USA > New York > Westchester County > History of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the county of Westchester, from its foundation, 1693, to 1853 > Part 2
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JV. Penalty for not offering to lay the tax, five pounds. Tax Roll to be delivered to the Constable to levy the taxes. Penalty for refusing to pay.
V. Ministers to be paid quarterly.
VI. Always provided, and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all and every of the respective Ministers, that shall be settled in the respective Ci- ties, Counties, and Precincts aforesaid, shall be called to officiate in their respective Precints by the respective Vestrymen and Churchwardens aforesaid. And always provided, that all former agreements made with Ministers throughout this Province, shall continue and remain in their full force and virtue; any thing contained herein to the contrary hereof in anywise notwithstanding."a
Under this act the ministry by Law established, became entitled to the public encouragements, leaving the Dissenters at liberty to main- tain a minister of their own persuasion, but obliging them to pay the established clergyman. In consequence, all lands set aside at public town meetings, (which almost invariably consisted of persons holding a great diversity of opinions, in matters of religion,) for the provision of ministers, all orderly glebes voted for their habitation and mainten- ance, and all meeting houses raised by public tax and distress on the people, became vested in the ministry established by law.
The Dissenters, however, contended that the act of 1693 was . to raise a maintenance for a Dissenting Minister, and wherever they possessed the power, chose churchwardens and vestrymen of their own persuasion. ' Yet these men who were Dissenters, chosen by Dissenters, (sworn into office to support the Church of England as established by law, and ac- tually received the Holy Communion at the hands of her ministers,) would, when the opportunity offered, refuse to call a minister of the Es- tablished Church, as the Act of Assembly directed, and on that pre- tence withhold lis salary.
Col. Morris, in the letter already alluded to, says :- " I happened to
a Laws of New-York, from 1691 to 1773, inclusive, vol. i. p. 19, 4th Assembly, First Sessions, 6th William and Mary, A. D. 1693.
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INTRODUCTION.
be in the Governor's chamber, when his Judge and a Dissenting Minister came in and this matter (the late Act of Assembly,) was talked of, the latter said (i. e. the Dissenting Minister) that the intention of the Legis- lature at that time was to raise a maintenance for a Dissenting Minister, all the Assembly but one being Dissenters and knowing nothing of the Church, and that being the intention of the law makers was the meaning of the law, and he hoped the Dissenters might enjoy what was so justly their due, or at least not to be deprived of it without due course of law as they formerly had been. I told him the Legislature did not consist of the Assembly only, but of the Governor and Council, joined with them, whose intentions might be quite otherwise, and I believed it was most certain the Governor at that time never intended to settle a Dis- senting Clergy, that the meaning of the Legislature was the meaning of the whole Legislature, and not of any part, and was most likely to be found out by the words of the act which most plainly appeared in favor of the Church of England. The Governor joined in the argument, and argued with a great deal of force in favor of the Church."a In the spring of 1695, the Assembly declared in explanation of the Act of 1693 :- That the vestrymen and churchwardens have power to call a Dissenting Protestant Minister, and that he is to be paid and main- tained as the Act directs ; but the Governor rejected this interpreta- tion of the Assembly and decided that the Act applied solely to the Episcopal Ministry.b
The Act, however, of 1693, did not take effect till about the year 1702, nor was the provision made thereby, a sufficient maintenance for the ministers in country towns, so that without the help of the Venerable Propagation Society, a minister could not have been supported.
In 1702, the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, commenced its labors here. Of that noble and useful Institution, the oldest Missionary Society in the Protestant world ;- since our country was so largely indebted to its kind offices for the ministrations of the
a Doc. ITist. of New York, Vol. iii, p. 245.
b The Act of 1693, was confirmed on the 11th of May, 1697, and again on the 4th f August, 1705. The latter was again ratified by Queen Anne, on the 11th of April, 706. Laws of N. Y. from 1691 to 1773, inclusive, vol. i. p. 64. Ed. by Hugh Gaine.
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INTRODUCTION.
Gospel, it may be well to give a short account. " The Act of Incorpora- tion was procured by Dr. Bray, and several others who felt a deep in- terest in the religious welfare of the colonies, through the agency of Archbishop Tenison, and Bishop Compton, from William the Third, it bears date June 16, 1701."a
Upon enquiry made into the state of the colonies, at this time, they received from thence a more melancholy account than their fears could suggest : several relations setting forth, that the very Indian darkness was not more gloomy and horrid, than that in which some of the English inhabitants of the colonies lived. In 1702, Mr. Keith, reported to the Society " that in Long Island there are not many Qua- kers ; it is a great place, and has many inhabitants, English and Dutch. the Dutch are Calvanists and have some Calvanistical Congregations ; the English, some of them Independents, but many of them no religion but like wild Indians ; there is no Church of England in all of Long Island, nor in all that great Continent of New-York province, except at New-York Town."
No sooner, it seems, were tidings received here that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had been chartered, than the country towns of this Province, applied for assistance ; and we are told that the inhabitants of Westchester in particular, were very pressing for a minis ter : that earnest memorials were sent from the inhabitants of Neu Rochelle, from those of Jamaica and Hempstead, towns on Long Island from Staten Island, and from Rye: that their desires were complied with, and missionaries sent those places.
In 1704, Mr. Bartow, and other missionaries informed the Venerabl Society, " that the Church of England under the administration of the late Lord Bellomont, and Capt. Nanfan, hath been grievously oppose and oppressed ; but since the auspicious arrival of the Right Honorabl the Lord Cornbury, has been delivered from the violence of her ene mies, restored to her rights, greatly countenanced and encouraged, an lives under the just expectation of being more firmly established and enlarged. But many of the Dutch Dissenters, and all of the Quaker! though differing from one another amongst themselves, yet agree in of
a Rev. M. H. Henderson's Centennial Discourse.
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INTRODUCTION.
posing with great zeal and malice, whatever tends to the honor and in terests of the Church."
The following extracts formed a part of Lord Cornbury's instructions which were dated December 5th, 1702 :-
" 60. You shall take especial care that God Almighty be devoutly and duly served throughout your Government ; the Book of Common Prayer, as by law es- tablished, read each Sunday and Holyday, and the Blessed Sacrament administered according to the rites of the Church of England. You shall be careful that the churches already bnilt there be well and orderly kept, and that more be built, as the Colony shall by God's blessing be improved ; and that, besides a competent mainte- nance to be assigned to the minister of each orthodox church, a convenient house be built at the common charge for each minister, and a competent proportion of land as- signed him for a glebe and exercise of his industry. And you are to take care that the Parishes be so limited and settled, as you shall find most convenient for the ac- complishing this good work."
"61. You are not to prefer any Minister to any Ecclesiastical Benefice in that our Province, without a certificate from the Right Reverend Father in God, the Bi- shop of London, of his being comformable to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, and of a good life and conversation. And if any person preferred already to a Benefice shall appear to you to give scandal, either by his doctrine or manners, you are to use the best means for the removal of him, and to supply the va- caney in such manner as we have directed." .
" 62. You are to give order forthwith (if the same be not already done,) that every Orthodox Minister within your Government be ono of the Vestry in his respec- tive parish, and that no Vestry be held without him, except in case of sickness, or that, after notice of a Vestry summoned, he omit to come."
" 63. You are to enquire whether there be any Minister within your Government, who preaches aud administers the Sacrament in any Orthodox Church or Chapel without being in due orders, and to give an account thereof to the said Bishop of London."
"So well for the most part," says Mr. Hawkins," do thie missionaries seem to have been selected, that Lord Cornbury, Governor of New - York, and a just upholder of the Church, within his jurisdiction, said, n a letter dated November 22nd, 1705 :- 'For those places where ministers are settled, as New-York, Jamaica, Hempstead, Westchester, und Rye, I must do the gentlemen who are settled there the justice to ay, that they have behaved themselves with great zeal, exemplary Diety, and unwearied diligence in discharge of their duty, in their several parishes.'" In like manner, Col. Heathcote, writing to the Secretary of the Society from New-York, on the 9th of November, 1705, says,-
an
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sedl
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INTRODUCTION.
" I must do all the gentlemen that justice, whom you have sent to the province, as to declare that a better clergy were never in any place, there being not one amongst them that has the least stain or blemish as to his life or conversation."a
Another has well observed :- " I believe the Christian Church could never boast of better men, take them as a body, than the Society's Mis- sionaries to this country. They chose their profession from a pure love to religion and the cause of Christ, not from the love of money or the praise of men. They sought for no honor, but that which cometh alone from God, and an approving conscience. Like their beloved Master, they were despised and rejected, and their religion was every where spoken against and vilified. As the Apostles were a spectacle to men and angels, so were these men, and if they suffered not as mar- tyrs, it was because the civil authority protected them."
In regard to our early missionaries, says another :- "The annals on earth of these devoted men are few and obscure, for they were workers, not talkers in their Lord's vineyard. Their record is in Heaven. Yet even in the little that does remain, we read a narrative not easily paral- leled, in at least two noble features of the Church's Missionary. First, in their patient, unflinching endurance ; the enthusiasm, not of sen- timent, but of duty ; taking hold on their mission, as men do on the daily work of life, heartily ; and this was the more to their honor, as they had little oversight, save God and their own consciences ; and secondly, their unbending maintenance of the Church's teachings in her faith, ministry, sacraments and catechism. This, again, has some- thing in it of the heroic strain, for they were surrounded and pressed by every temptation life could bring to the concealment or modification of unpopular doctrine. But although feeble, they were fearless men ; their only outcry was for a Bishop 'to visit all the churches,' they said, ' to ordain some, confirm others, and bless all.' Their only quar- rel was, that he came not, 'we have cried,' to use their own bitter words in writing home, ' till our hearts ache, and ye own 'tis the call
a Hawkins' Not. of the Miss. of the Church of England, in the North Amer. Col. London, 1845.
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INTRODUCTION.
and cause of God, and yet ye have not heard, or have not answered, and that's all one.' 172
In this call for a Bishop the laity co-operated with the clergy, for Colonel Morris writing to the Society, concerning the state of the Church in New York and the Jerseys, about the end of the year 1707, says :- " The want of a Bishop, and the exhorbitant power of the seve- ral Governors of the Plantations are great hindrances to the propa- gation of the Gospel."b
Colonel Heathcote too, in a letter to the Secretary, from New York, Sept. 18th, 1713, says :- " We have a report (but it wants confirma- tion) of a Bishop being appointed for these parts, and that we may very shortly expect him. I most beartly wish it might be true, nothing be- ing more wanted or can be of greater service to the Church."
The call, however, for a Bishop was not unheard by the Society, but by the worldly policy, as blind as it was unchristian, of the State and Statesmen who overruled it, and who left it, for more than a hundred years, unaided and unsupported to individual exertion.
The enemies of the Church at this time, to arrest her progress and prevent a Bishop's being sent, commenced a furious attack upon her worship and discipline.
" When the Episcopal controversy commenced," says the Rev. A. B. Chapin D. D., " the Congregationalists of New England called them- selves Presbyterians, and insisted that the Presbyterian form of the ministry was an original divine institution of perpetual and binding ob- ligation, and from which it was schism to seperate. The first publica- tion in this country, which called the fact in question, so far as we know, was by a layman ofBoston, (1723) for which he was indicted as a libel on the government. From this time the Episcopal controversy was carried on with great vigor for nearly twenty years (1723 to 1739) by DICKINSON, FOXCROFT, GRAHAM and WIGGLESWORTH on the Presby- terian side, and by JOHNSON and BEACH on the Episcopal side ; and the evidence to be derived from Scripture, Antiquity and the Reforma- tion was pretty thoroughly scanned. The doctrine of Apostolical suc-
· The Jubilee of 1851 in New York, p. 17-18.
b New York, MSS. from archives at Fulham, vol. i. p. 106. (IIawks.)
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INTRODUCTION.
cession, as a matter of fact, however, was not debated, as both parties held it, one deriving it through the line of Bishops, the other, through that of Presbyters.
The effect of these discussions not arresting, as was hoped, the pro- gress of the Church, but evidently accelerating it, the assailants left the worship and discipline, and turned to the doctrines of the Church. A ten years controversy (1/39 to 1749) followed, touching election, pre- destination, universal redemption, baptismal regeneration, and other kindred doctrines, of which DICKINSON was the principal champion of the calvanistic opinions, and to which were opposed JOHNSON, BEACH and WETMORE. This discussion, like the preceeding, adding numbers and strength to Episcopacy, was abandoned, and the old ground of the divine right of Presbyterianism re-asserted. During the next twenty years (1749 to 1768) the constitution, worship and discipline of the Church, were very thoroughly examined by HOBART, CHAUNCEY and WELLS on the Presbyterian side ; and JOHNSON, BEACH, WETMORE, CANER and LEAMING on the Episcopal side. A collateral discussion was also car. ried on, touching the right of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts to send Episcopal missionaries into places where there were Presbyterian ministers, by HOBART and MAYHEW against JOHN SON and APTHORP.
Every one of these discussions increased the numbers, and strength- ened the hands of the Episcopal Church ; until there was some pros- pect of obtaining what they had long desired, a Bishop to reside among them.
Such was the state of affairs when the Revolutionary war broke out, and it was strongly suspected by many of the clergy that the eastern Provinces were not only aiming at independence, but at the subversion of the Church likewise. The indignities and cruelties which the poor missionaries suffered are thus detailed by Mr. Inglis, in a letter to the Secretary, dated October 1st, 1776 :- " The clergy amidst this scene of tumult and disorder went on steadily with their duty,; in their sermons confining themselves to the doctrines of the Gospel without touching on politics ; using their influence to allay our heats, and cherish a spirit of loyalty among the people. This conduct, however harmless, gave great offence to our flaming patriots, who laid it down as a maxim, ' that those who were not for them were against them.' The clergy were everywhere
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threatened ; often reviled with the most opprobious language ; some- times threatened with brutal violence-some have been carried prison- ers by armed mobs into distant Provinces, where they were detained in close confinement for several weeks, and much insulted, without any crime being ever alledged against them ; some have been flung into jails by committees for frivolous suspicions of plots, of which even their per- secutors afterwards acquitted them ; some who were obliged to fly their own Provinces to save their lives, have been taken prisoners, sent back and are threatened to be tried for their lives because they fled from danger ; some have been pulled out of the reading desk because they prayed for the King, and that before Independency was declared; others have been warned to appear at militia musters with their arms, have been fined for not appearing, and threatened with imprisonment for not paying their fines ; others have had their houses plundered, and their desks broken open, under pretence of their containing treasonable papers. I could fill a volume with such instances, and you may rely on the facts I have mentioned as indubitable, for I can name the persons, and have these particulars attested in the amplest manner. Were every instance of this kind faithfully collected, it is probable that the sufferings of the American clergy would appear in many respects not inferior to those of the English clergy, in the great Rebellion of the last century; and such a work would be no bad supplement to Walker's sufferings of the clergy."a
a New York, MSS. from archives at Fulham, vol ii, 581. (Hawks.)
Con. COLL .. LIBRARY. N.YORK.
HISTORY
OF THE
PARISH AND CHURCH
OF
WESTCHESTER.
THIS parish formerly included the four precincts of West- chester, Eastchester, Yonkers, and the Manor of Pelham, and was originally embraced in the Indian territory of " Weckquas- keck," which, on the 19th of April, 1640, was purchased from the native Sachems, by the Dutch West India Company.a
In the year 1642, the first settlement of Westchester was com- menced by a Mr. John Throckmorton, b and thirty-five associates, who came from New England, with the approbation of the Dutch authorities. "It was in 1642 (says the historian of the New Netherlands) that Mr. Throckmorton, with a number of his friends, who had already been driven with Roger Williams from Massachusetts by the fiery Hugh Peters, procured permis-
" Broadhead's History of the State of New York, First Period, 1609, 1661, p. 296.
৳ John Throckmorton emigrated from England to Nantaskett, Mass., 5th Feb., 1631, from whence he removed to Salem, and afterwards became an associate of . Roger Williams in the settlement of Providence. R. I.
2
HISTORY OF THE PARISH
sion to settle thirty-five families, some twelve miles east of the Manhattans, at a place called Westchester, but which the Dutch at this time named Vredeland, or Land of Peace, a meet ap- pellation for the spot selected as a place of refuge by those who were bruised and broken down by religious persecution."a In his petition to the Dutch authorities on the 2nd of October, 1642, Mr. Throckmorton solicits permission to settle down with- in the limits of the New Netherlands, "There to reside in peace, and enjoy the same privileges as Dutch subjects, and to be favored with the free exercise of religion." But even here the persecuted Puritan was destined to find, like the dove of Noah's ark, no place on which to rest the sole of his foot, for it seems that several members of his family fell in the Indian massacre, which took place on the 6th of October, 1643.
The next settlement in Vredeland, was begun upon or near the site of the present village of Westchester, in 1654, by a number of Puritans from Connecticut, who gave it the name it now bears, but the Dutch called it Oost-dorp, (East Town,) from its position east of the Manhattans.
At this early period, public worship appears to have been reg- ularly established according to the Independent or Congrega- tional order. The Rev. John Megapolensis, in a letter to the Classis of Amsterdam, dated New Netherland, 5th of August, 1657, says :- "On the west side of the East river, about one mile through Hell-gate, (as we call it,) opposite Flushing, on the- main, another English village has been begun over two years. It was named Oost-dorp. The inhabitants of this place are also Puritans, alias Independents. They also have no preacher. They hold Sunday meetings, reading from an English book a sermon, and making a prayer." b
Of their mode of worship, the Dutch Commissioners, who visited Oost-dorp in 1656, give in the journal of their expedition, the following account : "31 Dec. After dinner, Cornelius Van Ruyven went to the house where they held their Sunday meet- ing, to see their mode of worship, as they had, as yet, no preach-
a O'Callaghan's Hist. of the New Netherlands, vol. i. 258.
& Doc. Hist. of N. Y. vol. iii. 107.
3
AND CHURCH OF WESTCHESTER.
er. There I found a gathering of about fifteen men, and ten or twelve women. Mr. Baly said the prayer, after which one Robert Bassett read from a printed book a sermon, composed by an English clergyman in England. After the reading, Mr. Baly gave out another prayer and sang a psalm, and they all sepa- rated."a
As " all ecclesiastical business, at this time, was conducted by the town, assembled in town meeting, and as a meeting of the town was a meeting of the congregation, which, after having disposed of matters secular, could attend to the business of the church ;" therefore the early history of religion is to be found principally in the town records.
Under date of July 29th, 1674, twenty years after the settle- ment of the town, appears the name of the Rev. Ezekiel Fogge ; probably the first independent minister that officiated here.
The following entries are taken from the town books :- " On the 11th of February, 1680, there was sprinkled with water, by Morgan Jones, (what they call baptizing) William Hunt, son of John Hunt, of Westchester ; witnesses present, Joseph Hunt and Bridget Waters."
" Westchester, Oct. 7th, 1680 .- Morgan Joanes married Isaac Dickerman, of this towne, to Bethia, the daughter of Henry Gardner.
Recorded per me,
FRANCIS FRENCH, Clerk."
At a town meeting, held in Westchester, April 2nd, 1684 :-- It was resolved, " that the Justices and Vestrymen of Westches- er, Eastchester, and Yonckers, do accept of Mr. Warham Mather, as our minister, for one whole year, and that he shall have sixty pound, in country produce, at money price, for his
· O'Callaghan's Hist. of N. Neth. vol. ii. 316.
4
HISTORY OF THE PARISH
salary, and that he shall be paid every quarter. Done in be half of the Justices aforesaid. Signed by us."
JOIIN QUIMBY, JOSEPH HUNT, JOHN BAYLEY, JOHN BURKBEE.ª
At a lawful town meeting held in Westchester, by the free- holders and inhabitants, and residents of said place, the 2nd day of January, 1692, in order to consult, conclude, and agree, about procuring an orthodox minister in said town; It is voted and agreed upon, " that there shall be an orthodox minister in the town aforesaid, as soon as possible may be, and to allow him forty or fifty pound per annum, equivalent to money, for his maintenance. It is also voted and agreed upon, that a man shall go to the Honorable Colonel Heathcote, and see if he can prevail with him for to procure us a minister, in his travels in New England, otherwise, that Captain William Barnes shall go and procure us a minister."b
Upon the 21st of Sept. 1693, the Act of Assembly for settling a Ministry, was passed. By this Act, Westchester County was divided into two parishes, viz, Westchester and Rye. The pa- rish of Westchester included the towns or precincts of West- chester, Eastchester, Yonkers, and the Manor of Pelham, and was required to raise £50 per annum for the support of the min- ister, and to elect on the 2nd Tuesday in January, ten vestry- men and two churchwardens. 'There was also to be called, in- ducted, and established, a good sufficient Protestant minister, to officiate and have the care of souls within one year next, and
a Westchester records, commencing A. D., 1665, p. 42. On the 29th of May, 1697, John Yeats of the city of N. Y., sold several tracts of land in Westchester, to Warham Mather, of Northampton, in the county of Hampshire, in his Maj. Prov. of Mass. Bay in America, (Student in Divinity, ) now residing in the town of Westchester, &c. Westchester Town Rec. Lib. v. 78. In 1703, Warham Mather, of New Haven, Student in Divinity, sold his lands in Westchester to Daniel Clark, Lib. vi. 30.
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