USA > New York > New York City > An historical sketch of Trinity Church, New-York > Part 14
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* Having been chosen according to the provisions of the Charter, it seems strange that there should have been any doubt of the justice of their pretensions in claiming to be the Vestry.
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" When the Americans took possession of the city of New-York, it excited great discontent among the members of the Church who had been driven from their homes during the war, and who disputed the validity of any election of Vestrymen while that city was in possession of the enemy. These appointed a committee to confer with the Vestry, and to endeav- our to induce them to adopt such measures as might produce an amicable arrangement. It was proposed to the Vestry, that the new Rector should resign, and that another should be chosen in his place : after a deliberation of some days, the Vestry refused to accede to this proposition. The committee then applied to the Council appointed by the Legislature for the tem- porary government of the southern parts of the State, whenever the enemy should abandon or be dispos- sessed of the same until the Legislature could be convened. The contending parties had eminent law- yers to defend their respective rights, and after a full hearing on both sides, the Council decided that the Vestry was not legally constituted, and that their elec- tion of a new Rector was of course void .* The Council also vested the temporalities of the Church in nine Trustees, who, on the 13th of January, 1784, took possession of the Church. This procedure was immediately followed by the election of a new Vestry, which unanimously elected Mr. Provoost their Rector. A deputation was sent to him to request that he would
* In what way the Council could have come to this conclusion it is difficult to conceive, except on the ground of might overcoming right.
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accept the office ; to this he consented, and with his family returned to the city.
"The return of Mr. Provoost must have been agreeable to him on many accounts; among others, it could not have been the least satisfactory, that it restored him to his property. His revenue from the Church, his farm, and his private fortune which he inherited from his father, not only relieved him from pecuniary embarrassments, but rendered him entirely independent, and enabled him to indulge the disposi- tion he always had for great hospitality.
"The decision of the Council, the election of the new Vestry, the termination of the trust created by the Council, it being vested in the Vestry, with several amendments to the original charter, so as to make it conformable and consistent with the constitution of the State, passed the Legislature the 27th of April, 1784. That body in the following November appointed Mr. Provoost a Regent of the University of the State. On the removal of the Continental Congress from Trenton to New-York, Mr. Provoost, in November, 1785, was elected Chaplain.
" No sooner had the country established its political independence, than the members of the Church thought not only of freeing it also from all foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but of establishing for it, as far as circumstances would permit, a republican gov- ernment ; that is, an elective and representative government, in the formation of which the members of the Church seem also to have had in mind, as a model, the federative constitution of the country : the State Conventions being in the place of the State
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Legislatures, and the General Convention in the place of Congress.
" The first meetings of the clergy and laity to carry out these views, were held this year (1784) at New- Brunswick and New-York. The following year a meeting was held in Philadelphia. Mr. Provoost was appointed chairman of a committee to draft an eccle- siastical constitution for the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and to pre- pare the necessary and proposed alterations in the liturgy. The proceedings of those early meetings after the termination of the war, (as well as those that followed,) contemplated the necessity of having an independent order of bishops; but difficulties seemed to present themselves in obtaining a due con- secration of persons to this holy office.
" The English bishops could not confer it without the candidate would take certain oaths, and could produce certain documents entirely inconsistent with the new relations between Great Britain and the United States-besides, it was feared that it was too soon to expect that the animosities which are always generated by civil wars, would have so far subsided as to render the mother country disposed to be indul- gent to her rebellious children.
" But the friends of the Church in New-York, with their friends in the States south of it, exerted them- selves to obtain an act of the British Parliament, autho- rizing the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to consecrate foreign bishops, and removing the objections which persons not in allegiance to the King of Great Britain must have had to the English forms. In their
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efforts in this respect, the friends of the Church seem to have been very fortunate in obtaining the co-opera- tion of the high officers of the government of the United States, who appear to have taken considerable interest in this subject ; particularly Mr. John Adams, then our ambassador at the Court of St. James, and Mr. Richard Henry Lee, President of Congress, to whom the State Convention (12th June, 1786,) re- turned thanks for the interest those gentlemen had taken in procuring the episcopate.
" This Convention the next day elected Mr. Pro- voost Bishop, and three weeks after he was honored by the University of Pennsylvania with the degree of Doctor in Divinity.
" The testimonials of Doctor Provoost, as Bishop elect of New-York ; Dr. William White, as Bishop elect of Pennsylvania ; and Dr. David Griffith, as Bishop elect of Virginia, were signed by the members of the General Convention held at Wilmington, Dela- ware, (of which Convention Dr. Provoost was Presi- dent,) on the 11th of October. On the second day of November, the two first named " persons "sailed from the port of New-York, and landed at Falmouth after a passage of nineteen days, and on the fourth day of February, 1787, were consecrated at Lambeth Palace, by Dr. John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and the Bishop of Peterborough, participating in the consecration.
"Shortly after their consecration, Bishop Provoost and Bishop White sailed from England, and after a very tedious and boisterous passage, during which
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Bishop Provoost was so ill that it was feared he would not live, they arrived in New-York on Easter-Sunday, April 8th, 1787, just in time for Bishop Provoost (as Rector) to hold the annual election for Wardens and Vestrymen. He had every reason to be gratified with his reception on his return, as he was cordially greeted by all denominations.
"The Convention of the Church being convened made the following address : " 'RIGHT REVEREND SIR:
"' We, the clergy and laity, representatives of the Protestant Episcopal Church now assembled in Convention, beg leave to address you on this solemn occasion with sentiments of unfeigned duty and respect.
"' After having successfully accomplished the great object you had in view, we congratulate you on your return to your native city, safe from the hazards of a long and tempestuous voyage, and in a great measure restored to health from a painful and dangerous illness.
" 'While we express, in terms of the warmest grati- tude, the high obligations we are under to the English bishops for their paternal interposition in our favour, we beg leave to present to you our hearty thanks for your compliance with our desires, and thus, through many difficulties and sufferings, rendering our Church complete in all its parts.
"'This propitious event, so long and ardently wished for, forms an important era in the history of our Church. We are now, by Divine providence, placed in such a situation, that a regular succession
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of the ministry can be continued to us and our pos- terity, without being reduced to the necessity of apply- ing to a distant land.
"'Justly reposing the highest confidence in your integrity and piety, your love of peace and order, and your unremitted endeavours for the advancement of true religion and virtue, we rejoice that the distin- guished honour of filling one of the first Episcopal chairs in these United States, hath been conferred on a character so truly amiable, and we trust that we, and those whom we represent, shall never fail to ren- der you all due support, respect, and reverence.
" ' May it graciously please the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, to bless your ministrations, that a firm foundation may be laid for the peace and prosperity of our Church, which shall remain unshaken to the latest ages.
" ' May you, Right Reverend Sir, long continue in the discharge of your sacred office, an example for our imitation, and an ornament to our holy religion ; and may we, and all those committed to our pastoral charge, derive from your ministrations a benefit which will be of everlasting duration; so that when we are called to answer for our actions, we may give an account with joy, and remain forever one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ, the Bishop of our souls.'
" To which the Bishop replied :
" ' REVEREND AND MOST DEARLY BELOVED : -
"' This affectionate address-your obliging con- gratulations on my return to my native city, and on
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the recovery of my health-and above all, your assur- ance of support in my ministrations, I receive with the utmost satisfaction and thankfulness.
" 'The object of my late mission being the inde- pendence of our Church, and a regular succession of the ministry, was of such magnitude that its happy accomplishment cannot fail of inspiring all its mem- bers with the highest gratitude to Almighty God and to all under him, who have by their good offices con- tributed to its success.
"'To the English Bishops particularly, we are under indelible obligations ; and I cordially unite with you in a public testimony of their benevolence and paternal exertions in our favour. Whenever we shall reflect on this important era in the history of our Church, they must be remembered with honour and reverence. Let us, my beloved friends, zealously strive to make a due improvement of the spiritual privileges we now enjoy. Let our faith be sincere, and our lives unblemished, as our doctrine and wor- ship are pure and holy; and God will continue to shower down his blessings upon us and our Church, with a bountiful hand.
"'May you, my reverend brethren, aided by his gracious Spirit, continue to be watchful shepherds of the flocks committed to your charge, and maintain the doctrines and discipline of his excellent Church with constancy and zeal, and at the same time with candour towards those who differ from us in religious opinions, that our moderation may be made manifest, and we may joyfully contribute to that peace, love and
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charity, which are so strongly enforced in the Gospel of our blessed Redeemer.
"'Deeply sensible of my own imperfections, I feel with solicitude the weight of the important office to which I am consecrated. I rely only on the grace of God to enable me to discharge my pastoral duties with fidelity, to be instrumental in promoting true religion and virtue, in governing this Church in peace and unanimity, and laying a sure foundation for its lasting prosperity, that thus, through his Divine pro- tection, your expectations of my usefulness may not be disappointed.
"'And now, unto God's gracious mercy and pro- tection I commit you; the Lord bless you and keep you ; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace both now and ever- more.'
" A standing committee was elected by the Con- vention to advise with the Bishop in all matters apper- taining to his office in which he might think proper to consult them.
" The Congress under the old confederation termi- nated in 1789. By the organization of a new Con- gress, under the present constitution, Bishop Provoost was now elected Chaplain to the Senate of the United States. Bishop Provoost continued as Rector for nearly seventeen years. Mrs. Provoost, after a long and lingering illness, departed this life in August, 1799; in the ensuing July, he followed to the grave his younger and favourite son, who died a very dis- tressing death; and he was made very unhappy by
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the conduct of his only surviving son. In the mean- time his own health had been and continued to be seriously impaired, and he was induced on the suc- ceeding 8th of September, 1800, to retire from Trinity Church as Rector.
" In taking leave of the congregations, he preached from the text contained in the 27th verse of the 1st chapter of the Philippians.
"His exercise of the Episcopal office continued till the 3d of September, 1801. The Convention was then in session, over which he presided till the moment he made his resignation verbally, and left the Con- vention. The resignation was accepted, and a succes- sor was chosen, and on the seventh of the same month Bishop Provoost addressed a letter to Bishop White, as President of the House of Bishops, as the General Convention was to be held in Trenton, New-Jersey, next day. In this letter he says, 'That, induced by ill health, and some melancholy occurrences in my family, and an ardent wish to retire from all public employment, I resigned, at the late meeting of our Convention, my jurisdiction as Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New-York.'
" When the letter was considered by the House of Bishops, they resolved, among other things, 'that they judged it to be inconsistent with the sacred trust com- mitted to them, to recognize the Bishop's act, as an effectual resignation of his Episcopal jurisdiction ; and though the Bishops were,' as they say in the same resolution, 'ready to consecrate a person to render him competent in point of character to all the Epis- copal duties, this house,' they say, 'must be understood
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to be explicit in their declaration, that they should consider such person as assistant or coadjutor Bishop during Bishop Provoost's life.' This, with Bishop Provoost's letter, was communicated to the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, who now signed the testi- monials of the Rev. Benjamin Moore, the elected successor of Bishop Provoost, which testimonials, with the proceedings of the New-York Convention, were sent to the House of Bishops, and the Bishop elect was consecrated.
"The first consecration of a Bishop in which Bishop Provoost took part, was that of the Rev. Thomas John Claggett, for the Church in the State of Maryland, being the first of that order of the min- istry consecrated on this side of the Atlantic. It took place the 17th of September, 1792, in Trinity Church in the city of New-York, during a session of the General Convention. Bishop Provoost was the con- secrator, (also President of the House of Bishops,) Bishop White of Pennsylvania, Bishop Madison of Virginia, and Bishop Seabury of Connecticut, joined in the imposition of hands. Bishop Provoost's last act in conferring the Episcopate, was in uniting with Bishop White the consecrator, and Bishop Jarvis of Connecticut, in the imposition of hands, at the conse- cration of the Rev. John Henry Hobart, D.D., for the Diocese of New-York, and the Rev. Alexander Viets Griswold, for the Eastern Diocese, on the 29th day of May, 1811, in the Church as aforesaid.
" His first ordination was the admitting to the order of Deacon Richard Channing Moore, on the 15th of July, 1787, in St. George's Chapel, in the city of
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New-York. His last ordination was the admitting to the Priesthood the Rev. John Henry Hobart, D.D., in April, 1801, in Trinity Church, in said city.
" The first foundation or corner-stone laid by Bishop Provoost, was at the rebuilding of Trinity Church, in the city of New-York, on the 21st of August, 1788. The last time he performed this ceremony, was on the building of St. Mark's Church in said city, the 25th of April, 1795.
" These edifices, when ready for public worship, were the first and last by him consecrated to the ser- vice of Almighty God; the former on the 25th of March, 1790, the latter on the 9th of May, 1799.
"He suffered occasional attacks of an apopletic character, and died very suddenly of one of these fits, on the 6th of September, 1815, aged 73 years and six months.
"His funeral was numerously and respectably attended to Trinity Church, where the Psalms and lesson were read by the Rev. Thomas Y. How, Assis- tant Minister in that church; the sermon preached by the Rev. William Harris, Rector of St. Mark's Church; and the sentences and prayers at the place of interment, (the family vault in the church-yard,) read by the Rev. Cave Jones.
At the meeting of the Convention, Bishop Hobart, in his annual address, alluding to the departed Bishop, said: "To the benevolence and urbanity that marked all his intercourse with the clergy, and indeed every social relation, there is strong and universal testi- mony," and then added the words of Bishop White in regard to his official and personal intimacy with the
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· deceased Bishop, calling it a sacred relation "between two persons, who under the appointment of a Christian Church had been successfully engaged together in ob- taining for it succession to the apostolic office of the Episcopacy, who in the subsequent exercise of that Episcopacy had jointly laboured in all the ecclesias- tical business which has occurred among us, and who through the whole of it never knew a word, or even a sensation, tending to personal dissatisfaction or dis- union.
" The character of Bishop Provoost is one which the enlightened Christian will estimate at no ordinary standard. The generous sympathies of his nature created in him a cordial concern in whatever affected the interests of his fellow-creatures. Hence his bene- ficence was called into almost daily exercise, and his private charities were often bevond what was justified by his actual means. In the relations of husband and parent, he exhibited all the kindly and endearing affec- tions which ennoble our species. As a patriot, he was exceeded by none. As a scholar, he was deeply versed in classical lore, and in the records of Ecclesiastical History and Church Polity. To a very accurate knowledge of the Hebrew, he added a profound acquaintance with the Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, and other languages. He had made considerable progress also in the natural and physical sciences, of which botany was his favourite branch."
CHAPTER V.
ON the resignation of Bishop Provoost, Mr. Watts was called to the chair, and the Rev. Benjamin Moore, D.D., was chosen in his place .*
" His election having been announced to him by a committee appointed for the purpose, and his accept- ance of the Rectorship having been declared to the Board on whom he attended, he was duly inducted into the Church in the presence of Thomas Collister and William G. Forbes, by delivering to him the key of the Church.
At the next meeting of the Vestry, it having been thought expedient to call, without delay, another Assistant Minister, the Rector nominated the Rev. Cave Jones as a proper person for the office, which nomination was thereupon approved. The committee selected to inform him of his appointment, soon after submitted a letter from him, written at Accomack, his residence in Virginia, signifying his acceptance of the same. The treasurer was ordered to pay to Mr.
* Seventeen years after his appointment to the same office, which an unexpected change of circumstances had prevented him from filling.
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Jones one hundred pounds, the same donation as that which was granted to Mr. Hobart, as a compensation for his expenses in removing to this city ; and on a subsequent occasion, the sum of £220, in considera- tion of losses which he had sustained, but which are not particularly described in the minutes.
From the rapid growth of the city, as well as from a regard to the advantage of this corporation, the committee of leases was instructed, so early as 1792, to examine and report what part of the land belonging to it ought to be reserved for (another Church,) Par- sonage, School House, Burial-ground, and other pub- lic purposes ; and also to report a plan for widening the streets laid out in the Church Farm to the north- ward of Warren-street, and making such other improvements in that part of the Church estate as might conduce to the interest of this corporation and the ornament of the city.
So far as the building of a new Church was con- cerned, the further consideration of the subject seems to have slumbered for several years. In 1802, how- ever, it was once more revived, for a resolution was passed by the Vestry that a room should be hired by the Rector for the assembling of persons to attend public worship, in the neighbourhood of Brannon- street, and that benches be provided for such assem- bly. The many respectable applicants for pews, who could not be furnished with them in the existing churches, made it expedient that another one should be built, and a committee was therefore appointed in reference to it, and authorized to inquire and select a suitable site for the same.
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The first situation proposed by the committee of leases, was on the square formed by Duane, Green- wich, Hudson and Jay streets. It was intended that the church should face on Duane-street, and it was ordered that a plan of the same should be prepared and reported at the meeting of the Vestry on the 7th of April, 1803, in order to commence the build- ing of it immediately. At this meeting several plans were laid before the Board for their consideration, and the one recommended by the committee, drawn by John and Isaac McComb, was that which was approved of. It having been suggested, however, to the committee, that a part of the ground upon which it was intended to build the new church might require the driving of piles to render it safe, they were re- quested to examine it, and if they should find that the representation were correct, they were to desist fromn the work until the sense of the Board should be taken. The examination having been made, and the result found unsatisfactory, the committee reported that it would be improper, from the nature of the ground, to erect a church on the spot contemplated. It was therefore finally resolved, that it should be built on the east side of Hudson Square, the site on which St. John's now stands, and that they should proceed forth- with to lay the foundation thereof.
This was on the very verge of a place as unsuitable as possible for a substantial edifice. It was probably in view of this difficulty that the Vestry made an order in the following year, that the committee of leases should have the pond filled up on the east side of Lis- penard's garden, which was in the immediate neigh-
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bourhood of the situation proposed for St. John's Church. Indeed, it would be almost incredible to the persons of the present generation, to hear from those who are older, their recollections of the past in regard to this quarter of the city. It was a wild and marshy spot of no inconsiderable extent, surrounded with bushes and bulrushes, which in winter was a favourite place for skaters, and at certain seasons for gunners, and where in my boyhood I have seen snakes that were killed on its borders. Indeed, even so late as 1808, it was only so partially filled up and reclaimed by the elevation of the grounds for the course of streets, and the consequent multiplication of ponds in various directions, as to have been the occasion at night of many a sad disaster, and a frequent loss of human life.
A curious anecdote was related to me by an old and respectable parishioner of Trinity Church,* with respect to the estimation in which this land was held. An uncle of his,t who was a trustee of one of the Lutheran churches in this city, and who was remark- ably fond of antiquarian research, in looking over the former minutes of the Board, found an entry to the following effect. Some well-disposed individual had offered to the trustees of this church a present of a plot of ground, containing about six acres, near to the head of Canal-street and Broadway. They passed a resolution, however, that it was inexpedient to accept the gift, inasmuch as the land was not worth the fen- cing in.
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* Mr. David Lydig.
+ Mr. David Grime
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The building of St. John's Chapel was commenced in 1803, and it was completed in 1807. It is in many respects a beautiful edifice, but much more costly than would be generally supposed. Whether there was any mismanagement in the prosecution of the work, or whether the time in which it was built was unfavourable to economy, is at this day very difficult to determine. But the expense of it, without the organ, which was ordered at Philadelphia for $6000, just before the last war with England, and which being unfortunately captured by one of the British cruisers, cost $2000 more to redeem it, amounted to the enormous sum of $172,833 64-100.
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