A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 4, Part 12

Author: Dix, Morgan, 1827-1908, ed. cn; Dix, John Adams, 1880-1945, comp; Lewis, Leicester Crosby, 1887-1949, ed; Bridgeman, Charles Thorley, 1893-1967, comp; Morehouse, Clifford P., ed
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: New York, Putnam
Number of Pages: 1266


USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 4 > Part 12


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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49


" I was sitting with her, on the little verandah, at the Hills. After a few moments, she said: 'He left me here, and went thoughtfully, out of my sight, to take his carriage, there, at the gate; but he soon came running back, for something he had forgotten. This gave me one more last look at him and one more tender farewell. "Oh ! my dear," said I, as he again tore himself away, "you are doing too much." " How can I do too much," he answered-" for Him who has done everything for me?"' These were the last words that passed be- tween this loving, faithful wife, and her devoted husband, who indeed lived and died like an Apostle." 1


The portrait to which Bishop Coxe refers as being at Hartford, is the one which formed the frontispiece to the third volume of this History.


In the Hobart correspondence there are various bills


1 Recollections of Bishop Hobart, by the Rt. Rev. Arthur Cleveland Coxe, D.D. No. 6 in the Soldier and Servant Series of the Junior Auxiliary Publishing Company, Hartford, 1895.


Bishop Hobart's House at"The Short Hills"


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and memoranda relating to shrubs and plants for the Bishop's residence at Short Hills. In many of the letters from his friends and correspondents are allusions to gifts of seeds or cuttings for the garden or orchard.


Judging from the bills we would say that the Bishop was especially fond of roses and honeysuckles. In one bill alone, that for the spring of 1821, we find no less than ten different varieties of roses, and six varieties of honey-suckles.


The Bishop used to call his place the "Short Hills," but the location is rather in Summit, New Jersey, than in the adjacent village now known as Short Hills. Through the courtesy of Mr. Charles W. L. Roche, we are able to present to our readers two views of the Bishop's place, which is now known as " Brantwood," and owned by Mr. Roche. Mr. Roche's present residence occupies the exact site of the house in which the Bishop lived and which was burned down some years ago. The view which we give of the old house is as it was a short while before it was burned.


Mr. Roche's house is practically on the same site as that of the Bishop's Farm-house, and for practical as well as for sentimental reasons Mr. Roche used the foundation stones of the Bishop's house as far as they would go in


his ow own, and as nearly as he could he preserved the original contour of the land about the house, together with the shrubs and shade trees which the Bishop planted, among which were some fine old specimens which he had imported from foreign lands. There was a cedar of Leba- non which was still alive when the present owner took up his residence there, but it has since died because the roots were in some manner interfered with. The trunk and some of the branches still stand and serve as a trellis for vines. The Bishop also planted patches of lilies and rocket (the latter a flower somewhat similar to flox) which


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have spread over a large territory and which in Springtime make the hillside aglow with beauty. The Bishop was very fond of the locust tree and he planted a number of them around his place, the result of which is very apparent for some miles around, as the seed-pods have evidently blown and gradually spread this tree to a great distance from the original spot.


The second view gives a very good idea of how the grounds looked in Bishop Hobart's time. The estate of the Bishop contained about 175 acres. In digging about the place the present owner recently found the key to the old house and the Bishop's doorplate, bearing the inscrip- tion "HOBART." It is about ten inches long by four inches wide.


The elevation is over four hundred feet and the steeple of Trinity Church can be seen plainly from the grounds. It is true that the spire of the old church was only 180 feet high, while the present one is 284 feet, yet the complete absence of tall buildings near it made it con- spicuous. The tradition, therefore, is very likely true that the Bishop used to be signalled from the church spire when his services were unexpectedly required.


And now this part of our History, which deals with the Hobart period comes to an end. It would seem fitting to close it with what is styled, in recent parlance, an "ap- preciation " of its subject. Such a summary I was about to write, when I received, unexpectedly, from that friend and fellow-laborer in this protracted work, the Rev. Dr. Lowndes, to whom I have already referred in the introduc- tions to the volumes of this History, a paper which consti- tutes so clear a presentation of the several claims of Bishop Hobart to our gratitude, that it may well serve as the close of this presentation of the life of this great man. With the views of the writer, candidly and forcibly


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as he has expressed them, we may not all entirely agree ; but in the main, the portrait is well drawn, and the con- clusions constrain assent.


This statement I shall, accordingly, make the finale of this branch of the work, presenting it, without change, to the reader, and commending it to the thoughtful con- sideration of lovers of our Church and admirers of honest and loyal men.


" When Hobart ascended to the Episcopate the idea current as to the duties of that Office was that it had to be filled with dignity: apart from that qualification little else was demanded. Hobart infused into the ministrations of the Episcopate a zeal, an ardour and an enthusiasm which had been absolutely alien to it for centuries.


"This enthusiasm was partly due to his restless and nervous tem- perament, a temperament which was peculiarly American. High- strung, quick in all his actions, repose was unknown to him. He never could have filled any situation with 'ease and dignity.' But be- yond all this natural temperament there was with him a new conception of the Office of the Episcopate. He held lofty ideas as to the value and worth of the Episcopate. He magnified his Office. He believed the Episcopate to be an absolute necessity. He believed as few men before him did in the reality of that Office, he firmly believed in. the words of his Prayer Book which told him that he stood in the 'place of the Apostles ' when ministering to Christian congregations. He ante- dated by several years the teachings and the thought in the Anglican Church which has come to be known under the name of 'Tractarian- ism ' or the Oxford Movement, or the Catholic Revival. His activity in printing tracts and pamphlets, his strong belief in the true Catho- licity of the American Church, his untiring zeal to have those principles taught by his clergy, and his own constant advocacy of them, entitle him to the title of being the 'First Tractarian ' as well as the remodel- ler of the Anglican Episcopate. His influence on the Canadian Bishops with whom he was more in sympathy than with those in America has still to be told.


"The Church of England does not yet recognize to the full the great benefits she owes to the Canadian Bishops of the early part of the nineteenth century, and she is equally far from understanding the debt she is under to John Henry Hobart.


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" In the American Church his influence was, almost from the very earliest days of his Episcopate, rapidly felt. He had official oversight not only of New York State, which was his own diocese, but he had at various times the oversight of Connecticut, New Jersey and the Western Reserve in Ohio. Men from the East, the South and the West applied to Bishop Hobart for help and guidance in Church mat- ters ; parishes even in the South asked him to recommend them suitable persons as Rectors.


"He was looked up to as a leader by men of diverse opinions; he was appealed to as if he had been the Metropolitan of the American Church. His energies were untiring. With him it was not the scab- bard wearing out the sword, but the sword wearing out the frail scabbard.


"From the onset of his life he was a frail, nervous being and the frailties which we are forced to recognize in his character, his quick- ness of speech, his hasty actions, his irritability at all opposition, his outbursts of quick temper, all these faults and frailties were we are in- clined to believe the result of his physical condition. A dyspeptic man is rarely evenly balanced.


"Frail as his body was, the mind was ever clear and the ardent spirituality of the soul triumphed over all.


"It is a common tradition in the Diocese of New York that all progress in Church matters dates from the Hobart epoch.


" While such a statement is not strictly accurate, because even in Trinity Parish Hobart would have been able to accomplish but little had not broad and stable foundations been laid by wise and good men, as the course of this History has abundantly shewn, yet the statement is sufficiently true to merit consideration.


" When Hobart assumed the Rectorship of the Premier Parish in New York, he found that the finances of the Corporation had been wisely and conservatively administered through most trying times, while what may be called the spiritualities had been but little attended to.


" As a necessary consequence of the darkened days of Bishop Provoost's concluding years, and the health of Bishop Hobart's imme- diate predecessor the latter years in the history of the Parish and Diocese had been rather barren of good works.


"Institutions had indeed been created before Hobart's day, but when he became Rector he found them languishing for lack of leader- ship. To him, therefore, the merit belongs of having infused new life into them and made them valuable auxiliaries to the work of the Church in the city and State.


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"When we re-read the list of Societies which sent their tributes of respect and condolences on the death of Bishop Hobart, we feel that the Church was in a very different position in this country after Bishop Hobart's Episcopate than she was at its commencement.


"The Society for the Promotion of Religion and Learning did not owe its origin to Bishop Hobart, but he made it effective.


"The New York Bible and Prayer Book Society seems to have been an outgrowth of meetings of young men for religious instruction in Trinity Parish and other city churches. They realized the good which might be done by an organized society for distributing the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. In the Churchman's Magazine for March and April, 1809, is found the Constitution, to which is prefixed an address upon the utility of such a Society, in which the arguments and phrases are not only those used by Bishop Hobart in sermons, charges, and addresses, but the style throughout is eminently charac- teristic of the Bishop. As this Society was, so a note prefixed to the Constitution and Address says, to be general and its object to diffuse its benefits throughout the Country, there was subsequently founded under the direct auspices of the Bishop himself an Auxiliary New York City Bible and Prayer Book Society, which was to be more local in its work.


" The school known originally as the 'Charity School,' founded in 1709, by the S. P. G. and Trinity Church, had maintained an hon- ourable and useful existence for nearly a century, when new life was infused into it largely by Dr. Hobart and some of the younger clergy and laity by its incorporation in 1806 under the name of the New York Protestant Episcopal Public School. It is now known as Trinity School, the name given to it in 1845.


" The New York Protestant Episcopal Tract Society was founded as an offshoot of the Bible and Prayer Book Society in 1810. Its early publications were largely from the pen of Dr. Hobart, Dr. Howe, Dr. Beasley and other of the intellectual clergy of the day. This Society is still in nominal existence.


" The Sunday School Society was founded in Dr. Hobart's Episco- pate, in 1817, and continued in active existence for about thirty years.


" The Protestant Episcopal Press, established in 1829, was the result of the Bishop's influence. It had a career of great usefulness for nearly fifteen years.


" Not only in the formation of Societies which did good work for the Church at large was Bishop Hobart active, but he founded


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Church papers. It must be remembered that Hobart did not look upon the territorial limits of Trinity Parish as bounding the sphere of his activities ; it may be truly said that New York State was his Parish.


"This is true because in his anxiety for the spread of Evangelical Truth and Apostolic Order he did not confine his work in his Diocese to what may be called simple Episcopal Acts, such as Confirmation and the settling of clergy in parishes, but he made specific enquiries as to the actual needs of the parish, just as if he were the Rector, and the clergy his Vicars.


" The Churchman's Magazine was published from 1804-1808 in Connecticut under the direction of the Convocation of the Clergy of the Diocese. After the year 1805 Dr. Hobart and other New York clergymen and laymen became financially interested in the venture. Dr. Hobart also contributed to its columns. In 1808 the magazine was removed to New York and Dr. Hobart became its editor. It was continued until the year 1812. A new series commenced in 1813 under the editorship of the Rev. John C. Rudd, then of Elizabeth Town, New Jersey, but still under the supervision of Bishop Hobart. This series continued until 1816.


" Bishop Brownell, at the request of the Convention of the Diocese of Connecticut, commenced a new series in 1821 and continued it for two years. The Convocation of the Clergy of Connecticut, at a meeting in Cheshire on November 24, 1824, considered several plans for its re- vival. Finally a resolution was adopted that it was expedient to revive The Churchman's Magazine, and the Rev. Dr. Tillotson Bronson, of the Episcopal Academy, was elected editor. It was continued till the close of the year 1826, when it ceased to exist. It is a storehouse of information for the period covered by its existence, its literary merit was always high and its Churchmanship sound and proclaimed with no uncertain voice.


" The Christian Fournal was established in 1817, by Bishop Ho- bart himself, as a diocesan paper under his own editorial manage- ment assisted by the Rev. Benjamin T. Onderdonk.


" It had many interesting articles on Church Doctrine and Practice, besides giving diocesan and general Church news. In its columns are found records of Church events which cannot be found else- where so far as the period covered by the years 1817-1831 is con- cerned. Its last number was for December, 1830. In a valedictory the publishers say that the paper is discontinued for lack of financial support. The self-evident reason is that its founder and sustainer


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had passed away a few months before, and the untiring and fertile brain that had controlled its fortunes for fifteen years was at last ' at . rest.'


"The Churchman's Almanac we have already noticed. Founded by Dr. Schroeder, it was an outcome of that literary zeal which Dr. Hobart so impressed on his friends and fellow-labourers. . It is un- doubtedly the oldest Church almanac of the Anglican Communion and it has gone on flourishing and increasing in bulk and usefulness, being now in its seventy-sixth year.


" The Pocket Almanac was founded by Bishop Hobart, it was published continuously from the year 1816 to 1860.


"In addition to these publications the Bishop edited a consider- able number of works.


"The Companion for the Altar appeared in 1804, being taken largely from English sources; it is still in use by old-fashioned Church people and is to be found on some publishers' shelves. The portion containing the Service of the Holy Communion, with devotions at the time of reception was published separately, under the title of The Altar.


"In 1805 the Bishop published The Companion to the Book of Common Prayer, annexed to an edition of the Prayer Book. This is the first American attempt to comment on, and explain the Prayer Book. It is based upon the works of Dean Comber, Bishop Cosin, Dr. Wheatley and other English Divines.


" In 1806 he edited a Collection of Essays on the Subject of Episcopacy which had originally appeared in the Albany Centinel and other newspapers, and had been written by himself, Dr. Beasley, and Dr. Howe.


"He edited Nelson's Companion to the Festivals and Fasts of the Church, adapting it to the American Church. This publication after- wards appeared under his own name, and passed through many editions.


" The Clergyman's Companion was taken from D'Aubeny's Guide to the Church, the writings of Jones of Nayland, Bishop Burnett's Pastoral Care and other standard works on the Pastoral Office. In addition it included in large type the 'Services to be Used by the Clergy in their Private Ministrations.' It remained in constant use until about 1850, when The Clergyman's Vade Mecum appeared.


" The New York Catechism was compiled from a Catechism of a Scottish Bishop which was first reprinted in this country by Bishop Seabury. Bishop Hobart found copies in circulation in Connecticut.


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He adapted it for use in his Diocese without any indication of the original source.1


"He published in 1814 The Christian Manual of Faith and Devo- tion. This was a compilation mainly from Bishop Hicks' Office, Dr. Spinckes' Churchman's Companion for the Closet, and other devotional writers of the Church of England. With some alterations and addi- tions, it remained a standard until quite recently.


"In 1816 the Bishop published The Candidate for Confirmation Instructed. This tract passed through several editions.


"From 1817 to 1823 Bishop Hobart published the American edition of D'Oyley and Mant's Family Bible. This work was the most extensive and critical one which had yet appeared in England. To the English Edition the Bishop supplied many notes taken from standard English and American divines. These notes added greatly to the usefulness of the book for family worship or for private reading.


" It will thus be seen how true the claim is that Bishop Hobart was the first ' Tractarian.' Amidst such manifold duties as Rector of a great city parish and as having the spiritual oversight of more than a third of that part of the United States that was then settled, the wonder is that Dr. Hobart was able to find time for such a quantity of literary work. Besides all this Church propaganda, the Bishop edited Chandler's Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, the first President of King's College, New York, and entered, with vigour, into several controversies, notably the one with Dr. Mason which resulted in his Apology for Apostolic Order in 1807. He published sermons, charges, addresses. It may with truth be said that his pen was never idle.


"A remarkable feature that the correspondence which we have published in part abundantly proves is that Dr. Hobart retained his friends to the last. No matter what he said on the spur of the moment which their better judgment might disapprove of, no matter whether he answered their letters or not, no matter whether he scolded them or not, his correspondents all remained staunchly loyal to him.


" It may be said in disparagement of Bishop Hobart that he was a party man, that he was a pronounced High Churchman and that he did not favour Low Churchmen; all of which is true, but it must always be remembered that every man who feels strongly must be a party man.


1 Bishop Seabury's adaptation and abridgment of " A Catechism, or the Princi- ples of the Christian Religion Explained in a Familiar and Easy Manner, by Bishop Innes of Brechin," appeared in 1791.


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It is only the man who has no convictions, that is indifferent to the welfare and progress of the organization that he belongs to, that can be truly said to be a no-party man. Bishop Hobart was not a man of that mould. He thought deeply and strongly, he had firmly rooted convictions. He believed with all his heart and soul that the welfare of the Church in America was bound up in those doctrines which he advocated.


" His position has been justified, since there are few thoughtful clergy or laity who do not, to-day, hold as axioms the principles Dr. Hobart inculcated.


"The wonder is not that Dr. Hobart died so young, but that he, lived so long. He literally wore himself out in the cause of Christ and His Church.


" If he was strict and hard on some of his clergy it was because, hard working himself, he could find no excuse for laziness, and clear- headed as he was, he had no patience with men who had a nebulous belief.


"Bold to a fault, at any rate, friend and foe knew where to find Dr. Hobart. What he meant he said. For courage, there is no ex- ample equal to his in the American Episcopate, when he refused to accept the usual platitudes of esteem offered to him in his Dio- cesan Convention on his return from England. He was perfectly right in his indignant scorn. 'Men,' he cried out, 'know what I stand for and what I fight for, and if those principles are not worth recognition and I am not to be recognized as their champion let me at any rate be spared the indignity of colourless resolutions.'


"That one act is typical of Hobart's whole attitude to the public.


" If the Bishop was not a wise administrator of funds it must be said in his defence that in his zeal to spread his Master's kingdom he never stopped to reckon the cost. If there was money in the treasury of the Corporation, why could it not be spent ? If the Corporation had credit, why could not money be borrowed ? He saw present needs and did not pause to consider that the Trinity endowments were a trust for future generations.


" Ardent, eager, impetuous, zealous, he could brook no difficulties which hindered or delayed the gathering in of his countrymen into the fold of that Church which he firmly believed had the Apostolic Ministry, the Catholic Faith and the Evangelical Mission.


"The opening years of the Nineteenth Century were times of transition. The old order was giving place to the new. Looking back we perceive how sharp the line of demarcation is between the


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two orders of things. All modern thought dates back to those fruitful years covered by the Rectorship of Dr. Hobart. Well, indeed, was it . for the Church in the Parish and in this broad Country of ours, and well also for that Country, that the Supreme Arbiter of events had placed in the position of leadership so fearless and so true a man as JOHN HENRY HOBART."


CHAPTER IV.


WILLIAM BERRIAN, EIGHTH RECTOR.


Mourning for Bishop Hobart-Election of Dr. Onderdonk as Bishop and of Dr. Berrian as Rector-The Induction-Separation of the Bishopric from the Rectorship -State of the Church in the City of New York-Action of the Vestry in Providing for Bishop Hobart's Widow and Family-And in Regard to the Episcopal Fund-Con- secration of Dr. Onderdonk-Appointment of Mr. Whittingham as Preacher at Trinity Church-His Former Career-Election of Henry Anthon as Assistant Minister- Establishment of Sunday-schools - Memorial from Pew-Holders of St. John's Chapel -Their Request for a Settled Clergyman over Each Church-Letter of Colonel Graham in Connection Therewith-Action of the Vestry.


A MONTH of mourning was allowed to elapse after the death of their Rector, before the Vestry of Trinity Church proceeded to the choice of his successor. Dr. Berrian and Dr. Onderdonk were at that time the Senior Assistant Ministers of the Parish, Dr. Berrian being also the Assistant Rector. Both enjoyed the esteem and affection of the people, as formerly the chosen companions and confidants of the great Bishop of New York.


The Convention of the Diocese was held in St. John's Chapel, October 7 and 8, 1830. At that Convention, Dr. Onderdonk was, with great unanimity, chosen Bishop. The other candidates were the Rev. Henry Anthon and the Rev. Dr. J. M. Wainwright.1


Three days after the Convention, October 1I, 1830, the Vestry met in their office.2


1 See Journal, Diocese of New York, 1830, p. 18.


? The minutes record the attendance of


Church Wardens : Nehemiah Rogers, Charles McEvers. "


Vestrymen : Teunis Quick, James Bleecker, John Onderdonk, Peter A. Mesier, William Johnson, Ezra Weeks, Robert Thomas, Anthony L. Underhill, William E. Dunscomb, Gabriel Furman, Jonathan H. Lawrence, Thomas Swords, Edward W.


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After a declaration of the vacancy in " The Rectory of this Church " by the death of the Right Reverend John Henry Hobart, D.D., it was resolved to "proceed to sup- ply the said vacancy by the Election of a Rector to be made by ballot." The record thus continues : "The Church Wardens and Vestrymen present then proceeded to the choice of a Rector by ballot, and the ballots having been counted and canvassed, it was found that the Rev. William Berrian, D.D., was unanimously elected." 1




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