USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 4 > Part 34
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Death of Bishop Wainwright
1854]
Bishop Wainwright had brought to all the clergy and alluded to some of the prominent characteristics of their venerated Father in God. The preamble and resolutions which he then offered were seconded by the Rev. Dr. Van Kleeck in a few feeling words, and adopted.
A procession of nearly two hundred clergymen in sur- plices took their appointed places in the middle aisle, at one o'clock in the afternoon.
The officiating bishops, clergymen, and pall-bearers headed by David Lyon, the sexton of Trinity Church, with his staff draped in mourning, then moved slowly down the middle aisle to the great west door of the Church where the body was received. The pall-bearers 1 ranged themselves on either side of it and the procession advanced toward the chancel, the Rev. Dr. Berrian, Rector of the Parish, reading the sentences.
The Lesson was read by the Bishop of Illinois, Dr. Whitehouse.
The Rev. Dr. Higbee was then conducted to the pulpit, and thus commenced his funeral address :
"Brethren, in endeavoring to obey the request made of me a burden is laid upon me this day heavier than I can bear. My own spirit is not yet schooled to the weight of this affliction. How can I then, my brethren speak as your teacher and your comforter ?
" Could personal grief and anguish be suppressed, could I for the time forget that my faithful, affectionate friend, my associate and com- panion of many years, lies there upon his bier ; could the mind be arrested and occupied alone by the great public calamity which has befallen us, the bereavement of the Church in the death of the Bishop ; still so unexpected and so crushing has been the blow that it must needs paralyze the sufferer. As one suddenly hurled from some high cliff into the sea, I hear only confused mournful sounds of death amid
1 They were the Rev. William Creighton, the Rev. Dr. Francis L. Hawks, the Rev. John McVickar, the Rev. Evan M. Johnson, the Rev. William A. Muhlenberg, the Rev. Dr. Henry Anthon, the Rev. Stephen A. Tyng, the Rev. William Richmond. VOL. IV .- 26.
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the waves, save as those sounds are overborne by God's awful voice saying to all human hearts and all human tongues, 'Be still, be still ! '"
Dr. Higbee proceeded to sketch the work of Dr. Wainwright, showing how well he adapted himself to his new position and the gifts and graces with which he adorned it. Quoting from an obituary in the New York Times :
"Since the period of his election he has known but little rest. We have often seen him wrapped in an ample cloak, waiting in severe storms the arrival of conveyances to take him to and from the city. The Clergy respected him, the Laity supported him, his friends honored and loved him ";
Dr. Higbee makes this comment :
" Waiting, waiting, in severe storms. Aye, in every part of the Dio- cese has he been waiting in the summer's heat and in the winter's cold. No, not waiting, but everywhere on the great highways and aside from the thoroughfares of travel, in lonely vales, and along bleak hills, braving the inclement seasons, and wet with the unhealthy dews of night, he has been seen pursuing his way, by any conveyance which might be presented to him from one distant point to another to visit the populous town, or the humble country Church, or the obscure school-house, hastening to bestow his blessing, whether on the great congregation, or on two or three gathered together in God's name."
After alluding to the entreaties of the Bishop's friends that he would spare himself needless fatigue, and dwelling upon his absolute devotion to his Episcopal work, the speaker closed with these words of affectionate counsel :
"And now, brethren, we are about to perform the last office for our beloved friend and Bishop. With what fitting memorial shall we honor his closing tomb ? Can we do better honor to his memory ? Can we really and truly promote our own well-being, nay, can we more earnestly and fully express our faithfulness to his kind Lord and ours, than by resolving now that we will plant deep upon his grave, with united fraternal hands the heavenly virtues of charity, peace, and
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Funeral of Bishop Wainwright
1854]
brotherly love? That henceforth, day by day, and year by year, we will tend and cherish the trees of divine promise thence arising, fairest of all things that adorn the green earth, until they fill the land and the hills be covered with the shadow thereof; their fruits increasing and maturing unto eternal life!
" And, oh, if there be in any heart one germ of unfraternal feeling, root it out and destroy it this day. If there be among us any remain- ing incarnation of the Demon of strife, bury it in the profoundest darkness of death. Let it lie in the dust and ashes of a sepulchre from whose doors neither men nor angels shall ever roll away the stone." 1
At the close of the address Mrs. Bostwick, who for years had enjoyed the personal friendship of Dr. Wain- wright, sang the solo from Handel's Messiah: " I know that my Redeemer liveth."
The conclusion of the service was said by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Doane, Bishop of New Jersey. The burial was in Trinity Cemetery, Dr. Muhlenberg and Dr. Higbee ac- companying the family to the grave.
At a meeting held October 9, 1854, the Vestry adopted a preamble and resolutions upon the death of Bishop Wainwright. Holding "in grateful remembrance the great labours and services of our respected and deeply lamented Assistant Minister," they bore testimony to " the ardent zeal and devotion to the duties of his high calling, and his untiring exertion to promote the great interests of religion and the Church of which as an Assistant Minister of the Parish and Provisional Bishop of the Diocese he was an eminent and faithful servant." " Respectful con- dolence " was tendered "the afflicted Relict and family of the deceased in their heavy bereavement." The proceed- ings of the Standing Committee in respect to the funeral of the Bishop were approved.2
1 Pp. 13, 14, 19, 21, 22, of A Memorial Volume, Thirty-four Sermons, by Rt. Rev. Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, D. D.
9 Records, liber iv., folio 178.
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The Convention of the Diocese of New York met in St. John's Chapel, September 28, 1854.
The opening sermon was preached by the Rev. Pro- fessor McVickar ; an appreciative estimate of the departed Bishop and a tender tribute to his memory.
The election of a new Provisional Bishop occupied a large portion of the time of the Convention.
At a late hour, upon the feast of St. Michael and All Angels, September 29, 1854, on the eighth ballot, the Rev. Horatio Potter, of St. Peter's Church in the city of Albany, was duly chosen, having received ninety-seven clerical and seventy-five lay votes.
The needs of the Diocese requiring a speedy consecra- tion, it took place in Trinity Church on Wednesday, November 22, 1854. The church was filled long before the appointed hour. Morning Prayer was said by the Rev. Dr. Thomas H. Taylor, of Grace Church, the First Lesson being read by the Rev. Francis Vinton, of Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, and the Second Lesson by the Rev. Dr. Robert W. Harris, of Grace Church, White Plains.
The Creed and Prayers were said by the Rev. Dr. Jo- seph H. Price, of St. Stephen's Church, New York City.
The Communion Service was begun by the Presiding Bishop, Dr. Brownell of Connecticut ; the Bishop of Ver- mont, Dr. Hopkins, read the Epistle, and the Bishop of Illinois, Dr. Whitehouse, read the Gospel. The Rt. Rev. Dr. Francis Fulford preached the sermon from St. John, xvii., II.
Dr. Hodges's Consecration Anthem from the 104th Psalm, " Behold, now praise the Lord," was then admir- ably rendered. The Bishop-elect, vested in his rochet, was presented to the Presiding Bishop by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Potter, of Pennsylvania, and the Rt. Rev. Dr.
Jailed
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1854]
Consecration of Bishop Potter
Williams, of Connecticut. The Rev. William E. Eigen- brodt, the Assistant Secretary of the Diocese of New York, read the Testimonial from the Convention of New York, the Rev. Dr. Haight the Consents of the Standing Committees, and the Rev. Dr. Van Kleeck the Consents of the Bishops.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Eastburn, Bishop of Massachusetts, read the Litany ; the attending Presbyters were the Rev. Dr. Bedell and the Rev. John Ireland Tucker. The Pre- siding Bishop, the Bishop of Montreal, the Bishops of Vermont, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania were the Consecrators.
The Presiding Bishop proceeded to the celebration of the Holy Communion, assisted by several of the Bishops present, and pronounced the Benediction. The Service was said to have been more stately than any previously held in the American Church ..
With the election and consecration of a new Bishop, came up the old question of the support of the Episcopate. The Convention had promised the Bishop a salary of $6000 and a suitable residence. The income of the Epis- copal Fund was small; out of it Bishop Onderdonk had received a salary of $2500 and Bishop Wainwright a salary of $3000, the Parish, in which he was still an Assistant Minister, though head of the Diocese, making up the remainder of the amount required for his support. This arrangement, of course, could not be allowed to continue. The Convention appointed two committees, one to provide for the new Bishop, the other to consider means for increas- ing the fund; and the Corporation appointed a similar committee to confer with those of the Convention. Nu- merous meetings were held, of which it is unnecessary to give the details ; they belong rather to the history of the Diocese than to that of the Parish. A report on the
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subject was presented to the Vestry, November 13, 1854. It dealt with the subject, from a business point of view ; and on the rith of December the following resolutions were recommended for adoption :
" Resolved, that in addition to the capital sum of $30,000 hereto- fore paid by the Vestry, and in order to provide for the due support of the Episcopate of this Diocese the sum of $20,000 be paid by this Cor- poration, as soon as practicable and convenient, to the Trustees of the Episcopal Fund of the Diocese of New York in aid of the same, when- ever and as soon as the said Fund shall (including the amount of the accumulating Fund) be raised by additional subscriptions amounting to $50,000 to the gross sum of $150,000 upon the following specific conditions, namely,
" I. That the Capital of the said Fund shall be augmented to the said sum of $150,000 by the 26th day of September next, the day of the meeting of the next annual Convention.
"2. That in case of any future division of the Diocese, the said sum of $30,000 heretofore paid, and $20,000 now agreed to be paid, and at least one half of $100,000, the remainder of the Fund, shall belong to that Diocese in which the city of New York shall be em- braced, the interest thereof to be applied to the support of the Episco- pate within the same.
"3. That the said Capital Fund of $150,000 shall remain inviolate and that the annual interest or income thereof or so much thereof as the Convention may deem adequate be applied to the support of the Episcopate of the Diocese.
" 4. Resolved that until the sum of $20,000 above granted shall be paid by this Corporation as above provided, the Comptroller do pay to the Trustees of the Episcopal Fund the sum of $1200 per annum, being the interest on the same at 6 %, commencing the first day of January next and payable quarterly to be applied to the support of the Provisional Bishop of the Diocese.
"5. Resolved that a copy of the above report and resolutions be transmitted by the clerk to the Chairman of the two Committees and also to the Secretary of the Convention of this Diocese to be com- municated to the Convention, at its next annual meeting.
" All of which is respectfully submitted."
The war upon the Church was now resumed. On the IIth of January, 1855, Mr. Mark Spencer introduced into
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Attack on the Corporation 407
the Senate of New York a resolution inquiring of the At- torney-General " whether he has since the adjournment of the Legislature of 1854 commenced suit in behalf of the people of this State against the Corporation of Trinity Church, and if any suit has been or is about to be so com- menced, that he be requested to communicate to the Sen- ate his authority or reasons for such proceedings." 1
On Monday, January 22d, the President laid before the Senate a report from Mr. Ogden Hoffman, the At- torney-General, in which he said :
"No-such suit had been commenced. The authority to commence such suit is given by the resolutions of the Board of Land Commis- sioners, passed June 10, 1854, and amended August 31, 1854, a copy of which is hereunto annexed; by reference to which it will be seen that such authority depends upon certain conditions to be performed on the part of the relator or memorialist named in the said resolutions. Those conditions not having been complied with on his part, as neither the evidence nor the bond required has been furnished to the Attorney- General no proceedings have been instituted by him."
Appended to the report are the minutes of the meeting of the Board of Land Commissioners on June 10, 1854, when the Memorial of Rutgers B. Miller and others already referred to was presented, and it was resolved that the Attorney-General "should commence a suit to test the title of this State to the King's farm provided that the State should be indemnified against all costs," and further that the person furnishing evidence which would lead to the recovery should be entitled to 25% of the value of the lands recovered.2
On Monday, February 12th, Mr. Spencer offered in the Senate a resolution that no other proceedings "are
1 P. 67, Senate Journal, 1855.
9 In Senate Document No. 21, 1855; also The Trinity Church Title. New York: Pudney & Russell, 1855. It contains Report of Commissioners of Land Office, May 12, 1836, Memorial of the Corporation of Trinity Church, 1853, and Report of Mr. Hoffman.
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required except those authorized by the act of the 15th of April, 1854." This was debated and on motion of Mr. Z. Clark was laid on the table.1
The report of Mr. Hoffman was laid before the Vestry, February 12th, and the Standing Committee was author- ized to pursue such measures as they shall be advised are proper for the protection of the rights and property of this Corporation and with power to act for and in the name of the Corporation and of the Vestry.
At a meeting of the Vestry, held March 5, 1855, the subject of the appointment and assignment of Assistant Ministers being once more before that body, Mr. Bleecker offered a resolution that it was inexpedient to alter the present system of assigning clergymen to officiate in the churches and congregations as directed by an order of the Vestry of the 25th day of January, 1836.
Mr. Skidmore then offered a series of resolutions, the first of which mentioned the death of two Assistant Min- isters and the building of the new chapel, and declared that three Assistant Ministers should be elected, and " that this Vestry will hold a special meeting on the - day of for the purpose of electing by ballot three Assis- tant Ministers as hereafter mentioned."
In the second resolution their salaries were fixed at dollars per annum, payable in quarterly payments, and provided that 'they shall hold their office during the pleasure of the Vestry' according to the resolution of December 12, 1811." The third resolution provided that these new ministers were to be assigned respectively by ballot to each of the congregations in accordance with the resolutions of January 25, and March 25, 1836. The fourth resolution provided that "at least twelve votes shall be in favor of or for the same person," and that to be
1 P. 222, Senate Journal, 1855.
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Assistant Ministers Elected 409
eligible, nomination must have been made at some pre- vious meeting of the Vestry. The fifth resolution pro- vided that should any one or more of the clergy then officiating in the Parish be not elected, such person or persons should be made Assistant Ministers at large under the same tenure as other Assistant Ministers, their duties to be prescribed by the Rector.
At a meeting held March 12th, it was ordered that the blank in the first resolution adopted March 5th, should be filled by inserting "Monday, the 26th of March."1 The following gentlemen were then nominated as Assistant Ministers by various members of the Vestry : the Rev. Mr. Weston, the Rev. Mr. Hobart, the Rev. Dr. Haight, the Rev. Edward H. Cressey, of Auburn ; the Rev. Ed- ward Ingersoll, of Buffalo ; the Rev. Homer Wheaton, the Rev. William H. Odenheimer, of Philadelphia ; the Rt. Rev. Horatio Southgate, the Rev. Christopher Wyatt, the Rev. George J. Geer, the Rev. Frederick Ogilby, the Rev. Francis Vinton, and the Rev. Mr. Stuart, of Newark.2
The plan of having Assistant Ministers at large was rejected; all those to be elected were to be assigned to duty either by the Vestry or by the Rector. The salaries of the new Assistants were fixed at three thou- sand dollars each, and an allowance of "not more than eleven hundred dollars" for house rent. After these preliminaries, balloting was commenced, and the Rev. John Henry Hobart, the Rev. Sullivan H. Weston, and the Rev. Benjamin I. Haight were duly elected.3
It being thought that a fourth Assistant was necessary in view of the increased work in the Parish, another ballot was taken, and the Rev. William Henry Odenheimer, Rector of St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, was elected.
1 Records, liber iv., folio 198.
2 Ibid., folio 198. 3 Ibid., folio 200.
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History of Trinity Church
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The need of other clergymen being apparent, the Ves- try nominated as additional Assistant Ministers, the Rev. John Freeman Young, of Louisiana ; the Rev. Mr. Carter, of Yonkers .; the Rev. William E. Eigenbrodt, of New York ; the Rev. Dr. J. H. Price, the Rev. Morgan Dix, and the Rev. William F. Morgan, of Norwich, Connecticut.1
The next event in the history of the Parish was the consecration of the new chapel in 25th Street. As the time drew near an invitation was sent to the Right Rev. Dr. Medley, the Bishop of Fredericton, to preach on that occasion. He declined, however, " owing to the state of the roads and other causes." The Vestry expressed by resolution, their great regret. The day fixed for the func-
tion was the second Tuesday after Easter, April 17, 1855.
The Vestry met at 10 o'clock on the morning of that day, at the residence of Mr. Owen, on 25th Street, oppo- site the chapel. The clergy robed in the houses of two other gentlemen, who had kindly offered them for that purpose. Nearly one hundred were present in their sur- plices, and many were in their ordinary dress. Bishop Potter officiated, assisted by the Right Rev. Dr. White- house, Bishop of Illinois. The Rector, Dr. Berrian, with Drs. Haight, Hobart, Higbee, Vinton, and Seabury, took part in the service. The sermon was preached by the Provisional Bishop, from the text Hab., ii., 20: " The Lord is in His Holy Temple."
At the conclusion of the sermon Dr. Hodges's anthem Lætatus Sum taken from the 122d Psalm : " I was glad when they said unto me, We will go into the House of the Lord," was sung. A competent critic says :
" The rarest gem of the day, however, was the most appropriate and elaborate anthem composed by Dr. Hodges especially for this con- secration. Its words embraced the words of the Psalm, Latatus Sum,
.1 Records, liber iv., folios 200, 209.
Trinity Chapel and the present Rector's Study.
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Consecration of Trinity Chapel
1855]
and their peculiar arrangement by the composer showed not only inge- nuity but thoughtful and true feeling. The suggestive movement of the opening chorus, 'Let us go,' the severe yet deep and trustful joy of the barytone solo sung by the Rev. J. Sebastian B. Hodges, and the subsequent vigorous chorus ' Thither the tribes go up,' admirably pre- pare the way for an exquisite trio which was the most striking feature of the anthem. This trio was for male voices, 'O pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper that love thee.' And with beautiful appropriateness this exhortation to peace was sung only by priests and deacons (six singing, two in each part) the ordained messengers of the Prince of Peace.
"Another solo for a soprano (sung by Miss Hodges) 'For my Brethren and Companions' sake ' was given with great feeling and no little power.
" It was both preceded and followed by the choruses 'Peace be within Thy Walls and Plenteousness within Thy Palaces,' in which the brooding stillness of ' peace,' the measured calm, the influence descend- ing cool and clear from above, like falling dew, was alternated and in- terwoven with the liquid, long drawn, and full swelling and many changing exuberances of ' plenteousness.' None who heard that anthem will be likely easily to forget it." 1
The Bishop of Illinois proceeded in the Communion Service, to the Consecration, which was the act of Bishop Potter. The number of communicants was very large, in- cluding nearly the whole congregation. The remainder of the Office was taken by Bishop Potter who also pro- 'nounced the Benediction.
The whole service was impressive and dignified, and had only been equalled by that of nine years before when the Parish church was consecrated.
Miss Hodges speaking of her father's interest in Trinity Chapel says :
" It is hardly known with what intelligent interest my father entered into the work of the erection of this noble chapel ; He took great pleasure in his friendship for Richard Upjohn, the eminent Eng- lish architect of both buildings (Trinity Church and Trinity Chapel).
' The Rev. John Henry Hopkins in The Church Journal for April 19, 1855.
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"On the rith of November, 1851, his Diary says : 'I went down to Upjohn's office and inspected the plans of the new chapel. Mr. Upjohn treated me very kindly and explained portions of them. I am to see him again. If I can only be trusted by this people I think I can make a most delightful organ effect there.'
" And when the Consecration Day came, with its unparalleled ser- vice of musical solemnity and beauty, yet remembered by many, organ effects were indeed produced which have never been excelled. The occasion called forth the now published anthem, Psalm 122, than which not one that my father wrote seems more full of devotional sci- ence, and lofty, chaste imagination. . . · With a pathetic and prophetic spirit he gathered around him on this occasion all his four children, seeming to realize it would be perhaps his last memorable service in the parish-and it was so.
" On the title page of his own copy of this anthem my father has written : 'The sermon reported to have occupied twenty-four minutes ; the anthem twenty-two minutes-Balance in favour of the former two minutes.1
Upon the Second Sunday after Easter, April 22, 1855, the Rector preached a sermon in Trinity Chapel which was received with much interest, although it occasioned some unfavorable comment from persons unfriendly to the mother Parish. Dr. Berrian selected as his text, I Samuel vii., 12, and Psalm xxxvi., 10, without, as he said,
"any reference to the circumstances under which they were respec- tively written but simply because in their conjunction they seemed peculiarly suited to the present occasion. This is a new and striking era in the history of our Parish. It carries back our thoughts, through the past, to the commencement of its existence almost in the infancy of the Colony, a period, indeed, not very remote from it in point of time, but yet so wonderful in the rapid changes which have taken place in the interval that its progress might almost be considered the work of ages."
Quoting Edmund Burke on the rapidity with which the American Colonies had grown, applying his words to the advance of the City of New York, and sketching the earlier
1 Pp. 134, 137, 138, Edward Hodges.
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history of Trinity, and commending the prudence and wis- dom with which from the beginning its parochial affairs had been conducted, Dr. Berrian said :
" It has been blessed with a long line of ministers as well fitted for their work by their talents, their piety and zeal, and as free from infirmity and sin as the imperfect condition of our nature could well have led us to expect. No less than ten of the clergy who were either temporarily or permanently connected with it have been raised to the Episcopate, five having become Bishops of the Diocese of New York,1 and five Bishops of Western New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Indiana, and Maryland.2
" From the formation of the Parish in 1697 to the present time there have been eight Rectors, the first of whom laboured in it nearly fifty years, and the last, who is now before you, somewhat less than forty-three years, making their united ministry but little short of a century." 3
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