USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 3 > Part 22
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After much consideration, Dr. Gadsden offered two resolutions, which were unanimously adopted. In them the immediate establishment of the Seminary was urged
1 See the first volume of Christian Fournal for 1817, especially the numbers for May and November.
' P. 17, Fournal, South Carolina, 1817. 1
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as " of vital importance to her welfare " and " imperatively called for by the present want of ministers"; such an institution "must have the united support of the whole Church in these States," which it is believed will be given generously, and pledging South Carolina "to contribute her full portion to the endowment and maintenance of the establishment." 1
Bishop Hobart gave his views upon the proposed theo- logical school in a contribution to the Christian Journal for May, 1817, using his well-known pseudonym, "An Episcopalian." 2
When the Bishops and clergy assembled for the open- ing of the General Convention in Trinity Church, New York City, on Tuesday, May 20, 1817, it was found that the wish for a Seminary was almost universal. On May 26th, Bishop Dehon introduced into the House of Bishops these resolutions, which were adopted with substantial unanimity in the Lower House :
" Resolved, That it is expedient, to establish for the better education of candidates for holy orders in this church, a general Theological Seminary, which may have the united support of the whole church in these United States, and be under the superintendence and control of the general convention.
" Resolved, That this seminary be located in the city of New-York.
" Resolved, That - persons be appointed by the House of Bishops to visit the several parts of the United States, and solicit contributions towards funds for founding and endowing such an institution.
" Resolved, That a committee be appointed, to consist of the presid- ing bishop, and the bishops of this church in New-York, and New- Jersey, with three clergymen, and three laymen, to be appointed by the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies; which committee shall be em- powered to receive and manage such funds as shall be collected- to devise a plan for establishing and carrying into operation such an institution; which plan shall be communicated to the several
1 P. 18, Journal, South Carolina, 1817.
? See Appendix.
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1817]
bishops of this church -and in the event of sufficient funds being obtained, if a majority of the Bishops shall have approved the plan, to carry it into immediate operation."
The House of Clerical and Lay Deputies then pro- ceeded to appoint the Rev. Daniel Burhans, of Newtown, Conn., the Rev. Nathaniel Bowen, D.D., of New York City, and the Rev. William H. Wilmer, to visit the vari- ous States and solicit contributions. The committee upon the organization of the seminary was the Bishop of Pennsylvania, Dr. White; the Bishop of New York, Dr. Hobart ; the Bishop of New Jersey, Dr. Croes ; the Rev. Dr. Charles H. Wharton, of Burlington, N. J. ; the Rev. Dr. Thomas Y. How, of New York City ; the Rev. Dr. William Harris, President of Columbia College; the Hon. Rufus King, of New York City ; Mr. William Mere- dith, of Philadelphia; and the Hon. Charles F. Mercer, of Virginia.1
The committee on the proposed Seminary acted with due deliberation.
An informal meeting was held in the summer of 1817, when the Rev. Dr. Bowen, of Grace Church, New York City, was appointed as General Agent to solicit donations in the Middle States. In transmitting to him his appoint- ment, Bishop White, in a letter dated at Philadelphia, July 13, 1817, enlarges upon the need of more careful theologi- cal training, the dangers of the times, and the place the Seminary was to occupy in American Church life.2
Bishop Hobart proceeded with his energetic zeal to aid in the steps necessary before the institution could be opened.
While his plan had not been followed, his desire for
1 For action of the General Convention of 1817, see Journal, pp. 13-15, 33, 34, 35, 42, 43, 45, 46, 48, 49.
9 Pp. 7-10, Proceedings Relating to the Organization of the General Theological Seminary. New York : Daniel Dana, Jr., 8vo, pp. x., 668, 1854.
VOL. III .- 16.
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the proper training of young men for the ministry was too sincere to allow personal wishes to deter him from render- ing effective aid. He influenced many to subscribe, set- ting them a generous example, and when the Convention of the Diocese met in Trinity Church, New York City, October 2Ist and 22d he laid the subject before them in detail, using these forcible words and giving with much frankness his own matured opinions :
" But I think I should fail in my duty, if I neglected to impress on you, my brethren, and through you on the Episcopalians of the Dio- cese, the immense importance of the proposed Theological Establish- ment. There cannot be an object presented to them which has equal claims on their beneficence. Without a ministry the Church cannot exist ; and destitute of a learned, as well as a pious ministry, she cannot flourish. These are axioms, which it would be an insult to the under- standing of any person to suppose that he denies or doubts. As a general proposition, it is also true, that the ministry will not be dis- tinguished for learning, unless there are public institutions, which, in the professorships attached to them, in the libraries with which they are furnished, and in the association of young men of similar pursuits and views supply both the most advantageous means of theological improve- ment, and the most powerful motives diligently and faithfully to employ these means.
" A candidate for orders thus situated, directed by able, affection- ate, and pious professors, having access to richly furnished libraries, associated in the exercises of piety, as well as in his studies with those who are preparing for the exalted office of ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, would make a much greater and more substantial progress in all the preparatory qualifications for the ministry, than if left to solitary instruction, and solitary study.
" But a still further, and most eminent benefit of the contemplated Theological School, will consist in the pecuniary aids which it will furnish to youths of piety and talents, who are destitute of the funds to procure the necessary education for the ministry. Young men of this description have often furnished the brightest examples of ministerial fidelity, talents, and zeal. Many such, however, are now lost to the Church, from the want of funds with which to aid them in procuring the necessary education. There can be no species of benevolence more grateful to the friends of religion, and of the temporal and eter-
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Address by Hobart
1817]
nal happiness of mankind, than that which takes a youth of piety and talents, from a state of depression and obscurity, and furnishing him with the means of education and of theological study, prepares him for becoming the respectable and successful herald of the cross of the Redeemer, and the dispenser under God of spiritual blessings to his fellow-men.
" But for all these purposes-for the salaries of Professors, for pro- curing libraries, for supporting candidates for the ministry destitute of pecuniary means, for erecting the requisite buildings, funds are neces- sary, and large funds.
" This then is no ordinary call on the liberality of Episcopalians. It is a call, on the successful issue of which in procuring large contribu- tions, depends, if not the existence, certainly the extension and pros- perity of their Church. I would respectfully say to you, brethren, especially, my brethren of the Laity, and to Episcopalians in general- Look at what is done in this respect, by other Christian denominations- professorships handsomely endowed, commodious buildings, extensive libraries, numerous students. They annually send forth ministers dis- ciplined by the exercises of piety and fitted by the studies of the School for the eloquent and faithful exercise of their functions. Ought we not to be alarmed for the welfare of our own Church, destitute as she is of all public provision for theological education ? Benevolent individuals of other denominations freely bestow contribu- tions to this object to the amount of hundreds and frequently of thou- sands of dollars. Should we not be excited to, at least, equal liberality in the cause of a Church which has every possible claim on our affec- tion, and on our zealous exertions ? Many Episcopalians in this city, and elsewhere in the State, have already liberally contributed. They will have the prayers and the gratitude of the Church, and affording the most effectual means of perpetuating the blessings of our holy religion, they will have the gratitude of posterity; they will not be for- gotten, for this good which they have done, by their God. May their example be emulated by others; may every Episcopalian, when called on for his subscription to the Theological School, consider that he is to make his contribution to an object of more importance to the interests of religion and the Church, than any other for which he can be solicited; and which, therefore, demands the largest exercise of bene- ficence." 1
1 Pp. 330, 331, Christian Journal, November, 1817 ; also pp. 18-20, Journal, Diocese of New York, 1817; pp. 377, 378, Reprint, H. M. Onderdonk, 1844.
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After several meetings of the Committee and the pledge of nearly ten thousand dollars it was determined to appoint professors and commence the instruction of such candidates as might offer themselves.
At a meeting held in Philadelphia, October 7 and 8, 1817, the Rev. Dr. Wharton was appointed, "when the funds of the institution admit," Professor of Systematic Divinity, the Rev. Samuel H. Turner, Professor of His- toric Theology, and the Rev. Samuel F. Jarvis, Professor of Biblical Learning.
It was also arranged that the subject of Systematic Divinity should be assigned to the professor of Historic Theology until a salary could be provided for Dr. Whar- ton, and that the chair of " the Ritual of the Church and of Pulpit Eloquence," for which no professor was appointed, should have its topics treated by mutual arrangement between Dr. Jarvis and Mr. Turner.
At a meeting of the Committee on February 7, 1819, the offer of sixty-two lots in Greenwich village, New York City, made by Mr. Clement C. Moore through Bishop Hobart, was thankfully accepted with the conditions at- tached to the gift.
Under the power given by the Bishops upon the Com- mittee to open the institution when they saw fit, it was determined that Dr. Jarvis and Mr. Turner should com- mence their duties in the spring of 1819. It was left to Bishop Hobart to secure a room suitable for the purpose. In the recollections of the Rev. Dr. Turner is found the only account of this event :
"Early in the spring of 1819, Dr. Jarvis and I entered upon our duties. Nothing was done to bring the Institution before the Church. No publication was made of its opening, and no inaugural address delivered, or public religious service of any sort performed. Those who might have been expected to make arrangements of this sort relied, perhaps, upon the New-York authorities, who remained
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First Six Students
1820]
ineffective. The number of students was limited to six, constituting one class. Their names are as follows: Lawson Carter, James P. F. Clarke, George Washington Doane, Benjamin Dorr, Manton Eastburn, and William Hinckley Mitchell. With the exception of the last, who died in the spring of 1836, in South Carolina, where he exercised his ministry, all are still living, and some have become distinguished in the Church." 1
Dr. Turner gives a gloomy picture of the inauspicious beginning of this important work, and says :
" For causes which can only be ascertained from data well known to persons concerned, Bishop Hobart treated it with comparative indifference; and it is not to be questioned that with the great pro- portion of Churchmen in his diocese, his word and practice were equivalent to law." ?
"The small room immediately beyond the corner of the north gallery in St. Paul's Church," which was first assigned by Bishop Hobart for the use of the professors and their six, students, was changed in the fall of 1819 for accommodations in St. John's Chapel, where a fire could be made. Dr. Turner says that the class met
" sometimes in the Vestry-room, which lay then contiguous to the Chancel, at the north-east corner of the building, and sometimes in the adjoining part of the Church which contained one of the stoves." 3
The use of the Chapel was continued until the profes- sors were informed by Mr. Wunenberg, the sexton, that they must furnish their own fuel if they desired to hold their sessions there. The offer of Mr. Carter, one of the students, to use his schoolroom on the northwest corner of Broadway and Cedar Street was then accepted and the sessions held there until the close of the academic year in the spring of 1820.
1 Pp. 83-84, Autobiography of the Rev. Samuel H. Turner, D.D. New York: A. D. F. Randolph. 1864. 12 mo, pp. vii., 292.
9 Pp. 86, 87, Dr. Turner's Autobiography.
3 Ibid,, p. 87.
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Dr. Turner dwells upon the actual ignorance of Churchmen in New York regarding the Seminary and the lack of any interest in its welfare.
He attributes it entirely to Bishop Hobart, although some persons at the time considered that the withdrawal of Dr. Jarvis from the faculty after a service of only a few months to accept the rectorship of the new St. Paul's Church, Boston, was the reason for its neglect by New York Churchmen.
Dr. Turner considers at length the effects of the resig- nation of Dr. Jarvis, and concludes that the indifference shown to the Seminary by the Bishop and prominent Churchmen induced that brilliant scholar to go to Boston.
He also details the conflict of opinion between Bishop Hobart and the two professors :
"The Bishop desired two courses of study, one which could be mastered in a year, and the other covering three years. Neither of us had any sympathy with his wishes in this respect. Dr. Jarvis had for several years been regarded as a superior biblical scholar, and he directed the attention of the students to the Hebrew and Greek Scrip- tures. The Bishop was not much versed in that kind of learning, and had no respect for it. " 1
The divergence of views upon certain points of the- ology between Bishop Hobart and Dr. Turner was not favorable to harmonious action, especially as the diver- gence bore upon the authority and divine right of the Episcopate.2
When the General Convention met in Philadelphia in May, 1820, the affairs of the Seminary largely occupied its attention. It was evident that New York City did not desire the Seminary to continue there under the con- ditions that then prevailed.
1 P. 94, Dr. Turner's Autobiography.
9 Pp. 95-98, ibid. ..
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Seminary Removed to New Haven
1820]
There was much discussion ; many conferences were held by representatives of various dioceses and the friends of a general institution. The design of Diocesan schools had been already formed and Virginia had taken measures to establish one at Alexandria. Bishop Hobart was strongly inclined to alter his original intention and favor a Diocesan school.
There are few documents which bear upon the sub- ject, and the Journal of the General Convention only gives results, not deliberations. The Diocese of Con- necticut had long desired to establish a college under the control of the Church. In the exigency which arose regarding the proper location for the General Seminary, New Haven was suggested as a city in which there was already an institution of learning of the highest char- acter, Yale College, whose library and scholastic exer- cises might be of material benefit to many of the young candidates.
The consideration of the advantages of that city and of Philadelphia was protracted.
Bishop Hobart and the New York deputies finally decided in favor of New Haven, for the measure could not have been carried without their consent.
"They yielded to it," says Dr. Berrian, "however, from the per- suasion that diocesan institutions would ultimately be established- that a general institution would rather be acquiesced in than cordially supported-and thus, while the principal part of the funds of the general institution would be raised in New York, that diocese might be one of few which would not have a Theological Seminary subject to her own control. The removal therefore of the General Seminary was consented to on their part as a measure of conciliation, it being understood, as was supposed, that a theological institution would be organized in New York, for which the resources and contributions of the Episcopalians in that State were to be exclusively reserved." 1
' Dr. Berrian's Memoir, p. 242.
الفعل
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Toward the close of the session these resolutions were adopted :
" Ist. Resolved, That the theological seminary instituted at New-York, under the authority of the last General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, be trans- ferred to and located within the city of New-Haven, in the Diocese of Connecticut.
"2d. Resolved, That the management of the said seminary be, and is hereby, vested in a board of trustees, which shall con- sist of the Bishops of the several Dioceses within the United States, of twelve clergymen, and twelve laymen, to be appointed by the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, at every meeting of the General Convention, any seven of whom shall be competent to form a board for transacting business. They shall have power to collect and manage funds for the benefit of the seminary; to appoint professors and teachers therein, and prescribe their duties; regulate the admis- sion of students, and prescribe the course of studies to be observed by them, not inconsistent with the canons and the course of studies which is, or may be, established by the house of bishops ; to make such by-laws and regulations as may be necessary for the govern- ment of the seminary; and generally, to take such measures as they may deem essential to the prosperity of the institution ; provided, that the sums subscribed and collected, in pursuance of these reso- lutions, and the resolutions on this subject passed by the last General Convention, shall be vested in some secure and productive fund, and shall remain inviolate and untouched, except for the purpose of erecting suitable buildings for the accommodation of the seminary; and that the interest of the said capital shall be employed for the compensation of professors or other current or annual expendi- ture, except that they may continue and provide for the present professor.
"3d. Resolved, That the Bishops of the several Dioceses within the United States, and where there is no Bishop, the Standing Com- mittee of the Diocese, be and are hereby earnestly and respectfully requested to adopt such measures as they may deem most advisable to collect funds in aid of the theological seminary, and to cause the same, when collected, to be transmitted to the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees." 1
1 Fournal, 1817, pp. 43-45.
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1820]
Bishop Brownell and the Diocese of Connecticut bravely accepted the trust, and provided for the one professor, Dr. Turner, and the students who might apply for admission.
In communications to the newspapers of the day several Churchmen commented on the action of the General Convention.
In one of them " An Episcopalian " says :
" It is sincerely to be hoped that an object of such vital im- portance to the Church, will now be prosecuted with unanimity and vigour; and from the judicious plan on which the Seminary is reor- ganized, there is every reason to believe that this will be the case. The new situation is favourable on the score of economy, and the moderate habits of the people of Connecticut are peculiarly calcu- lated to form the students for the situations which they must gene- rally be called to fill in the Church."
Other writers took the view that it would not be long before a local theological school was founded in the City of New York and Mr. Moore's gifts and large sums of money promised conditionally to it would be available for its support. The preliminary measures for that were taken.
Bishop Hobart issued in the summer of 1820 a Pas- toral Letter, in which, after detailing the history of the General Seminary, he showed that New York had re- served her right of founding a Diocesan institution :
" The right of every diocese to provide for the theological educa- tion of candidates for orders, subject only to the provisions of the general canons of the Church, cannot be questioned. The ecclesiasti- cal authority of every diocese is responsible for the admission of persons as candidates for holy orders; who in their state of prepara- tion are under the charge of that authority, and, amenable to it. It is impossible for a moment to doubt the right of any diocese to make any arrangements which they may deem proper, in consistency with the
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general canons of the Church, for the instruction and aid of candi- dates for orders who are under its charge. No act of the General Convention has ever contravened this right. To prevent however, all misapprehension on this subject, both the right, and the probability of its exercise, were explicitly stated by the New York deputation in the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies : and in the House of Bishops, still more explicitly, the following declaration was adopted, as the condition on the part of that house, of concurrence in the resolutions relative to the seminary at New-Haven. The declaration is recorded on their journals.
"' The House of Bishops inform the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies that in concurring in the resolutions relative to the Theo- logical Seminary, and in its removal from the city of New-York, they deem it proper to declare that they do not mean by this concurrence to interfere with any plan now contemplated, or that may hereafter be contemplated, in any diocese or dioceses for the establishment of theological institutions or professorships and further they deem it their duty to express the opinion, as to the various sums subscribed under an act of the Convention establishing the seminary in New-York, that the subscribers who have not paid, are not now bound except they think proper, to pay their subscrip- tions, the institution being removed to a different city.'" 1
What had been done in Maryland and Virginia could be done in New York.
"Shall then," the Bishop inquires, "New-York relinquish the resources which she pre-eminently possesses for making ample pro- vision for the theological instruction of candidates for orders, when other dioceses are, or will be turning their attention to the subject? This is more than can be expected, or than should be required. What would be the consequence ? Other dioceses would have their estab- lishments for theological education, and, New-York, who has every claim to one, having bestowed her resources elsewhere, would be destitute." 2
Bishop Hobart argues with much ingenuity upon the danger of committing too much power to the General Convention and the serious question that had been dis-
1 Pp. 17, 18, A Pastoral Letter.
3 Pp. 19, 20, ibid.
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cussed concerning the propriety of a General Seminary under its control.
"That the General Convention should confine its legislation to those matters that are absolutely necessary to preserve the different parts of the Church as one body, is a principle which the venerable presiding Bishop of our Church states as the principle that should be strictly observed.1 And doubtless in conformity with this principle, and from an apprehension of the collisions which might arise from attempts by parties of different views, to obtain the control of the general institution, he has always expressed his opinion in favour of provision being made by the different dioceses, for the education of candidates for orders. The very attempt to preserve unity of theological opinions by a general institution, under the authority of the Convention, would lead to collisions and to separations. Here, too, the experience of other denominations may guide us. The Presbyterian theological institutions, in the western part of this State, and in Tennessee, I am credibly informed, are established by those not favourable in all re- spects to the theological system inculcated by the general institution. The only practical security for unity of theological opinion among candidates for orders, consists in the course of studies prescribed by the Bishops, and in the general regulations of the Convention." ?
To carry out this design the Bishop proposed the for- mation of a society to be called " The Protestant Episco- pal Theological Educational Society."
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