USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 4 > Part 13
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In accordance with Parish precedents, Mr. William Johnson, the Comptroller, and Mr. Jacob Lorillard, were appointed a committee to notify Dr. Berrian of his elec- tion. "These gentlemen, having retired, soon afterwards returned, and introduced Dr. Berrian to the Vestry ; upon his acceptance of the office, it was resolved unanimously, that the Revd. William Berrian D.D. be called and in- ducted to the Rectory of Trinity Church, in the City of New York." 2
Order was then taken for the ceremony of Induction on the following day, at 2 o'clock, P.M., at the Parish church. This ancient form, derived from English use, but not connected with any religious function, has always been observed in the Parish. It is very brief, but highly significant as a solemn investiture of the Rector with all the rights, spiritual and temporal, incidental to his office. The persons present were the Rector-elect, the Church Wardens, fifteen members of the Vestry, and the sextons of the Parish church and chapels. The ceremony was probably held in the front porch of the church, where the
Laight, John T. Irving, Jacob Lorillard, George Jones, Philip Hone, Thomas L. Ogden.
Those absent were : Messrs. Jonathan Ogden and Henry McFarlane.
1 Ibid.
Records, liber iii., folio 51.
" Ibid.
N
123
Dr. Berrian Elected Rector
1830]
delivery of the keys took place, as a part of the function. The Wardens and Vestrymen present were :
Wardens, Nehemiah Rogers, Charles McEvers.
Vestrymen, James Bleecker, Teunis Quick, Peter A. Mesier, William Johnson, Philip Hone, Thomas L. Ogden, Jonathan H. Lawrence, Edward W. Laight, Anthony L. Underhill, Thomas Swords, Wm. E. Dunscomb, John T. Irving, Robert Thomas, George Jones, Ezra Weeks.
The Vestry Minutes state that
"the Reverend William Berrian, D.D., Rector-elect of Trinity Church, in the City of New York, was duly inducted into the said Church and its Chapels by delivering to him the keys of the said Church, and of St. Paul's Chapel, and of St. John's Chapel, such delivery being made by the Church Wardens in the presence of the Vestrymen, and also in the presence of Edward Coates, Richard Slack, and Albert Wunnenburgh, the sextons of the said Church and Chapels as witnesses." 1
The election of Dr. Berrian marked the departure from the custom of nearly half a century, that the offices of Bishop of New York and Rector of Trinity Church should be united in the same person. The change was the inevi- table result of the growth of the Church. The develop- ment of the Diocese under Bishop Hobart had made it apparent that no one man could maintain and carry for- ward its manifold interests, while also burdened with the care of the large and growing Parish of Trinity.
The new Rector was in the forty-fourth year of his age, and in the twentieth of his service in Trinity Parish. With the exception of several months of a diaconate passed in Belleville, New Jersey, as minister in charge of the "chapel of ease" of Trinity Church, Newark, his whole life had been spent in New York City. He had become familiar with its people, its methods, and its work.
1 Records, liber iii., folio 51 ; see also Dr. Berrian's Historical Sketch, p. 311.
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History of Trinity Church
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Knowing the far-reaching plans of Bishop Hobart, he was ready to carry them into operation.
During the Episcopate of Dr. Hobart there had been a notable increase in the number of parishes in the city. The influence of the Church was felt in civic, social, and business life. Without excitement or extraordinary methods there was a healthy growth, marked by many accessions from other Christian bodies. The city clergy of the period were men of marked ability and homiletic power. Dr. Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright ministered to a devoted congregation in Grace Church, immediately south of Trinity, on the corner of Rector Street. In the upper part of the city, in the Governor's " Bouwerie," St. Mark's Church was under the direction of Dr. William Creighton. In Anthony (now Worth) Street, stood Christ Church, where Dr. Thomas Lyell, "genial and warm- hearted," as his friend Dr. Berrian styled him, served for more than forty years. Among the wealthy merchants, butchers, and drovers of the East Side, the Rev. Henry Anthon was gaining a wide reputation in St. Stephen's Church on the corner of Broome and Chrystie Streets. St. Thomas's Church, on Broadway, at the corner of Houston Street, had recently come under the charge of Dr. George Upfold. At St. George's, on Beekman Street, Dr. James Milnor was the Rector of that oldest daughter of Trinity. At All Saints', on Scammell Street, under the charge of its founder, the Rev. William A. Clarke, a large and important work was done on the populous East Side. In the quaint old church built by the Huguenot refugees in 1704, in Pine Street, and then known as "l'Eglise du Saint Esprit," the Rev. Antoine Verren, lately arrived from France, ministered to the descendants of those suf- ferers for their faith, in their mother tongue. Zion Church, on Mott Street, was under the pastoral care of the Rev.
125
Dr. Onderdonk Elected Bishop
1830]
Thomas Breintnall. The Rev. Dr. Manton Eastburn had acquired a wide reputation as a preacher and pastor from his ministrations in the plain edifice of the Church of the Ascension on Canal Street. In the upper portion of Manhattan Island, the Rev. William Richmond was min- istering to three parishes, St. Michael's, Bloomingdale ; St. James, Hamilton Square ; and St. Mary's, Manhattanville. The parish of St. Clement had been organized in the sum- mer of 1830, and its substantial church building was then in process of erection on Amity Street, in the immediate neighborhood of a part of the city where many prominent and wealthy citizens were taking up their residence. In the village of Harlem, St. Andrew's Church had been recently organized, under the care of the Rev. George L. Hinton.
Such were the men with whom the new Rector was to lead the general advance of the Church in the city. There was not one of their parishes but had received financial aid from Trinity, and all looked up to her as their leader in good works. A letter of congratulation from his colleague, Dr. Schroeder, to Dr. Berrian, has been pre- served, in which the writer expresses his satisfaction "at the recent change in your official relation to the parish and to myself." He also comments on the election of Dr. Onderdonk to the Episcopate. "I do indeed rejoice with you ; my confidence in him as a sincere christian, a sound churchman, and a man of integrity, is without any reserva- tion. So happy a state of things as that which existed in the Convention was scarcely to be expected ; our diocese has truly been favored in an eminent degree." 1
The Standing Committee on the 18th of October pre- sented a report upon a suitable support for the family of Bishop Hobart, his widow and children having been left
1 No. 98, Berrian MSS.
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History of Trinity Church
[1830-
without adequate provision for their maintenance. Two resolutions were appended to the report, one providing an annuity for the support of the widow and family of the late Rector of two thousand dollars, " to commence from the first day of March next, when the temporary pro- vision made by the resolution of the Vestry of the fourth instant will cease," the other appropriating the sum of three hundred dollars per annum, for "the education and support of John Henry Hobart, the youngest son of the late Rector, until he shall attain the age of twenty-one years."
The report was unanimously approved, and the appro- priations made.1
The elections of Dr. Onderdonk to the Bishopric and of Dr. Berrian to the Rectorship brought up once more the question of the support of the Episcopate. The Diocese had contributed but meagerly to the object ; the Episco- pal Fund was small and comparatively unproductive. So long as the offices of Rector of Trinity Church and Bishop of New York were united in one person, the Diocese was naturally slow to take active steps towards the support of its head, and threw the responsibility for his maintenance upon the Parish. The effort made in 1812 to provide a proper fund had failed. The Vestry received a memorial from the Convention in that year, suggesting that as soon as the Episcopal Fund should amount to $100,000, the Bishop should cease to be connected with a parish .? To this proposal the Vestry did not only assent, but also promised to give the sum of $15,000, on condition that the balance of the amount required should be otherwise se- cured. The work lagged ; it seemed impossible to im- press the clergy and laity throughout the Diocese with the
1 Records, liber iii., folio 55.
" For the earliest actions on the Episcopal Fund see Journal, Diocese of New York, 1808, p. 177 ; reprint, 1809, pp. 186-191.
1830]
127
Separation of Rectorship and Bishopric
necessity for action, although influential committees were appointed, and plans formed for obtaining subscriptions. When, at length, Dr. Onderdonk was elected Bishop, October 8, 1830, and Dr. Berrian Rector, October 11, 1830, and the two offices were severed, although the Bishop was still to hold a certain relation to the Parish, it became evident that renewed efforts must be made to secure a proper support for the Bishop of the Diocese, now no longer the Rector of Trinity Church. The Vestry came forward, as usual, with a new offer, to contribute $30,- 000, provided the sum of $70,000 should be raised outside by January 1, 1833.1 This generous offer was the subject of congratulation and discussion in the Convention of 1831, and a committee was appointed to consider the most feasible method of meeting the conditions of the offer, and also to request of Trinity Church an extension of time for the completion of subscriptions throughout the Diocese.2
The Vestry considered this request and declined to comply with it. Their action was taken in self-defence, and under a conviction that the Diocese was unwilling to do its full share in the support of the Bishop. In their report they declared that their sole object had been, "to second and give effect to the recent measures of the Convention for the immediate increase of the Episcopal Fund to such an amount as would enable the Convention to appropriate a portion of the income of the said Fund to the inde- pendent support of the Bishop so as to release him from parochial engagements."
It was fully expected and relied on by the Vestry that there would be a " prompt, vigorous, and united effort in all parts of the Diocese stimulated by the influence and authority of the Convention." Such an expectation had
1 Records, liber iii., folio 56, 57.
' Journal, Diocese of New York, 1831, pp. 58, 70-73.
٢
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History of Trinity Church
[1830-
not been realized, as "no appeal to the Diocese, calcu- lated to call forth any extraordinary exertions for carrying into effect the object above mentioned, appears to have been made or contemplated." The Vestry, while express- ing a desire for the advancement of the Church and will- ingness "to aid and co-operate in objects of general interest," felt obliged to refuse to remove or extend the limitation contained in their resolution above mentioned, or to consider themselves bound by it otherwise than was intended at the time of its adoption.
An allowance of one thousand dollars annually " was granted for the travelling and other necessary expenses of the Bishop of the Diocese in the exercise of his Epis- copal duties, in addition to the existing provision for sup- port of the Episcopate, which was to be continued "so long as the Bishop shall reside in the City of New York and continue in connection with this corporation." 1
The Consecration of Dr. Onderdonk took place in St. John's Chapel, on Friday, November 26, 1830. The venerable Presiding Bishop, Dr. White, was the Con- secrator, assisted by the Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania, Dr. Henry U. Onderdonk, and the Bishop of Connecticut, Dr. Thomas Church Brownell. Morning prayer was said by the Rev. Dr. Lyell, the Rev. Dr. Milnor reading the lessons. The sermon was preached by the Bishop of Con- necticut, from the text, "Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it." 2
After a clear and earnest statement of " the dignity and importance of the Christian Ministry, and the qualifica- tions required for the faithful performance of its duties," he said, addressing the Bishop-elect :
"To you, my Reverend Brother, I need add no exhortations con- cerning the nature of your holy office, or the interesting relations in
' Records, liber iii., folio 72, 73.
.º Colossians, iv., 17.
129
Consecration of Dr. Onderdonk
1830]
which it places you. The observations which have already been made upon the dignity and importance of the Christian Ministry, and the qualifications required for the faithful performance of its duties, have long been familiar to your mind; and your reflections on the solemn responsibilities of the office to which you are now to be conse- crated will not have failed to give emphasis and force to the admonition of the Apostle contained in our text,-'Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the LORD, that thou fulfil it.' You will exercise an unwearied circumspection, in regard to yourself, and a con- scientious fidelity in the discharge of your Episcopal duties. The ex- ample of your revered and beloved predecessor will be continually before you. You will emulate his virtues ;- his benevolence, his zeal, his vigilance, his promptitude ;- his generous hospitality, his affectionate attachment to the clergy, and the people of his charge, and his honorable frankness towards all men. You will follow his example in his ardent love of the Church, and his unceasing labours for her welfare; in his truly evangelical faith, and in his unaffected and devoted piety. You will fix your eyes upon the still higher example of your divine Master and the holy Apostles. You will take their heavenly precepts as the rule of your conduct, and the guide of your life; and you will constantly and earnestly seek the aids of divine grace to enable you to discharge your duties with faithfulness and success. And now may the Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls take you into his holy keeping, may he enlighten you by his heavenly wisdom, protect you by his Almighty power, and sanctify you to his service by the inspiration of his HOLY SPIRIT." 1
The Bishop-elect was presented by the Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania, and the Bishop of Connecticut, to Dr. White, the Presiding Bishop.
The testimony from the Convention was read by the Rev. Levi S. Ives, assistant secretary of the Diocese of New York ; the consent of the Standing Committees by the Rev. Dr. Upfold, secretary of the Standing Commit- tee of the Diocese, and the consent of the Bishops by the Rev. Dr. Berrian, president of the Standing Committee. His attending presbyters, the Rev. Dr. Wainwright and the Rev. William Richmond, invested him with the rest
1 A sermon preached at the Consecration of Dr. Onderdonk, pp. 23, 24. VOL. IV .- 9
3
1
4
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History of Trinity Church
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of the Episcopal Habit, the three Bishops joining in the solemn act of Consecration. Immediately after, the patri- arch of the American Church, standing at the altar rail, made this brief address :
" Brethren, it is trusted by the Presiding Bishop, that he will be borne with, while with brevity he gives vent to the sensibilities which possess him on this interesting occasion.
"It will easily be believed that the duty of the day cannot have been discharged without the tenderest recollection of a friend1 for whom there has been cherished an affection from his very early years. With the grief occasioned by his decease, there is the consoling recollection of the virtues, and of the services which embalm his memory in the estimation of his friends, of the churches which have been under his superintendence, of our Church generally throughout the Union, and of that large portion of society, which knew him only as a man, as a fellow citizen, and as a Christian minister exterior to their respective pales. It is within a few months of twenty years, since, in Trinity Church, in this City, he was consecrated to the Episcopacy by the im- position of the hands of the present speaker. On that occasion, as may be seen in his printed sermon, the Consecrator, affirming an inti- mate knowledge of the subject of the ceremony, probably more exact than that of any other individual then present, did not hesitate to anticipate an abundant measure of usefulness. At the same time he indulged the expectation, grounded on the disparity of years, that when called from this earthly scene, he would leave behind him such a laborer in the vineyard of the LORD. The anticipation of usefulness has been amply realized; the expectation of survivorship was not un- reasonable, but has been disappointed by the sovereign disposal of the great Being, whose ways are unsearchable, and in whose hands are the 'issues of life.' Brethren, there has been the expression of these sentiments, partly from the wish to mingle the sorrows of the deliverer of them with that of the bereaved diocese, and partly to felicitate it on the choice of a successor, to whose merit it cannot but be a powerful testimony, that he is the individual, on whom the deceased Bishop would have wished the choice to fall; a fact known to him who now affirms it; and who anticipates, as confidently as is consistent with the uncertainty of all human affairs, a verifying of the opinion of your late Diocesan, and that of the lately assembled representatives of your
" The late lamented Right Reverend Bishop Hobart.
131
W. R. Whittingham Appointed Preacher
1830]
diocese. That this may be the result, will, it is to be expected, be a subject of your prayers." 1
The Presiding Bishop then proceeded to the celebration of the Holy Communion, and dismissed the large congre- gation with the apostolic benediction.
In pursuance of the promise to relieve the new Bishop as far as possible from his parochial duties, the Rector, on behalf of the Vestry, invited the Rev. William R. Whit- tingham to become preacher in Trinity Church. "Most unexpected to me," says Mr. Whittingham, in his Diary, " Dr. Berrian called to inform me that I had been appointed temporary preacher at Trinity Church till an assistant should be chosen." ?
Mr. Whittingham, whose profound knowledge of both theology and letters was already recognized, although he was only twenty-five years old, had been for two years editor of the publications of The Protestant Episcopal Press, whose office was immediately in the rear of Trinity Church, on Lumber Street.
After a brilliant career at the General Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1825, he re- tained his connection with it as librarian and fellow. He also gave valuable assistance to Professor Turner in his preparation of a translation of Jahn's Introduction. Af- ter his ordination in St. John's Chapel, New York City, by Bishop Hobart, on Sunday, March II, 1827, he had be- come successively and successfully chaplain to the Pro- testant Episcopal Public School, travelling agent of the newly organized Protestant Episcopal Sunday-School Union, and minister of St. Mark's Church, Orange, New Jersey. In 1830 he resigned his parochial charge, in order
1 Sermon at the Consecration of Dr. Onderdonk, pp. 25-27.
2 MS. Diary of Bishop Whittingham, p. I. For the resolutions of the Vestry, see Records, liber iii., folio 58.
المصلى
im PorT
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History of Trinity Church
[1831-
to give his whole attention to the Press. Mr. Whitting- ham's Diary shows that he was constant in his attendance at Trinity Church, and St. John's and St. Paul's Chapels. His sermons were simple in style, forcible in argument, and delivered in an attractive manner. He was highly appreciated by the members of the Parish for his services, which terminated in the spring of 1831, when he was granted five hundred dollars by the Vestry.1
The arrangement with Mr. Whittingham was only temporary ; it was deemed essential to the prosperity of the Parish that the clerical staff should be permanently increased. On the Ioth of January, 1831, the Vestry pro- ceeded to the appointment of an Assistant Minister, " to hold his office in conformity with the principles expressed in the resolution of the Vestry passed upon the 12th day of December, 1811, and to be placed in respect to salary upon the footing of the other assistant ministers now em- ployed by the Corporation."? The Rev. Henry Anthon, Rector of St. Stephen's Church, was then nominated by the Rector, and "it was resolved unanimously, that the said nomination be approved." 3
Mr. Anthon had been brought up in the Parish. During his ministry of twelve years he had acquired much experience as missionary at Red Hook, by occa- sional work in South Carolina, where he went, in 1819, for his health, as Rector of Trinity Church, Utica, N. Y., and as the successor of the beloved Dr. Feltus, in St. Stephen's Church. Trained under Bishop Hobart, he was connected by many ties with the old mother Parish. Mr.
1 " At the Press, found Dr. Berrian to inform me that $500.00 had been granted me by Trinity Church. This enables me to pay all my debts, to give something to the Tract Society, to make some presents, and to buy some books at the approaching sale."-The Diary of the Rev. W. R. Whittingham, quoted in Life, i., pp. 102. 9 Records, liber iii., folio 59.
$ Ibid.
7
L
I33
Sunday-Schools
1831]
Anthon accepted the position in a letter to the Hon. Thomas L. Ogden, clerk of the Vestry, in which he says :
"I now beg leave to convey to the Vestry through you my accep- tance of this appointment and my thanks, which this expression of their sentiments has conferred upon me. It is, I hope, under a due sense of the trust they repose in me, and the solemn responsibility connected with my decision, that I assent to their wishes - Permit me therefore, Sir, to avail myself also of this opportunity to say to the Vestry, that I will endeavor, with such ability as God giveth to dis- charge the duties of the station, looking to Him for guidance and strength, and to them with animating confidence for that candour and indulgence which I am fully sensible I shall so indispensably require." 1
In a previous chapter of this History, mention was made of the first establishment of Sunday-schools in this country in the year 1805, and of the views of Bishop Ho- bart on the subject, when the experiment was tried. It was not until 1817 that schools of this kind were organized in Trinity Parish : the Bishop had become, by that time, a strong advocate of them ; and the Sunday-school of St. John's Chapel thrived and grew to be the largest in the city. Oddly enough, it was in connection with that movement that the first sign appeared of dissatisfaction with the arrangements for clerical work in the Parish. The Sunday-school just referred to had earnest and active managers. From time to time the Rector and his assist- ants visited it; but the lay managers considered such occasional visits as insufficient for its development, and de- sired the appointment of a head, whose clerical character and theological learning would invest him with full author- ity over the "Conductor," the Visiting Committees, and the children. The Directors of the School proceeded, ac- cordingly, to hold a meeting, December 30, 1830, at which resolutions were adopted, and a memorial was drawn up,
1 Records, liber iii., folio 61.
I34
History of Trinity Church
[1831-
signed by several pew-holders of St. John's, and sent to the Vestry, praying
" that there might be stationed permanently at each of the churches of the Parish an Assistant Minister, to perform his duty in such church only, and that the motive of preaching in the different churches as hitherto practised should be discontinued, except as to the Rector, whose duty as to preaching should be continued as before."
A dispute as to the mode of conducting a Sunday- school might well be considered as a tempest in a teapot ; but the point raised in this memorial touched the organi- zation and settled routine of the Parish, and gave to that document no small importance. Colonel Charles Graham, an eminent lawyer of the day, at once came to the fore, in strong dissent to the proposed action, which dissent he ex- pressed as follows, in a letter addressed to Dr. Berrian, January 8, 1831 :
" I have been a director of St. John's Sunday-School since it was first organized, but was prevented from attending the above meeting by the extreme inclemency of the weather. I should, however, have made it a duty to attend if any intimation had been made of the extra- ordinary proceedings to be proposed : and inasmuch as it appears to me that in your care of the Church you may desire to know the senti- ment of directors not present at the above meeting, I hope I may with- out subjecting myself to the charge of a want of courtesy to my fellow directors, explain my views upon the subjects embraced in the resolu- tion and communication above referred to.
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