USA > New York > New York City > History of New York City : embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830, and a full account of its development from 1830 to 1884, Volume I > Part 21
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CHAPTER IX.
A MONG the more important institutions in our country founded for the diffusion of religious knowledge and the principles of Christianity, and the spiritual enlightenment of mankind, which may claim the city of New York as the place of their nativity previous to the year 1830, are the American Bible Society, the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the New York Bible Society.
The first Bible society in the United States was instituted at Phila- delphia in 1808. Others were instituted the next year in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. These local societies rapidly increased and were necessarily feeble, working under serious ·disadvantages. At the head of the New Jersey Bible Society was the earnest patriot and Christian, Elias Boudinot, of Burlington, and in 1815 that society proposed a plan for a National Bible Society, and notice was given of a convention to be held in the city of New York on the 8th of May, 1816, to consider the plan.
The convention assembled at the appointed time in the consistory room of the Reformed Dutch Church, in Garden Street, New York. It was composed of delegates from thirty-five local Bible societies, be- sides four representatives from the Society of Friends or Quakers, mak- ing sixty in all. The convention was organized by the appointment of Joshua M. Wallace, a delegate from the New Jersey Bible Society, as president, and the Rev. J. B. Romeyn. D. D., and the Rev. Lyman Beecher, D.D., secretaries. After full and free discussion the com- mittee
"Resolved, That it is expedient to establish, without delay, a gen- eral Bible institution for the circulation of the Holy Scriptures without note or comment."
A constitution was then adopted, and an address to the people of the United States was ordered to be printed and sent out into all parts of the Republic ; executive officers were chosen, an energetic board of managers were appointed, and the AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY began its useful and wonderful career of benevolence .*
* The following gentlemen, sixty in number, were members of the convention which formed the American Bible Society, to wit : Rev. John Bassett. D.D., Bushwick, N. Y. ;
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
The constitution of the society was drawn by an able committee, composed of the Rev. Drs. Nott, Mason, Beecher, Rice, Morse, and Blythe, the Rev. Messrs. Wilmur and Jones, the Hon. Messrs. Samuel Bavard and William Jay, and Mr. Charles Wright. The powerful address to the people of the United States was written by the Rev. Dr. John Mason, and was sent out, with the constitution, to every part of the country. The Hon. Elias Boudinot was elected the first president of the society. Its affairs are managed by executive officers and a board of managers, the latter consisting of thirty-six lavinen, one fourth of whom go out of office each year, but are re-eligible. Since its organization it has had nine presidents and one hundred and fourteen vice-presidents. The presidents were elected in the following order of time : Elias Boudinot, 1816 : John Jay, 1821 ; Richard Varick, 1828 ; John Cotton Smith, 1831 ; Theodore Frelinghuysen, 1846 ; Luther Bradish, 1862 : James Lenox, 1864 ; William II. Allen, LL. D., 1872, and S. Wells Williams, LL. D., 1881.
At the outset the society encountered the strong opposition of Bishop John Henry Hobart, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who was the .
Samuel Bayard, Princeton, N. J. ; Rev. Lyman Beecher, secretary of the convention, Litchfield, Conn. ; Thomas J. Biggs, Nassau Hall, Princeton, N. J. ; Rev. Samuel Blatch- ford, D.D., Lansingburg, N. Y. ; Rev. James Blythe, D.D., Lexington, Ky. ; Rev. David S. Bogart, Long Island, N. Y. ; Rev. John M. Bradford, D.D., Albany, N. Y. ; William Burd, Lynchburg, Va. ; John E. Caldwell, New York ; Levi Callender, Catskill, N. Y. ; Rev. John Chester, Albany, N. Y. ; Matthew St. Clair Clarke, Chambersburg, Penn. ; Rev. Eli F. Cooley, Cooperstown, N. Y. ; James Tenimore Cooper, Cooperstown, N. Y. : Orrin Day, Catskill, N. Y. ; Thomas Eddy, New York : Henry Ford, Cayuga County, N. Y. ; Rev. Robert Forrest, Delaware County, N. Y. ; John Griscom, New York ; Rev. James Hall, D.D., Statesville, N. C. ; Rev. J. P. K. Henshaw, Baltimore, Md. ; Joseph C. Hornblower, Newark, N. J. ; Rev. Heman Humphrey, Fairfield, Conn. ; William Jay, Bedford, N. Y. ; Rev. David Jones, Newark, N. J. ; Rev. Isaac Lewis. D.D., Greenwich, Conn. : General John Linklaen, Cazenovia, N. Y. ; Rev. John McDowell. Elizabethtown. N. J. ; Rev. John M. Mason, D. D., New York ; Rev. Philip Milledoler, D. D., New York : Rev. Jedediah Morse, D.D., Charlestown, Mass. : Valentine Mott, M.D., New York ; William C. Mulligan, New York ; John Murray, Jr., New York ; Rev. John Neil, D.D., Albany, N. Y. ; Rev. Eliphalet Nott, D. D., Schenectady, N. Y. : Rev. Andrew Oliver. Springfield, N. Y. ; Isaac W. Platt. Nassau Hall, Princeton, N. J. : Rev. Alexander Proudfit, D.D., Salem, N. Y. ; Rev. John II. Rice, Richmond, Va. ; Rev. James Rich- ards, D. D., Newark, N. J. ; Rev. John B. Romeyn, D. D., secretary of the convention, New York ; Joshua Sands, Brooklyn, N. Y. : Rev. Gilbert H. Sayres, Ja naica, N. Y. ; Robert Sedgwick, New York ; Ichabod Skinner, Connectient ; Rev. Samuel Spring. D.D., Newburyport, Mass. ; Rev. Gardiner Spring, New York : General Joseph G. Swift, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Rev. N. W. Taylor, New Haven, Conn. ; Adrian Van Sinderen, New- town, N. Y. : Guysber: B. Vroom, New York ; Joshua MI. Wallace, president of the con- vention, Burlington, N. J. : Henry W. Warner, New York : Rev. John Williams, New York ; William Williams, Vernon. N. Y. ; Rev. Simon Wilmur, Swedesboro', N. J. ; Rev. George S. Woodhull, Cranberry, N. J. ; Charles Wright, Flushing, N. Y.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
recognized head of the High Church party. In a pastoral letter, dated April 3, 1815, on Bible and Prayer-book societies, the bishop warned Episcopalians against deserting the separate management of their respective concerns, to unite with those who did not value the apostolic and primitive characteristics of their church.
The bishop was answered by William Jay, of Bedford, also an earnest Episcopalian, who took the ground that it was the interest, and the duty of churchmen to unite with others in the distribution of the Bible. Mr. Jay was one of the most active members of the American Bible Society. The controversy thus opened was vigorously renewed the next year by the same gentlemen.
The society is strictly unsectarian, and issues the Scriptures in all languages, without note or comment. For twenty-five years after its organization it prosecuted its work without being incorporated, with great inconvenience, and often at the imminent peril of its highest interests. On March 25, 1841, the Legislature of the State of New York granted it a charter, and by special acts afterward gave it permis- sion to buy, hold, and convey real estate. It is legally qualified to guard every trust committed to it. It has on its register about two thousand auxiliary societies.
During the earlier years of its life the American Bible Society was migratory, first occupying a room in the City Hospital ; then in the City Hall ; then a place in the rooms of the New York Historical Society ; then in the office of its agent, corner of Nassau and Cedar streets ; then a room seven by nine feet square, in the printing-office in Cliff Street ; then in a room twenty feet square, in the rear of the Merchants' Exchange ; and after other removals it settled down in a building of its own in Nassau, near Beekman Street. The operations of the society increased rapidly. More room was necessary. Land was purchased at Eighth Street. between Third and Fourth avenues, and there the corner-stone of the present Bible House was laid, on June 29, 1852. The edifice, built of brick, six stories in height. and occupy- ing a whole square, was completed and occupied the following year. The funds for the erection of this imposing structure were free-will offerings of friends of the institution. Not a dollar raised for publica- tion and distribution of the Scriptures was invested in it.
The working force at the Bible House is divided into executive and manufacturing. About three hundred persons are employed. The motive power is a sixty-horse power engine, which moves presses that print about two million Bibles a year. There is also a Bible for the blind, printed in raised letters.
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
The total receipts of the society to the close of the fiscal year ending March 31, 1882, were $20,399,000, of which amount $3,400,000 were bequests from more than three thousand persons. The total number of volumes issued by the society to the same date was 10, 107.554. .. large proportion of these were distributed among the soldiers of the army and seamen ; in hotels, railways, and steamboats, criminal and humane institutions, immigrants, and among the destitute poor. The society has circulated the Bible in more than eighty different languages and dialects .*
New York City is the birthplace of the MISSIONARY SOCIETY of THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH in the United States.
One Sunday in the year 1816, Marcus Lindsay was preaching in Marietta, Ohio, when a colored man named Stewart was converted. While praying in the fields afterward Stewart heard a voice, like that of a woman, calling to him from the north-west to preach the gospel. Ile obeyed. With a knapsack he travelled along roads and through the woods until he came upon some Delaware Indians who were pre- paring for a dance. IIe captivated them by singing a hymn, and then he preached to them. He went on farther toward the north-west until he reached Upper Sandusky (now Fremont), where the voice that seemed to call him forward ceased.
At the house of the agent of the Wyandots at Sandusky, Stewart met Pointer, a backsliding Methodist Indian, whom he had known in Kentucky. The evangelist said to him :
" To-morrow I must preach to these Indians, and you must inter- pret."
" How can I, without religion, interpret a sermon ?" said Pointer, bursting into tears.
After a night of prayer, Pointer was on hand the next day, when Stewart preached. The congregation consisted of one old squaw. Stewart preached faithfully. The next day a man came with the squaw. The following day eight or ten were there, and soon they were listen- ing in crowds. There were many conversions. This extraordinary occurrence was noised abroad. The Church throughout the land was deeply stirred. The harvest among the barbarians of the forest seemed waiting for the sickle, and the " protracted meeting" at Upper San-
* The president of the American Bible Society is S. L. Williams, LL. D., of New Haven, Conn., assisted by thirty-two vice-presidents in various States of the Republic. . Its see- retaries are the Rev. Drs. Edward W. Gilman, Alexander MeLean, and Albert S. Hunt ; its assistant treasurer is Andrew L. Taylor, and its general agent is Caleb T. Rowe. It has thirty-four managers.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
dusky led to the formation of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church three years later.
An enterprising young merchant in New York City (Gabriel P'. Disosway) went to the Rev. Nathan Bangs * and pleaded for the immediate organization of a missionary society such as other denomina- tions had formed. Mr. Bangs was cautious. He conferred with the Rev. Joshua Soule. The project was favorably considered. Men at the West pleaded. The matter could not be postponed. Local mis- sionary societies were springing up.
New York City then constituted one circuit. The preacher in charge met the preachers in weekly conference. At one of these meetings the Rev. Nathan Bangs, Freeborn Garrettson, Samuel Merwin, Joshua Soule, Thomas Marvin, Laban Clark, Seth Crowell, Samuel Howe, and Thomas Thorpe were present. It was resolved to form a missionary society. A committee (Clark, Bangs, and Garrettson) drafted a consti- tution, which was subsequently submitted to a public meeting of the church and friends of missions in the Forsyth Street meeting-house on the evening of April 5, 1819. The house was filled. The Rev. Nathan Bangs was called to the chair, and Francis Hall was appointed secre- tary. On motion of Freeborn Garrettson, it was
" Resolved, That it is expedient for this meeting to form a Mis- sionary and Bible Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America."
The constitution was amended and adopted, subscriptions were re- ceived, and the new-born society elected its officers. They chose Bishop William McKendree president, Bishop Enoch George first vice-presi- dent, Bishop Robert T. Roberts second vice-president, the Rev. Nathan Bangs, New York Conference, third vice-president, Francis Hall clerk, Daniel Ayres recording secretary, Thomas Mason corresponding secretary, the Rev. Joshua Soule treasurer. Thirty-two managers
* Nathan Bangs, D.D., was born at Stamford, Conn., May 2, 1778, and died in New York City May 1, 1862. He began business life as a schoolmaster and land surveyor. In 1801, at the age of twenty-three, he entered the Methodist ministry as an itinerant. In this pursuit he travelled seven years in Canada. In 1808 he returned to the United States and had charge of circuits, stations, and districts until 1820, when he was ap- pointed agent and editor of the Methodist Book Concern in the city of New York. He was for five years editor of the Christian Advocate and Journal, and also editor of the books issued from the Concern for several years. He served as corresponding secretary of the Missionary Society 1836-41, was president of the Wesleyan University at Middle- town 1841-43, and for ten years afterward was pastor of Methodist churches in New York City and Brooklyn. Dr. Bangs wrote several valuable books, among them a " His- tory of the Methodist Church" and a " History of Missions."
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
were chosen, of whom twenty-six were citizens of New York, three were citizens of Brooklyn, and three were citizens of Westchester .*
The society encountered opposition from the beginning, especially from Methodists who were friends of the American Bible Society, because of its Bible feature. It was also opposed because it was believed that it would attempt to labor in a foreign field when, it, was argued, the rapidly increasing population in our own country would demand more money and laborers than the church could supply. The society had a long and persistent struggle with prejudice, ignorance, and misappre- hension, but brave souls were in the forefront of the battle. Auxiliary societies were formed in various cities, and three months after the organization of the parent society a Female Auxiliary Society was formed in the city of New York, of which Mrs. Mary W. Mason was chosen president. She held that office during the entire existence of the society, a period of almost half a century. It seems to have ante- dated all other missionary organizations of women in the land.
The General Conference gave the enterprise its countenance and moral support. It steadily overcame obstacles, and soon became a cher- ished institution of the church. Its missions spread all over the United States and beyond on the American continent, and the banner of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was seen in time on every continent and on many islands of the sea. Its harvests have been rich and marvellous ; its ripe and gathered sheaves have been abundant-tenfold more abundant than was ever dreamed of by its founders.
This aggressive missionary society has flourishing stations in Africa ; in Japan, China, and India in Asia ; in Germany and Switzerland ; in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) ; in Italy : in Bulgaria and Turkey ; in Mexico and South America, and all over the domains of our Republic where missions are needed, and among the Indian tribes. Everywhere special attention is given to the establishment of week-day and Sabbath schools for the instruction of adults and the young, especially for the latter.
The annual receipts of the society from voluntary contributions and apportionments seem to be adequate to meet all demands upon the treasury. Its work, however, is continually extended in proportion to the means afforded. Some idea of the extent of this work may be formed by the fact that the appropriations for 1883 for carrying on the
* "Missions and Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church," by Rev. Jobn M. Reid, D.D., LL.D.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
enterprise were about $778,000. Of this amount nearly one half was appropriated to foreign missions. The largest amount of contributions to the treasury of the society, in one year, was in 1881, when the amount was $691, 666 .*
The best service which this great missionary society is doing for the cause of Christianity and true religion, for the spread of rational and enlightened civilization and good living throughout the world, is done by the influence of its numerous schools for the sound education of the heads and hearts of the young. This sweetening and strengthening the fountains of life is truly a divine service.
The present NEW YORK BIBLE SOCIETY had its origin in the year 1822, and at its organization, in the fall of 1823, it took the name of " The Young Men's Bible Society."
During the prevalence of the yellow fever in the city of New York, in the summer of 1822, many residents and business men below Beek- man Street fled from the pestilence to the country beyond the rivers or to the sparsely inhabited region on the island above Canal Street. On their return advantage was taken of an extraordinary religious revival which had occurred early in the year, beginning in the Brick (Presby- terian) Church, of which the late Dr. Spring was pastor, to enlist young men of the city in the cause of a wider spread of the Bible.
There then existed in the city a " New York Bible Society," which had been formed in 1819 by the union of two similar associations. That society strongly favored the idea of a kindred association, as an auxiliary or otherwise, composed of young men, and was active in the formation of the new association. Already other societies were actively engaged in the same work. notably the American Bible Society, The Auxiliary Female Bible Society, The Marine Bible Society, and The Young Ladies' Bible Society, all laboring vigorously in the city of New York. Yet there appeared to be a special work of usefulness for young men to do, and at a meeting held in a school-room in Thames Street, on September 22, 1823. the Young Men's Bible Society was formed, with Horatio Gillet as president : Anthony P.
* The officers of the society (1883) are : the Rev. Bishop Matthew Simpson, D.D., presi- dent ; Bishops Bowman, Harris, Foster, Wiley, Merrill, Andrews, Peck, Warren, Foss, and Hunt, and the Rev. Drs. Crawford, Curry, and Wise, and Messrs. G. L. Fancher, J. H. Taft, Oliver Hoyt, H. W. Forrester, and George J. Ferry, vice-presidents ; John M. Reid and Charles Fowler, corresponding secretaries ; J. M. Phillips, treasurer ; J. M. Waldron, assistant treasurer ; James N. Fitzgerald, recording secretary, and David Terry, emeritus recording secretary,
A.B. Durano
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
Halsey, George Colgate, John Neilson, Jr , Louis King, Henry Bennett, and John Sands, vice-presidents ; Frederick Bull, correspond- ing secretary ; George A. Bartow, recording secretary, and Silas M. Butler, treasurer. There was a board of managers appointed.
In October the president and secretary were authorized to purchase one hundred Bibles for distribution, and in November the store of J. P. Havens was made the " repository" of the Bibles.
At the outset the new association found little to do. The field was already filled with laborers, and it was compelled for some time to "stand in the market-place all the day, idle," because it could not find legitimate employment. So late as the close of March, 1824, there had been only one Bible " distributed."
Wearied with the irksomeness of enforced inactivity, the society, in May following, offered to supply the Sabbath-schools of the city with Bibles, for prizes, a labor hitherto performed by the elder society, to which the tender of the personal services of the board was made. These proposals were acceded to, and the Young Men's Bible Society began its work, which has never since ceased. The methods of per- forming its labors were defective, and were soon afterward modified.
The society worked in harmony with cognate institutions. It engaged in the good work of supplying destitute families with the Scriptures, and in 1830 it began the service of supplying the humane and criminal institutions with Bibles and Testaments. The same year the society sent two thousand Testaments for Sabbath-schools to be formed in the Western States, and at the beginning of 1831 fully three thousand Testaments were forwarded to St. Louis. Soon after this the Young Ladies' New York Bible Society relieved it of the burden of supplying the Sunday-schools of the city with Bibles.
The sphere and influence of the Young Men's Bible Society rapidly expanded in all directions. In the summer of 1831 the New York City Bible Society surrendered its field of operations to it, and in 1840 the Marine Bible Society turned its work over to the vigorous associa- tion which was then supplying seamen, soldiers in garrisons, and the city hotels with the Scriptures. Finally the "Parent Society," as it was called-the New York Bible Society-gave up its work and its name to its younger coadjutor, and it has since been known as the New York Bible Society. During the Civil War its labors were immense and salutary. Its means were adequate to its wants, for its energy and good judgment were proverbial, and contributions to the society were generous.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
The work of the New York Bible Society # still goes vigorously on in the distribution of the Scriptures among the destitute of the city, the arriving immigrants at Castle Garden, the seamen who go from the port of New York, and in other fields. During the eleven months ending August 31, 1582, the society distributed in the homes of the city, among the immigrants at Castle Garden, and among the shipping, 125,935 copies of the Scriptures-Bibles, Testaments, and parts of the Bible. Forty-two of the benevolent and criminal institutions of the city, 23 Sunday-schools, and 17 missions were supplied. t
An active and powerful auxiliary of the society above mentioned in the diffusion of religious knowledge and evangelical Christian principles is the AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY in the city of New York, undenomina- tional in its character. It was founded in 1825, with a view to uniting local tract societies which had sprung up, in one national institution. The New England Tract Society, which had been founded at Amherst, was then located at Boston, with the name of the American Tract Society. It united with the New York National Society as a branch of that institution, and that union continued until 1859, when the hesi- tancy of the society to publish tracts on slavery caused the Boston branch to withdraw and resume its independent position for some years.
For the first two years of the existence of the American Tract Society only tracts were published, for adults and children. In the third year volumes appeared, and in the fourth year systematic tract distribution was begun. The colportage system was adopted in 1841. That system has been the mainspring which has kept the work of the society in successful operation. From that time to 1875, a period of thirty-four years, the colporteurs had distributed 10,500,000 copies of its publications, of which number 2, 780,000 were given away.
The publication of periodicals devoted to the cause of the society was the next step in its progress. The American Messenger was first pub- lished, then a paper similar to the Messenger in the German language. In 1852 the publication of The Child's Paper was begun. These were
* The officers of the society for the year ending September 1, 1882, were : Morris Bud- long, president ; Daniel J. Holden, Alfred Neilson, vice-presidents ; James Kydd, corre- sponding secretary ; W. M. Williams, recording secretary ; Joseph A. Welch, treasurer. It has six agents, namely, Alexander Watson, John S. Pierson, William G. Jones, K. W. Kraemer, Ernst Jackson, W. H. R. Neilson, and forty-eight managers.
+ Mr. Pierson, one of the agents, writes : " This report (1882) does not show the pres- ent work of the society fairly, as there has been a temporary relaxation of work in some departments, pending proposed changes."
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
all published monthly. The Child's Paper was handsomely illustrated from the beginning. It now has a circulation of nearly one hundred and eighty thousand monthly. In 1871 three new periodicals were added to those already mentioned-the Illustrated Christian Weekly, the German People's Friend, a small weekly, and the Morning Light, for beginners. The society also publishes an illustrated paper in the Spanish language, called the Star of Bethlehem.
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