USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > First Church chronicles, 1815-1915 : centennial history of the First Presbyterian Church, Rochester, New York > Part 5
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It is significant of the affection and esteem in which Dr. Penney was held that the congre- gation looked largely to him to choose his successor. He strongly recommended D. H. Riddle of Winchester, Va., saying of him, in a letter written to Dr. Backus, from New York in May, 1833, " I am perfectly confirmed in the good impressions I had previously re- ceived of Mr. R. He is, I think, the very man for the First Church of Rochester in all respects-amiable, talented and well bal- anced." He arranged for Mr. Riddle to come on at once to Rochester, saying that he had assured him that it would be possible to "convene a congregation-say on Thursday evening, or on any week evening, when he may arrive." The letter adds, "I hope Bostwick will have the church lamps in order and that a good congregation will be convened. Also please to place a good psalm book in the Pulpit. There is none."
Mr. Riddle came, and at a meeting of the
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congregation shortly afterward an unanimous call was extended to him. Mr. Riddle de- clined it. In fact, notwithstanding the ear- nest efforts of Dr. Penney and in spite of other calls that were extended, the pulpit remained vacant for several months, largely, it seems, because of a widespread fear of the severity of the climate.
There was, however, preaching almost every Sunday; and the Session kept very strict watch of the congregation, as several trials attest. One of these, for instance, was of a woman of the congregation who " did on a Sabbath in the summer of 1833 (particular day not known) go on board a canal boat at Rochester for Buffalo, and she traveled in the boat on that Sabbath."
XI
Tryon Edwards Comes
In August or September, 1833, the Session invited Tryon Edwards, a young man of twenty-four, who had been graduated from Yale, and was then completing his theological studies at Princeton, to come to Rochester to supply the pulpit for three or more months. Mr. Edwards replied that he would not receive
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his license to preach until about the middle of October, and that after that "I shall wish a rest from study for one or two weeks, before entering upon the discharge of duties such as you propose." He promised, however, to come in November if the church could wait until then. This was agreed to.
Mr. Edwards apparently gave much satis- faction, for he remained until late in March. He then returned to his home in Hartford; and on the assembling, a few days later, of a church meeting, to ascertain the view of the people in regard to asking him to become their regular pastor, only three votes were recorded in the negative.
There is a letter written April 29, 1834, by Dr. Penney to Chas. M. Lee, telling of a visit he had just had in Northampton from Mr. Edwards, who then had under advisement the First Church call and who apparently desired to consult Dr. Penney before deciding. In part, Dr. Penney's letter reads: "My deep interest in everything which pertains to your good, as a people dearly beloved, leads me in this way to express the hope that there will be a cordial and unanimous com- pliance " with any reasonable conditions Mr. Edwards names. "I would suggest in addition
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to what he proposed that, considering his easy circumstances and consequent scale of expenditure during his education-the rising expenses of a city life and the pretty certain prospects of a family to support-the sum of $1000 without a Parsonage will be found a small allowance. Nor do I think you will find it as economical to pay him this sum as one more competent. I do not in this sug- gestion forget that you always paid me more than your engagements, as well as more than my dues. But that surplus may better be included in the salary now as the hospitable habits of a new village give place to the busi- ness formalities of a city. I need not say after these remarks that I think Mr. Edwards the right man-I do firmly believe that he will do better for that church and congregation than the generality of that class of ministers to which all our eyes have been turned."
So Tryon Edwards, who was grandson and great-grandson of the two Jonathan Edwards who were presidents of Princeton, was in- stalled in the pulpit of the First Church on July 22, 1834. He commenced the labors of his pastorate by preaching a sermon which was so well liked that when the city celebrated, fifty years later, the semi-centennial of its
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incorporation, he was invited to return and repeat it in the First Church pulpit.
The installation exercises were described as of "a most interesting and impressive char- acter." Rev. Dr. Hawes of Hartford preached the sermon. Dr. Penney was present and gave the charge to the people; Rev. Mr. Wisner, of the Brick Church, gave the charge to the pastor-describing him as " an ambas- sador from the court of Heaven to a rebel- world." Rev. Mr. Eddy made the ordination prayer, and several other clergymen assisted. As on the previous occasion, the installation was preceded by " a day of fasting and prayer for the blessing of God on the connection about to be formed."
We have two contemporary pictures of Tryon Edwards. One is in a letter written by a mem- ber of the church some two months after the installation. It says: "Were he of more robust frame and had better health, he would please us well." The other, which has the advantage of looking back over his pastorate, says: " Enjoying and improving the advantages of our best seminaries of literature and theol- ogy, with a mind well and successfully trained to habits of thought and expression, his dis- courses (especially a series addressed to young
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men) coupled with courteous manners out of the pulpit, made him popular while a resident here and will give him a long-continued place in the memory of those who attended his ministry." During most of his pastorate, he lived, it is recalled, with Mr. and Mrs. Lee. But near the end of it, soon after he had followed the example of Dr. Penney and gone East for a wife-who is described as having been very attractive-Mrs. Lee wisely thought it best that the couple set up house-keeping for themselves.
Another paragraph in the letter first quoted above, says, " Religion does not receive the attention from our citizens which could be expected. I have observed that we are re- luctant to heed the judgments of God, and few are converted during the ravages of a pesti- lence." The reference is to the cholera, of which Rochester had renewed outbreaks in 1833 and '34. Yet the church kept a strict watch upon the spiritual welfare of its mem- bers. During this period one of the oldest of its number was excommunicated, and another member was brought before the Ses- sion in trial for an " over indulgence in ardent spirits " on the Fourth of July. Witnesses testified that they saw him walking in a line
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that was not straight, one woman stating that she watched him from her window until he was out of sight.
A prominent member of the church, Jacob Gould, who for eleven years had been an Elder, was elected mayor in 1835-the second mayor of the city. In 1836 he was re-elected; and with him there began a remarkably long list of mayors chosen from the First Church con- gregation, and even, to considerable extent, from its Session! The list includes: Jacob Gould, Thomas Kempshall, Charles Hill, Isaac Hills, Levi A. Ward, Hamlin Stilwell, Maltby Strong, Charles J. Hayden, John C. Nash, Nehemiah C. Bradstreet, and George W. Aldridge. Of course in the old days the trus- tees of the village had also been largely First Church men-as Moses Chapin, Frederick F. Backus, Charles J. Hill, H. R. Bender, A. W. Riley, O. E. Gibbs, etc.
In 1836, also, Rev. Henry Cherry and Rev. F. D. Ward of the First Church were ordained as missionaries to Southern India and de- parted for their post; and Mr. Edwards preached, on Thanksgiving Day, Dec. 15th, a sermon entitled " Reasons for Thankful- ness " which so gratified the congregation that the trustees published it in pamphlet
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form. As the sermon was historical, most of the cited reasons have been already given here. One other, however, may be quoted, viz., that " the first white person born in the village is now a member of this congregation." He mentioned with gratitude, also, " three charity schools sustained by our ladies-one by the young ladies of the First Presbyterian Church, one by the young ladies of St. Luke's church, and one by the Rochester Female Charitable Society." They are "educating 250 orphan or destitute children." Mean- while, it should be added, the First Church Sunday School was extremely flourishing. It
is recorded that out of an enrollment in March, 1835, of 232 pupils, there was an average attendance of 202-" more, by twenty or thirty, than any other school in the city."
XII
Troublesome Questions
The most stirring church event of 1836 was the movement to organize Bethel (now Central) Presbyterian Church, which it was proposed to locate on the west side of Wash- ington Street, between the canal and Main Street, on the very lot upon which stood Dr.
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Penney's house. The plan was consummated, thirty-nine members from the First Church taking their letters to it, but it was much against the wishes of the First Church Session and pastor. The records contain a list of those who proposed thus to go out from the Mother Church; a series of resolutions passed by the Session, and signed by Mr. Edwards as Moderator; a reply from those who favored establishing the church, proposing arbitra- tion of the subject by a committee of forty, representative of all the churches; the Ses- sion's reply to that; and then a letter to Presbytery, by those desiring to start the new path, in which they promise to act in accord- ance with Presbytery's judgment. The first resolutions of the Session, which are dated March 29, 1836, are very interesting. They read :
UNANIMOUSLY,
Resolved,
I. That we regard the formation of a new church in this city, at the present time, inexpedient. Because
I. There is now no church in the city which is filled.
2. The same effort which will be demanded to gather a new congregation, would, as we have no doubt, bring at least an equal number of persons under the power of the truth in congregations now exist- ing; and that, without the proposed expense of time and money.
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3. We deem it wrong to station any more ministers in places as well supplied as this, while the call is so loud from the destitute parts of our own land, and especially from the heathen, for hundreds and hundreds of ministers who cannot be found; and when all the funds that can be raised, are at this moment needed to send the gospel to the ends of the earth.
4. We are satisfied that a large portion of those whom it is designed to benefit by the proposed effort, will be more successfully provided for by the efforts of the city missionary recently appointed, and also by the churches now established, which in their formation had this end before them.
If, however, these reasons are not sufficient to satisfy the brethren that the proposed undertaking is inexpedient, then
Resolved,
II. That the LOCATION which they have in view, is, in our opinion, DECIDEDLY an IMPROPER location Because,
I. It is not needed, as proposed, for the boatmen, etc., as full provision already exists for them, in the churches which have already been alluded to.
2. The proposed situation is too near to churches already erected, while there is still a portion of the city within which no church is located.
Such being the unanimous views of the Session, al- though we regret that the proposed enterprise has been projected and especially that it has been so far matured without consultation with the Session of the Church, and although we rely on the correct Christian views of those concerned, to remain in churches already organized; -still, as we believe that our brethren are actuated by a desire to advance the cause of the Redeemer, if they
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determine to leave us as proposed, we now see no reason why we should rot dismiss them.
In behalf of the Session,
T. EDWARDS, Moderator.
Dated, March 29, 1836.
One can well understand the reluctance of the First Church Session in this matter when one finds, in the Record book of the Sunday School, a memorandum that the withdrawals to form Bethel Church included, on one Sunday alone, " the estimable Superinten- dent, twelve male and five female teachers," and that more were expected to go!
The church had another trouble about this time. It seems to have been brewing for a con- siderable period-in fact, the seeds of it were sown in 1801, long before there was a settlement at Rochester. In that year the General Asso- ciation of Connecticut, representing the Con- gregational Church, and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, had agreed that in the missionary work in Western New York -for it was all missionary work in those days-there should be co-operation between the two bodies, so that a Presbyterian might be pastor of a Congregational church, or vice versa.
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With the development of important towns and flourishing churches, it was inevitable that a break should come, and apparently with a view to bringing the matter to a head and securing a definite alignment, the Pres- byterian General Assembly in 1837 passed the famous Excinding Act. By this the two Synods in Western New York, together with the Synod of Utica and that of Western Reserve, Ohio, were " declared to be out of ecclesiastical connection with the Presby- terian Church of the United States of Amer- ica." The resolutions added that there was no intention to affect, "in any way, the ministerial standing of any members of either of said Synods, nor to disturb the pastoral relation in any church;" and "all such churches and ministers as wish to unite with us are hereby directed to apply for admission into those Presbyteries belonging to our con- nection which are most convenient to their respective locations." Nevertheless, the action, which seemed to Western New York high- handed, unreasonable and cruel, sorely hurt the feelings of the churches, especially as there was attempt to justify it by references to irregularity of doctrine and action.
Mrs. Chapin, in a letter of 1837, writes,
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"you have read that our General Assembly have cut off this Synod from the Presbyterian Church. Their proceedings have been dis- graceful." The sentiment thus expressed was widespread among members of the excluded Presbyteries, and thereafter that of Rochester stood aloof for fourteen years. Commission- ers were, to be sure, appointed to the General Assembly in 1838, and they went. But in a few days they came back again, and, making no statement as to the diligence of their search, briefly and pointedly reported that they had been unable to find it! In 1839 appointments were made again, but the dele- gates found only the " New School " Assembly, which had then developed as a result of the Excinding Act. No further attempt was made until 1854 to send Commissioners from Roches- ter to either of the two rival General Assem- blies.
Of course the First Presbyterian Church was no more seriously involved in the dispute than was any other Presbyterian church of the Synod, but its prominence and natural leadership brought the matter especially close to the hearts of pastor, Session and people. In fact, Mr. Edwards was Secretary of the convention of ministers and laymen from the
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excinded Synods, which was held in Auburn in the summer of 1837 to protest against the constitutionality of the Assembly's action.
XIII
A Vigorous Church
It must not be inferred, however, that those troublesome matters decreased the energy and effectiveness of the First Church itself. Perhaps they resulted in a stronger loyalty. Certain it is that in 1836 the membership had risen to 512, 35 more than the high record under Dr. Penney; and that its contributions for home missions, which had reached $1000 in the last year of Dr. Penney's pastorate, rose to $2500 in 1836, and to $3839 in each, 1837 and 1838. For the same three years the gifts for education were, respectively, $2090, $5900, $5900. In the book con- taining a compilation of statistics, made up from records of the General Assembly, the comment, " Strange but true " is entered after the record of those years. The large gifts are the more significant because 1837 was a year of exceptional financial depression.
Two new Elders were ordained in 1838, Charles W. Dundas and Marcus Holmes.
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The letter in which Mr. Dundas accepted his election suggests the spirit which then ani- mated the church. Addressing Mr. Edwards, he says: " Having, as I trust, prayerfully considered the election of myself to an Elder- ship in the First Church, and in view of all the circumstances and relations existing in this Branch of Our Beloved Zion, I cannot per- mit myself to decline accepting, and taking upon me the solemn responsibility, which Our Brethren have laid upon me." Levi A. Ward, elected Superintendent of the Sunday School the year before, remained in that posi- tion for fifteen years.
In 1838 the Anti-Slavery Society of Roches- ter, in which some leading members of the First Church-as Moses Chapin, David Scofield, S. D. Porter, etc .- were very prominent, were hosts for a State convention, and in that year Presbytery appointed a commission of four, of whom Tryon Edwards is first named, to organize the "Fifth Presbyterian Church in the city of Rochester." The church, sub- sequently called the "Fourth," lived only ten years.
The event of 1839 was an unprecedented snowfall on January 26th-27th, which com- pelled the omission of the Sunday School on
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the 27th, and the cancellation of the after- noon service in all the churches.
In 1840 a semi-centennial celebration of the settlement of Western New York was held, and Tryon Edwards was selected to make the prayer. In that year, too, a member of the church signed a confession, obviously written by the pastor, admitting imprudence in the " use of stimulating and exciting substances." The words " intoxicating drinks " were written first, and then, perhaps at the culprit's request, marked out for the more euphoneous substi- tutes. The act, however, is agreed to have been " wrong and sinful, injurious to my Chris- tian profession."
Later in the year, "a sister of this Church," whose name is duly entered on the Session records, was stated to be charged by " public rumor " with cherishing " erroneous and un- scriptural views," and with having abstained from attending worship. The minute, in con- formity with the custom on such occasions, then reads: " Scriptural measures having been tried without effect, to restrain her from these errors of doctrine and practice,
" Voted, That the Clerk cite her to meet the Session on the 18th day of August instant, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon at the Session
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Room, to consider and act upon the afore- said charges." Later the Session records that the sister herself gave " painful and conclu- sive proof that both charges were true," and "further measures " to "reclaim " her having been taken without success, she " has by vote of the Session been excommunicated from the church "-a verdict that was by no means rare. The quotation is taken from a paper which, apparently, the pastor read to the congregation, for immediately after it, and before he announces in formal words her sentence, he has interlined these notes which formed, we may suppose, the framework of a parenthetical address:
Time when errors abound. All shd. take heed. Error is subtle.
It is very clear that exclusion from the General Assembly meant no laxity of dis- cipline as far as the First Church was concerned. The Session records of the period abound in trials. There is found also this interesting paper, probably read from the pulpit, for it bears the notation, "Presented two times, Dec. 31, 1841, by Rev. T. Edwards: "
I am requested to speak a word on the subject of danc- ing as a recreation or amusement.
Whatever views we take of the intrinsic character of this
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-all must agree that it is evil in its tendency and directly repugnant to that spirituality of mind which every Chris- tian should cultivate. Besides it has been so long and so universally used by the irreligious and even the abandoned of every kind that as an exercise it is now regarded as exclusively belonging to them. Hence all sober-minded Christians of every denomination reject it from their amusements and this church has uniformly looked upon it with decided disapprobation. And yet the Session are from time to time called upon to inquire after communicants who have been treading on this forbidden ground.
It was thought best by the Session that the church would be at this time reminded of the estimate in which dancing is held and to make it distinctly understood that that amusement on any occasion by a communicant of this church will be considered as a grievance by the other members-as bringing a reproach on the church- and as cause for reproof and censure.
And permit us, Christian parents of this church, to urge upon you, the duty to restrain your baptized children in this respect, and to give such direction to their amuse- ments that the barriers may not be broken down (as in this community is alarmingly threatened) between those who fear God and those who fear him not.
The city was stirred by religious revivals in 1842, conducted again by Messrs. Finney and Burchard, whose earlier efforts had been so notably successful-the one speaker “ ap- pealing to the intellect, the other to the pas- sions." Doubtless the First Church shared richly in the fruits of this deeper stirring of religious interest, though in the absence in
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these years of any reports to General Assembly definite figures cannot be given. It has been stated, however, by Dr. Bush that Mr. Finney alone converted " one thousand souls " in his visit of 1842.
An interesting letter from the files of that year is one from Mr. Edwards, very nicely accepting a reduction of his salary from $1500 to $1200. Under date of "Monday evening, May 16th," he writes to " Hon. M. Chapin and Hon. A. Gardiner, Committee:"
Gentlemen:
I have considered the statement given me by your- selves as a committee of the Ist Presbyterian Society, respecting the embarrassed state of its finances. In the prosperity of the past, the Society in such matters have always acted most liberally; and in the reverses of the present, most cheerfully do I share with them their burdens. Will you therefore please request the Trustees to consider me as relinquishing $300 from my salary for the coming year? The future I leave to their liberality, should my necessary expenses be increased. Or, if they sh'd not, and the circumstances of the Society sh'd still be adverse, they need not be assured that the occasion will cheerfully be met according to its need.
That the fine spirit which prompted such a letter did not lack appreciation is indicated by a communication which was addressed to Mr. Edwards during his vacation, a few weeks later. Signed, "Your Brethren in
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Christ," it seems to have been written by the Session, speaking for the church:
Rev'd and Dear Sir:
We received and read with much gratification your letter addressed to our Church and congregation. While in this we learn that the welfare of your people lies near your heart during your absence, we can assure you that our prayers are continually offered that God will pro- tect you in your journeyings, ... and that he will in due time return you to us in the fulness of the blessing of that Gospel which you preach. We appreciate as you do the momentous interest of that relation which unites us. Other relations may for the time more engage our attention, but none will appear more solemn and important in that day when minister and people stand at the judgment seat of Christ. . ..
We rejoice that we were so well represented at Nor- wich and that the next meeting of the Missionary Board is to be at Rochester. .
We have thus far been well supplied on the Sabbath since you have been absent. Mr. Bush preached the first Sabbath and Mr. Dickson the other two. Both performed well. Our supply for the future is uncertain, but your five weeks will soon pass away, and then we shall greet your return.
In 1842 Mr. Edwards edited, with a memoir, the works of his grandfather, the younger President Jonathan Edwards of Princeton. It may be added here that several of his own sermons found their way into print-as " The First Presbyterian Church and the Early History of Rochester," "The Monitions of
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