USA > New York > New York City > Recollections of persons and events, chiefly in the city of New York; being selections from his journal > Part 13
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As a people, we have too little veneration for antiquity. Places, as well as times, have their sacredness. They have a moral influence which gives tone and strength to patriotic feeling when they are connected with great national events; and
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as a salutary restraint on our restless desire for change, they should be carefully and reverently preserved. We can have no such inauguration again, as that which made George Washington first President of the United States of America; and yet the venerable old Hall where it took place has been demolished, and not a trace of it left.
With these memorials of events bordering on Revolutionary times, have disappeared a class of men, in whom the spirit of Revolutionary heroism seemed to survive long after the Revolution itself was consummated. Sixty years ago General Hamil- ton had just gone to his grave, but we had still with us General Matthew Clarkson, Colonel Richard Varick, Judge Egbert Benson, and a few others, their cotemporaries, all distinguished for the staid, dignified, and determined mien which reminded you of the scenes through which they had passed, and the work they had contributed to accomplish. Indeed, the men who had lived in that eventful day, in one sense formed a class by themselves. The spirit of their great chief seemed to have descended on those who survived him, creating a family likeness among them all, as if to mark their alliance, not only with each other, but with him
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whom they loved to contemplate as their common father and the Father of his Country. I do not now see among us men of exactly their type, though, no doubt, they would appear if a public exigency like that of the Revolution was again to call for them.
Let us now look at some of our churches. As the Dutch were the earliest settlers in the city, they of course had the first places of Christian wor- ship on the island. Not to go farther back, fifty years ago the South Dutch Church stood in what was formerly called Garden street, now Exchange Place. The ground had been long occupied by a building said to be much after the model of churches in Holland. It was the last church in which the Dutch language was used in public wor- ship, and I am told that out of deference to the aged members, " the mother tongue" was not laid aside until there were not ten hearers left to listen to it. The old building stood unoccupied for several years, and at length gave place to one of more modern aspect and of greater convenience. This was burnt down in the great conflagration of 1835. The neighborhood becoming filled with stores and offices to the exclusion of residences, it
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seemed idle to build on the same site; and the congregation, reluctantly bowing to circumstances, abandoned the ground and formed themselves into two churches; the one building first in Murray street, and then in Fifth Avenue, and the other building on Washington Square. The Middle Church, as it was called, in Nassau street, is now the Post-Office, the walls still standing, but appro- priated to purposes which have drawn many a sigh from those who have frequented the place as a holy sanctuary. Other Dutch Churches also have disappeared as places of worship from the lower part of the city. The German Reformed, formerly in Nassau street, is gone; and the Church once in Franklin street, is now in West Twenty-third.
Of the Episcopal Denomination, Trinity Church stands where it always stood, in Broadway, at the head of Wall street; Trinity of former days having given place to a new edifice of greater size and more grandeur, but in the opinion of some who love old times and old scenes, not equalling its predecessor in chasteness and symmetry of Archi- tecture. Grace Church has left the corner of Broadway and Rector street, and has gone to the corner of Broadway and Tenth street. Christ
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Church has left Ann street, and after a temporary stay in Anthony, now Worth street, is on the cor- ner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fifth street. The French Church has left Pine street, and after remain- ing some years in Franklin street, is now in West Twenty-second street. The former sites of the whole three being surrendered to secular uses.
Of the Presbyterian Denomination, the Wall Street Church, where it is said the standard of Presbyterianism was first erected in our city, has removed to Fifth Avenue. The two Presbyterian Churches in Cedar street, have removed, one of them, first to Grand street, and then to West Fourteenth; the other, first to Duane street, and then to Fifth Avenue. The Murray Street Church went to Clinton Place. The Brick Church has removed from Beekman street, to Murray Hill. The Reformed Presbyterian Church left Chambers street, and after being for a time in Prince, is now in Twelfth street. The Associate Presbyterian Church went from Nassau, and is now in Grand street. The former sites of all these Presbyterian Churches are now occupied as places of business.
The Baptist Church formerly in Gold street, is now in Grand street. The Methodist Church in
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Duane street, has left its former location. The same may be said of the Lutheran Church formerly in Frankfort street; of the Moravian Church once in Fulton street; and of the Tabernacle first in Chatham street, then in Broadway near Leonard street. Even the Quakers or Friends, notwith- standing their well deserved reputation for steady habits and aversion to change, have fallen in with the current, and have left Liberty and Rose streets, having gone up town. The sites formerly occupied by these last mentioned places of worship, being, as usual, surrendered to secular purposes. Other instances might also be given of similar removals.
This migration of churches has become a very serious matter. Its bearings on the welfare of reli- gion in our city, should be carefully pondered; and I am glad to see it discussed in various quarters, with a view of suggesting or enforcing the duties of Christians among us with regard to it.
A writer in one of our weeklies has recently stated that "New York city is a missionary field. It contains a resident population of about nine hundred thousand, and a transient one of fifty thou- sand, comprising over thirty nationalities. There are but two hundred and twenty-five evangelical
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churches, accommodating about two hundred thou- sand persons. The six lower wards contain a pop- ulation of about one hundred and eighty thousand ; in the whole of these wards there are but fifteen evangelical churches, which will accommodate but about ten thousand people."
Parts of this picture are too darkly colored. When the writer makes the population of the first six wards to be one hundred and eighty thousand, he is under a mistake. The census of 1860 makes it ninety-five thousand four hundred and seventeen, and judging from the state of things in the lower part of the city during the last ten years, dwellings constantly giving place to stores, it is somewhat doubtful whether the number of inhabitants in these wards has not diminished instead of increased since the last census.
Within this section of the city, the writer says there are fifteen evangelical churches. This view of the case is too favorable. We cannot find fifteen evangelical churches within the limits of the first six wards, even counting the mission churches, now occupying halls as temporary places of worship.
A different writer has furnished a well written article in another of our weeklies, in which he says
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that "religious congestion" is a prevalent disease in our churches, by which he means the habit of cen- tralizing or clustering their places of worship together, so as to render them less available than they might be for the whole population. This evil has long existed in New York, and it is to be lamented that the same habit of congregating our churches still prevails, though perhaps in a less degree. We have money, in hundreds of thou- sands, expended on churches in comparatively the same neighborhood, while other parts of the city are left, in a great degree, destitute.
But this " religious congestion" is not so great an evil as the disposition we have just described, to remove our places of worship up town, abandoning the lower parts of the city, and carrying with them the whole church property, though not the entire congregation. The first six wards contain, as we have seen, a population of ninety-five thousand four hundred and seventeen, an increase of twenty-two thousand three hundred and sixty-five, since the census of 1830, when it was stated at seventy-three thousand and fifty-two. And yet within the last thirty years, thirty-two churches or congregations have been removed from that section of the city,
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leaving fifteen, of which four are Roman Catholic, · and one a Jewish synagogue. Thus, in a popula- tion of nearly, if not quite one hundred thousand, we have religious accommodation for not more than eight thousand or nine thousand Protestant wor- shippers, or about one in ten of the whole inhabit- ants. And yet, great as the evil is already, it seems that some of the remaining churches are con- templating a removal farther up town, and others contiguous to the northern boundaries of the Fifth and Sixth Wards are inclined to do likewise.
No reason can be assigned which will justify this abandonment of the lower parts of the city. True, I can conceive of circumstances which will fully warrant the removal of a church from its former location. When the inhabitants of a neigh- borhood are gone, and the dwelling-houses are de- stroyed, and replaced by warehouses, stores and offices, a church situated within such limits should be removed. To employ a minister of God's word to dispense ordinances in such a locality, is a useless waste of time and means. People are not there to become his hearers. A church should be placed where worshippers, especially the feeble and infirm, can have convenient access to it. But under no
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circumstances, should a place of worship be demol- ished till the measure has been carefully and delib- erately weighed before it is adopted. There are sacred associations clustering around a place long occupied for the worship of God, that should not be rashly invaded or dispelled. They have a salu- tary influence on the moral sensibilities of the peo- ple, much needed in a bustling, busy city like ours. There can be no doubt, however, on the question, while a church stands surrounded by dwellings, either of rich or poor, in such numbers as to require it for their religious accommodation. Under such cir- cumstances, it should not be taken away. If the inhabitants are poor, they may have the more need of such accommodation ready furnished to them. "To the poor the Gospel is preached," our Lord has told us, is one of the signs of His coming. And this is exactly one of the points in which the city is so much behind its duty. If rich men move away from the neighborhood, or " move up town," as the phrase is, and if they would have a church at a convenient distance, let them put their hands to the work, and out of their abundance, build a church for themselves. But let them not leave their poorer brethren, who must continue to reside as
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formerly, without either a church or a pastor. And even should a combination of circumstances arise, which may render a sale of the church building and its grounds unavoidable or expedient, the same principle of duty requires that the proceeds, or at least an adequate part of them, should always be appropriated so as to provide in a suitable way for the worshippers remaining in the neighborhood, in preference to employing them entirely for the comfort and advantage of those who have gone to a more fashionable part of the city, and who may wish to have a church in a style of architecture suit- ed to their taste and circumstances.
Now then, what should be done, without delay, to remedy the existing evil, and to prevent it from spreading still farther ? Obviously, the Christian public should endeavor to regain the ground we have lost, and having gained it, to keep it. To speak more in detail : the stronger churches of our city should establish and sustain throughout the lower wards, organized churches with competent pastors in every neighborhood now destitute, where there is a sufficient number of inhabitants to form a congregation, and who could be persuaded to unite for that purpose. Especially should churches
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once situated in these wards, feel this to be their duty. But the obligation does not rest on them alone. It is a duty common to us all who can take part in the service. We are aware that not a little has been done in various parts of the city to es- tablish mission schools, which in some cases have been nurtured into mission churches. But what- ever may have been done elsewhere, little compara- tively has been done for the multitudes which are found below Canal street. It cannot be denied that those regions have a special claim upon our sympathies and efforts. Our strong churches once among them are now gone, and we should be the more ready to do something to make up for the loss. We give our best God-speed to the missions now sustained among them. But they are so few in number that we may exclaim, " What are they among so many?" Nor can these efforts, while they are simply missionary stations, answer for the purpose. The missionary stations now worship- ping in halls or lofts, should become missionary churches with a regular church organization, and suitable places of worship to give them strength and permanency, and means should be taken to provide for them able and faithful men for their
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pastors, sustained by influential laymen who will be willing to sacrifice something of their own conven- ience for the sake of the work. It is a great mis- take to suppose that men of inferior attainments are adequate to fulfil pastoral duty in such places. The duties and responsibilities require tact, talent, and piety in no ordinary degree, if the man would be successful. We have no doubt that such men could be found. When our Lord taught that " to the poor the Gospel was to be preached," He set the example of preaching to them Himself, and the best, most accomplished, and most highly honored of His servants should count it " enough to be as his Master." '
And now to give this subject an additional survey, let us look beyond the lower wards, and see what are the strength and position of the churches in the whole city. Judging from the rate of increase during the ten or twenty years previous to 1865, and from other data altogether reliable, the whole resident population of our city must be at this day about one million and fifty thousand; and this, with some fifty thousand or more of transient population, makes one million one hundred thousan l of inhabitants for whom places
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of worship should be adequately provided. Have we any thing like it ?.
The whole number of our churches or congre- gations, as reported by those who have inquired carefully into the subject, is three hundred. This including not only all denominations, Protestant or Catholic, Christian or Jewish, but even such mission churches as have reached any thing like stability. Including all such places of worship, the average capacity is not more than eight hun- dred, even on a liberal allowance. This being the case, we have church accommodations for two hundred and forty thousand, out of a population of one million one hundred thousand, leaving eight hundred and sixty thousand for whom no accommodation is provided. It is not to be sup- posed, however, that the entire population can be in church at any one time. Taking account of those who are in infancy, or are sick, and those who are needed to attend upon them or to discharge household duties that are indispensable, there may be perhaps one-third of the whole num- ber of inhabitants that must be absent from church at a given time. ' But still, even supposing our present places of worship completely filled, we
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have more than four hundred and ninety-three thousand, whose duty it is to attend church, but who could find no room.
There is still another inquiry of much impor- tance. Are the churches losing or gaining on the multitudes for whom there is no religious pro- vision in our sanctuaries ? Does the number of our churches hold the same proportion to the number of our inhabitants that it did, say fifty years ago? In 1810, the population was ninety six thousand three hundred and seventy-three, or with the usual proportion of transient popu- lation, viz., four thousand, the whole num- ber would be one hundred thousand three hun- dred and seventy-three. At the same time we had fifty-one churches, and allowing, as before, eight hundred persons as the average capacity of each place of worship, we had accommodation for forty thousand eight hundred worshippers. Deducting one-third of the whole population as unable to attend church at a given tine, viz., thirty-three thousand four hundred and eighty- four, there remains less than twenty-seven thou- sand for whom there was no accommodation. In other words, there was in 1810, little more than
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one-fourth of the population for whom there was no church accommodation; and in 1864, there is more than one third-perhaps, I should say, nearly one-half. This is an alarming increase in religious destitution within the lapse of fifty or fifty-four years, and if allowed to go on un- checked, we may soon lose our good name as a Christian city. No wonder that crime should be so on the increase as to startle our magistrates at the developments constantly spread before them. Especially in a community like ours, there is no power effectually to restrain or subdue crime but the power of the Gospel. Our Government is a great experiment to show how far the Bible can be made to take the place of the bayonet.
Let it not be said that the churches we have now are not filled. If the churches we have now were diminished by one-half, they would soon be less filled than ever; and if they were doubled in number, they would soon be better filled than they are now. This is the lesson taught by universal experience in such matters, and in scores of places around us. What we want in the community is a church-going spirit, and the best way to produce it is to multiply places of wor-
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ship up to the wants of the people. The spirit that does this, will also do what is needful to fill them; in the language of our Lord, will be ready to "go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that His house may be filled."
We ought not to conclude these statements till we have submitted to the consideration of Protestants a comparison of the relative growth of different denominations since 1810. This will be 'seen in the following tabular statement embra- cing the more prominent denominations now in our city :
Denominations.
Year 1810.
Year 1864.
Baptist
6
33
Episcopal.
13
58
Jews ..
1
24
Methodist
7
41
Presbyterian
9
55
Reformed Dutch
8
22
Roman Catholic.
2
31*
* The statement in this article respecting the whole number of churches in our city, and the number of those belonging to different denominations, is taken partly from the City Directory, and partly from the returns made by the denominations themselves. If there are any inaccuracies, they must be so trifling as not to affect the merits or demerits of the case. The number may be less, not more than I have stated, for I have included in the count, several churches, . so called, now or lately worshipping in halls or lofts: and experience shows that in such instances, what was reported as a church one year, is sometimes extinct the year following.
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True, this extraordinary increase of Catholics and Jews, is no doubt to be attributed in a great degree to the unusual influx of foreigners during the last fifteen or twenty years. But this does not render the duties of Protestants less urgent and imperative. Our duty is the same to maintain the ascendency of Protestant faith and worship among those around us, whether they come from abroad or are natives of our own country.
There are few Christians among us who can look over the statements which are here presented, without a feeling of anxiety for the future. I well remember how earnestly the late Dr. Alexander expressed his lamentations on the subject. He saw the tendency of our leading Christian men to gather in a few favorite places of worship, there concentrating their means and influence; and he felt it to be his duty, as he said, to urge upon such men of his own charge the obligation resting on them to employ their means of doing good by identifying themselves with new enterprises for establishing churches where they are needed. It is a lesson which should often be urged by ministers of the Gospel. Christian men do not seem to . realize their duty in this respect. They hide
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their talents in a napkin ; their power to do good is not faithfully employed. They attend a church where they enjoy an able ministry, pleasant sur- roundings in a congregation and edifice to their taste, where their families as well as themselves are pleased; and they are then apt to conclude · that this is the whole duty of man in regard to the Church of Christ, so far as they and theirs are concerned.
We want a different spirit awakened in men of this class. We want to see them feel their duty respecting parts of our city where people are perishing for want of knowledge. In a word, we want a fresh unction from the Holy Spirit upon evangelical Christians in New York, to make them feel the importance of CHURCH EXTENSION as a great duty of our day.
I say evangelical Christians in New York, not only because New York is behind many of her sister cities in the number of her churches compared with the population, but also because of the influence which chief cities always exercise on the religious condition of a country. This has become a great question in Christian ethics, and it cannot be too carefully considered by our citizens if they would
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realize their responsibilities not only to God, but to the inhabitants of our highly favored land.
No one can deny that the intercourse and occu- pations of a city have a tendency of their own, to develop the intellectual and moral powers of man. " As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of a man his friend." But if iron sharpeneth iron, it must be done by coming into close contact or fre- quent collision ; and it is this very thing, produced by the daily occurrences of city life, which sharpens and polishes the minds and manners of men. It is this which imparts quickness, sagacity, and increased activity to their faculties; and as knowledge is power, and stronger minds will have sway not only over the weak but over those having less strength than themselves, it follows that cities will always take the lead in human affairs. If the race is for wealth, the city takes it. If the object be to create a constellation of intellectual luminaries, they are found clustered in our cities. If the aim is to reach distinction in a political or civil career, the most successful candidate is usually the man who starts with the advantages of city associations. It results indeed alike from the laws of our nature and from the structure of society, that cities will always send
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forth an influence for good or for evil through the countries around them, while they are com- paratively unmoved by the views and habits pre- vailing in the country. It was once said by a great man, who herein made a great mistake, that " large cities are great sores on the body politic." There is nothing in their nature or relative posi- tion which should render them such evils to a people. They should rather be viewed as the great heart of the body politic, their pulsations being felt through every part and member of the public frame.
This is exemplified from the earliest history of the world. The " cities of the plain" were corrupt, and the entire plain became corrupted with them till both sunk into a common ruin. Nineveh and Babylon furnish lessons of the same import. Athens imparted refinement and patriotism to Greece. Rome cherished a spirit of bravery and love of arms that spread through Italy and render- ed her finally mistress of the world. And when she became effeminate through luxury and profli- gacy, the whole empire fell asunder as a dissolving mass of corruption.
The same lesson is taught by examples from
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sacred history. Jerusalem is expressly charged by our Lord with having done evil that ultimately brought ruin on the whole nation; and on the other hand, while Jerusalem remained faithful to her duty, observing her divine ordinances and obey- ing the voice of the prophets, the effect was visible to the very extremities of the land." And here we see one great reason why the Most High centered so many privileges in that leading metropolis. The Ark of the Covenant had as full a meaning while it sojourned at Kirjath-jearim as after it had been placed in the city of David. The temple of the Lord would have been as much the temple of the Lord if it had been built on the borders of the wilderness as when it stood within the walls of Jerusalem. Indeed, in some respects, would not equity have required that these tokens of God's presence and means of access to Him should have been distributed through the nation for the more equal accommodation of all? But such was not the divine appointment. Jerusalem, long known even in the days of the Canaanites as the leading city of the land, is "the place where the Lord chose to make his name known." There was the temple; there the ark containing the tables of testimony ;
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