USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > First Church chronicles, 1815-1915 : centennial history of the First Presbyterian Church, Rochester, New York > Part 6
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the Judgment," "God's Voice to the Nation," preached on the Sunday after the death of William Henry Harrison, President of the United States, and "Christianity: A Phil- osophy of Principles," which was delivered before the Adelphic Union of Williams Col- lege. He also contributed considerably to the periodical literature of the day; and in
1842-43 he delivered the series of lectures to young men, to which reference has been already made. In 1843 the church was re- decorated and thoroughly repaired.
It has been already suggested that freedom from the watchful care of the General Assembly seemed to give to Rochester's Presbyterian churches a special sense of responsibility for the spiritual welfare of their people. In 1843 there is a note of a day appointed in the First Church for "private fasting and prayer "; and of having, for a season, "daily prayer meetings each morning and preaching every evening by Mr. Edwards." In that year also each church was required to send to Pres- bytery, for its files and scrutiny, a copy of its Articles of Faith and Covenant; and among the letters preserved by the First Church Session is one written to Mr. Edwards in 1843 by T. B. Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton says
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that in conversation with some members of the church, he has regretfully learned that his example in dancing on certain occasions has been noted "as justifying them in the same acts, contrary to the advice of their friends." He adds: "Whatever may be my peculiar views on the subject of dancing, I had deter- mined to discontinue it, before having the conversation above alluded to." He goes on to say :
I address you this note that you may give publicity to my determination on this point, if you think fit; and also explain another circumstance which may become public-I mean the fact of my going from Syracuse to Albany on Sunday.
I left Rochester on Friday in time to reach Albany on Saturday evening. I deemed it necessary for me to be there at the opening of the court on Monday morning. The cars were obstructed on the road and no train went down on Saturday. After considerable hesitation, I deemed that I was justified in going on Sunday.
I am decidedly opposed to travelling on Sunday and this is the only instance in which I have done so, and I frankly say that after once trying it, in what I con- sidered an urgent case, I am fully convinced that the like circumstances would not induce me to repeat it. I am
Yours affectionately,
T. B. HAMILTON.
It may be added that as lately as the pre- vious year a member, who had traveled on
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Sunday and failed to express repentance, had been excommunicated by the Session. Hence Mr. Hamilton had cause to be nervous.
After a pastorate only one year shorter than Dr. Penney's Tryon Edwards resigned. His letter is dated June 28, 1844. Its coming seems to have been quite unexpected, though he says that the step had been long in con- templation owing to the increasing arduous- ness of his labors. The church unanimously adopted a resolution begging him to recon- sider the action and to " remain with us as our pastor." When Mr. Edwards declined to do this, the church passed a series of very complimentary resolutions, asked his aid in choosing a successor, and handsomely directed the continuance of his salary for three months after his relief from the performance of pas- toral duties, which was on July 28th.
On leaving Rochester, Mr. Edwards went to New London, where for thirteen years he was minister to a large Congregational Church. Thence he went to Hagerstown, Md., as the pastor of a church, becoming also, while there, president of the Wilson Female Seminary, at Chambersburg, Pa., which he had much to do in founding.
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XIV
Choosing a New Pastor
That the First Church flock needed watch- ing, and received it, during the vacancy of the pulpit, is indicated by a "Statement as to Betting, read to the Church January 10, 1845." "
It is probably known to most of the members of this church that some of our number, previous to the late presidential election, made bets on the result of that election. Such members have been conversed with, and they readily see and admit the impropriety of their conduct in this respect. They express their unqualified regret and sorrow for this act and their determination to bet no more.
And the Session take this opportunity, in kindness, to put the members of this church on their guard against this practice which some professing Christians are un- warily drawn into. All will readily see, that if this kind of gambling is permitted, the walls of partition which should separate the church from the world will soon be broken down. It should be generally known that betting is considered in the church to which we belong to be a disciplinable offence.
In less than a year after Pastor Edwards left, the church extended an unanimous call to Rev. Malcolm N. McLaren, D.D. He was forty-six years of age; had been born in Albany, educated at Union College and at Princeton Theological Seminary, and at the
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time of his call to Rochester was located in Johnstown, where he had a church. His letter of acceptance says: " Delighted with my intercourse with your people during my short stay in your city, and affected by the unanimity of kindness with which the invita- tion was made out, I have, since it was placed in my hands, been more and more inclined to view it as an invitation from the Lord of the Vineyard that it is his will that Rochester become the place of my labors.
" There are considerations which wd. deter me from entering upon that field. Its extent, its high cultivation, and its commanding position are enough to intimidate one of more talents and of richer furniture and of more varied experience than the present object of their choice can have any claims to. But this movement has originated so entirely without my knowledge, has advanced so much without any agency of mine, and is so mani- festly from the Lord that I dare not de- cline." The letter is written under date of May 26th, and he says that he will come to Rochester in three weeks, delaying to give the people in Johnstown time to arrange for supplies.
Dr. McLaren's installation took place Aug.
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27th. The sermon was by Dr. Sprague of Albany, the prayer by the Rev. Mr. Hickok, " of the Washington Street Church," the charge to the pastor by Mr. Hall of the Third Church, and the charge to the people by Rev. James B. Shaw, of the Brick. There was also an elaborate musical program by the choir.
XV
Dr. McLaren
One who knew Dr. McLaren has described him as having a tall, erect and graceful form, a manner especially courteous, as " endowed with a mind well disciplined by study," and as " having few equals in rhetoric and express- ive pulpit delivery. For all these, and for goodness of heart and fidelity as preacher and pastor, he will long be remembered."
In spite of the favorable beginning of his ministry, Dr. McLaren remained in the First Church only a year and a half-until March I, 1847. He resigned to accept a call which he had received to Brooklyn. He lived to be an old man, dying in Auburn in 1887, and it is perhaps significant of his Scotch-Presby- terianism that in compliance with his request copies of the Bible and of the Westminster Confession of Faith were placed upon his
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casket. Another significant fact is the inter- esting reminiscence that when preaching he always wore black gloves-which seemed, at least to one gentle little girl among his hearers, to give to his gestures an awful and threatening power. But his heart was very kind, and he and his family in their short residence here made many friends, so that his return, on various occasions, was always welcomed.
Whether due or not to the strict ideas of Dr. McLaren, and of his conservative succes- sor, Dr. McIlvaine, the Session records of the years from 1845 to 1855 furnish data of many trials of First Church members by a disciplinary Session. Absence from church on Sunday, or absence from Prayer Meeting and Preparatory Lecture, were offenses that necessitated formal trial by the Session. At least one of these resulted in excommunica- tion, perhaps because the offender not merely gave no sign of repentance but failed to obey the citations of the Session to appear before it and hear the witnesses. These, testifying that they had themselves been present at prac- tically every service for several months, oc- cupying pews so situated that they could see his seat "without turning around," swore
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that they had not seen him there, nor even on the porch or in the yard. Neither had he given to them the excuse of sickness. The verdict was read to the church at Preparatory Lecture.
The Session was not always, however, so severe, for in one instance the minute reads : "It was voted that Mr. H- be now sus- pended from the Communion, and that be- fore he be excommunicated time be given him to repent and return to his Christian
duty. Closed with prayer. M. Chapin, Clerk." Other offenses than absence from service came before the Session, and it is clear that to be an Elder in those days meant the devotion of much time to the affairs of the church, and the hearing of much spicy gossip.
Two new Elders were elected in 1846, Eben U. Buell and Robert W. Dalzell; and one, Charles W. Dundas, resigned. It was not much easier to resign at that time than it is to-day. Only two other resignations from the eldership had been accepted in the thirty years of the church. One of these was Jacob Gould's, in 1833, which reads:
Brethren:
I, by these presents, desire to do officially what I have virtually done for a considerable time, viz., cease to be
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an Active Elder in said Church, and I do now hereby, as far as I can, resign said office. By granting this request, I hope and Pray that the Spirituality and Union of the Church be increased and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ extended.
With much affection, Yours, JACOB GOULD
XVI
Interesting Correspondence
The church had a good deal of trouble in securing a successor to Dr. McLaren, the pulpit remaining vacant for a year and a half. Temporary supplies preached, however, dur- ing this time; especially and most acceptably Rev. Henry D. Rankin, for several months. He was a young man, and after leaving Rochester went to China as a missionary.
A call was extended to Rev. Adam Reid, of Salisbury, Conn., and one to the Rev. T. V. Moore, of Green Castle, Pa. The latter ac- cepted, but, his Presbytery refusing to let him leave the charge he had, he was obliged to decline. The correspondence with Mr. Moore is, however, illuminating on several points. In referring to the call, he wrote: " I cannot consent to perform more than two services on the Sabbath. More than this I
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am convinced is not possible for me, in justice either to myself or the congn. Should a third service be deemed expedient I cannot bind myself even to be present, for the mental excitement of three services on my system would be such as ultimately to do me serious injury." The official reply to this declara- tion is that, "although our usual practice, with that of other churches in this city, has been to have a third service (being usually a prayer meeting conducted by the Pastor, with a brief extemporaneous lecture or remarks) yet our own observation and experience had led us recently to the conclusion that more than two services generally are not profitable and should not be required." There is added, with a bit of spirit, that it might be presumed that the Session "will never ask anything incompatible with your health or permanent usefulness." The correspondence also con- tains an interesting allusion to the amount of the proposed salary, which was $1500-" three hundred dollars more than has ever been paid by any Presb. Church in this City, except for a short time to Mr. Edwards, dur- ing which one-third of the amount was paid by individuals and not by the Society." The sum of $1500, it is stated, "we think will
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enable our Pastor, with proper economy, to lay up a little each year."
Another letter, interesting for the possible light it throws on the condition of the church at this time, is one which is addressed to Judge Sampson by the Rev. Joel Parker. Mr. Parker is replying to an inquiry regarding a minister of Philadelphia, whose name the Session were considering. He writes :
Yours of the 3d instant came to hand last evening. I can but deeply regret that your church should be left again to the troubles and hazards of procuring a Pastor.
The gentleman with respect to whom you make inquiry has been long known to me. He was under my tuition for a year or two in the Sabbath School class when a lad of sixteen. He possesses far more intellectual power than I then supposed he would ever attain to .... Your most cultivated people would not grow weary of his discourses. ... With respect to the manner in which he would encounter a factious spirit I am not so confident.
A very interesting document of 1847 is a letter addressed to the Session by Levi A. Ward, who had then been Superintendent of the Sunday School for eleven years. He says that when he took charge, he found that it had been the practice to collect from the teachers enough to make up the difference between the collections and the expenses of the
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school. This did not seem to him to be right. Accordingly, he had instituted the custom of personally advancing such sums as the ex- penses called for, and then in March of each year having a church collection taken up, from which he reimbursed himself as far as possible for the last twelve months' advances. Once in four or five years he prepared a bal- ance-statement for the congregation, that of 1847 showing that the collections were then short $70.52. In addition, " the Tablets (which cost $35) and the Psalm Books were paid for by myself and not charged to the School."
XVII
Dr. McIlvaine
In 1848, Rev. Dr. Joshua Hawley McIlvaine, of Westminster Church, Utica, accepted a call to the pastorate. He commenced his duties April 23d, and was installed July 13th. Mr. Hickok of the Washington Street Church read the Scriptures; Mr. Richardson of Pitts- ford preached the sermon. Mr. Shaw of the Brick gave the charge to the pastor, and Mr. Billingston of Fairport the charge to the people.
Dr. McIlvaine was a graduate of Princeton college and seminary. He was thirty-three when he came to Rochester, but had been
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pastor of a Presbyterian church at Little Falls prior to his charge in Utica. His pas- torate of twelve years in Rochester was next to the longest that the First Church has had, and during it the church was very strong and active. Dr. McIlvaine is described as having possessed studious habits, thorough scholar- ship, and eminent pulpit power. " He was a peer among the students, authors and preachers of his day." His sermons were extremely intellectual.
An interesting evidence of the quickness with which Dr. McIlvaine took his place in the community is the choice of him to deliver on June 28, 1849, the address that celebrated the reorganization of the Roches- ter Athenæum and Mechanics' Association, the opening of their Library and new Reading Rooms, and the completion for public lec- tures of that "noble hall "-now the Corin- thian Theatre. The subject chosen was "The Power of Voluntary Attention "-not a very alluring title; but he treated it in so satis- factory a manner that next day the directors, in extending a vote of thanks to him, appointed a committee to " solicit a copy of the Address for publication." The copy was forthcom- ing and the address in pamphlet form may
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still be occasionally found. The chairman of the meeting was the Superintendent of his Sunday School, Levi A. Ward.
Dr. McIlvaine had come to Rochester at a time of considerable excitement, for 1848 was the year of the " Rochester Rappings." Spir- itualism and its manifestations so entered into the thought of the community that even five years later, on March 20, 1853, he preached a sermon on " the arts of divination " which made, as will be imagined, no little stir.
XVIII
Church Life in the Middle of the Century
With the pastorate of Dr. McIlvaine there was entered a period which is within the memory of a few of the older members of the present church. By the aid of their reminiscences, it is quite possible to picture the life of the church as it was in the middle of the nineteenth century. Services were held both morning and afternoon, and most baptisms were in the afternoon. The sermon was the great feature of any service. There were, perhaps, but two hymns, and in announc- ing these the pastor would read them entirely through. An examination of the old hymn
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book reveals hymns that were so melancholy that two may well have been all that healthy individuals could bear at a service. One hymn, which was sung so often in the First Church that its words are perfectly recalled by a member of that period, began as follows :
Far from the utmost verge of day Those gloomy regions lie. Where flames amid the darkness play, The worm shall never die.
The breath of God, his angry breath, Supplies and fans the fire. There sinners taste the second death And would, but can't, expire.
The choir included, during Dr. McIlvaine's pastorate, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Perkins, Mrs. Levi A. Ward, Mrs. John C. Nash, Mrs. Judge Gardiner, Mr. Bell, and Dr. Backus, who was leader. The choir sat in the gallery at the rear of the church. A new organ was installed in 1848.
Once in two months the pastor would read the notice, "The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper will be served in this house two weeks from to-day. The Session will meet to-morrow afternoon at 2 o'clock in the Session Room to receive applications for membership." This Session Room was the small room, back of the
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Lecture Room, which the infant class used on Sundays. One who visited the room as a child, on a Monday afternoon in response to the above announcement, recalls the "grave and venerable " Elders sitting in solemn con- clave as "we poor, miserable, little candi- dates " entered. Preparatory Lecture fol- lowed on the Friday afternoon preceding Communion, and the entire membership of the church was expected to attend-though the hour was 3 o'clock. Baptisms were often ad- ministered at this service, and here were pronounced the sentences imposed by Session as a result of the trials it held. Here also were read the confessions of those who, having been brought to trial, repented.
At Communion the verses always read, and never explained to the trembling children who were only too conscious of unworthiness, were from the Eleventh Chapter of First Corinthians, as, "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself." These, and the others of similar purport, were recited in most solemn tones; and then came the mournful hymn, beginning,
'Twas on that dark and doleful night
When powers of earth and hell engaged,
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sung in a minor key, the choir sitting with the congregation at this service. "It was all very sad."
One member of the church, S. Y. Alling, whose long years of faithful loyalty extended through this period, attained the record of not having missed a Communion service for fifty-two years.
Yet there were bright spots in the church life of the day. Those who arrived at service early had the pleasure of watching the others come in, facing the congregation, and all accounts agree that this was most entertain- ing. Individuality was strongly marked in those days, and there were princes among the men and queens among the women. And then there was the interest of watching stran- gers and visitors. On an April Sunday in 1847, ex-President Tyler was among the latter; but it is doubtful whether he attracted as much attention as had the picturesque Van Buren, back in the summer of 1828, when he had come into the church with General Gould. Van Buren had been nominated for governor that summer and in a tour of the State had reached Rochester on a Saturday. On Sunday, writes Henry B. Stanton in " Random Recollections,' " he attended the First Presbyterian Church,
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SEATING ARRANGEMENT, 1848
First Church Chronicles
the wealthy and aristocratic church of the town. . . All eyes were fixed upon him
. an exquisite in personal appearance. He
.
wore an elegant snuff-colored broadcloth coat with velvet collar, his cravat was orange with modest lace tips; his vest was of a pearl hue; his trousers were white duck, his silk hose corresponded to the vest; his shoes were morocco; his nicely fitting gloves were yellow kid; his long-furred beaver hat, with broad brim, was of Quaker color."
It was the custom in the old days for the sexton, after he had finished ringing the bell, to enter the auditorium and show visitors to seats. "Some pew-renters," said Dr. Miller in his historical paper, " complained to the trustees that their places were occupied by outsiders, to their inconvenience and dis- comfort. The board discussed the question and decided that the stranger within our gates must be treated respectfully and kindly. They directed the sexton to give visitors as good seats as there were in the house." Very shortly after, to emphasize the hospitality of the church, prominent members of the con- gregation acted themselves as ushers, and so, prior to 1850, made, in the First Presbyterian Church a "beginning in Rochester of that
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special hospitality which is now so marked a feature in all our churches."
On Mondays, once a month, it had been the custom to hold a union Monthly Con- cert, sometimes in one church and some- times in another. Wednesday evening was devoted to the regular church prayer meeting, at which, however, there was a sermon. On Saturday nights there was another prayer meeting. This was transferred during Dr. McIlvaine's ministry from the Lecture Room to private houses, where it was conducted by one of the Elders. The minister was usually present, but did not necessarily take part. It is recalled that one member of the Session, who had a strong bass voice but absolute in- ability to carry a tune, sometimes led the sing- ing, and in so doing would sing as much as four lines before his auditors could identify the tune. These Saturday evening meetings have been described as " very earnest and delightful." There was also, once a month, a women's prayer meeting, held at the house of Mrs. Hervey Ely; and very early there was started, by Elder Starr, a men's Bible Class, conducted Sunday mornings at 9 o'clock in the Lecture Room. This was the beginning of the men's classes in which to this day Rochester is said to be the leader.
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At the Sunday services it was customary to appeal for contributions for various objects, the American Tract Society and the educa- tion of designated young men for the ministry being the special favorites. The amount se- cured in response to these appeals was often amazing, as the following records show: On an Autumn Sunday in 1848, Dr. McIlvaine having appealed for foreign missions, a col- lection of $700 was taken up; on a January Sunday of that year, an appeal for the Tract Society resulted in a collection of $1195.50. On December 10, 1849, in response to an appeal (which for some years was an annual event) the congregation gave $300 for the Rochester Orphan Asylum; two months later, $933.46 for American Home Missions, and just four weeks after that $631 for the Foreign Evan- gelical Society! Nor was the giving only in the winter. On June 3d of that same year, $59.65 was taken up for city missions; two Sundays later, $207.13 for the cause of edu- cation; one month after that, $1251.29 for the American Bible Society; and five weeks later, Aug. 19, $127.50 for the American Sunday School Union. Whatever rise there has been in our standards of luxury and of personal income and expenditure in the inter-
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