USA > New York > New York City > A history of the Brick Presbyterian Church in the city of New York > Part 7
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"Attended public worship this morning," says Dr. Cutler, "at the new brick Presbyterian Church. The house is large and elegant. The carvings within
* The original manuscript, from which this abstract is taken, does not correspond, either in form or substance, to the sermon as afterward printed, except in the most general way. The published sermon is in many respects less forcible and less interesting.
t Equivalent to between $3,000 and $4,000. The money was raised by subscription through the energy of Dr. Rodgers.
2
How of Duck Crebyterian Church
Nafsau Strutz
3
GROUND-PLAN OF THE BRICK CHURCH ON BEEKMAN STREET
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are rather plain, but very neat, and produce a fine effect upon the eye. The form of the house is long, and the pulpit near one end, but not adjoining to the wall. It is supported by a single post, which passes up at the back of the pulpit, and is crowned with the sounding-board, not more than two feet above the minister's head. At the end of the house, opposite to the pulpit, are two doors, which open into two long aisles, which extend the whole length of the house. The pews are built on each side of the aisles, one tier of wall pews and two tiers in the centre of the house .* The pews are long and narrow, having only one long seat, except that there are two square wall pews placed opposite to each other near the centre of the side walls, with a handsome canopy over them, supported by pillars. The floors of these pews are considerably elevated above the others, which renders them very pleasant. They are called the Governor's pews, and are occupied by strangers.
"Dr. Ewing, Provost of the College of Philadel- phia, preached a very pretty sermon on the advan- tages and excellency of the Christian religion. The congregation appeared remarkably neat and rich in their dress, but not gay. The house was very full and exceedingly attentive.
"I was particularly pleased with the singing. Around the large pillar which supports the pulpit is a very large circular pew, appropriated to the war- dens f of the church and the chorister. In the front of this pew is a little desk considerably elevated.
* In this Dr. Cutler's observation was at fault. There was also a middle aisle, and the number of tiers or ranges of pews, as shown on the still ex- isting plans (see illustration opposite p. 76), were six in number.
t Meaning the elders, and possibly the deacons.
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When the psalm is read, the chorister steps up into this desk and sings the first line. He is then joined in the second line by the whole congregation-men, women, and children seemed all to sing, almost with- out exception. The airs of the tunes were sprightly, though not very quick; the singing, notwithstanding it was performed by such a mixed multitude, was soft, musical, and solemn, and the time well pre- served. There is an orchestra, but no organ. The public service was introduced by a short prayer, reading the Scriptures, and then singing; but instead of singing before the sermon, they sing, in the morn- ing as well as afternoon, after the last prayer. As soon as the last singing is ended, the wardens go out from the large round pew, with each a large pewter platter in his hand, each taking a tier of the pews and walk down the aisles. Every person, great and small, puts into the platter one copper, and no more. This contribution is made through the whole con- gregation in less than three minutes."
Having allowed Dr. Cutler to give us already so much more than a description of the church itself, we must go with him a paragraph further in order to make the picture of this morning service com- plete, although the bearing of this last item upon the matter of the church's architecture is, it must be confessed, rather remote. "I was struck this morn- ing," thus Dr. Cutler continues, "with a custom in this city which I had never before heard of in any part of the world. I observed, as I was going to church, six men, walking two and two toward the church, with very large white sashes, which appeared to be made of fine Holland, the whole width and two
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or three yards in length. They were placed over their right shoulders, and tied under their left arms in a very large bow, with several yards of white rib- bon on the top of their shoulders; a large rose, formed of white ribbon, was placed on the sash. As I came up to the yard of the church, Dr. Rodgers and Dr. Ewing were just before me, going into the church, both in their black gowns, but Dr. Rodgers with a large white sash, like those of the six men, only that the bow and rose of ribbon were black. These sashes, I was informed, were given the last week at a funeral. They are worn by the minister and bearers to the grave, and are always worn by them the next Sunday, and the bearers always walk to and from the church together. To give these sashes is a general custom at the funeral of persons of any note." *
Under so agreeable a guide, the reader, it is hoped, will not object to attending a second service on the same day. For Dr. Cutler, indeed, it was the third, but inasmuch as he went in the afternoon to the ser- vice of another denomination, we may reserve our energies to accompany him in the evening. "At- tended a lecture," he says, "at Dr. Rodgers' new brick Presbyterian Church. Full congregation. Dr. Witherspoon, President of the New Jersey College, preached. He is an intolerably homely old Scotch- man, and speaks the true dialect of his country, ex- cept that his brogue borders on the Irish. He is a bad speaker, has no oratory, and had no notes be- fore him. His subject was 'Hypocrisy.' But, not- withstanding the dryness of the subject [and] the bad-
* Cutler's "Life," etc., Vol. I, pp. 231-234.
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ness of his delivery, which required the closest atten- tion to understand him, yet the correctness of his style, the arrangement of his matter, and the many new ideas that he suggested, rendered his sermon very entertaining. The attention of the congregation strongly marked their regard for good sense and clear reasoning, rather than the mere show of oratory and declamation. Spent the remainder of the evening and supped with Mr. Hazard." >
The heavy expense entailed by the restoration of their buildings was partly offset by the fact that the Presbyterians, in March, 1784, obtained, by petition to the Corporation of the city, a reduction of the annual rental paid for the Beekman Street property, from £40 to £21 5 s., and, at the same time, the back rental for the period of the congregation's exile from the city, amounting to £303, was forgiven. Shortly after this the treasury received unexpected aid from another source. In June, 1787, the Corporation of Trinity Church (which, as is well known, held a large property from the days before the Revolution) of its own free will and entirely unsolicited, conveyed to the First Presbyterian Church of New York a piece of ground on Robinson Street (now known as Nos. 3 and 5 Park Place), for the purpose of providing a site for the parsonage of the senior minister.t It
* Cutler's "Life," etc., Vol. I, p. 236.
t The following are the extracts from the minutes of the vestry of Trinity Church, relating to this matter. January 6th, 1786. "The Board considering that thier fellow citazens of the two Presbytarian Congrega- tions in this City have not convenient lots of ground whereon to build . dwelling houses for their respective senior pastors. RESOLVED that this Corporation will grant a good lot of ground to each of the Presbytarian Congregations in this City for the use of thier respective senior pastors for the time being." 'Also on April 6th, 1786, it was "RESOLVED that the
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was never put to this use, but the income from the property became a part of Dr. Rodgers' salary .*
One other piece of property came into the posses- sion of the church at this time which deserves a passing mention, because, although of no great intrinsic value, it constitutes to-day one of the oldest treasures of the Brick Church. This is a "silver bason," which Colonel Stevens and several other gentlemen presented to the session in March, 1791, "for the use of baptizing children in the New Church." It was in common use for this purpose for over a hundred years.
During the twenty-five years covered by this chapter, that is, the period from the close of the Revolutionary War till the date of the proposal to break up the collegiate arrangement of the Presby- terian Church of New York, there was but one senior pastor, Dr. Rodgers, whose honors increased with his years; but the position of associate pastor was filled in succession by several different men. The Rev. Mr. Treat had not returned to the city at the close of the war, and there were reasons why the session did not desire that he should do so. The somewhat delicate situation was met by a vote of the congregation on July 1st, 1784, that they could Rector be requested to acquaint the Pastors of the Presbyterian Congre- gations with the intentions of this Corporation and that they be requested to agree on the lotts thier Corporations respectively [will?] hold that deeds may be prepared accordingly." The two Presbyterian congregations here referred to were the First Presbyterian Church of New York (including the Wall Street and New churches) and the Scotch Presbyterian Church on Cedar Street.
* In 1803 the Presbyterian trustees made a release in fee to William Whyttan in perpetuity, with rent reserved of $250 a year to be paid to the senior Presbyterian pastor. This is still paid. In 1901 this property was assessed at a valuation of $77,000.
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at that time support but one minister. Accordingly for the year after the restoration of the New Church, Dr. Rodgers bore the burden alone. In August, 1785, however, Mr. James Wilson, a Scotchman, was ordained as colleague. Two and a half years later, when he was forced to resign and move to the South on account of his health, he had won the "sincere and high esteem" of the church, and was dismissed with regret.
The choice of his successor was complicated by the putting forward of two candidates, with the result that neither obtained a call and nearly two years' time was lost by the controversy. Finally Mr. John McKnight, of Marsh Creek, Penn., was called, and entered upon his duties late in 1789, "to the entire and high satisfaction of all parties."* It soon ap- peared, however, that the burdens of the position would be too great for his strength, especially the necessity of preaching three times each Sunday, as was then the custom. Rather than lose his valued services or discontinue the Sunday evening meeting,
* The following characterization is from a letter by the Rev. George Duffield, D.D., quoted in Sprague's "Annals," Vol. III, p. 374. "Dr. McKnight was a man of slender person, and rather above the medium height. His countenance indicated a considerate turn of mind, and at least a capacity for deep thought. His manners were graceful and digni- fied, without any attempt at the polish and courtier-like demeanor, some- times assumed by popular and fashionable clergymen. He was at home in all society, and could adapt himself in his native simplicity of character to every variety of age, temper, and education. . . . As a preacher he was calm and dispassionate. Although there was little variety in either his tones or his gestures, yet his delivery was far from being dull or monoto- nous: it was well adapted to his matter, which was generally a lucid, logi- cal exhibition of some important scriptural truth. He was a zealous asserter of the Calvinistic faith, which, however, he chose to present in connection with a 'thus saith the Lord,' rather than the subtleties of metaphysics."
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as some proposed, it was decided to call a third minis- ter, and on June 5th, 1793, Mr. Samuel Miller became co-pastor with Dr. Rodgers and Dr .* McKnight. He was but twenty-two years of age and is described as having "much more than common advantages in respect to personal appearance. Of about the middle size, he was perfectly well proportioned, with a fine, intelligent and benignant countenance, which would not be likely to pass unnoticed in a crowd. His manners were cultivated and graceful in a high degree, uniting the polish of Chesterfield with the dignity and sincerity of a Christian minister. . . . His work on 'Clerical Manners' could never have been written by one who was less considerate and exact than himself, and indeed, but for his exceeding modesty, one might almost suppose that in writing it he was taking his own portrait."t
In regard to his work as a writer and preacher, we are told that "he had, from the beginning, an un- commonly polished style," and that "there was an air of literary refinement pervading all his perform- ances, that excited general admiration, and wellnigh put criticism at defiance."}
Dr. Gardiner Spring, writing many years later, selects the word "accomplished" as the one best fitted to characterize his preaching, and tells how, in beginning his sermon, he would remove the Bible from the desk to the cushion behind his back and speak with neither book nor manuscript before him. From other sources we learn that it was his custom
* The degree was conferred by Yale College in 1791.
t Sprague's "Annals," Vol. III, pp. 602 f.
# Sprague's "Annals," Vol. III, p. 600.
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to reduce his material to writing and then memorize it. For "the prejudice against reading was so great, that it was at the peril at least of one's reputation as a preacher that he ventured to lay his manuscript before him. . .. So perfectly distinct was [Mr. Miller's] enunciation that he could be heard, without effort, at the extremity of the largest church. His attitudes in the pulpit were extremely dignified, though perhaps somewhat precise; and his gesture, which was never otherwise than appropriate, was yet not very abundant. . .. He would occasionally deliver a sentence with an air of majesty and a degree of unction that would make it quite irresisti- ble. I remember, for instance," continues Dr. Sprague, to whom we are indebted for this lively description, "to have heard him relate in a New Year's sermon on the text, 'How old art thou?' the well-known anecdote of the Roman Emperor ex- claiming at the close of a day which had gone to waste, 'Oh, I have lost a day!' and it seemed scarcely possible that the exclamation should have been uttered in a way to secure to it a higher effect."*
This description conveys to us evidently the impression made by Mr. Miller in his maturity. When he came to New York he was, it will be re- membered, at the very beginning of his career, a fact pleasantly suggested in the statement of one of his contemporaries, that in those days, although they were "dressed in full canonicals, not omitting the three-cornered hat," they were commonly called "the boy ministers."
For nearly twenty years these three clergymen, Dr.
* Sprague's "Annals," Vol. III, pp. 603 f.
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Rodgers, Dr. McKnight and Mr. Miller, labored side by side in the New and Wall Street churches. The addition of the third pastor, in order to lighten the burden, was soon counterbalanced by the opening of a third church on Rutgers Street (in 1798) to supply the growing needs of the northeast portion of the city. In 1805, however, Dr. Philip Milledoler was called to take special charge of this third congre- gation, with the understanding that his relation there should continue in case of a separation of thechurches. Thus the now venerable Dr. Rodgers and his two colleagues were left free once more to devote them- selves to the Wall Street and Brick* Church congre- gations.
A brief review of the work in which they were then engaged will serve to acquaint us with the church life in these years. Besides the six Sunday services, which they shared among them, and the Thursday evening lecture, which Dr. Rodgers himself continued to conduct until 1799, there was now begun, in a very experimental way, a social prayer-meeting. It met at six different churches in rotation on the second Wednesday of each month "at candle lighting," but gradually established itself as a stated feature of the life of each church.
The regular offerings for the poor of the parish, taken on communion Sundays and at the time of the annual Charity Sermon in December, were promptly resumed at the close of the war, and indeed with a generosity that cannot but move us to admiration. Before the New Church had been repaired, in fact but a month after services were resumed, a charity
* For the official adoption of this name at this time see pages 26, 27.
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offering of more than £80 was made, and two months later a special offering of £75 for the city poor was added. In December, 1784, the New Church people, now worshipping alone, made a charity offering of £58, an unprecedented sum. It is evident that the exaggerated distress of the time aroused them to extra effort .* Still more remarkable is the fact that, from this time on, their offerings were maintained at a considerably higher figure than formerly. For the first six years after the two congregations were again settled in their respective churches, the charity offer- ing at the New Church was one-third larger than it had been for the same period before the war, and in the next decade (beginning with 1791) the average of the offering was not only increased again, but actu- ally doubled. In some years nearly £100 were given to this cause. In 1801 it is interesting to notice that the sums begin to be given in dollars and cents, the old English system having continued up to that time. The offerings for the first years of the new century ranged from $175 to $225, a still further advance .¡
* Dr. Rodgers, in the sermon already described at the beginning of this chapter, had strongly urged the church's responsibility in this direction. After referring to the many "deserving citizens who have lost their all in this struggle," and especially to "those who have become widows and fatherless by this great contest," he says: "I most affectionately recom- mend them to the notice and friendship of their more opulent fellow-citizens, and the attention of the public, not upon the score of charity but of jus- tice. Can no plans be fallen upon for employing such deserving members of the community, which is the best method of providing for them? And can luxury and dissipation, those awkward vices in our present situation (to give them the softest name)-can they spare nothing for the supply of the more indigent among them? The approaching winter enforces the duty before us, with an energy that language fails to express." "Divine Goodness Displayed," etc., p. 36 f.
t It is interesting that on at least one occasion (November, 1787), in ad- dition to the usual methods of relieving the needs of the poor, the session
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It might be supposed that this increase in the regu- lar benevolence of the church would exhaust the purses of the congregation, but, as so often happens, generosity grew by exercise. Offerings for the send- ing of missionaries to the frontier were made on more than one occasion; help was given toward the restora- tion of a church in Savannah, Georgia, destroyed by fire; a collection was taken for the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children,* and another for the New York Missionary Society .; The sense of a wider responsibility among the churches was growing, and these occasional extra offerings among the Presbyterians were a happy prophecy of the coming of the new era.
In regard to money required by the church for its own expenses, we have an interesting note recorded in 1795. "The only stated revenue of the church," we are told, "from which they have been enabled to support the gospel from time to time, has arisen from the rents of their pews, in aid to which they have always had and still have a collection at every sermon (a practice in standing use among the churches of every denomination in the city). They have been obliged in four instances, when calling an additional minister, to have recourse to an annual subscription for a few years, but this practice is now laid aside."
voted that wood be bought and stored for the use of the poor through the winter, an early parallel to our modern "coal club."
* The names of three of the other benevolent institutions existing in New York at this time, in which the Presbyterian ministers were actively interested, will help to show the spirit that was now abroad: The Society for the Relief of Distressed Prisoners, The City Dispensary, The Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves.
t Founded in 1796. Mr. Miller took a great interest in it.
# "Manuscript Hist.," p. 25.
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The sum which was thus annually provided was by no means small. Dr. Rodgers, we are told,* received a salary of £700. Mr. Miller was called at a salary of £300; and presumably Dr. McKnight received the same. Each church had, moreover, its own clerk or chorister, its sexton, etc., and the annual expense for repairs and maintenance must have been con- siderable.
By far the most interesting development of the church work in this period remains to be described. On May 1st, 1789, the Presbyterian trustees opened a charity school for the secular education of the poor children of the parish. Other churches of the city had set the example of supplying, in a measure, the need of a public school free to all,; and whether we consider their interest in the cause of education itself or their desire to ensure religious training (in connection with secular instruction) for the children of the poor, their endeavor was in every respect an admirable one.
The foundation for this important Presbyterian charity had been laid many years before by a legacy amounting to $750, left by Capt. Jeremiah Owen
* By Manasseh Cutler in 1787, who adds that the perquisites amounted to about £200. Dr. Rodgers was originally called at a salary of £350.
t This important work had not yet been undertaken by the State. In a sermon by Mr. Miller, delivered in the New Church on July 4th, 1795, "before the Mechanic, Tammany, and Democratic societies, and the Mili- tary Officers," appears the following note (page 29): "The establishment of public schools, and making their support an object of legislative atten- tion, is so plainly and intimately connected with the welfare of all repub- lics, that neither proof nor illustration on the subject are necessary. Of such establishment the Eastern States have set us an honorable and useful example. The States of New York and Pennsylvania seem to be about engaging in a similar plan. . .. May we yet see the time when good edu- cation shall be extended to every class of citizens."
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as a fund whose interest should be applied annually toward the instruction of poor children of the congre- gation in reading, writing, and the use of figures .* Unhappily, on the ground that at that time the Presbyterian Church was not, and could not be, in- corporated, Mr. Gabriel Ludlow, the administrator, found himself legally unable to pay over the bequest. He was a zealous member of the Church of England, and the vestry of Trinity Church endeavored, we are told, to persuade him that the money might properly be turned over to them, or at least used to maintain, at their school, children of Presbyterian parents. But Mr. Ludlow, who pointedly declared that he was an honest man as well as a churchman, and that he would fulfil the intention of Captain Owen to the best of his knowledge and ability, under- took himself to select needy Presbyterian children and place them under the care of Presbyterian school- masters. Thus he expended the income of the legacy for ten years, with singular justness and fidelity .; The principal of the bequest subsequently came into the church's possession, and after the war, though much diminished by the depreciation of the paper currency, it was still available for its original pur- pose.
In 1787, with a view to providing more adequately for this work of education, a subscription was opened, and the sum of £500, equal to about $1,250, was realized. In the next year a bequest amounting to $900 was made by Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, a member of the church, for the same purpose. The
* See "Rodgers Mem.," pp. 167 and 414; also "Manuscript Hist.," p. 23.
t "Rodgers Mem.," pp. 168 f.
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trustees, acting with a committee of the session, were now able with the funds in hand to hire a master and open a school, which they did in 1789, as has been already stated. This was, however, established in temporary quarters. The next step was to purchase a lot on Nassau Street, between Liberty and Cedar, opposite the Middle Dutch Church, and to erect on it a two-story brick building, measuring twenty- five by forty feet, and containing both an ample school-room and living apartments for the master and his family. Here fifty children were at once gathered, both boys and girls. Their studies con- sisted not only of the usual rudiments, designated in Captain Owen's plan, but psalmody and the West- minster Shorter Catechism. The minister and a committee of the trustees visited the school once in every quarter and the proficiency of the scholars was carefully noted.
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