronomy in Princeton, 1804-8; head of an Academy in Borden- town, 1809; afterwards a chaplain in the Washington Navy Yard, and died in Burlington, February 24, 1823. His second wife was Mary, a daughter of Richard Stockton, signer of the Declaration. Dr. Hunter had an uncle who was also the Rev. Andrew Hunter, and was pastor in Cumberland county, N. J. (about 1746-1760). He married Ann, a cousin of Richard Stockton, the signer. He died in 1775. His widow was buried in the Trenton church-yard, October, 1800, and the funeral sermon was by President Smith.
In the Trenton Emporium, March 1, 1823, "Rev. Dr. Andrew Hunter, a chaplain in the U. S. Navy," is among the deaths as "at Wash- ington."
For Andrew Hunter, the uncle, thirty years pastor at Greenwich, -
in Cohansey, see Allen H. Brown's "Outline History of the Presby- terian Church in West or South Jersey," Philadelphia, 1869.
IO. In this year the national offices were removed to Trenton for some weeks, in consequence of the prevalence of the yellow fever in Phila- delphia. The Secretary of the Navy urged the President (Adams) to follow his Cabinet, remarking that "the officers are all now at this place, and not badly accommodated." The President was reluctant to come. He had written in 1797 of the "painful experience" by which he had learned that Congress could not find "even tolerable accommo- dation" here. However, he promised to go by the middle of October, submissively assuring his correspondent, "I can and will put up with my private secretary and two domestics only, at the first tavern or first private house I can find." He arrived on the tenth, and on the next day was greeted with fireworks. He found "the inhabitants of Trenton wrought up to a pitch of political enthusiasm that surprised him," in the expectation that Louis XVIII. would be soon restored to the throne of France. (Works of John Adams, vols. ii., vii., ix.) Adams had at this time a conference of six days with Hamilton and other members of his Cabinet before they could agree on the French business. (Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. ii., 496-8.)
II. Three columns of the True American, of Trenton, for Novem- ber 23, 1807, are filled with the Presbytery's petition to the Legislature of that year, in which the two objections to former applications are ably met, namely, that the incorporation would endanger civil liberty, ' and that it would be granting an exclusive privilege. The political prejudice of the times had probably more to do with the refusal than these pleas. The democratic newspapers of the day contain many bitter articles against the Presbyterian clergy, who were generally Washington Federalists. Among other delinquencies they were charged with omitting to pray for President Jefferson. In February, 1813, the Presbytery received a charter for ten years.
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12. Travels in 1795-7, vol. i., 549. In April, 1795, Peter Howell ad- vertised a "two-horse coachee" to leave Trenton for Philadelphia every Wednesday and Saturday, at eleven o'clock. Fare for a passenger, I2S. 6d .; fourteen pounds of baggage allowed.
13. Travels of Francois Andre Michaux. By act of March 3, 1786, the Legislature granted André, the traveler's father, permission to hold land, not exceeding two hundred acres, in any part of the State for a botanical garden. There is a Memoir of Francois (who was the author of the "North American Sylva") in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. xi. Three years before the above-mentioned act, the French Consul for New Jersey offered in the King's name all kinds of seeds whenever a botanical garden should be established. The Legislature (Dec. 10, 1783) made the ingenious reply that as soon as they established such a garden they should be glad to receive the seeds.
14. Moreau's mansion was burnt down on Christmas day, 18II. The stable is now a manufactory. Upon his first arrival the General resided "at the seat of Mr. Le Guen at Morrisville." By virtue of an act of Legislature (March 5, 1816) the estate of one hundred and five acres was sold by Moreau's executor, three years after his fall at Dresden.
15. In connection with this matter the following advertisement ap- peared in a Trenton paper of 1855-6, and Dr. Hall made deposition as to the existence of (no record of marriage,) for the writ in chancery :
"Frances Mary Shard-next of kin. Pursuant to an order of the High Court of Chancery of England, made in the matter of the estate of Frances Mary Shard who died in the year 1819, and the personal representatives of any of such next of kin, as may since have died, are by their solicitors, on or before the 15th day of March, 1856, to come in and prove their claims at the Chambers of the Right Honorable the Vice Chancellor Sir Richard Toun Kindersley, No. 3 Stone buildings, Lincoln's Inn, London, or in default thereof they will be peremptorily excluded the benefit of the said order. Mrs. Shard was the widow of William Shard, Esq. (who resided at Torbay House, Paignton, in the county of Devon, and in Harley street, London, and died in the year 1806) and was a daughter of Robert Rutherford and Margaret his wife, who, it is believed, were natives of Ireland, but who were residing at Trenton, in the State of New Jersey, in the United States of America, where the said Robert Rutherford kept an hotel called the 'Legonier Tavern' (and afterwards the Black Horse), at the time of the birth of Mrs. Shard. Mrs. Shard died in the 60th year of her age, at Torbay House."
16. Paine was in Philadelphia in 1777, when the British were ap- proaching the city. "I stayed in the city till Sunday, having sent my chest and everything belonging to the Foreign Committee to Trenton in a shallop." (He was Secretary of the Committee.) Letter of Paine
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to Dr. Franklin, "Pennsylvania Historical Society Magazine," vol. 2: 287, 290, 293.
17. In 1789 (May 25) Mrs. Washington slept at Trenton on her way from Mt. Vernon to New York. See Griswold's "Republican Court," 163.
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CHAPTER XVIII.
I. It appears that some assistance in building the new church was obtained outside of Trenton. Mr. Armstrong left a "memorandum of sundry persons who subscribed in New York, etc., towards the finish- ing of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, February, 1806." It is headed "Rev. Dr. Rodgers, $10; Col. Rutgers, $20; Mr. Edgar, $20." In the list that follows are the well-known names of Robert Lenox, J. B. Rodgers, M.D., Arch'd Gracie, D. Bruce, John J. Astor, Maturin Livingston and Dr. Livingston (brothers of Mrs. Armstrong). D. Phoenix, Dr. Miller, Bishop Moore, Col. Wolcott, etc. Total, $369.31 ; and Newark, $136 = $505.31.
2. From the Trenton "Federalist" of Monday, August II, 1806:
"Notice. Divine service will be performed for the first time in the new Presbyterian Church in this place, next Lord's day. Service will begin at eleven o'clock in the forenoon and three in the afternoon. Collections will be raised after each service, to be appropriated for the expenditures incurred in finishing the house."
3. From a Trenton newspaper of July 29, 1807:
"On Saturday, the twentieth instant, was hung in the steeple of the New Presbyterian Church in Trenton, a new bell, weighing four hun- dred and seventy-eight pounds, cast by George Hedderly, bell-founder and bell-hanger of the city of Philadelphia, which does its founder much credit, both for the neatness of its casting and its melodious tone.
"B. SMITH, r "P. GORDON, Managers."
4. Dr. Ewing's epitaph, now in Riverview Cemetery, is as follows :
"In memory of Francis Armstrong Ewing, M.D., who died in Trenton, his native place, December 10, 1857, in the 52d year of his age. An accomplished scholar, an intelligent and conscientious Christian : tender in his affections: faithful in his friendship: his character combined many high and rare virtues. This church had in him a devoted Elder and firm adherent."
5. The salary was eight hundred dollars. Mr. Armstrong was suc- ceeded in Maidenhead by the Rev. Isaac V. Brown, at whose ordina- tion and installation (June 10, 1807) he gave both the charges.
6. Beside the gravestone of Mr. Furman is that of his wife Sarah, who died January 6, 1796, in her 53d year; and of his daughter, Anna Maria, widow of Gen'l Peter Hunt, October 8, 1816, in her 42d year, and also of her husband. Mr. Furman's son, Moore Furman, gradu- ated at Princeton in 1794, died at Lawrenceville, April 18, 1804.
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Mr. Furman's will is dated October 10, 1806. It describes him "of Lamberton, in the county of Burlington." Witnesses are P. F. Howell, Jas. P. Hunt and Gershom Mott. It is proved April 13, 1808. He left to his son-in-law, Peter Hunt, and his wife, Anna Maria, the estate called Pittstown, Hunterdon county, about seven hundred acres and a lot of limestone land, about half an acre, near the North Branch of the Raritan.
I have a MS. receipt given by Mr. Furman, as follows :
"Aprill 8th, 1754. Received of Mr. Nathaniel Moore Ten Shillings for his Annual Payment to the Library Company of Trenton.
"MOORE FURMAN, Tr."
7. Jonathan Doan (now written Doane) having contracted to erect a State Prison at Trenton, Messrs. Hunt and Furman (1797) conveyed the ground on which the jail (now the arsenal) was built. The measurement was more than eight and one-quarter acres; the con- sideration £369 IS.
I have in my possession Mr. Doan's receipt for the last payment of the contract alluded to :
"Received Novr 14, 1798, of James Mott, Treas'r, four hundred and seventeen pounds, twelve shillings and two pence, being the balance of the sum allowed to me by an 'act to appropriate a further sum of money for completing the State Prison,' passed November 7, 1798.
"JONATHAN DOAN."
8. April 7, 1848. I attended the funeral of Jesse Roscoe. He lived in the old house opposite the church which Mr. Fish bought (adjoin- ing his house). He was the grandfather of Mrs. Upton and Mrs. Miller. On March 15, 1879, Samuel Roscoe died, aged eighty-four. I was unable to attend the funeral
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CHAPTER XIX.
I. April 28, 1807, Mr. Armstrong preached before Presbytery at New Brunswick, from Hebrews 12: 10, and on June 10, gave charges to pastor and people at the ordination and installation of Isaac V. Brown.
2. Dr. Wm. A. McDowell's name is first in the catalogue of Alumni, having been licensed in 1813 by the New Brunswick Presbytery, but he had entered in an advanced stage of his studies. The first three students were Wm. Blair, John Covert and Henry Blatchford. The Presbytery of April, 1813, which sat in Trenton, received both Drs. Green and Alexander, from Philadelphia; the former having been elected Presi- dent of Princeton College in 1812.
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