USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > First Church chronicles, 1815-1915 : centennial history of the First Presbyterian Church, Rochester, New York > Part 3
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It was in this year, 1822, also, and largely among the women of the First Church, that the Rochester Female Charitable Society was formed. Mrs. Levi Ward was elected Presi- dent, and Mrs. Everard Peck, at whose home the meeting was held, was elected Treasurer. In fact, no record of the First Church would approach completeness without chronicling the large part its members have borne in all the forward movements of the community.
During the winter of 1823, Mrs. Chapin's diary repeatedly mentions attendance at " the monthly concert of prayer," and the Presby- tery's "narrative of the state of religion " at this time reports "a more rapid progress in the reformation of morals and vital reli- gion than at any former period," with the monthly concert well attended.
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On March 2, 1823, there is a record that Dr. Penney preached a " charity sermon " which resulted in the taking up of a contribution of $40 for the Female Charitable Society. This charity sermon, preached sometimes by the clergyman of one denomination and some- times by that of another,-the place as well as the preacher changing each year,-became a custom of the town, continued without inter- ruption until 1850. It is interesting to observe that even to this day the annual contribu- tion of the First Church to the Female Char- itable Society is, perhaps invariably, larger than that taken up in any other church.
March 7th was a day of fasting and prayer by the church-" a very interesting day," says Mrs. Chapin. On the 9th, which was Communion, a hundred and fifty communi- cants were present, and it is evident that the spiritual life of the church ran deep in the months that followed. In May the Session voted "that two-thirds of all collections on Communion days, after first paying for the elements, shall be reserved expressly for the purpose of procuring furniture for the Lord's Table; and that the Treasurer be desired to loan all monies over five dollars to good men on interest."
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In 1824 three Elders were elected, Moses Chapin, Russell Green and Salmon Scofield. A County Sabbath School Union began its long life. Josiah Bissell, Jr., and other First Church leaders established a line of stages to run between Rochester and Canandaigua on week days only, in protest against Sunday travel-an emphatic assertion of high prin- ciples which did not prove a financial success, though there was a large body of public opinion which did have exceedingly strict ideas as to Sabbath observance. In fact, after the canal opened, the village trustees prohibited the blowing of bugles on any boats which passed through town on Sunday, and at this time and later large and excited meet- ings protested against Sunday traveling.
There are through this and succeeding years a number of interesting records of church discipline. One of these was for a " viola- tion of the sanctity of the Sabbath." Late in 1825 the Session held several meetings to hear charges and receive the sworn testimony of witnesses who alleged that J. H. Brown and his "hired man" had drawn wood on Sundays to keep the fire alive in a lime kiln. The defense, in so far as there was any, was that making lime was a business that could
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not be stopped on the Sabbath. The Ses- sion finally voted "that for the offense of violating the Sabbath Mr. Brown be required to draw up and submit to the Session a con- fession of the same," and for a second offense (which was a remark that "Mr. Penney considered regeneration as a progressive work, or not instantaneous ") he should receive "a word of admonition and advice from the moderator." Mr. Brown "cheerfully con- sented " to the judgment when it was made known to him, and the advice having been given "the Session adjourned, with prayer, to meet at the Meeting house on Thursday, the 22d inst., to communicate his confession to the church." The confession was as fol- lows:
Dear Brethren:
It is with heartfelt gratitude that I meet you at this time privaleged at the same time with acknowledging my sins and transgresions of the laws of God. To Jesus the divine redeemer and to you, I can with unfeigned sorrow of heart adopt the language of the holy apostle, " who shall deliver me from the body of this death." I am a sinner by nature and practice-I have a number of times broken the holy sabbath in the prosecution of my business of burning lime on that holy day, as if in order to obtain a support for myself and family required a breach of the holy commands of that God who is the giver of Every good and perfect gift both spiritual and temporal, and through fear of loosing that which I was
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in some measure sensible of being the unworthy recipient of and that too as a donation from his fatherly hand I was induced to break his holy day and plead it to my conscience as a necessitous case-how astonishing that one who has for a number of years exercised a scrupulous regard for the sanctity of that day should in so short a time be found in the snares and gins of satan with a half stifled conscience and a benumed sensibility-the last time that I worked and halled wood on the Sabbath my feelings were indescribable but some of my reflections I can state-I saw my neighbours around me already in the gall of bitterness and my example instead of being abstemious and calculated to impress them with serious reflections would as a legitimate consequence hurl them into destruction but as for myself I must be pressed down underneath them all into the hotest hell. But you can conceive without a fear of being mistaken how completely my comforts had fled and gone-to say nothing of the excrutiating pain and misery that possessed my breast-and now brethren I heartily thank you for the course you have taken, for that humble and com- passionate brotherly tenderness which actuated your bosoms. I bless God for sending that aged and beloved brother at first to reprove. I sincerely thank him for coming in the spirit and meekness of the gospel to ad- monish which has served as I humbly hop as an ex- cellent oil to my head to soften my heart and awake my sluggish soul from stupidity. I have time and again asked forgiveness of my compassionate God and redeemer and that he would pour his holy spirit into my heart, direct every energy of my soul, control every thought and action, sit a double guard at the door of my lips, stand by me in temptation, make a way for my escape to his glory and peace, and now again I ask pardon of God. I ask it also of you my brethren-may I expect it, when I have disregarded God, grieved his holy spirit, dishonoured the cause of the blessed Jesus, wounded the
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feelings of my brethren and wronged my own con- science. I ask again may I expect it. O my brethren forgive and pray for me; make me, the companion of my life, and our children subjects of your special and ferved prayers, your ardant supplications at the throne of Grace that God may sanctify us and make us matured temples of his holy Spirit that we may love the truth and walk in it to the glory of God and the honour of the Church that this may be the case is the ardant desire and prayer of your unworthy brother in our Common Lord.
JOHN H. BROWN.
TO THE CHURCH
But the most notable event of the year 1825 in strictly First Church history was the dedica- tion, on October 28th, of a new stone church.
V
The Church Behind the Court House
Early in Dr. Penney's pastorate, the little frame building on State Street proved inade- quate to accommodate the numbers who were applying for membership in the fast growing town. After mature deliberation, a lot located immediately in the rear of the Court House had been purchased from Harvey Montgomery, on January 20, 1823. The title was taken in the name of Abraham Plumb, and the consideration was "$2000 in hand paid." The corner-stone for the new church was laid on the 28th of April, 1823, and ex-
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actly a year and five months later the church was dedicated. Its location was directly across the way from the new church which was being erected for St. Luke's Episcopal congregation. The contract for the latter was entered into in September, 1823; but that edifice was not opened for public wor- ship until almost a year after the dedication of the Presbyterian Church, and it was an- other year still before Bishop Hobart performed in it the ceremony of consecration.
The First Rochester Directory (1827) con- tains this description of the new First Pres- byterian Church. If it is a bit flattering, let us remember that both the publisher of the book, Elisha Ely, and the printer, Everard Peck, were very prominent in the church.
This building is situated on the south side of Court- square, and fronts the court house. It is eighty-six feet long, sixty-four wide, and thirty feet high above the base. It is built of stone covered with a durable cement, in imitation of whitish free stone; but the water- table, window and door sills, caps and starts, together with all the projectures of the masonry, are of a red- hewn sand stone. The platform and steps extending along the front are of the white Sweden stone.
The front of this building is a design by O'Donell, in the Gothic style. Twenty feet of the center is occupied by a square tower, projecting three feet from the face of the building, and both the tower and remaining part
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of the front, as well as all the angles of the building, are ornamented with pilasters, of full and handsome pro- jections, supporting a bold entablature and cornice, both in the range of the eaves and over the several sections of the tower.
The angles of the tower are so constructed as to give each the appearance of a prism, or cluster of four pilasters, touching each other at their interiour angles, the faces of two and the edges of two being visible, reduced as they ascend, from section to section, till they emerge as pin- nacles at the top, still retaining their features as com- posed of four pilasters. The spaces between these pinnacles are finished with an embattled balustrade.
From the tower arises an octagonal spire, 79 feet high, divided into sections by bold astragal bands, showing the several faces conspicuously pannelled. The whole height of the steeple is 150 feet.
The interiour of the building combines great conveni- ence with good proportions, and a light airy appearance rather than laboured ornament.
The vestibule is entered by three doors, one in the tower and one in each wing. The stair case is opposite the center door, and under it is a furnace, from which heated air issues into each pew in the body of the church.
The pulpit, which is low, is situated between the two inner entrance doors, and occupies, together with its stairs, a slightly recessed arch of 20 feet wide and 33 feet high. From the pulpit, the floor has a gentle ascent to the opposite extremity, and the pews are arranged as the chords of a circle, so that all directly face the pul- pit. The galleries are much inclined, and supported by Ionick columns.
The steeple is furnished with an excellent bell, of 1800 pounds, and an organ of 14 stops has been lately erected in the gallery. The whole expense of this building, and the lot on which it stands, including the cost of the bell, amounted to about $16,000.
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THE CHURCH BEHIND THE COURT HOUSE
First Church Chronicles
From this description, it will be noted that those who entered the church had to face the assembled congregation-an arrangement which no doubt made for punctuality. The capacity of the church is given as about 850, and it is well to emphasize the fact that the front of the building was not on Fitzhugh Street, but north toward the Court House, so that the structure backed upon the canal. The Directory description can be further supple- mented by these words from a book by Cap- tain Basil Hall, an eminent officer in the British navy, who passed through Rochester in 1827 and says in the volume describing his travels: "In the center of the town the spire of a Presbyterian church rose to a great height, and on each side of the supporting tower was to be seen the dial plate of a clock, of which the machinery, in the hurry-scurry, had been left in New York." The "hurry-scurry " appears to refer rather to the general bustle of the town than to the haste of the church.
It is possible to add also, from the reminis- cences of those now living, some further details as to the interior of the church. On each side of the pulpit, which in later years at least was not low, there was a tali column, with a "big round oil lamp." Other lamps were
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upon side brackets on the walls, and in a central chandelier .* The woodwork through- out the church was painted white with mahogany trimmings; and the three chairs on the pul- pit were upholstered in red plush.
On the auditorium floor, at each side of the pulpit, there was a large square pew. Dr. Ward and his family occupied the pew on the one side; and Dr. Backus and his family that on the other. The corner seat of the latter was always occupied by the mother of Dr. Backus. It is told of her that once, feel- ing a mouse beneath her skirt during service, she sat with quiet dignity until it had made its way to a point which she could reach, and that she then closed her hand over it, holding it in captivity until, at the long sermon's close, she could go out without dis- turbing divine worship. Of such stuff were the mothers of the First Church! Behind each square pew there were two straight pews. Those back of Dr. Ward were, at least in 1848, the seats of H. A. Brewster and Mrs. Blossom; those behind Dr. Backus the seats of Elias Pond and Wm. A. Reynolds. The front pews of the central tier were occupied by, among others, Dr. Chester Dewey, S. Y.
* Gas was put in the church in 1849.
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Alling * and P. W. Jennings. A long table was placed in front of the pews that faced the pulpit, and upon this the men of the congre- gation placed their hats. All the pews had doors, and on the doors were silver name plates. The furnace, of which the Directory speaks so proudly, was supplemented by two large stoves at the back of the auditorium; and there were stoves in the vestibule. The big wood fires in the latter became the centers for social intercourse on cold days for those who had driven far to service. The large sleighs, drawn by four horses, picked up passengers as they traveled into town.t
Through a mistake in surveying the church lot, it was found that the new building was so placed as to encroach several feet upon the county property adjoining on the north. On advice of the supervisors appeal was made to the State legislature, and on January 16, 1824, an Act was passed (Chapter 6, Laws of 1824)
* May 31, 1851, it was resolved by the Trustees " that S. Y. Alling have leave to put a Gutta Percha tube into the pulpit to extend down under the floor and up into the slip occupied by him."
t The contractor for the woodwork of the church was John Biden, and for the stone work Andrew Ward. The latter had a contract on the new canal, and he was able, by utilizing stone taken from the canal excava- tion, to give the church a low figure.
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which read: "That it shall and may be lawful for the Board of Supervisors of the County of Mon- roe, or their successors in office, to grant and convey to the First Presbyterian Society in the Town of Gates, in the said County of Monroe, for the use and benefit of said Society, such part of the public square or ground contiguous to the Court House in Rochester as is covered by the new stone church of said Society." And then the Board of Supervisors, on February 24, 1824, did give to the church a deed for the county ground which "the stone church " covered. Meantime, arrangements were made for the sale of the old church property on what is now State Street, and on the 14th of April, 1825, its transfer was effected at auction to Josiah Bissell, Jr., the trustees of the stock company which had made the original investment signing the deed of con- veyance. The Second Presbyterian Society (now the Brick Church) used it for a time, and in February, 1827, Mr. Bissell sold it to the First Baptist Society.
Dr. Penney's dedicatory sermon, preached Oct. 28, 1824, was based on the text, John IV, 21, 22. It makes very heavy reading now, but it was so highly considered at the time of its delivery that the Trustees requested a
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copy for publication. This was given readily enough, though in the letter accompanying it Dr. Penney modestly declares, "Did I consult for the reputation of fine or finished sermonizing, I should certainly refuse to sub- mit this hasty sketch." Some clauses out- lining the hope of the church, read:
My friends, if we only adopt this day, and continue to cultivate, every man according to his own circum- stances, the spirit and practice of true and spiritual worshippers of the Lord our God, what a Bethel indeed will this house become to us! Truly, we shall find it " none other than the house of God-than the gate of heaven." Here shall we experience the presence of the Lord in the midst of his sanctuary, and we shall " flourish in the courts of his house," under the influence of " dews from on high." Here our old men shall be as " pillars in the house of our God," and our young men as "plants of the Lord's planting." ... From the influence of this house our civil institutions shall be puri- fied, and we shall " prosper in the work of our hands; " for " judgment shall run down as waters, and righteous- ness as a mighty stream." Hither shall we repair each sacred sabbath morn, to " crowd his gates and sound his praise; " in our prosperity, to express our gratitude and joy, and to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving; in the day of our trouble, to pour out our sorrows, until the Lord shall hear and send us help out of Zion. Here shall we assemble to commemorate the death of Christ, and dwell with holy rapture on his living, his endless love. Here shall we derive from faith and love the very soul of social affection, and the very spirit of brotherly kindness, of genuine friendship; and while from "sabbath to sabbath " we witness here the look of honest estimation
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and undissembled love, reflecting from face to face, and learn to look upon the whole goodly multitude as our friends, we shall say of our Zion, for the sake of these brethren and kinsmen, peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces!
Finally, when on a bed of languishing, we shall claim and receive the sympathy and prayers of this assembly; and when our spirits have gone to their rest, our earthly remains shall be brought hither to remind you of mortal- ity-to claim a salutary sigh and a parting tear.
Following the printed sermon are several pages in small type of Notes and Scripture references; and in these Notes it appears that a scornful reference to "divine right," in the course of the sermon, had been seized upon " by a minister of the Episcopal Church as an occasion for a publick expression of resentment." At great length Dr. Penney endeavors to make clear his wish “ to avoid censuring the religious principles of other denominations," and "never to solicit con- troversy." There is printed, too, the brief address which had been spoken at the laying of the corner-stone, when-" Standing on this spot, glancing on that forest that lately sheltered its wild beasts here, and has scarce yet retreated beyond the limits of our habitations; and then turning to this populous village, this busy multitude, those publick channels of commerce and wealth, that hall of justice, and these ,
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temples of the living God; and putting our hands, as we now do, to the foundation of another edifice to be dedicated to the cause of morals and religion, the best interests of man and the glory of Jehovah-a feeling of solemn yet pleasing interest comes over us from the years that are gone."
VI
Some Important Events
The year 1825 was marked by the opening of the Erie canal. The event was made the occasion of a great celebration, during which Governor Clinton and the committeemen, who had come from Lake Erie by boat, dis- embarked beneath an arch and, forming a procession, marched to the First Presby- terian Church. Behold them, says Mrs. Par- ker, "all Rochester and the country round about falling into the line, even if the majority of them must wait in the rain outside, while the Rev. Mr. Penney offers prayer, and Timothy Childs makes a stirring address, which the newspapers report as 'full of words that breathe and thoughts that burn.' "
In this year also General Lafayette visited Rochester; and though it does not appear that he entered the First Presbyterian Church
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it is certain that the men of that church had most to do with his reception. Dr. Levi Ward headed the general committee, Hon. Jacob Gould and Judge Ashley Sampson were on the reception committee, and Judge Sampson delivered the first greeting to him on behalf of the town.
For all these outside interests, the church life continued very active. The Session papers of 1825 contain voluminous documents refer- ring to charges which Dr. Penney brought against a member of his congregation who, he alleged, had been guilty (1) of “rash judging "; (2) of evil speaking and detrac-
(4) of bearing false tion; (3) of slander; witness against him. The Session, after hear- ing and weighing all the testimony and proofs, dismissed the first and fourth charges, while Presbytery set aside the third. But the Ses- sion, though declaring that the fourth charge was not sustained, judged that the defendant required " censure " under it, and ordered that he be suspended from the church until he read, or caused to be read " in public church meeting " an acknowledgment of his errors and a statement of his repentance. The cul- prit appealed to Synod; but Synod sus- tained the Presbytery, and then he made his
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public repentance and was restored. It is right to add that in bringing the charges Dr. Penney stated that his purpose was not to gratify "any feelings of a personal kind. I have already tendered him my forgiveness. But it is to bring him to such confession of his errors and contrition for them as may enable me, and others who know his conduct, to restore to him our charity and fellowship as to one who had erred and repented and might be hoped to do so no more."
The population of Rochester had grown by this time to about 5000-4274 by the village census of February, 1825, and 5273 by the State census of August. So there was room for another Presbyterian church, and the Second, later known as the Brick, was organ- ized-the second child of the Mother church. It is interesting to find that the membership of the First that year was 188; that in the next year, in spite of the new church to which fourteen members were immediately dismissed, it rose to 195, and 1827 had risen to 278.
VII
The Sunday School
The Sunday School development also was now rapid, as might be expected in view of
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the spirit shown by the pledge-taking teachers. The schools were now under their respective denominations; but the County Union, which had been organized in 1824, held an annual meeting each October, when the schools from nearby villages and towns came to Rochester and assembled with those of Rochester in the Court House yard, or wherever the exercises were held. An account of the second anniver- sary meeting, which was probably typical, says, " The schools attached to the First Presbyterian, the Methodist, the Baptist, and the Second Presbyterian churches assem- bled at Johnson's Square at half past nine o'clock A.M., from whence they went in pro- cession with their teachers to the Presbyterian Church, Court Square. The schools nearly filled the lower part of that spacious house. The number of scholars was rising 700 and and teachers 100. The Court of Common Pleas, then in session, the Grand Jury, and the Board of Supervisors of the county, having been invited to attend the celebration, were present, together with a collection of friends of the institution from the village and from several towns in the county." The program included, not a prayer merely, but an " address to the throne of grace " by the pastor of the
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Methodist Church; an address by Judge Ashley Sampson, of the First, who was pres- ident of the Union; and the reading, by Dr. Penney, of a hymn, which had been com- posed for the occasion and which then was sung by the congregation and children.
The Sunday Schools had continued as yet to meet only in the summers, except that of the First Church. In 1826 that had become a year-round school, and one of such success that in that year the session of 9 A.M. was supplemented by another service at noon, following the church service! This, however, soon proved more than even good little First Church children could stand, and the cus- tom was then begun of holding Sunday School in the mornings during the summer months, and at noon during the winter months.
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