USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 4 > Part 43
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History of Trinity Church
Gentleman who has been separated from them, nor can they allow the bias of party to preponderate over their sincere regard for the welfare and prosperity of the Church.
"For years before the present unhappy difference took place, many have anxiously desired the separation which they now ask for; but they must candidly acknowledge that the existing embarrassment has so deeply affected their spiritual communion and peace, as to drive them without further delay to present the Memorial which you have under consideration.
" NEW YORK, March 2d, 1839.
" CHRS. WOLFE, JAS. RENWICK,
ANTHONY BARCLAY, W. E. WILMERDING,
JOHN RUTHVEN, J. R. CHILTON,
WM. H. FALLS,
C. B. BOSTWICK,
D. A. BOOTH,
C. TICKNER,
JONA. DODGE,
P. HENRY.
Committee.
" J. RUTHVEN, Secy. CHRS. WOLFE, Cha.
" Memo. [Extract from the Statement accompanying this. ]
" There are in St. Paul's,
Numbered Pews, . 198
Corner middle aisle, 2
Marked free, .
4
204
" Deduct:
Unoccupied, or whose occu- pants we cannot find, including all the back pews, 68
Memorialists, 136
" Pew-holders, owners, and lessees, . 91
Having seats only .
.
71 - 162
" Being full 2/3 of the pew-holders, and 3/4 of the whole congre- gation."
509
Act of 1841
VII.
AN ACT FOR THE RELIEF OF THE RECTOR, CHURCH- WARDENS, AND VESTRYMEN OF TRINITY CHURCH IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK (PASSED APRIL 22, 1841).
The People of the State of New York Represented in Senate and Assembly Do Enact as follows-
I. The present Church-wardens and Vestrymen of the Corpora- tion styled-The Rector, Church-wardens, and Vestrymen of Trinity Church in the City of New York, or the major part of them of whom at least one of the Church-wardens shall be one, may consent to the nomination made by the Rector of the Rever- end Jonathan M. Wainwright to the office of Assistant Rector of the said Corporation and such nomination being so consented to, the said Assistant Rector shall have and exercise during the Rec- tor's absence the like powers as by said Charter are conferred on the Assistant Rector therein mentioned-and it shall be lawful for the said Jonathan M. Wainwright and the Church-wardens and
Vestrymen of the said Corporation during the present absence of the Rector thereof and until his return to the City of New York to hold Vestry meetings, and at every such meeting at least one of the Church-wardens and a majority of the other members of the Vestry being present, it shall be competent to the Board to regu- late, manage, and transact all the business concerns and affairs of the said Corporation and to provide for the holding of the annual election of Church-wardens and Vestrymen, and to exercise all the other powers of the Vestry of the said Corporation in the same manner and the same extent and with the like effect as if the Rector were present and acting therein.
2. The stated annual election of Church-wardens and Vestry- men of the said Corporation held since the departure of the Rector from the United States, and any consent which prior to the pass- ing of this act had been given in conformity with the provision of the first section to the nomination therein mentioned shall be deemed legal and valid, and all acts and proceedings of said Vestry in relation and management of the concerns and affairs of the said Corporation which have taken place since such departure of the Rector and prior to the passage of this act, shall be deemed legal and valid, provided such acts and proceedings would have been legal and valid, if the first section of this act had taken effect prior thereto.
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History of Trinity Church
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
State of New York, Secretary's Office. }
I have compared the preceding with an original act of the Legis- lature of this State on file in this office, and do certify that the same is a correct transcript therefrom and of the whole of said original.
JOHN C. SPENCER,
ALBANY, April 23, 1841. Secretary of State.
VIII.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE CONTROVERSY AND ATTACK UPON TRINITY CHURCH, 1856-1857, WITH EXTRACTS.
Communication of the Vestry of Trinity Church, in the City of New York, to the honorable the Senate of the State of New York, in reply to Resolution of the Senate passed April 13, 1855. Transmitted to the Legislature February 20, 1856. Albany: C. Van Benthuysen, 1856.
Facts against Fancy, or a True and Just View of Trinity Church, by the Rev. William Berrian, D. D., the Rector of the Same. New York: Pudney & Russell, 1856.
The Rector rectified, a reply to "Facts against Fancy, by the Rev. Berrian, D.D., Rector of Trinity Church, New York," from the Protestant Churchman. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph, 1856.
A letter to the Rev. William Berrian, D.D., on the Resources, Present Position, and Duties of Trinity Church, occasioned by his late pamphlet "Facts against Fancy," by William Jay. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph, 1856.
Trinity Church Case. Dr. Tyng and Others against Trinity Church, by Presbyter [The Rev. John Morgan]. New York: John A. Gray, 1856.
Report of the Select Committee on the Report of Trinity Church made in 1856, transmitted to the Legislature January 29, 1857. Al- bany: C. Van Benthuysen, 1857.
Reports of the Select Committee of the Senate on the affairs of Trinity Church, with the Testimony relative thereto. Albany: Van Benthuysen, 1857.
This volume includes:
First Report, undated, signed, M. Spencer, James Noxon, J. H. Ramsey, Select Committee.
5II
Bibliography of Controversy and Attack
Exhibits:
C. Letter from the Committee, to "The Vestry of Trinity Church in the City of New York." Dated, New York, Nov. 29, 1856.
D. Answer of the Vestry, dated, "Office of the Corporation of Trinity Church, No. 187 Fulton Street, New York, Dec. 2, 1856." Signed, Wm. E. Dunscomb, Comptroller, &c.
E. Answer of the Committee, dated, New York, 2d Dec., 1856. Signed, M. Spencer, J. Noxon, J. H. Ramsey, Committee.
F. Copies of Form of Lease for pew in Trinity Chapel-April, A.D. 1855. Schedule of Regulations respecting the pews in Trinity Chapel. Form of receipts for rent of pews in Trinity Chapel.
G. Memorial of the Vestry of Saint Matthew's Church, in the City of New York, to the Vestry of Trinity Church.
J.1 Valuation of Church Estate by Mr. Ely and Mr. Dodd.
J. Schedule A. Names of Corporators of Trinity Church. List of Voters at Elections for Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church, 1840-1855, inclusive.
Schedule B. List of Mortgages held by Trinity Church upon various Church Corporations with certificate of Clerk and Comptroller as to the Corrections of the list dated December, 18, 1856.
M. Testimony before the Committee at its Sessions in the Bank of Commerce Building, Nassau Street, New York City, December 2-5, 19-20, 1856.
Witnesses-Frederick M. Winston, Charles H. Clayton, John W. Rich, Abner L. Ely, The Rev. John Henry Hobart, The Rev. Edward Y. Higbee, The Rev. Jesse Pound, Herman D. Aldrich, The Rev. Sullivan H. Weston, Hon. Luther Bradish, Samuel T. Skidmore (re- fused to be sworn), The Rev. Thomas H. Taylor, John D. Wolfe, Wm. E. Dunscomb, Cyrus Curtiss, James H. Noe, The Rev. Henry Anthon, James M. Tuthill, Joseph Tucker, Matthias Clark, Stephen Cambreling, The Rev. R. S. Wiley, The Rev. Robert S. Howland, The Rev. Wm. A. Muhlenberg, Frederick S. Winston, Robert B. Minturn, Stewart Brown.
Second Report, undated.
Testimony introduced on the part of the Vestry. Albany, Feb- ruary 13-24, 1857.
Witnesses:
The Rev. Benjamin I. Haight, The Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, The Rev. John Henry Hobart, The Rev. Francis Vinton, The Rev. Sullivan H. Weston, Mr. Samuel T. Skidmore, The Rt. Rev. Wm. H. DeLancey, Mr. William Moore, Gen. John A. Dix, John R. Livingston.
1 Evidently a misprint ; should be H.
512
History of Trinity Church
Report and Testimony taken before the Senate Committee of Trinity Church, transmitted to the Legislature February 28, 1857. Albany: C. Van Benthuysen, 1857.
Communication from Hon. John A. Dix to the Select Committee of the Senate on the Report of Trinity Church. New York: J. F. Trow, 1857.
Arguments of the Counsel of Trinity Church before the Senate Committee. Albany: C. Van Benthuysen, 1857.
Argument of John K. Porter, council for the disfranchised cor- porators of Trinity Church, Delivered before the Select Committee of the Senate, March 2, 1857. Reported by T. S. Gillett. Albany: Weed, Parsons & Company, 1857.
A reply to the report of the Select Committee to whom was referred the Report of Trinity Church by a citizen of New York [The Rev. Frederick Ogilby, D.D.], New York, February 6, 1857. (No date, no printer).
To the Senators of the Senate of the State of New York; Being an Examination and Exposure of the "Report of the Select Committee to whom was referred the Report of Trinity Church made in 1855," and recommitted for further inquiry. By a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church [The Rev. Francis Vinton, D.D.], February 12, 1857. (No title-page, no printer). A second edition was issued with cover. It differed only from the first in having a title-page and cover, with same title as in the first, and the name of the printer, New York: John F. Trow.
Pastoral Letter to the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of New York, by Horatio Potter, Provisional Bishop of New York. February 23, 1857.
A statement and declaration of views. New York: H. Anstice & Co., 1857. (Dated, New York, March 3, 1857).
Sheep without a Shepherd, or the Rector's Cure of Souls. A con- tribution to the Trinity Church Question. By one of the Disfran- chised [John Jay]. New York: 1857.
Debates on the Trinity Church Bill in the Senate of the State of New York. Reported by Douglas A. Levien. Albany: J. Munsell, 1857.
Speech of Hon. Erastus Brooks, in Senate, upon the Trinity Church Bill. It is likewise a franchise for a number of persons to be incorporated and subsist as a Body Politic: with a power to maintain perpetual succession and do other corporate acts; and each individual member of such a corporation is also said to have a franchise or Free- dom. Blackstone. Albany: Weed, Parsons & Company, 1857.
513
Bibliography of Controversy and Attack
Speech of Hon. James Noxon of Onondaga, on the Trinity Church Bill, delivered March 26, 1857. Albany: Weed, Parsons & Company, 1857.
Speech of Mr. Wadsworth, in the Senate of New York, in the matter of Trinity Church, March 27, 1857. Albany: Van Benthuysen, 1857.
Argument of the Hon. Daniel E. Sickles to the Senate of the State of New York, April, 1857, on the Trinity Church Bill Reported by Douglas A. Levien. Albany: J. Munsell, 1857.
A letter from the Hon. D. D. Barnard, addressed to the Hon. Erastus Brooks, Senator, &c .; of the proceedings against Trinity Church now pending in the Senate of the State. Albany: Van Benthuysen, 1857.
A word for Trinity Church [The Rev. Henry W. Hudson]. From " The American Church Monthly " for April, 1857. New York: Ed- ward P. Allen, 1857.
A plea in Defence of Trinity Church, suggested by the attempt to procure Legislative Interference, made in March, 1857. New York: John P. Prall, 1857.
A Review of the Reports, Evidence, and Arguments, as presented in the case of Trinity Church to the Legislature of New York, 1857. [The Rev. Frederick Ogilby, D.D.].
A Suggestion to go for what it is worth. (No date, no printer.) 1855. (Proposes a new trust duly incorporated as The Trinity Church Charity Fund, for building Churches, Rectories, &c.)
Trinity Church. To the Episcopalian Electors of the State of New York, signed, " Religious Liberty." (No date, no printer.)
The Title, Parish Rights, and Property of Trinity Church, New York, from the appendix to Bishop De Lancey's Twentieth Conven- tional Address, delivered at Oswego, August 19, 1857. Utica, N. Y .: Curtiss & White, 1857.
Opinion in regard to the Power of the Legislature to modify the Charter of Trinity Church, New York, by Isaac F. Redfield, LL. D., chief justice of Vermont. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1858.
EXTRACTS FROM CONTROVERSIAL LITERATURE, 1856, 1857:
" The shepherd having driven the sheep from the fold, the lost sheep is at liberty to come in some ' other way' if he can! The shepherd is absolved from all obligation to seek the sheep, but the sheep may seek him.
.
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History of Trinity Church
" And what opportunity is there even for taking advantage of this gracious permission ? Is there room in the four churches-over and above their respective congregations-for the four thousand six hun- dred and forty-two communicants and their families ? Can the poor take pews in Trinity Chapel ? And is there any room in its free sittings for the hundreth part of them ? Or can the poor of the upper part of the City be expected to spend their only day of rest in a weary tramp -no 'Sabbath day's journey,' but twenty times that distance to Trinity or its Chapels.
" Nor were such things possible would the cruel injustice of the law be thereby annihilated. Still it would be true that the New York which has grown up since 1814-the poor and communicants of this New York have been defrauded by the law of 1814. Maintain also, if you will, that the older churches, which consented to or acquiesced in that law, have no rights in the case. Maintain also, if you will, that Grace and St. Mark's, and St. George's, and others made their bargain with Trinity, and having got their mess of pottage are no longer en- titled to their birthright. Be this so; the new city, nevertheless, the new communicants, the English Church emigrants of to-day, were no parties to the bargain. Goneril may have divided the spoil with Regan, but the case of Cordelia is none the less pitiful. If the old mother parcelled off the patrimony to herself and the living children, despoil- ing the child still in her womb of its portion, this but makes the elder brothers partakers in the guilt; it does not wash out the fraud put upon the child yet unborn.
" This child of the future is the helpless, guiltless sufferer. The New York of to-day-the heir of the old city-the child of suffering and want, this child though a lawful heir has been despoiled."
Pp. 32, 33, Sheep without a Shepherd.
" The repeal of the Act of 1814, or disturbing it in any way so as to let in these claimants as corporators of Trinity Church, would be a foul wrong and outrage, unless the Legislature should first pass solemnly upon this vital question, and be prepared to decide it judicially in favor of the claimants. There is not one conceivable pretence on which the Act of 1814 can be touched short of such an adjudication. If this point of law should be decided in favor of the claimants, the next great legal question in order will be whether the Act of 1814 did or did not divest them of their rights as corporators. But this question will re- quire the consideration and determination of others of great importance
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Bibliography of the Controversy and Attack
and nicety. If the Act was not passed with constitutional authority- if it was void-it divested no rights; and on every principle which, under our government, separates the legislative and judicial powers, the parties setting up a claim against it, or in spite of it, must be left to their remedy in the Courts. It would be monstrous for the Legisla- ture to entertain a proposition from private parties, to repeal a law in which a question of private rights was involved on the suggestion that it is void for want of constitutional sanction. The claimants insist that this Act was unconstitutional; if it was so, in the sense in which they manifestly use the word, it was void; and if the Legislature enter- tain this claim on the showing of the parties themselves, they must entertain and in some measure adjudicate on this point. The Act was either valid or void. The Legislature must so far consider this point as to determine in a judicial manner that it was not void, but valid, before they can grant relief to the private parties affected by it, on the ground that it operated to take away from them their vested rights. And they must do this-pronounce the Act valid-while the very ground on which the relief is sought for, and would be granted, would be con- clusive to show that it was void. But then another question of law, also of a very important and delicate character, arises upon this Act, and nothing could be more monstrous than for the Legislature to repeal it, in the way of relief to the claimants in the case, without first having entertained and judicially determined this question. The Cor- poration of Trinity Church, the party in possession of the property and rights in this case, maintain that whatever may have been the rights of those not parishioners of Trinity Church before the Act of 1814, in regard to the franchise of voting in her elections, that that Act effectu- ally and legally barred them of the franchise: that the Act was a con- tract made with the assent of the Corporation, and with the assent also of all the Corporators, to be taken as an inference of law; that as such it was valid and binding on the State, as on the Corporation and Cor- porators; and that the Legislature has no constitutional right or power to violate that contract, by a repeal or any modification of the Act, without the consent and against the will of the Corporation. Here are-points of law which must be considered and judicially decided against the view and position taken by the Corporation before the Legislature can without the grossest injustice undertake to grant the relief demanded by the claimants.
" I cannot suppose that the Legislature, or either branch of it, or any considerable number of its members, will be found willing to enter on any such service of judicial investigation and adjudication as they
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History of Trinity Church
have been asked to do in this case when the subject is once understood by them. No man in the State has any right worth talking about, to anything he possesses or calls his own if the Legislature may assume and exercise judicial powers, such as are necessarily involved in the action which has been proposed to it in this case. For its own sake, for the sake of the indispensable order and division of public duties, constitutionally established in the government under which we live; for the sake of all private rights and all private property; for the sake of the sense of common security, which would be fatally assailed by it, I earnestly hope and trust the Legislature will not assume any such powers."
Pp. 41, 42, 43, Letter of the Hon. D. D. Barnard.
" In conclusion, therefore, your committee ask leave to bring in a bill in conformity with the recommendation contained in the above report. " Respectfully submitted
" MARK SPENCER " JAMES NOXON " J. H. RAMSEY."
AN ACT
TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED " AN ACT TO ALTER THE NAME OF THE CORPORATION OF TRINITY CHURCH IN NEW YORK, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," PASSED JANUARY 25, 1814.
" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly do enact as follows :
"Section 1. The second section of the Act entitled ' An Act to alter the name of the Corporation of Trinity Church in New York, and for other purposes,' passed January 25, 1814, is hereby so amended as to read as follows :
" § 2. Every male inhabitant of the City of New York of full age, in communion of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New York, who shall hold, occupy or enjoy, a pew or seat in any Protestant Episcopal Church in said city, in union with the Convention of the Diocese of New York, or shall have partaken of the Holy Communion therein within the year next preceding any election for Churchwardens and Vestrymen, to be certified by the rector, senior warden, or clerk of the Vestry of such Church, shall be entitled to vote, at all elections for Churchwardens and Vestrymen of this Corporation.
517
The Consecration of Trinity Church
"§ 2. The said Act of January 25, 1814, is hereby further amended so as to read as follows :
"§. 7. The Vestry of Trinity Church shall once in every year, on the first day of February, furnish to their Corporation a printed state- ment of the affairs of the Corporation, including the details of annual income and expenditure, specifying what lots have been relet or sold, and for what amounts, and how many remain, what grants, loans, or stipends have been made, and to whom; what bonds and mortgages are held, of every sort; with the estimated change in the gross value of the Corporation estate, if any; and appending also the full and correct list of all the Corporators who will be entitled to vote at the Easter election then next ensuing.
"§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately."
Pp. 21, 22, Final report of the Select Committee, March, 1857.
IX.
THE CONSECRATION OF TRINITY CHURCH.
I.
THE INSTRUMENT OF DONATION AND REQUEST TO CONSECRATE.
In the Name of GOD, Amen.
We the Rector, Church Wardens and vestry men of Trinity Church in the City of New York,
having, by the good providence of Almighty GOD, erected in the first ward of the said city a Church and Steeple in or near a street com- monly called and known by the name of "the Broadway " and op- posite to Wall street, do hereby appropriate and devote the same to the worship and service of Almighty GOD, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, according to the provisions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America in its ministry, doctrines, liturgy, rites, and usages, and by a Congregation in com- munion with said Church and in union with the convention thereof in the Diocese of New York,
and we do also hereby request the Ecclesiastical authority of the said Diocese to take the said building under the spiritual jurisdiction of the same,
and we do also hereby request the Right Reverend Samuel Allen McCoskry Doctor in Divinity,
Bishop of the Diocese of Michigan, acting upon the request and by and
IT
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History of Trinity Church
with the consent of the Standing Committee of the said Diocese of New York, according to the form of the Canons of the said Church in General Convention, and of the said Diocese of New York made and provided, to Consecrate the same by the name of
TRINITY CHURCH
and thereby separate it from all unhallowed worldly and common uses and solemnly dedicate it to the holy purposes above mentioned, and
We do moreover hereby relinquish all claim to any right of dispos- ing of the said building or allowing the use of it in any way incon- sistent with the terms and true meaning of this instrument of donation and with the Consecration hereby requested of the Bishop aforesaid.
By the order of the corporation of Trinity Church in the City of New York.
L.S.
WM E. DUNSCOMB Clerk of the vestry
WM H. HARISON Comptroller 1
-- II.
SENTENCE OF CONSECRATION.
In the Name of GOD, Amen.
To all to whom these present shall come
I, Samuel Allen McCoskry, Doctor in Divinity, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Michigan, send Greeting:
Whereas the Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church in the City of New York,
Have by an instrument this day presented to me, appropriated and devoted to the service of Almighty GOD, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, according to the provisions of the Protestant Epis- copal Church in the United States of America, in the ministry, doctrines Rites, and Usages, and by a Congregation in Communion with the said Church in union with the Convention thereof in the Diocese of New York a certain Church and steeple, that hath been
1 Records, liber iii., folio 396.
519
The Consecration of Trinity Church
lately erected by them in the said City of New York, in or near to a street called and known by the name of the Broadway, and opposite to Wall Street in the first Ward of the said City.
And whereas the said Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen, have by the same instrument requested the ecclesiastical authority of the said Diocese of New York to take their said Church and Steeple under the spiritual jurisdiction of the same, and to consecrate it by the name of
TRINITY CHURCH
And thereby to separate it from all unhallowed, worldly, and common uses, and solemnly dedicate it to the Holy purposes above mentioned; Now therefore, know ye that I, Samuel Allen McCoskry, Bishop as aforesaid,
acting under the protection of Almighty GOD, upon the request, and by and with the consent of the Standing Committee of the said Diocese of New York, according to the forms of the canons of the said Church in General Convention, and in the said Diocese of New York, made and provided,-
on this the feast of the Ascension of the Blessed Lord, being the twenty-first day of May in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, in the name and in behalf of the ecclesiastical authority aforesaid have taken the above mentioned Church and Steeple under the spiritual jurisdiction of the same, and in the presence of divers of the clergy, and a public congre- gation therein assembled, and according to the form prescribed by the Protestant Episcopal Church of America, have consecrated the same by the name of TRINITY CHURCH.
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