USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 1 > Part 6
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Questions having now arisen respecting the validity of the Duke of York's title, a new patent was issued by the King granting absolute power of government over his former province, including New Jersey, lands on the Connecticut River, and Pemaquid in Maine. The Duke appointed Col. Edmund Andros Governor. Like Nicolls and Lovelace, he was a member of the Established Church, and personally a man of distinguished ability. His instructions were large and liberal ; he was ordered to administer justice "with all possible equality without regard to Dutch or English," to the end that all might see "their just rights preserved to them inviolably." In particular, he was directed
" to permit all persons of what Religion soever, quietly to inhabit within the precincts of your jurisdiction, without giving them any disturbance or disquiet whatsoever for or by reason of their differing opinions in matter of Religion : Provided they give no disturbance to the public peace, nor do molest or disquiet others in the exercise of their religion." ?
It was furthermore agreed that the inhabitants of the Dutch nation should be allowed to retain their customary church privileges in divine service and church discipline,
' Brodhead's Hist. New York, ii., 183 ; Valentine's Manual of the Common Council, 1855, 531-2, 1860, 548 ; Perry's Hist. American Church, vol. i., 170.
? Brodhead's Hist. New York, ii., 264 ; N. Y. Col. Docs., iii., 218.
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History of Trinity Church
[1664-
besides their fathers' laws and customs in the division of their inheritance.
We are indebted to Andros for a description of the state of religion in the province ; it is found in his reply to certain inquiries addressed to him. from Whitehall touching the condition of affairs in the Plantations of New York. Under date of April 16, 1678, he says :
" The Duke maintains a Chapline, wch is all the certaine allowance or Chirch of England but peoples free gifts to ye ministry, And all places oblidged to build churches & provide for a minister, in wch most very wanting, but presbiterians & Independents desierous to haue & maintaine them if to be had, There are ab' 20 churches or Meeting places of wch above halfe vacant their allowance like to be from 40 li to 70 li a yeare and a house and garden. Noe beggars but all poore cared ffor, If good Ministers could be had to goe theither might doe well and gaine much upon those people." 1
Governor Andros made a voyage to England, to give account of certain acts in connection with his adminis- tration. Upon returning to New York, he brought back with him the Reverend Charles Wolley, with the Duke's commission as Chaplain to the forces, the first Chaplain who is known by name. He was fresh from Cambridge, where he entered at Immanuel College, July 9, 1670, taking his Master's degree July, 1677. At London, in 1701, he published a volume of American experiences, describing New York as "a place of as sweet and agreeable air as I ever breathed in, and the inhabitants both English and Dutch very civil and cour- teous." Of the clergy, he says :
"In the same City of New York where I was Minister to the English, there were two other Ministers or Domines, as they were called there, the one a Lutheran a German or High Dutch, the other a Calvinist an Hollander or Low-Dutchman, who behav'd themselves one towards
1 N. Y. Col. Docs., iii., 262.
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The Reverend Charles Wolley
1685]
another so shily and uncharitably as if Luther and Calvin had be- queathed and entailed their virulent and bigotted Spirits upon them and their heirs forever." 1
Wolley's residence of two years may not have proved very fruitful, but Andros testified that he was unblam- able in life and conversation, and of lively and entertain- ing manners.2 The Labadists who visited New York in 1679 heard him preach, and wrote as follows, under date of Sunday, October 15 :
"We went at noon to-day to hear the English Minister, whose services took place after the Dutch Church was out. There were not above twenty-five or thirty people in the Church. The first thing that occurred was the reading of all their prayers and ceremonies out of the prayer book, as is done in all Episcopal churches. A young man then went into the pulpit and commenced preaching, who thought he was performing wonders ; but he had a little book in his hand, out of which he read his sermon, which was about a quarter of an hour or half an hour long. With this the services were concluded, at which we could not be sufficiently astonished." $
This amusing account is the earliest description of a church service now accessible, but Wolley does not ap- pear to have been without missionary aspirations, and in his account of the Indians he says : "May the lover
' Two Years' Fournal in New York. Edited by O'Callaghan and published by Gowan, New York, 1860, p. 55, where also an account is given of his humorous way of effecting a reconciliation between these two Domines.
9 The following is the testimony of Andros referred to :
" A Certificate to Mr. Charles Wolley to goe for England in the Hopewell.
"Sr Edmund Andros, Knt., etc. Whereas, Mr. Charles Wolley (a Minister of the Church of England), came over into these parts in the month of August, 1678, and hath officiated accordingly as Chaplaine under his Royall Highnesse during the time of his abode here. Now, upon applicacon for leave to returne for England in order to some promoçon in the Church to which hee is presented, hee having liberty to proceed on his voyage. These are to certify the above, and that the sd Mr. Wolley hath in this place comported himself unblameable in his Life and conversacon. In testimony whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seal of the province in New Yorke, this 15th day of July, in the 32nd yeare of his Majtyes Raigne. Anno Domine, 1680. Examined by mee. M. N. Secr." Perry's Am. Hist., vol. i., 152.
3 Memoirs of Long Island Hist. Soc., vol. i., 148.
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History of Trinity Church
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of Souls bring these scattered desert people home to his own flock." It is stated that he joined with Andros in helping the Dutch finish their new place of worship in the fort, while it is certain that he was indebted to them for his own accommodations, and lived with them on the best of terms.
Andros was recalled in 1680, leaving Anthony Brock- holls in his place as Commander-in-Chief, and a vacancy appears in the Chaplaincy of about two years. The province now fell into a state of dire confusion, and it soon became evident that there was need of a clear head and a strong hand to set things to rights again. Accordingly, on the 25th of August, 1683, a new Gov- ernor arrived in the person of Thomas Dongan, one of the ablest executive officers that this city has ever had. His instructions bear date January 27, 1682. He brought with him, as the Government Chaplain, Dr. John Gordon.1
A devout Roman Catholic by profession,2 he never- theless ruled his Protestant colony with absolute im- partiality, and won universal respect and esteem. The
1 His salary was paid from Nov. 26, 1682, to Oct. 6, 1683. See Brodhead, ii., 374, and N. Y. Col. Docs., iii, 415, n. Dongan also brought over an English Jesuit priest, Thomas Harvey of London. During the year 1682 lay reading appears to have obtained, for a time, in the Garrison Chapel, as Domine Selyns says, in October 28, that "We and the English inhabitants use the same church. They perform their services at the conclusion of ours, by reading the Common Prayer. They have a clerk, but no minister, except one who marries and baptizes in private houses, but does not preach." This minister may have been the Reverend Samuel Eburne, who came to the province out of health. This is the first indication that we have of lay services, though those instituted by Colonel Heathcote at Scarsdale in 1692, and those of Vesey at Sag and Hempstead 1695-6, were of that character. Anthology of New Nether- land, 94.
? The Test Act, passed March 29, 1673, required all persons holding any civil or military office to receive the Lord's Supper according to the usages of the Church of England, and to subscribe a declaration against the Romish doctrine of transubstan- tiation. This act, however, did not apply to the colonies ; so that the Duke of York, though compelled to resign his home appointments, still retained the jurisdiction over the colonies, and was free to appoint as governor a member of the Church of Rome.
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Dongan's Indian Policy
1685]
policy of religious toleration was continued as before, and active measures were taken to protect the English domin- ions from the apprehended designs of the French.
The country lying between Canada and the settle- ments on and about the Hudson River was occupied by that remarkable Indian confederacy known as the Iro- quois, or the Five Nations. Dutch and English alike re- garded those powerful and warlike tribes as a kind of natural barrier or bulwark between them and the French ; while the French were never weary of efforts to gain them over to their side. The Jesuit missionaries acted as agents in that design. Dongan sought to neutralize their work by means of counter-missions from the English side, conducted by priests of the same faith. The subject is one of the deepest interest, on which, were there time, it would be highly entertaining and instructive to dwell. Suffice it to say that Dongan, in his Indian policy, fol- lowed the line of his predecessor, Andros. He claimed the Iroquois, and all the Indians south and southwest of Canada, as English subjects, and their lands as under the British Crown, and strenuously resisted, by every means at his command, the attempts of the French to extend their power in his direction.
Dongan received no special instructions with regard to ecclesiastical affairs, those given to Andros being at that time deemed sufficient. Nevertheless, during his administration, and probably before his time, the use of Common Prayer obtained on some parts of Long Island.1
1 " Mr. Samuell Eburne the minister of this Towne, being at a Towne meeting held by Mr. Justice Woodhull, his Warrant Elected by a vote to be minister of this Towne and Parrish & it being proposed unto him by the Towne, in Regard of some tender consciences, that he would omitt the ceremonies in the booke of Common Prayer, in the publick worshipe, the sd mr. Samuell Eburne hath promised & by the presents cove- nant and promise to, and with the Inhabitants and Parrishoners of this Towne, that according to their desire with regard of their tender consciences to Omitt & not · use the aforesd ceremonies neither in his Publick worship or administracon of the Sac-
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History of Trinity Church [1664-
In the meanwhile, Gordon was succeeded as Chaplain to the forces by the Rev. Josias Clarke.1 The administra- tion of Clarke left no very noticeable results, though the use of Common Prayer excited discussion, and the Rev. Mr. Eburne was obliged to appeal to the Governor in connection with the payment of his salary .?
Eburne resided on Long Island for nearly twenty years, though he probably did not remain in the capacity of minister of Brookhaven more than one year. We gain a glimpse of his personal history from an unpublished letter by Lord Cornbury, who wrote to the Venerable Society, November 21, 1705, saying that at the time the Dutch minister, Mr. Nucella, left Kingston, which was March 7, 1704, "there was on Long Island Mr. Eburne, a minister of the Church of England, who had formerly served one of the churches in ye Island of Jamaica, but not enjoying. his health there came to this province and settled on Long Island, where he had a daughter married." Mr. Eburne went to Kingston by order of Cornbury "to preach and read divine service, in good hopes of bringing the Dutch to a conformity."3 He
raments excepting to such persons as shall desire the same. In Wittness whereof the sd Samuell Eburne hath hereunto sett his hand. Witness my hand
"SAMUEL EBURNE, Minister."
Records of Town of Brookhaven of 1685, p. 63.
1 N. Y. Col. Docs., iii., 415, n., and Brodhead, ii., 407.
2 The petition of " Samuel Eborne of Brookhaven Clerk " sets forth that on Sep- tember 20, 1685, " yo' petitioner Entertayned by the Inhabitants of Brookhaven afore- sayed to bee their minister, in consideration whereof they covenanted with him to pay & sattisfy him for the same the sume of sixty pounds p annum soe long as hee should con- tinue to preach amongst them," but they had failed to keep their contract. This was clearly owing to their dissensions in connection with Common Prayer. The town was ordered to pay, or show cause for failure. N. Y. Doc. Hist., iii., 218. As nothing more appears, it is to be presumed that the order was efficacious. Dongan appears to have had this case in mind when he spoke of the difficulty which he encountered in making the people of Long Island pay their ministers.
3 He was variously called " Hepburne " (see Perry's Am. Hist., vol. i., 174), and " Heburn " or " Haburne" (see N. Y. Doc. Hist., iii., 77 and 534).
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1685] First Convention of the General Assembly
did not succeed, however, though he appears to have been a positive Churchman. During his long residence on Long Island, being a zealous man, he must have done considerable to advance the Church, even though in poor health, and his case quite refutes the oft-quoted error that the service in the garrison at New York was all the foot- ing that the Church of England, as by law established, had in this province until 1693.1
It was under this administration that the inhabitants of the province were first permitted to meet by their rep- resentatives in an assembly ; the privilege had previously been conceded in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and the people of New York had long sought , the like favor of the home government. Under Dongan the Duke of York granted their request; and the "General Assembly" was duly convened. The subject has great interest for the student of statecraft. The rep- resentatives were to be elected-not by universal suffrage, for of that development of the democratic theory nothing was known as yet-but by the freeholders ; and to those representatives, so chosen, was committed the right to levy taxes and to make laws. On the 17th of October, A.D. 1683, the General Assembly met for the first time. It began by adopting an instrument known as " the Charter of Liberties and Priviledges granted by His Royal High- ness to the Inhabitants of New York, and its dependen- cies." The political frame of the government appears to have been thenceforth regarded as consisting of three branches : Ist, the Governor; 2d, a Council appointed, like the Governor, by the Crown ; and 3d, a representa- tive body elected by the people ; and to these three was committed the legislative authority of the colony and particularly the power of taxing the inhabitants for the
1 Brodhead, ii., 44 ; N. Y. Doc. Hist., iii., 265.
,
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History of Trinity Church
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support of the government ; while the people regarded themselves as being on a footing of perfect equality with their fellow-subjects in Great Britain, and especially as en- joying the exclusive right of taxing themselves. The As- sembly, at its first session, guaranteed to all peaceable persons who professed faith in God by Jesus Christ en- tire freedom of conscience and religion ; the existing Christian churches in the province were forever to enjoy all their former freedom in divine worship and ecclesiasti- cal discipline, and to be forever held and regarded as privileged churches ; and it was further ordered that no taxes should be levied without the consent of the People in General Assembly met and convened. It has been shrewdly remarked that in this remarkable instrument THE PEOPLE are for the first time mentioned ; they are not so named in any of the charters of the New England governments. It will also appear, hereafter, with what suspicion and alarm the inaugural acts of the General Assembly were regarded, when subjected to the scrutiny of the powers at home ; not without cause, indeed, for the germ of long contests and ultimate strife might be dis- cerned but too plainly, even by an unpractised eye.
In studying the progress of events as they unfold themselves to the view during this period of the history of the province, it is necessary to bear in mind the design of the Duke of York, to which reference has already been made, of consolidating the English colonies, making of them one strong and compact body, and placing them under a single executive head. To this design the con- dition of affairs in New England opposed for the time an insuperable barrier. King Charles I. had granted to the settlers in that region charters after their own mind ; char- ters of individualism pure and simple, valued chiefly by the colonists because of the independence which they con-
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Puritan Oligarchy
1685]
ferred. The communities which existed and flourished by virtue of those instruments were, substantially, little relig- ious oligarchies of the Puritan stamp ; none but mem- bers of the corporations could vote or hold office, and none but members of the Church could be members of the corporation ; while the corporators were in turn ruled by their ministers and with no feeble hand. As for dis- senters from the Puritan church government, there was for them neither civil nor religious liberty, nor even peace or safety in limb or goods, except on condition of absolute submission to the powers that were. This was the state of things-pronounced "intolerable " by the victims of its oppression-which must be changed, before a more liberal system could be organized in its place ; and as a step toward that end there was given to all the freeholders, in other parts of the province, a share in their own govern- ment, without regard to the questions of religious belief ; while as a further step toward the same end, and with a view to break up the oligarchies of dissenters and doc- trinaires, it was decided, when the time seemed ripe, to govern the colonies directly from the Crown. The theory that this was done for the mere love of arbitrary power is a one-sided view of the case. When in the year 1684 King Charles II. annulled the patent of the Corporation of Massachusetts Bay, he took out the keystone of an arch, on which had rested, since the days of his father, a hard, bitter, and intolerant system ; he released from the hand of persecution Churchmen, Jews, Quakers, Anabap- tists, and the like, who, with witches, so called, and the vexed and afflicted folk, had been fain to fly for safety, some to Providence Plantations, others to the friendly shelter of the Dutch settlement at New Amsterdam, or whithersoever else they might go to find rest for body and soul. Out of the ruins of the shattered Puritan systems
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History of Trinity Church [1664-85
was formed the province of New England, including Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and New Ply- mouth; and over it was placed Kirke, as His Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor-General. Such was the last act of the King, so far as the development of the colonial pol- icy was concerned. Another King, inexorable and greater than he, demanded him; to that dread power he made his own submission, on the 6th day of February, A.D. 1685.
CHAPTER IV.
NEW YORK UNDER JAMES II.
Accession of James II .- Governor Dongan-Episcopal Jurisdiction in America-Con- solidation of Provinces-Abdication of James II. and Accession of William III .- Excitement in New York-The Leisler Rebellion-Governor Sloughter-Charter of Liberties-Rev. John Miller, and his Scheme for the Establishment of an Episcopate in the Province-Steps toward the Full Recognition of the Church of England- Attempt to Pass a Bill for Settling the Ministry in the Province-Arrival of Gov- ernor Fletcher.
U PON the death of Charles II., James, Duke of York, .
his brother, ascended the throne ; the Lord Pro- prietor now became monarch, and the colony of New York a royal province governed directly by the Crown. As might have been expected the colonial policy remained the same, and the scheme of consolidation was pushed with energy. Colonel Sir Edmund Andros, the former Governor of New York, was appointed Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief over the Territory and Dominion of New England in America ; he arrived in New England December 19, 1686, and at once took command. At the same time Dongan was appointed Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief over the province of New York, his new commission dating from the 14th of September of that year. Acting under instructions from the Crown, he proceeded to dissolve the General Assembly. The royal assent to the charter of liberties had been refused, and for a time the popular branch of the colonial gov- ernment might have been regarded as extinct. Dongan
61
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also received instructions on the subject of religion, from which it appears that the time was deemed ripe for giving to the Church of England in the province greater con- sideration and a firmer foothold than she had yet en- joyed. His orders were as follows :
"You shall take especial care that God Almighty bee devoutly and duely served throughout yor government : the Book of Common Prayer, as it is now establisht, read each Sunday and Holyday, and the Blessed Sacrament administered according to the Rites of the Church of England. You shall be careful that the Churches already built there shall bee well and orderly kept and more built as ye Colony shall, by God's blessing, bee improved. And that besides a competent maintenance to bee assigned to ye Minister of each Church, a con- venient House be built at the Comôn charge for each Minister, and a competent Proportion of Land assigned him for a Glebe and exercise of his Industry.
" And you are to take care that the Parishes bee so limited & settled as you shall find most convenient for ye accomplishing this good work.
"Our will and pleasure is that noe minister bee preferred by you to any Ecclesiastical Benefice in that Our Province, without a Certi- ficat from ye most Reverend the Lord Archbiship of Canterbury of his being conformable to ye Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England, and of a good life & conversation.
"And if any person preferred already to a Benefice shall appear to you to give scandal either by his Doctrine or Manners, you are to use the best means for ye removal of him ; and to supply the vacancy in such manner as wee have directed. And alsoe our pleasure is that, in the direction of all Church Affairs the Minister bee admitted into the respective vestrys.
" And to th' end the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the said Arch- bishop of Canterbury may take place in that Our Province as farr as conveniently may bee. Wee doe think fitt that you give all counte- nance and encouragement in ye exercise of the same ; excepting only in Collating to Benefices, granting licenses for Marriage, and Probat of Wills, which wee have reserved to you our Govr. & to ye Com- mander in chief for the time being.
"And you are to take especial care that a Table of marriages established by ye Canons of the Church of England bee hung up in all Orthodox Churches and duly observed.
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The Royal Instructions
1692]
" And you are to take care that Books of Homilys & Books of the 39 Articles of ye Church of England bee disposed to every of ye said Churches, & that they bee only kept and used therein.
"And we do further direct that noe School-master bee henceforth permitted to come from England & keep School within Our Province of New York without license of the said Archbishop of Canterbury ; and that noe other person now there or that shall come from other parts, bee admitted to keep school without your license first had.
"You shall permit all persons of what Religion soever quietly to inhabit within yor Government without giving them any disturbance or disquiet whatsoever, by reason of their differing Opinions in matters of Religion, provided they give noe disturbance to ye publick peace, nor doe molest or disquiet others in ye free exercise of their Religion." N. Y. Col. Docs., vol. iii., 372.
In these instructions Sancroft, the Archbishop of Can- terbury, is recognized as having the ecclesiastical juris- diction,1 the King having had a misunderstanding with
1 The question of Episcopal jurisdiction in America presents no small difficulties to the student. In 1606, King James I. granted land in Virginia, and directed that the word of God should be preached according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England. A council sat in London, known as the Virginia Council, of which the Bishop of London was a member. It was the duty of that Council to look after the interests of the new settlement, and see that the ranks of the clergy were kept filled. The Bishop of London had raised £1000 for a college in Virginia. Very naturally, therefore, the clergy and Council looked to him for aid in procuring ministers, and this seems to have been the origin of the connection of that prelate with the colonial churches. It continued until 1675, when " the Committee of Trade and Plantations " desired that "enquiry be made touching the jurisdiction which the Bishop of London hath over the foreign plantations." In 1679, by the instructions given to Lord Culpeper, it was evident that the Bishop was not supposed to have jurisdiction. The Governor of the province had the right to prefer to ecclesiastical benefices, but the person so preferred was required to produce a certificate from the Bishop of London setting forth his conformity to the doctrine of the Church of England. Doubts as to the extent of the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London con- tinued to prevail, nor did that prelate consider America as a part of his diocese, nor ex- ercise authority there, till, in the reign of James II., the Bishop (Dr. Compton) was formally empowered to exercise all ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the American plan- tations, including the licensing of schoolmasters going thither from England. But, having given grave offense to the King, by opposing the abrogation of the Test Act, he was removed from the Privy Council, and the King in his instructions to Dongan ordered that the jurisdiction formerly exercised by the Bishop of London in the Ameri- can Plantation should be transferred to the Archbishop of Canterbury. At a later . date, when King William came to the throne, the old order was restored, and the
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