USA > New York > History of the Church of Zion and St. Timothy of New York 1797-1894 > Part 6
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" Here shall Christ Himself be present-revealing Himself as He does not reveal Himself unto the world-taking pos- 6
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session anew of many a reclaimed and devoted heart, and so fitting it for its multiplied struggles with the world, the flesh, and the Devil, and preparing it for the victory which we all may have through the Beloved.
" I do not wonder, therefore, that the poet wrote :
"' Unto the East we turn, to which belong More than the heart divines, or eye descries ; There is the altar which our life supplies. The voice is silent, lest it should do wrong To things which are too high for mortal tongue. The Heavens are looking on with wondering eyes And Angel faces crowd the o'erhanging skies.'
The Cathedral.
" Were our contemplated temple for nothing else than for the erection of such an altar it would be worthy of all the expense, the labor, and the skill which we mean to have devoted to it. But when, as we have shown, it is to con- tain suggestions in every one of its parts ; when in every item of the perfect whole which we wish it to be, it is to have a voiceless, yet a powerful discourse ; when everywhere it is to speak of Christ, and Him crucified, and the doctrines, the facts, and the persons with Him connected ; and when we add that it is ever to be used for the reading and the preaching of His Word,-who shall say that we have not good ground to rejoice that He has enabled us to lay this corner-stone, and under it to deposit the Bible and the
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Book of Common Prayer in token of our sincere devotion not only to 'the faith once delivered to the saints,' just as it was once delivered to them-without change or alter- ation-but also to Him from whom all pure faith doth come ? "
After the address the Gloria in Excelsis was sung, the remainder of the form of the ritual gone through, and the assemblage were dismissed with a benediction from the Bishop.
"At a meeting of the Vestry in May, 1854, it was Resolved, That the owners of pews in the Church in Mott Street be allowed to hire and occupy pews in the new Church without payment until the rent shall amount to the sum originally received by this corporation for their former pews, when their right to any property in said pews shall cease.
" Resolved, That the pew committee be authorized to negotiate the extinguishment of all pew rights in the old Church upon the foregoing resolution or any other terms acceptable to the owners and not less advantageous to the Church.
" Resolved, That the Rector and Clerk be authorized to execute and affix the seal of this Corporation to a Deed of donation of this Church in order to its consecration."
June 11, 1854, the church was opened for Divine Service, and was consecrated Wednesday, the 28th June.
The day, though warm, was, on the whole, exceedingly
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fine, the beams of the June sun being tempered and allayed with refreshing breezes, and altogether the occasion was one to be marked and remembered in the history of the church in this city.
The procession, consisting of Bishop Wainwright, Bishop Doane, of New Jersey, and between thirty and forty clergy in surplices, left the chapel and proceeded into the church at half-past 10 o'clock A.M., the Bishop of New York taking the right side of the altar, supported by the Rector, and Bishop Doane the left, supported by the Rev. Dr. Berrian. About a dozen of the clergy were accommo- dated in the stalls and chairs in the choir, and the rest in the eastern part of the nave. The instrument of donation was read by the Rector, the sentence of consecration by Dr. Ber- rian. Morning prayer was said by the Rev. Dr. Price, as- sisted by Rev. Messrs. Odenheimer and Duffie in the Les- sons, and Dr. Van Kleek and Mr. Richmond in the prayers. The ante-communion office was said by Bishop Wainwright, assisted by Bishop Doane. The sermon was preached by the Rt. Rev. George Washington Doane, D.D. LL.D., from Genesis, xxviii, 17: " How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven." The Bishop began with a description of Jacob, lying down wearily at evening, sleeping and dreaming, -.- seeing God in his dream, beholding opened before him the world which is invisible, and the way leading up thereto, peopled with celestial forms. And he also heard the Voice of God-his God and the God of his fathers-assuring him
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that all the length and breadth of the land around him-of which he then possessed but as much as he covered with his weary body for a night's lodging-should be his, and that of his seed after him, and that they should grow and spread, and continue until they had become a blessing to all ages and nations. He then bade his hearers to place themselves in the place of Jacob, lying down wearily, with a stone for a pillow, seeing what he saw, and hearing what he heard-who would not awake with the feeling of Jacob, and express his relig- ious awe in the same words of amazed wonder? The preacher then enlarged upon the fulness of meaning embod- ied in the words "the House of God," and also in that other title of honor, " the Gate of Heaven." And he concluded a brilliant and powerful discourse by an exhortation upon the exclamation of the Patriarch-" How dreadful is this place." He said : "Will a man bring hither, then, his un- charitableness, his envy, hatred, lust, passion, vanity, greed of mammon ? Will any here dare to indulge the whisper of levity, the frivolous talk or jest, the empty smile, the idiotic grin? Then would he also do the same, if, instead of the elements upon that altar, the Cross itself was there once more, dropping blood as it did on Calvary. But will he do so when consuming fire shall go forth from that Cross against those who are thus careless of sin and of God? Suppose that this roof were to open, and the throne of God were to hang in mid-air, and the Judge of all were to be disclosed ? For you there would appear no angel protector, no Way of Life, no Gate of Heaven ?
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The day of grace is past and gone ; Trembling, they stand before the Throne, All unprepared to meet Him !
" Father, forgive them ; they know not what they do!"
The offertory was then said by the Rector, the alms being collected by several deacons. After the prayer for the Church Militant, the non-communicants were dismissed by Bishop Wainwright, who then proceeded with the com- munion office, a large number partaking, both of clergy and laity.
On the Sunday following the day of the consecration the Vestry met after the evening service and passed the follow- ing resolution of thanks :
" Resolved, That this Vestry in behalf of themselves and the congregation of Zion Church, New York, tender to the Right Reverend George W. Doane, D.D., LL.D., their cordial thanks for the appropriate and very eloquent ser- mon preached at the consecration of our church, and assure him of the very general satisfaction with which his obliging services were received, and of our conviction that the ser- mon must be as useful as it is excellent."
And upon the announcement of the death of the Pro- visional Bishop of the Diocese, on the 21st of Sepember of same year, the Vestry assembled upon 28th of the same month and adopted the following resolution :
" Resolved, That this Vestry, having heard the painful in- telligence that it hath pleased God to take out of this
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world the soul of our Jate Provisional Bishop, the Right Reverend Jonathan M. Wainwright, D.D., D.C.L., desire to place on record their sense of the afflictive dispensation, and their estimate of the departed prelate, as an accomplished Christian gentleman, a learned and able theologian, an active, persevering, and laborious overseer and Father in God.
" Resolved, That while we cannot but regret that unwonted exposure in the discharge of duty should have caused him to contract the disease which has so fatal a termination, we hold in admiration the zeal which prompted the acts deli- terious to his health.
" Resolved, That remembering that among the more recent acts of Bishop Wainwright was the consecration of Zion Church, we shall cherish the association thus made be- tween our sacred edifice and his brief but arduous and en- terprising Episcopate.
" Resolved, That the Rector transmit a copy of the fore- going resolution to the respected family of the deceased Bishop and assure them of our sincere sympathy and our prayers in their behalf."
The following description of the architectural features and of the building is taken in part from The Church Four- nal and The Churchman :
"The church of which Frank Wills, of Wills & Dudley, was the architect, is in many respects highly creditable to him. The building is of rough gray stone, laid with good masonry, and the corners and dressings are all of
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Connecticut brown stone, the two harmonizing very agree- ably. It is capable of seating, including the gallery, about six hundred and fifty persons. The design of the church is of the style usually denominated by architects third pointed Gothic, one of the purest specimens in the city. The tower, surmounted by a lofty spire, the commanding position of the site, and the fine outline of the tower, renders it a feature absolutely necessary to the architectural effect of the building. It stands at the northwest end of the building, is nineteen feet square, with massive and boldly projecting buttresses at either angle, is four stories high, the lower one being used as a porch, the second as a vestibule or hall to the organ gallery, the third is intended by the Rector to be used as his study, and the fourth for the belfry, which we are happy to see is quite large enough to contain a good peal of bells. The tower is finished on the outside by pinnacles at each angle and cornice battlements between, with somewhat grotesque heads carved at the angles of the cornice. The height from ground to the tops of pinnacles is about ninety feet. The spire of wood which surmounts the tower is octagonal, covered with slate, has four spire lights of two compartments each, and the whole is surmounted by a cross fleury. The total height of spire from ground to apex of cross is 165 feet.
" In the interior the general proportion and effect are ex- ceeding satisfactory, the side elevation is good. The roof both of nave and aisles is of very good pitch. The nave and aisles (84 feet long by 56 feet wide in all) are of six bays
Zion Church, Madison Avenue and 38th Street.
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(one bay of the north aisle being occupied by the tower) height of nave 60 feet. The piers supporting the clerestory are octagonal monoliths of brown stone, and the arcade is of very good effect, the arches being finished with plaster mouldings. The seats are open, grained in imitation of oak. The chancel arch is well managed. The pulpit is on the south side, and a reading desk on the north, both standing within the range of the arch. The chancel is elevated two steps above the nave, and the sanctuary is a step above the choir. The sanctuary contains an altar of excellent pro- portions, altar chairs from the old Church in Mott Street. The glass is well worthy of a distinct notice. The altar win- dow is of five lights, and filled with glass by Doremus & Akeroyd. Owing to the haste with which the work was necessarily executed, and the limited amount paid, the glass of this window is unequal-the side lights being not of such high excellence as the central compartment, and the balance of color being injured by too great a preponder- ance of German red. The style, however, is far superior in effect, for church work, to the German picture-framed groups, and the designing shows the hand of an artist more thoroughly trained to design in the material than any one we have previously had among us. Mr. Akeroyd shows a great familiarity with these pecularities of manage- ment, which give the designs of ancient glass their singular effectiveness for the purpose for which they were intended. The instructions and example of the late Mr. Pugin have not been lost on this his promising disciple; and we risk
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nothing in predicting a brilliant career for him in the art of church decoration-an art at which there has already been some attempt made, but in which we have not hitherto had any one among us who could be looked upon as much more than an experimenter. The central light-the figure of the Saviour-is the only one, however, in which Mr. Akeroyd has done himself full justice ; and in that the effect is remarkably good, the harmony of color clear, cool, rich, and effective,-and the English ruby is far superior to the Ger- man at either side. The other four lights are filled with the Four Evangelists. The colored lights of the stained windows at the western extremity of the nave as it plays through the tracery of the organ has an especially rich effect.
" The glass in the nave and aisles is plain, with the excep- tion of four memorial windows, two in the north aisle and two in the south.
" In the north aisle, the western contains in its two lights, the Resurrection and the Ascension ; in memory of Eliza G. Cox, the wife of Rev. Richard Cox, who died 1842; the eastern, the Good Shepherd, an angel presenting a cup of suffering, and the Agony in the Garden ; in memory of Frederick Pentz, who died 1820, and Elizabeth, his wife, who died 1851.
" In the south aisle, the eastern contains a group, Christ preaching from a boat to people on shore, and one illus- trating 'the pure in heart,' in memory of Alexander Fink, who died 1821, and Elizabeth, his wife, who died 1848. The
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western, St. Peter and St. Paul, in memory of John G. Graff, who died 1839, and his wife, who died 1850.
"These four windows are executed by Ernest Kuhn, a very meritorious German artist, whose manipulation is in most parts of his work very careful and exact. The style is that of the famous Munich windows, the general idea of which seems to be an imitation of a picture in a gilt or ara- besque frame. The result is much less satisfactory than in the ancient examples of the art. The groups are so small that one must stand within a few feet to master their mean- ing. But Mr. Kuhn's chief triumph is the memorial window of Bishop Hobart, on the south side of the choir. The like- ness is executed with uncommon care, and considering the material, with remarkable success. Under it is the appro- priate legend (beautifully illustrated by Mr. Akeroyd) : ' God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.' (2 Tim., i., 7). This memor- ial was a gift from John T. B. Maxwell, Esq.
" The most remarkable feature of the Church-and which we have therefore reserved for the last-is the roof and wall decoration, in which a decided step in advance is here taken, marking the progress of church art in this country. The whole roof of nave, aisles, and chancel is painted blue, with yellow figures in each compartment. The crowning beauty of the whole church, however, is Mr. Akeroyd's decoration of the altar and the east wall, immediately behind it, both of which are successful in the highest degree. Bold projecting mouldings, battlemented, run
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across the whole width of the east wall, just below the win- dow sill. Over the window arch are illuminated the verses :
'To Thee all Angels cry aloud ; the Heavens and all the Powers therein.' 'To Thee Cherubim and Seraphim ; continually do cry.'
And immediately under the moulding above mentioned :
' Holy, Holy, Holy ; Lord God of Sabbaoth ;'
' Heaven and earth are full ; of the Majesty of Thy Glory.'
"The lettering of these inscriptions is very choice, and far superior to that of the verse
' Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise thy God, O Zion.'
which appears on either side of the chancel, just below the wall-plate of the roof. From the moulding to the floor, the breadth of the east wall is divided into three compartments, all of which are covered with rich coloration, the central compartment being a crimson ground alter- nating with green, relieved by roses and lilies. The altar itself, however, is the most brilliantly effective of all, the deep red and blue grounds of the panels, the gilded leaves, sprigs, and flowers, and the free picking-out of white through the whole, making it, as it ought to be, the most prominent point in the furniture of the chancel.
"Color will soon cease to be confined only to the windows of our churches. The organ, removed from the Mott Street Church, was built by the veteran Thomas Hall.
"The interior, in its impressive and solemn character, bears
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a closer resemblance to an English church than any other we have seen. It is certainly very pleasing, and the entire subordination of the parts to one general expression has the effect of causing the building to appear smaller than it really is. Withal, this sanctuary posseses what indeed is seldom found, though easily attainable, that dim, subdued light by which architectural forms are softened or moulded to a oneness of expression, that religious gloom which aids the withdrawment of the senses from the outer world and gives to devotion the power of religious association. The late respected Bishop Wainwright used to speak of Zion as his ideal of what a church should be."
The cost of the construction and furnishing, about $45,000, was chiefly provided for from the proceeds of the sale of the Mott Street Church. The building com- mittee, having so satisfactorily performed the duties de- volving upon them in the erection of the new edifice, received the grateful thanks of the Vestry. A tablet was placed in the wall of the north vestibule, inscribed :
THIS EDIFICE
BUILT A.D. 1854,
ON LAND GIVEN TO
ZION CHURCH
BY THE HEIRS OF
SUSAN OGDEN.
JAMES VAN NORDEN, WARDEN,
BUILDING
JOHN T. B. MAXWELL, JASPER W. HUGHES, VESTRYMEN,
COMMITTEE.
FRANK WILLS, ARCHITECT.
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In the same porch was placed the following tablet :
ZION CHURCH
ERECTED A.D. 1801
CONSECRATED BY THE RIGHT REVD BISHOP MOORE A.D. 1810.
FOR THE LORD HATH CHOSEN ZION. HE HATH DESIRED IT FOR HIS HABITATION. " Ps. CXXXII. 13
The above tablet was inlaid in the exterior of the front wall over the central doorway of the Mott Street Church. It was exposed to the fire of 1815 without injury.
Upon the sale of the old church in Mott Street the burial place, also the receiving vaults of the church had to be abandoned. Advertisements appeared for days exhort- ing the relatives and friends of those who had hitherto allowed the remains of their kindred to go unclaimed, to come forward and take charge of them. The Corporation found itself eventually to be the final custodian. These remains were at different times carefully gathered in coffins and removed to a rectangular crypt prepared for their reception beneath the tower of the new church on Murray Hill. A tablet was placed in the tower vestibule, in- scribed :
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BENEATH THIS TOWER
REPOSE THE REMAINS OF THE DEPARTED, REMOVED FROM THE FORMER PARISH BURIAL PLACE IN MOTT STREET A.D. 1854.
This tablet was removed from Zion Church, in Mott Street, and inserted in the wall of the vestry room :
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
ALEXANDER FINK ONE OF THE ORIGINAL FOUNDERS OF THIS CHURCH WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE AUGUST 14TH 1821 : AGED 57 YEARS 9 MONTHS AND 5 DAYS. RESPECTABLE AND RESPECTED, HE MAINTAINED THROUGH LIFE, THE CHARACTER OF A WARM FRIEND, AN AFFECTIONATE HUSBAND, A KIND PARENT, A VALUABLE CITIZEN, AND AN HONEST MAN. WE WEEP, BUT WE CHERISH, THE REMEMBRANCE OF HIS EXAMPLE, AND ANTICIPATE THE HAPPINESS OF A UNION WITH HIM IN THE ZION ABOVE. HIS AFFECTIONATE WIFE, HAS CAUSED THIS STONE TO BE ERECTED.
O DEATH, ALL ELOQUENT YOU ONLY PROVE, WHAT DUST WE DOAT ON, WHEN 'T IS MAN WE LOVE
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SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF GEORGE THOMPSON, BORN SEPT. V., MDCCLXXX. DIED APRIL II., MDCCCXXIV.
ALSO TO THE MEMORY OF HIS WIFE MARIA THOMPSON, DAUGHTER OF ALEXANDER FINK; BORN JAN. XXIX. MDCCLXXXIV, DIED JULY XVIII. MDCCCXXVIII.
TO RECORD THE MEMORY OF AFFECTIONATE AND BELOVED PARENTS THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY THEIR SURVIVING DAUGHTERS: AS A FEEBLE BUT GRATEFUL TRIBUTE OF FILIAL RESPECT AND ESTEEM.
The above tablet was also removed from Zion Church, in Mott Street, and placed on the wall in the vestry room. On the west wall, beneath the large window was inserted a caen stone cenotaph to the memory of Mary Welsh, which bears the following inscription :
IN MEMORY OF MARY WELSH,
WIDOW OF JAMES WELSH, WHO, DYING IN A GOOD OLD AGE, APRIL 4TH 1848, FOUNDED IN THE GENERAL P. E. THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY THE "MARY WELSH " AND "THE ZION CHURCH," N. Y. SCHOLARSHIPS, AND BEQUEATHED LIBERAL SUMS TO THE MISSIONARY COMMITTEE OF THE DIOCESE, AND TO THIS PARISH. HER REMAINS ARE INTERRED BENEATH THE TOWER OF THIS CHURCH.
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When Zion Church was built on Madison Avenue its locality was suburban, surrounded by fields, only a few scattered residences being in sight. The only Episcopal Churches to the northward were St. Michael's, St. Mary's and St. James, all frame buildings. The Central Park of the future, excepting the receiving reservoirs, was wild, uncultivated wooded land, as in the days of the abo- rigines. Madison Avenue was not then opened beyond 42d Street.
The nearest church to Zion was the frame building of St. John the Baptist, on Lexington Avenue, corner of 35th Street, which was soon afterwards replaced by a handsome stone edifice designed by Frank Wills. The Church of the Transfiguration was in 29th Street and the Church of the Incarnation was then located on the corner of Madison Avenue and 28th Street.
Several families long attached to Zion Church when in Mott Street had removed to the upper part of the city. Among those that resumed their relation to this parish were :
John A. Graff,
Frederick Pentz,
William H. Sparks,
Mary M. Jessup,
Calvin Sweezy,
Jane Galloway, John P. Ware,
Caroline Boscowan,
Margaret and
Theodosia Ann Fink, 7
John T. B. Maxwell,
James B. Cook,
Daniel A. Webster,
Smith Barker,
Edward Carter,
W. W. Miner,
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James Van Norden, George S. Mumford,
John B. Peck, John Stanton Williams,
Jasper W. Hughes, William Cuthbert,
John H. Cuthbert.
The first ministration of baptism in the church was in the afternoon of the day of consecration, when Charles Eugene, son of Clement and Caroline H. Jewett, was bap- tised by the Rev. Richard Cox.
The Order of Confirmation was held for the first time on the first Sunday after Easter, April 15, 1855, when the Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, Provisional Bishop, confirmed forty-two candidates.
The service for the solemnization of matrimony and that for the burial of the dead were customarily held at private dwellings.
January, 1856, the five lots of land opposite the church included in the gift of the heirs of Susan Ogden were leased, with the approval of the Hon. Murray Hoffman, to Henry Coggill for twenty-one years, at eighteen hundred dollars per annum, together with all taxes and assessments and covenant for two renewals of a similar period at six per centum on valuation.
In 1858, Christ Church, then located in 18th Street, upon the present site of St. Ann's Church, applied for the canonical consent of this corporation to change its location to the corner of 5th Avenue and 35th Street. The Vestry of Zion Church withheld its consent, regarding the forma- tion of another congregation in proximity to their church
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as injurious to its rights and interests. That objection did not hinder the proposed movement and the site was pur- chased from the Baptist Society.
In June of the following year, the Rector, having an opportunity for exercising his ministry in a milder climate, which he imagined to be better adapted to his declining health, and influenced by the prospect of doing greater ser- vice to the Church, accepted a unanimous call to the rector- ship of St. John's Church, Christianstedt, Santa Cruz, West Indies, recently vacated by the Rev. Fletcher Hawley, D.D. Although surrounded by many warm and earnest friends who stood by him alike in his joys and sorrows, he was in- duced to leave the parish of his love. On Whitsunday, June 12, 1859, Rev. Mr. Cox preached a farewell sermon (which was published), from which we quote.
Speaking of the Christian pastor's conflict between duty and inclination : " I saw interest, pleasure, and prosperity here. I saw here an edifice which, though smaller than the one pertaining to my new charge, can hardly, at least according to my taste, be surpassed. I saw a people bound to me by ties which have been strengthening every day throughout thirteen and a half years. I saw here a location in the most commanding spot in the com- mercial metropolis of the continent. And I foresaw a future for our Church that must outshine the brightness of not only any period in its history, but, probably, also the brightness in the history of any other congregation in the land."
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