USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 4 > Part 42
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The complete satisfaction of the Bishop and six of the examiners VOL. IV .- 32.
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History of Trinity Church
was not shared by Dr. Smith and Dr. Anthon. They still claimed that Mr. Carey held the heretical and soul-destroying views of the Church of Rome in connection with the presence of our blessed Lord in the Eucharist, that his exaltation of the Blessed Virgin to a place of more than respect and honor was erroneous, and that these opinions, and others expressed by him upon the authority of the Church and several points in the controversy with Rome, made him unfit to be a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church. They protested against his ordination unless these errors were recanted.
During the ordination service in St. Stephen's Church, on the morn- ing of Sunday, July 2, 1843, Dr. Smith and Dr. Anthon, habited in gowns and bands, occupied a pew in the centre aisle near the chancel. When the Bishop made the inquiry, "Brethren, if there be any of you who knoweth any impediment or notable crime," etc., the two doctors rose from their seats, advanced toward the chancel, and read formal protests against the ordination of Mr. Arthur Carey. Intense excite- ment prevailed through the church and a deep hush fell upon all as the friends together after this solemn act of protest marched slowly down the aisle and left the church. There was a brief interval before the Bishop, rising from his chair, said: "Brethren, all those to be made deacons having been found worthy are commended to the prayers of the congregation." The service proceeded in the ordinary manner to the end with the celebration of the Holy Communion and the blessing of peace.
A storm of unparalleled fury darkened the ecclesiastical horizon, complaint, accusation, charge, and countercharge were made. The True Issue for the True Churchman was met by A Statement of Facts, letters bristling with capitals and italics appeared for months after this startling event in the secular and religious press. Party lines were more closely drawn in convention, parochial life and even personal intercourse were disturbed. Soon after The Protestant Churchman was established by Dr. Anthon and others who wished a vehicle of communication with those upholding the Protestant heri- tage and true evangelical doctrines of the Church. From its com- mencement Dr. Anthon was a vigorous and frequent writer of editorials and other contributions, although its first editor was the Rev. R. C. Shimeall of St. Jude's Church, New York City. Dr. Anthon soon became the managing editor and made the paper a powerful agent in disseminating the principles upheld by his school of thought. It was able, satirical, and strong in its likes and dislikes.
Dr. Anthon and his friends became dissatisfied with the com-
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A Sketch of the Rev. Henry Anthon, D.D.
paratively slow progress of evangelical ideas, and in 1847 established the Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge.
His wish for church extension in the city took a practical shape in the provision of services in a crowded part of the East Side, the church at Second Avenue and Sixth Street being leased for two years. But as the prospect of real growth and greater good seemed to be in another direction, this enterprise was abandoned after two years and services commenced in the Sixth Avenue Railroad depot at Forty- fourth Street in 1859. Soon after lots in Forty-eighth Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues were purchased and a church in the Romanesque style erected after the plans of Renwick, Auchmuty, & Sands.
The busy and fruitful years of Dr. Anthon's ministry were now drawing to a close. Late in the fall of 1860 his health began to fail. On Christmas day he preached and celebrated the Holy Communion for the last time in St. Mark's. After eleven days of intense pain his earthly life ended at noon on Saturday, January 5, 1861. The funeral was from the church where he had spent nearly twenty-five happy years, on Tuesday, January 8, 1861, at half-past three o'clock.
Dr. Horatio Potter, Provisional Bishop of the Diocese, officiated, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, the Rev. Dr. Thomas H. Taylor, and the Rev. Henry E. Montgomery. The burial was in the quiet churchyard surrounding St. Mark's.
The active years of Dr. Anthon's life were passed in that period of the American Church when strong men were guiding her, when foundations were being laid, when principles were being tested. It was necessarily a time of conflict and controversy, and when any full history of the Church is written it will be seen that the subject of this sketch bore his full part in the fray, that he was an able antagonist, that he held firmly and tenaciously to what he considered right, that he stood for the "reformation settlement" as it is sometimes called, and was inclined to emphasize the Protestantism rather than the apostolicity of the Church.
A friend in a brief sketch thus describes Dr. Anthon:
"In person Dr. Anthon was small with dark hair and eyes ; in his later years his hair turned snowy white. He was of a nervous tempera- ment, tenacious of his principles, energetic in carrying them out, and unflinching in the performance of his duty. Although frequently engaged in heated controversy, he remained gentle and courteous, cheerful and affectionate, and his life was, in the words of the
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tablet erected by the Vestry, 'an example of singular purity and consistency. '" 1
A tablet to his memory, surmounted by an excellent bust of Dr. Anthon, was erected east of the chancel over a doorway. As an additional memorial, the mission church was erected into a separate parish and consecrated on April 4, 1861, as the Anthon Memorial Church. Under the designation of All Souls' Church and in a newer and more attractive edifice the parochial organization was until recently maintained and the memory of Henry Anthon kept green.
Dr. Anthon's historical sermon on the Fiftieth Anniversary of St. Mark's in 1845 is noteworthy. His principal literary work was done in the columns of The Protestant Churchman.
V.
LETTER FROM COLONEL JOHN W. GREEN, GIVING DETAILS ABOUT THE REV. DR. JOHNSTON.
ALEXANDRIA, VA., 209 S. FAIRFAX ST., October 10th, 1901.
REV. JOSEPH HOOPER, . DEAR SIR : -
The Rev. P. P. Phillips, rector of St. Paul's Church, Alexandria, has turned over to me a letter from you, with a request that I would acknowledge the receipt, and give you the desired information asked for.
You refer to a call tendered our once beloved Rector, the Rev. Jas. T. Johnston, in September, 1837, to fill a vacancy in the parish of Trinity Church, N. Y., and of his having declined the call in Nov., 1837, and ask if we have any printed History of St. Paul's, Alexª., in which facts are mentioned, that would enable us to inform you why he should have declined such an invitation as the positions in Trinity were considered both honorable and permanent.
The records of our Church were all destroyed in a fire during the War of 1861 to 1865, and the only records we have are those I have collected since. I am now the oldest surviving member of St. Paul's,
1 P. 93, Sketch of the Rev. Henry Anthon, D.D., in Memorial of St. Mark's Church in the Bowery. Published by the Vestry. New York : Thomas Whittaker, 1899.
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Letter from Colonel John W. Green
and the only survivor of the Vestry during Doctor Johnston's charge of the parish. Was a member of the Vestry with two others who be- gan with the organization of the Church, making a connecting link up to the present date, now nearly 50 years since I was elected, when a young man 25 years old, and for some time was registrar of the parish, now Warden.
Rev. Jas. T. Johnston was born in Savannah, Ga., July the 4th, 1797. Was Son of Mathew Johnston and Eliza Whitfield, and grand Nephew of the distinguished Rev. George Whitfield, he was educated in Connecticut, and graduated in Law, and practiced for some time in New York City. Soon his mind reverted from the Law and turned to a higher theme. He decided to give up the Law and entered the General Theological Seminary in N. Y. He was ordained deacon in the Church of Ascension in N. Y. by Bishop Onderdonk, Nov. 9th, 1832, and to the Priesthood by the same Bishop July the 28th, 1833. He soon after in Oct., 1833, was called to St. Paul's Alexa. He accepted and took charge October the 20th, 1833. He continued in charge until 1858 when feeble health compelled him to resign his charge after 25 years of faithful and laborious work. The Vestry and Congregation made every effort to have him continue as their Rector. They offered and did give him an assistant and leave of absence for as long as he wished to try and recruit his health. They did prevail on him twice to withdraw his resignation, but the third time he insisted on the Vestry receiving it. He stated to the Congregation and Vestry it was not his intention to leave Alexandria. He intended to end his days with them and to be buried in St. Paul's Cemetery. He had already built a vault for his remains. The Vestry gave him and his family the choice of any pew to be for the use of himself and wife as long as they lived, and he lived and worshipped with us, until 1877 assisting often in the Communion Service and died at the ripe old age of 80 Years. St. Paul's was his first and only Charge, and so strong were the ties that bound him and his people together he could not be induced to leave them during his twenty-five years service. He was called by many of the Vestries of the most prominent Churches in this Country, including several in New York City; St. Paul's, Cincinnati; Christ Church, St. Louis; to a church in Philadelphia; Hartford; New Orleans. He was elected in 1843 by the Diocese of Alabama as Bishop. This he also declined, and recommended Rev. Mr. Cobbs of Va., and he was elected and accepted as the first Bishop of this diocese. You will 'be able to see by the above report that the ties of love and affec- tion that existed between Dr. Jas. T. Johnston and his Congregation
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were so strong that a call to Trinity could not induce him to leave his people.
Yours, etc., JNO. W. GREEN.
VI.
MEMORIAL OF PEW-HOLDERS AND WORSHIPPERS IN ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL TO THE VESTRY OF TRINITY CHURCH, MARCH 2, 1839.
"To W. E. Dunscomb, Esq., Chairman of a Committee of the Vestry of Trinity Church.
"The undersigned, a Committee appointed by a meeting of pew- holders and worshippers in St. Paul's Chapel for the purpose of pre- senting a memorial to the Vestry of Trinity Church, praying that the said Chapel be set apart as a separate Parish, beg leave, in compliance with the request of the Committee of which you are Chairman, to lay before you the reasons that, in their view of the subject, have in- fluenced the petitioners, whom they represent, to desire such separation.
"They would first urge the general and oft-repeated objection to Collegiate Churches, which lies in the want of that constant and familiar intercourse between the pastor and his flock, which is abso- lutely necessary to give efficiency to the labours of the former, and to secure the religious and moral improvement of the latter.
" Even where this objection has been in part obviated by the as- signment of specific duties in the several Collegiate Churches to an individual clergyman, that clergyman may not be such as the con- gregation would have themselves selected. Indeed, it may be almost assumed as a settled point that the congregation of St. Paul's Chapel have little or no influence, either in the call of Assistant Ministers, the appointment of the routine of their duty, or the nomination of the temporary substitutes, who, in case of need, have supplied the place of their stated pastor. In confirmation of this view of the subject the undersigned would appeal to the state of things hinted at by one of the members of your own committee.
" On the appointment of the Rev. Dr. Schroeder, as stated preacher in St. Paul's, some members of the congregation were so far dissatis- fied that they would have preferred that some other of the Assistant
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Memorial to Set Apart St. Paul's Chapel
Ministers had been assigned to that duty. On this occasion several of the regular attendants on the worship of that Chapel withdrew and were replaced by others to whom they leased or sold their pews. Here it may be urged was a cause of dissension which could not have occurred had the choice of pastor rested in the congregation itself. Now, however, when this cause of difficulty may be considered as at an end, by the occupation of these pews by persons who from actual pref- erence, or strong attachment, desire the continuance of Dr. Schroeder as their more immediate pastor, a new course of events in which the congregation has no voice, and has never been consulted, arises and all connection with a beloved and esteemed pastor is severed.
"The undersigned would next remark that the Constitution of the Collegiate Churches is such that no separate congregation can be con- sidered as represented in the Vestry. With all due respect and esteem for those members of the Vestry who are selected from St. Paul's Chapel, they cannot refrain from stating their belief that these gentle- men are not aware of the feelings of a large majority of the congrega- tion, or, if aware, have not felt it a duty to act upon them, nor can they consider this as any fault in those gentlemen, under the present circumstances, for they must look to the body of pew-holders in the three churches as their constituents, and not to the members of St. Paul's alone.
"Under such circumstances the congregation of St. Paul's can feel little interest in the general concerns of the united parish, and this want of interest will be the more apparent from an argument which it appears from the course which the discussion has taken may probably be urged against granting the petition, namely, that a large proportion of the memorialists, although stated worshippers and occupants of pews, have never thought it necessary to qualify themselves by written evidence to vote at the elections of Vestrymen.
" When such an apathy in relation to the temporal concerns of the Church exists, it may naturally extend itself to spiritual mat- ters, and your memorialists, although they may feel humbled by the confession that they have been cooled in their religious ardour by the unhappy circumstances in which they are placed may yet plead in ex- tenuation that they have not been allowed that exercise of their privi- leges which would have excited them to zeal. They believe, also, that the Congregation of St. Paul's is not alone liable to the charge of want of liberality in its contributions, and of zeal in the cause of the church, but that the whole united parish has in the eye of other denominations, and in that of its sister churches, the character of
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History of Trinity Church
contributing less in proportion to the wealth of the individuals who compose it than is done in any separate congregation.
" The undersigned would further urge the great diminution in the usefulness of the Clergyman which the Collegiate system is likely to produce. .
" The real and efficient service of the Christian pastor is rarely manifested at the present day in the pulpit alone. There, in fact, is the least part of his apostolic duty. In the days of ignorance, or among people who do not possess the means of education, no other but oral instruction can be given, and no other will be effec- tual. But in the present enlightened age, and in such assemblages as are collected in the Episcopal Churches of this City, the mere delivery of sermons has little influence on the moral or religious character of the flock. The best preaching is rather listened to as a public exhibition of talent, than as a means of touching the heart or renewing the soul. The services of the pastor as Christ's faith- ful soldier are to be principally performed at the bedside of the sick and dying, in the habitations of misery and distress, in pastoral visita- tion, in the catechetical instruction of the young, and the familiar ex- position of the Scriptures to the more advanced in age.
" With what feeling of discouragement must a pastor, however faithful, undertake such duties where he knows that his catechumens, his Sunday-schools, and his Bible classes may at any moment be placed under the control of another, how much soever those who are immediately interested may be attached to him; and he be displaced by the fiat of a body in which their feelings and views can hardly be considered as represented.
" It is from such causes that the general and familiar objection to Collegiate Churches has arisen, and such causes have in our own City nearly broken up the system among other denominations of Christians. The time is within the recollection of several of the Committee when the three great and prevailing denominations of protestant Christians were wholly included in three Collegiate establishments, others of less note and numbers adopted the same system. It is believed that the number of separate Collegiate establishments thirty years ago did not fall short of seven, of as many different denominations, each including all the Christians of that particular sect in the City. All of these have been dissolved except that of Trinity and the Dutch Reformed Churches, and it is understood that a great portion of the members of the latter are opposed to the Collegiate system and desire a separation.
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Memorial to Set Apart St. Paul's Chapel
"These Churches are held together in spite of many disadvantages, by the bond of rich and extensive endowments. That this should be the sole and exclusive bond of union, the undersigned, on behalf of the memorialists, would repudiate.
" As an affectionate and long obedient daughter of the Mother Church, the congregation of St. Paul's may hope with justice on quit- ting the maternal protection for a fair and equitable dowry, but it cannot reckon temporal advantages as bearing any proportion to its spiritual welfare.
"In other countries the system of Collegiate Churches has either been abandoned altogether, or has been productive of the most lamentable decline in all the evidences of a lively faith.
" In the venerable church to which the Episcopal Church of the United States owes its birth, separate congregations united under the ministry of Collegiate clergy would appear to be unknown. Such Col- legiate Churches as actually exist are single congregations under the charge of more than a single presbyter. The only other analogous case is where a single rector may be entrusted with the charge of more than a single Church in consequence of the sparseness of population or the poverty of the parishioners.
"On the Continent of Europe, on the other hand, the Collegiate system has prevailed in all the reformed Churches to the exclusion of that of separate parishes, and well informed observers have not hesi- tated to ascribe to this cause the obvious decay in true religion which some of those Churches exhibit. Thus in Geneva, once the seat of a zeal which our own more moderate Church has been inclined to style fiery and ungoverned, the influence of the Collegiate system has gradu- ally turned the ardent and enthusiastic heralds of the faith into the preachers of a cold and almost heathen morality. The dissolution of Collegiate Churches in this City, to which the undersigned have re- ferred, has been productive of general advantage to the common cause of religion.
" While they profess and truly feel the strongest attachment to the venerable and apostolic Church of which they are unworthy mem- bers, they have not the bigoted feelings which will deny the useful influence of other Churches upon the minds and actions of their mem- bers, and the examination of their successful progress would show the great advantages possessed by separate congregations over Collegiate Churches.
"That feelings and arguments such as have been cited, however feeble the latter may have been, must necessarily influence the members
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History of Trinity Church
of a congregation situated as that of St. Paul's is, may be well under- stood by the frank and manly avowal of two members of your own Committee, who did not hesitate to state that when they were pew- holders in St. Paul's Chapel they were decidedly in favor of a separation. .
" If, as worshippers in Trinity Church and members of the Vestry, they now entertain different opinions, still they may be induced to fulfil the Christian rule, by the recollection of the views they formerly entertained, and the consideration that those who are now placed as they once were must necessarily be influenced by similar feelings.
" Another motive for the application of your memorialists is the desire that they and their posterity should live exempt from the recur- rence of those difficulties, which have several times occurred between the Vestry of Trinity Church and the Assistant Ministers, or the parishioners, producing divisions, parties, and schisms among the con- gregations,-than such a state of things nothing can be more detri- mental to the character of our Church with other denominations, nor more dangerous to the Christian charity of those concerned, at the same time that it is calculated to disaffect even those who were before stable, to scatter those previously attached, and to repel those who were advancing to the fold of our own faith. There are some, we doubt not, to whom these representations appear merely formal, and who believe that spiritual feelings, desires, anxieties, and privations are expressions of the imagination, void of reality, but we can vouch for their actual existence, and the facts complained of have produced great uneasiness in religious matters, that they have scattered our Flock, have left us without an acknowledged and avowed Shepherd, have separated us from many near and dear, with whom we have been accustomed to worship and to commune, -have estranged parishioners from each other, and produced indifference, or worse, between some of them and some of the Clergy.
"From the present mode of constituting the Vestry, by electing one-third of their body from each of the three congregations (and under the Collegiate state no better system can be adopted), it is evi- dent that two-thirds of them have no particular specific interest in the appointment (or call, as it is termed), of any minister to any one of the Churches. What fact can explain more completely the cause of frequent dissatisfaction ? Render St. Paul's Chapel a separate Church, and the sounds of discontent and dissension will no longer be heard,- heartburnings will become extinct and lukewarmness in religion will spontaneously be kindled into Christian fervor.
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Memorial to Set Apart St. Paul's Chapel
" Lastly, the undersigned would urge upon the Committee, of which you are Chairman, that they are in fact, however it may appear on the records of the Vestry, the representatives of a very large majority of the worshippers in St. Paul's Chapel, and of two-thirds of the owners and lessees of pews. By a very careful examination made by a member of the Committee (Theron Wilbur, Esq.), charged with ob- taining the signatures to the memorial of those who either attended the meeting at which the undersigned were named a Committee or con- curred in its proceedings, it appears, as near as we can ascertain, that - pews only are occupied in the Church. Out of this number - have affixed their names to the memorial as owners or lessees, who thus, if not by written indenture, are in strict equity to be considered as those entitled to the privilege of voting.
" In addition, several owners of pews have declined signing during the present excitement, but have not hesitated to express their desire that the connection with Trinity Church were dissolved.
"The undersigned are in fact of opinion that could all personal considerations have been left out of the question, they might have obtained an almost unanimous expression of opinion that the time had arrived when St. Paul's ought to cease to be one of the Collegiate connection.
"The Committee which addresses you feels sensibly the disadvan- tages under which its enquiries into the tenor on which pews are held have been conducted. They must, however, urge upon the Vestry that under the circumstances that body must consider the memorial which has been already submitted as an expression of the opinion of the con- gregation, unless a counter memorial, signed by a greater number of persons having an interest in the question should be presented.
"In conclusion, the undersigned would beg leave to disclaim for themselves, and they trust they may safely do so for every one of the memorialists, all feeling in respect to persons.
"Of the two Rev. Gentlemen whose claims to priority of rank have caused the present desolation of their earthly Zion, both possess the affectionate regards of every member of the Committee of parishioners. So far, indeed, as the feelings of such of the undersigned as have taken part in the discussion at the joint meeting are concerned, long and continued regard, the habits of familiar and social intercourse, could these prevail over their sense of justice, rank them among the friends of the Rev. Gentleman who still honorably and usefully holds his place. They cannot, however, let the affectionate feelings with which they regard him, blind them to the unmerited treatment of the Rev.
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