USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > First Church chronicles, 1815-1915 : centennial history of the First Presbyterian Church, Rochester, New York > Part 2
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3d. The teachers attached to this school shall meet weekly for prayer, examining and conversing upon the lesson and attending to any business which the interests of the school may require, and each member shall con- sider it their duty to attend promptly and prepared to contribute to make the meetings interesting and profit- able.
4th. The teachers at their first meeting in January in each year shall elect by ballot a superintendent, sec- retary and librarian.
5th. Any teacher who is found sabbath after sabbath with only one or two scholars in his or her class, or in idleness with a larger number, or leaves the school fre- quently before the exercises are closed, shall be deemed to merit censure.
6th. Any teacher who shall be absent from his or her class two sabbaths in succession without having pro- vided a substitute, or informing the superintendent that he may provide for it, shall be considered highly censurable, and if thus absent the third sabbath, shall no longer be considered a teacher, unless satisfactory reasons for such neglect are given to the superintendent, nor ever afterward admitted without giving evidence of reformation.
7th. Neither teachers nor scholars shall be permitted to visit the library during the school, the books shall be
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distributed once in two weeks but no scholar shall be entitled to receive a book who has not returned all pre- viously taken.
8th. It shall be considered the indispensable duty of every teacher, when any of their scholars are absent from the school, to visit them previous to the next sab- bath, and endeavor to ensure their prompt attendance in the future.
9th. Teachers shall consider it their duty to become acquainted with the parents of their scholars and en- deavor to secure their cooperation.
Ioth. When a scholar intends leaving the school, it shall be the duty of his or her teacher to inform the superintendent, that a certificate may be given.
IIth. Every teacher shall make up a report of the state of his or her class and furnish it to the superintendent previous to the first teachers' meeting in each month.
12th. A summary of the teachers' reports shall be en- tered upon the records of the school and from these a regular written report shall be made up by the secretary for the monthly concert. '
13th. The librarian shall make a monthly report of all books not returned to the library and the names of the teachers in whose hands they were last placed, who shall either have the books returned forthwith or pay their value to the librarian.
14th. Each teacher shall be considered responsible for order and decorum on the part of their pupils during school and shall endeavor to secure their attention to the remarks of the superintendent or any other person who may address the school.
15th. The superintendent shall give out on the first sabbath in each month, " a subject to be proved from scripture " by the scholars, which proofs shall be called for on the last sabbath in the month and each teacher shall endeavor to secure his or her pupils' attention to this subject.
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16th. The secretary shall keep a correct record of the number of teachers and scholars present on each sab- bath and of additions to and dismissions from the school, conversions, names of scholars united to the church, sickness or deaths in the school, names of visitors and other interesting circumstances, and also of the attend- ance and proceedings at the teachers' meetings.
17th. The names of teachers absent from sabbath school or teachers' meetings shall be entered on the records and the reasons for their absence when ascertained shall be entered opposite their names.
18th. The exercises of teachers' meetings shall be commenced by prayer and reading the record of the previous meeting.
The vow which the teachers took was as follows:
" We, whose names are hereto affixed, ' having enlisted in the Sabbath School Cause for Life,' and feeling the importance of sys- tem,-in order to produce concert and uni- formity of action in the discharge of our responsible duties,-do, depending upon the Great Head of the Church 'for grace and strength,' solemnly pledge ourselves to adhere to the regulations adopted for the govern- ment of this school and while connected with it to do all in our power to promote its pros- perity and usefulness."
These names are signed to it:
Mrs. Samson, Ex. 8th article George A. Avery Miss Strong T. B. Hamilton
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Miss Jack E. B. Smith
Miss Susan Sedgwick G. Biden
C. H. Graham Courtland Avery Horace Winslow
C. H. Sholtus W. S. Bishop Sam D. Porter
Mary A. Leonard
Clarissa Smith
Emily Hills
W. S. Griffith
Jane Wilson
Eliza Schellinger
Charlotte Black Amanda Green
Miss Ward
Jno. F. Bush
Margaret Case
Joel F. Weed
Hiram Brown
Wm. A. Reynolds
Margaret C. Heney Chas. J. Hills Samuel Miller
Erastus B. Smith
E. Cook DeWitt C. Hollister
S. Davis
The instruction in the Sunday School was undenominational, all distinctive views of doc- trine being carefully avoided, for the commu- nity Sabbath School was able to maintain its union character longer than the church. The first Superintendent was Elisha Ely.
A village census taken in 1818 reported 1049 inhabitants, and it was natural that some sectarianism should begin to assert itself. An Episcopal church, St. Luke's, a Friends' Society and the First Baptist Church had indeed been established within the few pre- ceding months. But there was then, as always since, a strong feeling of friendship and co- operation between the churches, and when,
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in 1818, Bishop Hobart paid his first visit to the infant Episcopal parish, he administered the rite of confirmation in the building occupied by the Presbyterian church. In fact, among the subscribers to the first little church which St. Luke's built one finds the names of several of the First Church fathers, as: Abraham Plumb, who subscribed " goods " to the value of $20; Enos Stone, a thousand feet of lum- ber; E. Peck, "in books and stationary, $20," Jehiel Barnard, "in tailoring, $5." And some of these made further subscriptions at a later date for the erection of St. Luke's "steeple or cupola." Thus is the marked friendship between St. Luke's and the First Presbyterian Church no idle tradition; it may be traced back to their very earliest days .*
Nevertheless, that differentiation which is the law of all growth was now surely develop- ing in the religious life of the community, and on April 6, 1819, in the First Church meet- ing house, the Rochester Presbytery was organized, as required by an order of the Synod of Geneva, promulgated Feb. 18, 1819.
* In fact, in this centennial year, the bell of the First Presbyterian Church rang to announce the noonday Lenten Episcopal services at St. Luke's, two blocks away, because the bell of St. Luke's was cracked!
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All the ministers of the Presbytery, six in number, were present; but Rev. Comfort Williams, like a veritable " crew of the Nancy Bell," was elected to the full list of offices : first moderator, stated clerk, and treasurer! For the two years preceding, he had been stated clerk of the Presbytery of Ontario.
Yet the Presbyterian church building con- tinued a community center. In it were held the village Fourth of July celebrations. That of 1820, we are told in a diary of the time, was a "great " one which called "a large concourse " to the forty by fifty structure. A. Sampson, later an Elder of the church, was orator of the occasion. On October 31, 1820, the Presbyterian meeting house was the scene of a sacred concert which, as far as the records show, was the first " enter- tainment " in the growing village. The an- nouncement read that it would " be holden in the meeting-house on Sunday evening; performance at 6; doors close at 7:30; admit- tance two shillings. A piano forte is expected to accompany the musick." At the First Church, also, was celebrated the first instal- lation in Rochester of Masonic officers.
The next year, 1821, was eventful. There was a revival in the Presbyterian church in
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which Josiah Bissell, Jr., took a prominent part. He had been to Massachusetts on a visit, and " on his return, full of ardor and spiritual enthusiasm, he visited the prayer meeting and surprised the congregation by repeating Dodridge's hymn :
' Grace taught my soul to pray And made my eyes o'er flow. 'Tis grace has kept me to this day And will not let me go.'"
Mr. Bissell was a forceful person, and as a result of his influence there was a spiritual awakening which led twenty-one persons to unite with the church. In March of that year, the Monroe County Bible Society was founded, with Dr. Levi Ward of the First Church as president. It is of more than local interest, for this Society's custom of giving Bibles to those who were unable to buy them led later to the formation of the American Bible Society. The Confession of Faith and covenant were modified, and the members of the church "agreed to bind themselves to a greater faithfulness in duty by assenting publicly to certain things." The new Covenant read :
You do now, in the presence of the everliving and heart-searching God, his holy angels, and this assembly, avouch the Lord Jehovah, the Father, the Son, and the
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Holy Ghost, to be your God, your Redeemer, your Sanctifier, and everlasting Portion.
You give yourself (or yourselves) and all you have to him, confessing that your many sins have deserved his wrath, and building your hope of acceptance only on his mercy, manifested through the atonement.
You do of choice take the word of God as the only rule by which to regulate your faith and practice. You do cheerfully engage, depending on his grace, to lead a life of piety and devotion to God, and of uprightness and charity toward men; to keep yourself (or selves) unspotted from the world, making Christ your example, and the upbuilding of his kingdom your supreme object.
You sincerely dedicate yourself (or selves) to the ser- vice of Christ in his church, faithfully covenanting that you will walk honestly and orderly with us, in all the ordinances and institutions of the Gospel, and that you will submit to the discipline and watch of this church of Christ, and do what in you lies to promote its purity, peace and edification.
You also engage, depending on the grace of the New Covenant, not to turn back from your profession, but to walk with God and with his people all the days of your life. Thus you covenant and promise to do, depending on and seeking for grace and strength from God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In that year also a Sabbath School Union was formed; and Jacob Gould and Samuel Graves were chosen Elders of the Church, and Levi Ward, Jr. an "Elder with the designation of Deacon "-though their ordi- nation did not take place for several months.
But the church event of 1821 which most excited the community was the resignation
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of Pastor Williams. On May IIth he asked his people to dismiss him. Action was “ de- ferred to the 15th, at 4 o'clock." The matter was then put to vote " by requesting the mem- bers to rise in the affirmative. All arose but three, and no one rose in the negative. So the church concurred in the request."
On the afternoon of June 10th, Mr. Williams baptized fourteen children and preached a farewell sermon, taking as his text these bitter words (Psalms IV, 6, 12, 13, 14) :
And I said, "Oh that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest." ... For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it; neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid my- self from him; but it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked into the house of God in company.
Regarding the cause of Pastor Williams' resignation there is no record in the various histories of Rochester, in the history of the churches or of Presbytery, nor even a tradi- tion among his descendants. In the archives of the church, however, there have been found some papers, browned with age, whose faded ink tell the full story-the reasons why he resigned and why no record of his reasons has been found. After a lapse of ninety years
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there can be no harm now in copying the most pertinent of these papers.
The following, addressed to Presbytery some months after it had received and acted upon Mr. Williams' resignation, states both sides of the controversy :
The Presbyterian Church at Rochester feel it to be an obvious though painful duty, as well out of regard to the opinion of the Christian Public, as in vindication of the characters of their members, to protest against the entry on their minutes of the statements of their late Pastor to the Presbytery when he asked to be dis- missed.
His first reason is, " Because his salary is not sufficient to support his family and enable him to devote his whole time to the ministry, without the embarrassment of attending to wordly concerns."-The Church pro- test against the entry of this reason because, he has been paid a salary of five hundred dollars a year, chiefly in quarterly payments and principally in money; has had a house built for him for his use and benefit, which he occupied until he erected one on his own farm, and has since leased it out for seventy-five dollars a year. He has also received no inconsiderable amount in voluntary presents from individuals of the Society, consisting of money, clothing for himself and lady, provisions, furniture, a horse and a cow, exclusive of a minister's usual perquisites.
His second reason is, " Because the labors required are greater than he can perform under existing cir- cumstances, he not being able, without complaint from individuals, to exchange with neighboring ministers, and to go 20 or 30 miles for an exchange would be no relief to his labors."
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The Church protest against the entry of this reason, because the Church, the Society, nor any considerable number of individuals in either to its knowledge, never expressed the sentiment it contains.
His third reason is, " Because individuals have been disposed to consider him the cause of scattering the con- gregation, when many have given it as a reason why they have not contributed to support him, that they have no seats in the meeting house and would have none so long as that house was owned by a company and made a matter of speculation." The Church protests against the entry of this reason because, if actually so, it furnishes no excuse for a minister to abandon his flock.
His fourth and last reason is, " Because some indi- viduals, of whom the majority either belonged to the Church or were propounded for admission, have, for some time past, been anxious for a change of ministers, that they may have a more popular man, and those individ- uals have of late been in a secret or clandestine manner laboring to undermine his influence thus to accomplish their purposes, and this too in the midst of an interesting revival." The Church protests against the entry of this reason, not however, because a change of ministry, under existing circumstances, had not, in their opinion, become necessary, but because in his charge of the secret or clandestine labors of individuals in the midst of a revival, to undermine his influence, he has, in their belief, greatly erred.
Oliver Gibbs Azel Ensworth -
Presiding Elders of the said Church.
Dated, October 1, 182I
Resolved, unanimously, that the Presbyterian Church at Rochester protest against the entry in the minutes of the Presbytery, of the reasons assigned by their late Pas- tor to that body, for his request to be dismissed; and
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that Hastings R. Bender and Derck Sibley be Commis- sioners on the part of the Church, to present the fore- going Protest to the Presbytery at Ogden on the second instant and request to have it entered on its minutes.
Oliver Gibbs Azel Ensworth
Presiding Eders of the said Church.
Dated October 1. 1821.
Though doubtless the little community was deeply stirred for a time, Christian charity and a forgiving spirit soon manifested them- selves on both sides, as indicated by the following minute of " a meeting of the church at the School house," November 19th, 1821.
Resolved, that whereas difficulties exist between the Rev. Comfort Williams and this Church, and the Church having a sincere desire to effect a reconciliation, the undersigned, the members composing the said meeting, do request that Hastings R. Bender, Elisha Ely, Levi Ward, Jr., and Josiah Bissell, Jr., be a Committee to call on Mr. Williams, to convey to him the feelings of this meeting as expressed this evening.
Oliver Gibbs Levi Ward, Jr. H. Ely
Eli Ripley Wm. Neafus Samuel Graves
Joseph Stone J. Bissell, Jr. Jacob Gould
Azel Ensworth H. B. Bender J. S. Green Elisha Ely Chs. J. Hill David Stone
L. Granger
Everard Peck Geo. G. Sill
Ashley Sampson Robt. Wilson
Charles Magne
The meeting adjourned to meet again on the 21st at 6 o'clock at the same place-closed with prayer by Deacon Gibbs.
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Nov. 2Ist, 1821.
The Church met persuant to adjournment. Meeting opened with prayer by Deacon Gibbs.
The Committee appointed to call on Mr. Williams reported, verbally, that they had performed that duty, and that all difficulties between him and the Church were removed, it was hoped, by mutual confessions of regret and forgiveness. The report was unanimously accepted. Meeting closed with prayer by Jacob Gould.
It is certain, moreover, that at the time of his resignation Mr. Williams was loved by many. The number of baptisms at his fare- well service is surely significant of that, and though only nine of the original sixteen members still remained-four had gone to the Brighton Church-the membership of the First had risen from sixteen to ninety. The Path, to which the course of the church has been likened, was now well out of the forest clearing and had become, though still a fron- tier trail, prominent and firm.
After his resignation, Mr. Williams continued a resident of Rochester, first opening a school- in which Mortimer F. Reynolds was a pupil. This school was on Exchange Street, where the " Herald " office now is. Later he gave pri- vate instruction in his home, on that part of Mt. Hope Avenue where the name of Comfort Street still records his forest clearing, and continually he rode his horse or drove his gig
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to preach in neighboring settlements, clergy- men being few. He had done this even during his pastorate, and a little pocket blankbook, which may be seen at the Historical Society, in which are written a number of manu- script sermons, contains after each a list of the places and dates of delivery. One list, for instance, reads: Gates, on Great Ridge, Aug. 1, 1816; Lima, last Sab., Oct., 1817; Carthage, June 13, 1819; Sandy Creek, Aug. 24, 1819; Penfield, Apr. 16, 1820. There appear in this list also two or three other names which are hard to decipher. Another signif- icant memorandum records that when a cer- tain sermon was delivered in Rochesterville, in Nov., 1815, there were none present " from east or west Ridge "-in other words, the ser- mon was still available for use in settlements on either side of the village.
On August 25, 1825, four years after his resignation, Comfort Williams died. His wife had died hardly a year before, and four little children were left as orphans. He was buried with Masonic honors, having been an officer in the Royal Arch Masons. An obituary of the time said of him, "as a preacher, he was searching of the truly pious; and awaken- ing to those without hope; in his manner,
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affectionate and humble; in doctrine evan- gelical. The distinguishing doctrines of grace were clearly exhibited in his sermons, and in his private conversation, experimental reli- gion was a topic of great interest. His mind was highly cultivated and improved; his style as a writer was neat, chaste and pure, and often uncommonly strong and lucid. His whole soul seemed peculiarly moulded to the Gospel which it was his delight to preach."
Two weeks after Mr. Williams' farewell sermon, the Session voted that the church be asked to observe July 7th "as a day of fasting and prayer on account of being desti- tute of a pastor." This note, also in the Session records of that year, offers a striking picture : " Public worship was constantly maintained from the dismission of Rev. Mr. Williams until the settlement of his successor. It was so directed by divine Providence that there was preaching every Sabbath during the whole time, excepting two whole and two half days, at which times service was attended and sermons read. So certain of having preaching did some individuals feel as not to have doubts about it when no minister had come so late as Saturday night, and though they had heard of none that was expected.
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So careful was a most merciful Redeemer to take care and feed the little flock, which was not only seemingly without a teacher, but encompassed with great difficulties, dangers and distresses both within and without." It was during this period, on Sept. 18, 1821, that the Synod of Genesee, embracing the Ontario, Rochester and Genesee Presbyteries, held in Rochesterville its first meeting.
IV
Dr. Penney Takes Hold
Among those who preached during the pul- pit's vacancy was Rev. Joseph Penney .* The diary of Mrs. E. Maria Ward Chapin contains these entries: "Sept. 2, 1821. Had excellent preaching from Mr. Penney; " " Nov. 4, 1821. Mr. Penney preached two excellent sermons;" "Nov. 6, 1821. Mr. Penney dined with us; much pleased with him in the family." Others, apparently, had been similarly well impressed by him, for the entry of March 7, 1822, reads: "Mr. Penney, Dr. Stevens and Mr. Bender drank tea with us. Mr. Penney has come on as our settled minister."
* In the histories Dr. Penney's name is frequently spelled without the second "e." The spelling adopted here is that which he himself used.
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Rev. Joseph Penney, D.D., was an Irish- man, educated at Dublin and Glasgow, who had been in America only three years when called to the pastorate of the First Church in Rochester. He has been described as of commanding presence, and as having “a warm Irish heart, a masculine intellect, large scholarship, and exceptional ability of utter- ance." Dr. Penney preached his introduc- tory sermon on March 10, 1822, taking as his text the words: "I ask, therefore, for what intent ye have sent for me." Mrs. Chapin's diary records it as " a well written and appro- priate discourse." She adds: "The house crowded with hearers."
The coming of a new minister was taken very seriously in those days. April Ist, two days before the installation, was observed by the church with "fasting and humiliation, that God would forgive the sins of this people and bless the labors among them of the Rev. Mr. Penney." At the installation, which took place on the 3d, Rev. Chauncey Cook preached the sermon, Mr. Everett made the installing prayer, Mr. Rawson delivered the charge of the pastor, Mr. Winchester the charge to the people, and Mr. Bliss made the concluding prayer.
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On May IIth, Dr. Penney, in the words of Mrs. Chapin, " set off to New York for a wife." He returned with his bride on June 4th, "a cold stormy day." There is a glimpse of the social amenities of the time-a feature to which the First Church women have ever given thought-in the items, "June 10th, called on Mrs. Penney "; " June 1Ith, Mr. and Mrs. Penney called." Possibly signif- icant also is the item of June 16th, " Attended meeting three times to-day." Yet it is very likely that such action was not an unusual proceeding on the part of faithful members. The hours of service were: 10:30 A.M. until just after 12; then (or, sometimes, at 9 A.M.) the Sunday School, and then an afternoon service from 2:30 until 4.
In 1822, the Session record says, " Ebenezer Bliss left the country as missionary to the Cherokees." It notes also that the pastor baptized a child at a private residence, on its mother's "particular request," but that he performed the act "in the presence of a number of the church members, called by the Parson for that purpose, he disapproving of private baptisms as tending to superstition." The Sabbath School Union of the preceding year was supplemented by a Rochester Union;
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and on September 17th, Dr. Penney was elected stated clerk of Presbytery. In short, all records indicate that with the coming of the new pastor a very vigorous hand had taken control. It is interesting, by the by, to note that Presbytery on adjourning its evening session in the April meeting arranged to convene "tomorrow morning, the sun an hour high "-which would make the hour sixteen minutes after six!
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