USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 4 > Part 44
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
And I do pronounce and declare that the said
TRINITY CHURCH
. is consecrated accordingly, and thereby separated henceforth from all unhallowed worldly, and common uses, and dedicated to the worship of Almighty GOD, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for read- ing and preaching his Holy word, for celebrating his Holy Sacraments, for offering to his Glorious Majesty the sacrifice of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, for blessing his people in his Name, and for the per- formance of all other Holy offices, agreeable to the terms of the Cov- enant of Grace and salvation in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and according to the provisions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in
520
History of Trinity Church
the United States of America in its ministry, doctrines, Liturgy, Rites, and Usages.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed my seal and signature of Office the day and year above written, and in the tenth year of my Consecration.
Signed
SAMUEL ALLEN MCCOSKRY.'
III.
NOTICES OF THE CONSECRATION.
I. From The Morning Courier and New York Enquirer, Friday, May 22, 1846.
This magnificent edifice, the most finished specimen of Architecture upon the Continent was consecrated to the worship of the Almighty God yesterday by the Right Rev. Bishop McCoskry of Michigan, pro- visional Bishop of the Diocese.
The arrangements of the Vestry as to admission were so well timed that no more tickets were issued than were sufficient to fill the build- ing comfortably. At eleven o'clock the procession moved from Bunker's Mansion House headed by the scholars of Trinity School, preceded by the Rector, and followed by the Bishop, the Rector and assistant Ministers of Trinity Church, the reverend clergy, students of the General Theological Seminary, Wardens and Vestry of Trinity Church, and other city churches.
The forms laid down in the Prayer Book were followed out, the Bishop repeating the sentence assigned as he walked up the aisle. The instrument of Donation was read by the Rev. Dr. Taylor of Grace Church. The regular services of the day were then performed, the Bishop being assisted by the Rev. Drs. Berrian, Wainwright, and Hig- bee of Trinity Church, Southard of Calvary, and Haight of All Saints.
The music was certainly superior to any Church music ever heard before in the City, and not the least attractive part of it was the choir of boys trained under the direction of Dr. Hodges, the musical direc- tor of Trinity Church, who presided at the magnificent organ, and who drew from it such music as has rarely been heard.
The sermon was preached by the Bishop, and was worthy of his ex- alted reputation as a Christian and a scholar.
1 The original, duly engrossed, is, presumably, among the parochial archives. This
1 copy follows that found on the Records, liber iii., folios 399, 400.
521
The Consecration of Trinity Church
After the sermon the Sacrament of the Holy Communion was ad- ministered to a very large number who remained, and the service of the day was not closed until after three o'clock.
We are informed that services will not be held in the Church until the first Sunday in June.
2. From The New York Tribune, Wednesday, May 20, 1846.
Trinity Church is to be consecrated to-morrow. The services will commence at half past ten o'clock in the morning, and will occupy it is supposed four hours, as the Holy Communion will be administered on the occasion. It is expected that Bishop McCoskry will preach the sermon, and Drs. Wainwright and Berrian perform the principal por- tions of the service.
The splendid organ by Mr. Erben of this City, under the super- vision of Dr. Hodges, is not more than one-third completed, but what there is of it is beyond any other in the Country. There is not a single pipe of the "great organ " yet in. The "choir," the " swell," and the curvilinear pedals comprise the whole that will be available on the day of consecration.
Dr. Hodges has composed an entirely new Te Deum and Benedictus for the occasion, and the choir, which is to be very choice, and which will number about thirty performers, are to sing Dr. Boyce's Anthem: " I have surely built Thee a house to dwell in."
3. From The New York Tribune, Friday, May 22, 1846.
Consecration of Trinity Church.
This imposing ceremony took place yesterday morning in the pres- ence of an immense audience, which entirely filled the Church.
The services were performed in the usual impressive and solemn manner of the Church of England, and Bishop McCoskry officiated in person. The music was particularly grand and full, the choir being composed apparently of the choicest talent from the various choirs throughout the City. We thought we could distinguish amid the mas- sive Melodies the voices of Miss Northall, Miss Taylor, Miss Strong, and other popular vocalists. The organ showed that it is to be when completed one of the grandest instruments in the Country.
4. From " Edward Hodges, Doctor in Music," by his daughter, Faustina H. Hodges. pp. 131-132.
Regarding the consecration services of Trinity Church, the grandeur
١٢٠
522
History of Trinity Church
of which seems to have become traditional, I will only remark upon the rendering of the 95th Psalm, Venite Exultemus.
The music for this canticle chosen for the occasion was the grand chant in C, by Jones, which my father had arranged in eight parts. There were probably more than two singers on each part, with his band of trained choristers behind (for the organ loft was quite full); and I can truly say the effect produced surpassed in massive grandeur all that I have ever seen in the way of chanting either before or since. This was not only produced by his splendidly drilled choir and the spirit that came from the magnificent organ, but the majesty and mean- ing of the 95th Psalm, placed as it is at the beginning of our service, was powerfully brought out.
It must have been my father's spiritual conception and responsive devotion that sent King David's words home to our hearts.
The organ was not finished then, but the effects were marvellous. The moving organ-part, perhaps from his coupling to the choir- organ, his triple-slat swell at octaves, formed a mystic rich back- ground to the substantial body of voices, just as rows of Doric columns are thrown out into relief by an aerial sea of blue behind them. Added to that, the rolling at intervals of the great diapason and the mysterious depths of the 32-ft. pedals, like the sound of the distant sea-all combined to create an ineffaceable impression upon the mind of not only devotional and musical grandeur, but of my father's interpretation of the service of the Church, of which he was said to be a true liturgical minister.
5. " Felix Old Boy," in a Tour of New York. New York, Harper and Brothers, 1893. 12 mo, pp. xviii., 518.
In passing Trinity Church on a soft June morning of 1886 I found the services of Ascension Day in progress, and this brought back the recollection of the part I had taken in the Consecration services that were held there forty years ago that day.
I was then one of the foundation scholars of Trinity School. This amply endowed Academy held its sessions in a building in Varick Street near Canal, and numbered one hundred and fifty pupils. Its Rector was the Rev. William Morris, LL. D., a stalwart graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and a rigid disciplinarian. Solomon's rod in his hands meant something.
On that eventful day he marshalled his pupils in the school and then, placing himself at the head in Oxford cap and resplendent silk gown, marched them down Broadway to the Globe Hotel, where the
-
0
الك
523
The Consecration of Trinity Church
procession was formed. The boys led the procession in the stately march to the Church. Then followed theological students, vestrymen and a long line of clergymen ending with the Bishop of the Diocese, Dr. Benjamin T. Onderdonk. At the chancel rail we stopped, opened ranks and the rest of the procession passed up the broad center aisle between our lines, reciting the grand psalm of consecration, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates!"
Of the long service that followed I remember only the reading of the first lesson by Dr. Morris, the consecration prayer of Solomon's Temple-and at this lapse of time I can still hear his sonorous voice repeating its magnificent petitions.
Dr. Hodges presided at the organ, and he had prepared for the occasion an apparently interminable Te Deum which I had the pleasure of learning when I became a member of the choir.
The consecration of Trinity Church was a great event in New York, and gave rise to no end of discussion. It had been darkly whispered in private circles that some of the parish clergy intended " to turn their backs upon the people " as they do now, and the public were ready to protest against the innovation.
Colonel Mines ("Felix Old Boy,") has a charming style, is full of quaint conceits, poetic fancies, and a reverence for the past. But some- times his recollection was at fault, as in this extract, which is here in- troduced to show how history should not be written.
6. From The Diary of Philip Hone, 8vo, 2 vol., Dodd, Mead & Company, p. 279, vol. ii., 1889.
1846, May 21.
This day, being the feast of the Ascension, agreeably to the notice given and the arrangements made, the new Trinity Church, the pride of Episcopalians and the glory of our city, was consecrated to the service of Almighty GOD.
I was one of the Committee of Arrangements and have been for the last two or three weeks most sedulously employed every day in the dis- charge of the duties of this office.
The clergy, the rectors, wardens and vestrymen of the several Episcopalian Churches, the members of the Theological Seminary, the present and former mayors, the scholars of Trinity School, and invited guests assembled at ten o'clock at Mr. Bunker's in Broadway and marched in procession to the church. At eleven o'clock the grand and solemn assemblage preceded by the Rt. Rev. Bishop McCoskry, who officiated as Bishop of the Diocese during the suspension of
,
524
History of Trinity Church
Bishop Onderdonk, entered during the impressive chanting of one hundred and fifty clergymen in white surplices and scarfs, followed by a most dignified and respectable body of laymen.
The consecration service was performed by the Bishop assisted by a number of prominent ministers; and the splendid vaulting of the solemn temple resounded with the notes of the grand organ and with the sounds of praise and adoration from the voices of the devout assemblage.
7. Recollections of the Consecration of Trinity Church, by the Rev. Edmund f. Slafter, D.D., Registrar of the Diocese of Massachusetts.
In the month of August, 1839, I passed a few days in the City of New York. At that time the Old Trinity Church was in the process of demolition. One half of it had been removed, while the remaining half presented to the passer-by in the street, a threatening and danger- ous aspect.
In the month of May, 1846, I went from Massachusetts to New York with a self-appointed delegation of clergymen to be present at the consecration of the new Trinity Church, then reputed to be the most beautiful and costly church in the United States.
At the appointed hour, on Ascension Day, the clergy met at Bunker's Hotel in Broadway on the same side of the street as the church, well down towards the Battery. There were said to be present one hundred and sixty, all arrayed in surplices, a larger number, doubt- less, than were ever before together, so habited, on this continent.
The Rector, the Rev. Dr. Berrian, was gracious and polite, and kindly furnished me with a surplice. The clergy formed in proces- sion and marched along the side-walk from the hotel to the church, presenting a striking and picturesque appearance. On entering the church, those appointed to take part in the services, the Rector, assist- ant ministers and some others took their places within the rail, while the great body of the clergy occupied seats near and directly in front of the chancel.
The service in every part was simple and impressive. There was nothing sensational; there was no intoning, or even a boy-choir; no attempt to turn the service into a musical entertainment. The vast audience that filled the church heard the service as they had heard it from their youth up and joined in it with a warm and hearty response. I distinctly remember, and can never forget, the exquisitely fine and impressive reading of the Rev. Dr. Higbee, one of the assistant ministers.
miles ofmilk
525
The Consecration of Trinity Church
When the services were completed, the clergy formed again in procession and returned to the hotel. The Massachusetts delegation, I think, began their homeward journey the same evening.
8. The National Press.
And now having gone through the detail of the highly impressive and interesting as well as imposing ceremonial, let us revert once more to this noble edifice.
Every part, to say the least of it, is in admirable keeping. It is worthy of the Church, an honor to the vestry, a noble monument of the improved taste of the age in architecture if not in piety. We hope indeed it is of the latter no less than of the former. Religion is the hand- maid of the arts and sciences, she promotes whatever is lovely, virtuous and of good report; and how much do we not owe to her! It is to our advantage to cherish and encourage every symptom of her advance- ment and growth among us; and instead of crippling and trying to break down such a corporation as Trinity Parish, which has done so much for other parishes besides her own both in this City and through- out the State of New York, we, especially since we call ourselves churchmen, should bid her prosperity and say esto perpetua.
The present Trinity Church is the third erected upon the same site. In the spring of 1839 certain indications of decay in the former edifice, which was not more than fifty years old, led to the examination of that building and to a determination to build a new one in its place. This is now done and from the nature of the superstructure there is every reason to believe that it will be more enduring, become gray with time and last to hoary age.
On the third of June, 1841, the corner-stone was laid in the north front buttress of the tower, and on the lid of the leaden box containing several deposits of books and coins was engraved: [Here follows the inscription already given from the Vestry Minutes on p. 228.]
The monument of Bishop Hobart is now placed in the chapelry, on the south side of the chancel; the rest of the monuments are properly disposed of in the vestry room on the south contiguous to the chapelry, and in the room adjacent to the north porch of the church on the other side of the chancel. Among the more recent monuments we observed one to the memory of the late Mr. Thomas Swords, who for more than half a century was an eminent publisher and bookseller in this city and also a vestryman of Trinity Church. He died June 27, 1843, in the 80th year of his age.
The whole of this immense fabric, which was designed by Mr.
بسم الله
526
History of Trinity Church
Upjohn the architect, is constructed of solid stone quarried at Little Falls beyond Paterson on the Passaic. Each stone is squared upon the surface and pecked by hammering and so laid on its natural bed, which will enable it to resist for a longer time the action of the weather.
The master builder was Mr. Robert Vandenburg, the sculptor Mr. James Thom whose " Tam O'Shanter" has immortalized his name. He was succeeded by Mr. James Conwell.
Samuel Martin and William S. Youngs were the master carpenters: Robert Belden the carver.
The style of architecture is what is called the " perpendicular Gothic," of which the mullions and ornamental panels all run in per- pendicular lines. The arches are pointed and are struck from two centres on the line of their base.
The "History of the City Churches " published by H. M. Onder- donk & Co., 25 John Street, contains different views of Trinity Church, remarkably well finished, with suitable illustrations, and to this we would refer our readers for a fuller account.
X.
A SKETCH OF THE REV. MARTIN PHILLIPS PARKS, D.D., ASSISTANT MINISTER 1846-1853, BY THE REV. JOSEPH HOOPER, M.A.
Martin Phillips Parks was born in Yadkin County, North Caro- lina, on June 30, 1804. He was educated in the schools of his native county, and well fitted for college. When an appointment to the Mili- tary Academy of the United States at West Point was offered to him he accepted it, and entered that training school for the army on July 1, 1822. Among his fellow cadets were Robert Anderson, the defender of Fort Sumter, Robert E. Lee, the perfect flower of Southern chivalry, O. M. Mitchell, astronomer and general, Joseph E. Johnston, of the Confederate Army, Jefferson Davis, President of the Southern Con- federacy, and Leonidas Polk, afterward the Bishop of Louisiana.
Few of the cadets seemed to have any idea of religious obligation. The chapel services had been listless and perfunctory. The young men cared little for the Chaplain as their spiritual teacher and pastor, but paid him due respect as the Professor of Ethics. A great change
527
A Sketch of Dr. Parks
came when, in 1825, the Rev. Charles Pettit McIlvaine was appointed Chaplain and Professor of Ethics. In a letter written many years after, Bishop McIlvaine says:
" There was not one professor of religion among the officers, mili- tary or civil. Several of them were friendly to the efforts of the Chap- lain, others were decidedly the reverse.
" Of the cadets, not one was known to make any profession of religion. Among cadets, officers, and instructors, there was a great deal of avowed infidelity, but my venerable friend, Colonel Sylvanus Thayer, then commanding officer, though not a communicant of any church, must be understood to be untouched by these remarks." 1
Mr. McIlvaine spent a year of earnest work in endeavoring to arouse in the young men a sense of their duty to God, without any visible results. The first fruits of the Chaplain's efforts was Leonidas Polk, a son of Colonel William Polk of North Carolina, then in the third year of his course. Mr. Polk was a young man of straightfor- ward integrity and a leader among his associates. Mr. Parks was one of those who soon followed him.
Mr. Parks maintained a high standing in his class, and was gradu- ated on July 1, 1826, as Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Second Artillery. He was assigned to duty in the garrison at Fortress Mon- roe, where was located the artillery school for practice. On April 5, 1828, he resigned, with the intention of engaging in evangelistic work. He had become a member of "the Methodist Episcopal Church," and, knowing the great need of workers in Virginia, offered his services, which were gratefully accepted. In 1830 he entered the Metho- dist ministry, and in 1832 he was appointed Professor of Mathe- matics in Randolph-Macon College. A correspondence with Bishop Meade in 1833 led to an intimacy and to an examination of the claims of the American Church upon his conscience. Three years later he resigned his professorship, and was made deacon by Bishop Moore on June 23, 1836, in Richmond. He became Bishop Meade's Assistant in Christ Church, Norfolk. He was ordained priest in Petersburg by Bishop Meade on January 1, 1837. Soon after, Bishop Meade resigned, and Mr. Parks was chosen as Rector.
During his incumbency there was very great activity, and the parish largely increased in membership and efficiency.
1 Quoted in Leonidas Polk, Bishop and General, by his son, William M. Polk, M.D., LL.D. New York : Longmans, Green & Co., 1893. Two volumes. An in- teresting account of life at West Point will be found on pp. 51-83, vol. i. Dr. Polk has for many years been a Vestryman of Trinity Church.
E
528
History of Trinity Church
One who was at that time a member of the congregation says: " Mr. Parks was a born orator. I have never heard his equal as an im- pressive, charming public speaker; no, not in any forum. It is impossi- ble to convey an adequate idea of the surpassing charm of his manner."
In 1840 he was appointed Chaplain and Professor of Geography, History, and Ethics in the Military Academy at West Point. Induced by the necessity of living in a more bracing atmosphere, he accepted, and entered on his duties in December, 1840.
He became at once the friend and counsellor of the cadets, and lived on pleasant intimacy with the officers stationed at the Post. The Post Chapel was altered and improved from plans by Professor Weir, under Mr. Parks's supervision. The text over the chancel arch was chosen by him: " Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."
In 1842 he was elected Bishop of Alabama, but declined.
The circumstances under which he was chosen an Assistant Min- ister in this Parish need not here be detailed. Assigned to St. Paul's Chapel, which, like the Parish Church, felt the effects of the movement uptown, he soon turned his attention to the needs of the poorer people in the neighborhood of the Chapel, and began tentatively a system of relief which, at a later day, became a large part of the work of the clergy in charge of the Chapel.
His work in the Parish, the city, and the Diocese was highly esteemed. His death upon his return from Europe on July 21, 1853, on board the steamer Arctic was felt as a serious loss to the Church. A letter of condolence, prepared by Bishop Wainwright and a committee of the clergy present at his funeral, was sent to his widow.
That keen observer of men and events, Dr. John Henry Hopkins, says: "And this is the last on earth of one with whom it was scarcely possible to converse half an hour without feeling that he had a spirit so alive to the work to be done in the world and so ardent to do it, that had his physical equalled his mental and moral energy, he would have made his mark, deep and characteristic, upon his generation, and have left a void of which the Church at large, as well as the community in which he lived, would have been sensible. So far as his strength went it testified by deeds to this capacity on his part." 1
Mr. Parks was honored with the degree of Master of Arts by Augusta College, Kentucky, and with that of Doctor in Divinity by Columbia College, New York, in 1851.
1 Pp. 204, 205, The Church Journal, Thursday, July 28, 1853, vol. i., No. 26.
C
Inscriptions on Shields in St. Cornelius's Chapel 529
XI.
INSCRIPTIONS ON THE SHIELDS IN ST. CORNELIUS'S CHAPEL.
These shields are depicted on the engraving facing page 310 of the text.
The two larger shields were placed in memory of the soldiers who fell during the Mexican War, and bear the inscriptions:
" Thou O Lord hast covered my Head in the day of Battle "; and
"Thy truth O Lord shall be my Shield and Buckler."
The smaller shield above these large ones bears the inscription:
"These Shields are set up at the cost of Soldiers returned from Mexico 1848."
The shield commemorating the wreck of the San Francisco has on it:
" Wreck of the San Francisco Christmas 1853. The Survivors of the 3rd Arty in Sorrow and in Thankfulness hang up this Shield."
The four smaller shields bear the following inscriptions:
" Recruiting Depot. Came 17th March 1842. Inscribed these to the Glory of God. Trinity S. 1849."
" Ist Reg: Art! Co! A. B. & E. Came Oct: 1848 these as good soldiers of Jesus Christ Whitsunday 1849."
"3rd Reg: Art! Oct! Nov! Dec! 1853."
" 4th Reg: Inf! June 2 July S 1852"
530
History of Trinity Church
XII.
A SKETCH OF THE REVEREND BENJAMIN I. HAIGHT, D.D., LL.D., ASSISTANT MINISTER, 1848-1874, ASSIST- ANT RECTOR, 1874-1877, BY THE REV. JOSEPH HOOPER, M.A.
Benjamin Isaac, a son of Benjamin and Catharine (Holly) Haight, was born in the city of New York, October 16, 1809. He belonged to one of the old Church families of Westchester County, long settled in or near Bedford. His father removed to New York City and became a successful merchant early in the last century.
He graduated from Columbia College with honor in 1828, and entered the General Theological Seminary in the fall of that year.
While in the Seminary he had, with other students, taken an active part in the Sunday-school which had been gathered for the benefit of the children in the neighborhood of the Seminary, a section of the city then rapidly growing. Upon his graduation he was asked to organize a parish with the Sunday-school as a nucleus. This was done with tact and success. He was made deacon with other members of his class on July 3, 1831, in Grace Church, New York, by Bishop Ben- jamin T. Onderdonk. He was elected Minister in charge of the new parish, which took the name of St. Peter's Church, and entered upon his work with such enthusiasm and zeal that a chapel was soon built and consecrated. He had the satisfaction of seeing it well filled within a few months and the Sunday-school increase to five hundred scholars. He was ordained priest December 3, 1835, in St. Peter's Church.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.