USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > St. Peter's Church in the city of Albany : commemoration of its two hundredth anniversary, November, A.D., 1916 > Part 4
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In that address which I made, as Dr. Richmond will remember, upon old age, I said that Cicero in his famous essay on old age enumerates four miseries that come with old age, the last one of which is that old age brings death near. But that is not true of a corporation, of an institu- tion, because, paradoxical though it may seem, the older an institution is in health, the longer it is likely to live, the farther it is from death. Every year of health gives promise of more than a year of new life; and so with your two hun- dred years of life you have in prospect more than two hundred more for this corporation which is a part of that great corporation of Christ.
A few nights ago in my reading I came upon the date 2000 A. D .; and I said to myself, I shall not be here in the year 2000; and yet that is no farther away than the year in which the Rector, whose name I cannot remember though Dr. Battershall does, made the contract for your second church. And to think of two hundred years hence, 2116,-there is no one here except Dr. Battershall perhaps who will be remembered. But as Dr. Richmond has said, so beautifully said, we can, even if our names are forgotten, be immortal by allying ourselves with these institutions that are immortal here on the earth ! Of course we all hope to go to St. Peter's some time, on the other side, but
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even here on this earth you prolong your lives by associa- tion with a terrestrial St. Peter's.
I read fragments of the beautiful sermon by the Bishop in which he pictured St. Peter's as framed in this social life of Albany. And a beautiful picture it was; but it brought to my mind another, a picture which is described by Howells in his " Tuscan Cities "-I never saw it my- self-somewhere in the City Hall of Siena. It is a picture of a priest who is coming for a blessing, bearing half-con- cealed under his cloak a little model of the city of Siena. The story is that the city was under an interdict and so it could not have a blessing. But this priest so loved the city that he carried this model of it under his cloak when he went to get his own blessing, that the blessing which came upon him might also fall upon his city. May you carry this city at your heart, and so when you go for your blessing may you bring, in the blessing that comes to you, a blessing upon this city which we all love, whether we have been a long time here or but a little time.
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THE INTERIOR OF THE PRESENT EDIFICE
The Bicentennial Dinner
NOTE: At this subscription dinner, given at the Hotel Ten Eyck, two hundred and eighty guests, men and women, were present. The Rev. Charles C. Harriman, Rector of St. Peter's, presided. The Guests of Honor, seated on either side of the Rector, were-on the right, The Rt. Rev. William Lawrence, D. D., Bishop of Massachusetts; The Rev. Ernest M. Stires, D. D., Rector of St. Thomas's Church, New York; The Rev. W. W. Battershall, D. D., Rector Emeritus of St. Peter's; The Rev. Charles A. Richmond, D. D., President of Union College; The Hon. Joseph W. Stevens, Mayor of Albany; - on the left of the Rector, The Lieutenant Governor, Edward C. Schoeneck; The Rt. Rev. Richard H. Nelson, D. D., Bishop of Albany; Francis Lynde Stetson, LL. D., and Edward A. Harriman, President of the Churchman's Club of Connecticut.
THE TOASTMASTER, the Rev. CHARLES C. HARRIMAN: Bishop Nelson, distinguished guests of honor, ladies and gentlemen-I confess I feel a little bit embarrassed. It is not always my privilege to address so large and represen- tative a body of men and women in the City of Albany. I have a still more humiliating confession to make, and I think you have earned a right to share my confidence by your presence here. It was very gratifying, and it seemed to be a great honor indeed, to be asked to preside at this dinner tonight. I accepted the invitation in that spirit, and was a bit overcome when the committee informed me immediately afterwards in a casual way that in their experi- ence the most tiresome feature of a dinner of this sort was apt to be the remarks of the presiding officer. And they advised me in a delicate, but very decided fashion, to be brief and to the point. That I shall try to do.
First, to make your countenances even more cheerful than they are now, if that is possible, I want to tell you that, thanks to the kind offices of Mr. Franklin who realizes how many who have been loyal to the Church on this occa- sion have been disappointed by not being able to attend the concert tonight, Madame Culp will come to us a little later and will sing to us.
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But before I introduce the speakers who have come here tonight to bring us their word of greeting and congratula- tion I want to thank you all, every one of you, for what you have done to make this two hundredth anniversary of St. Peter's Church an event worthy of being recorded in the annals of its history. I thank you in the name of the Wardens and the Vestry and myself; and I think your presence here tonight is sufficient evidence that in spite of its two hundred years of service and activity, St. Peter's Church today may be counted upon as a live factor in the solution of the social and religious problems in this city, and that you may reasonably expect, that in the future it shall accomplish things worthy of its past.
Now, those of you who are acquainted with the history of St. Peter's Church know that from the very beginning it has held a very intimate and vital relationship to the State. It seems most appropriate, therefore, that in the absence of the Governor, the Acting Governor of this State should be present tonight to bring to us a word of greeting and congratulation in the name of the State. I have the honor to introduce to you the Acting Governor of the State of New York, Lieutenant Governor Schoeneck. (Applause.)
Lieutenant Governor EDWARD SCHOENECK: Mr. Chair- man, Bishop Nelson, Reverend Clergy, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen-I regard it as a privilege and an honor to extend greetings and congratulations in the name of the State on this occasion.
The Bicentennial Anniversary of St. Peter's Church offers an opportunity to express the obligation to the Epis- copal Church for its traditions, its influence, aye, for its achievement, in upbuilding the moral and civic structure of our state and our nation.
Anniversaries sometimes tempt one to historical discus- sions, but I shall not be tempted. Dr. Harriman has inti- mated and State Treasurer Wells has told me that I must be brief, and I think there are some of us here who appre- ciate with what finality a Wells speaks. But for another reason-if another reason is necessary. I happen to be a
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Lutheran, and you know there are times when in extreme enthusiasm we claim to be the pioneers of the Reformation, but nevertheless, with that spirit of envy which is permis- sible among good church men, I am sure, speaking for myself and for the moment on behalf of the people of this state, I am sure that I would fall short of their expectations if I failed to take advantage of this opportunity to express their profound admiration for those sturdy churchmen who in the sixteenth century, on the Pacific shores, uttered the first prayer in the English language on this continent, and to those who in the seventeenth century, under the breezes of the Atlantic, threw open the doors of Jamestown Church for the organization of the Virginia House of Burgesses and there inaugurated the first principles of representative government.
Moreover, we are proud of the members of your com- munion and the part which they played in the Revolution- ary period. Washington and Livingston, Henry and Pinck- ney, Randolph and Henry Lee, Jefferson, Hamilton and Madison, all of them churchmen, have indelibly stamped their characters on the history of this country, have en- riched the world's history, and have indeed glorified this nation.
Back of these men, their hopes and their ambitions and their achievements, there was some great moving power. Back of that sentiment expressed that "We, the united colonies, are and of a right ought to be free and indepen- dent," there was indeed a something. Back of that senti- ment which organized the opposition to the Stamp Act there was indeed a something. Back of that sentiment, " Millions for defence, but not one cent for tribute," there was indeed a moving power. Back of that sentiment, uttered within the walls of the church by Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty or give me death," there was indeed something.
That something, my friends, was character-not character fashioned from demagoguery, not character fashioned from mockery, not character fashioned from weakness or expedi- ency, but character born of a deep conviction, and sus- tained by courage and moral fibre-character born under
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a Christian influence and reared under a Christian atmos- phere-that character, my friends, which means leadership. It means leadership among men, leadership behind which men and women of all denominations rally, leadership of such a character and such a nature that behind it in the Revolutionary period our men rallied and followed to the end of that great strife.
My friends, since the establishment of St. Peter's Church there has been marvellous progress among the peoples of the world. In the arts, in the sciences, in literature, giant forward strides have been made. The modes of trans- portation upon land have changed from oxen and horse- drawn vehicles to steam and electric conveyances. On sea our ships no longer depend upon the ocean's breeze, but swiftly they glide from port to port underneath the surface and upon the surface of the sea in bold defiance of their early master.
The new uses of electricity, the introduction of com- pressed air, the introduction of the automobile and other useful inventions have changed our habits and our modes of living. Indeed they have changed our hopes and our ambitions, but there has been no change in the doctrines of religion. If there have been, they have been inconsider- able. Surely they have not affected the fundamental concepts of religion. The church of the present day, as the church of centuries and centuries ago, is still the foe of wrong, of vice, of immorality. It preaches the doctrine and it teaches charity and humanitarian interest in our fellow men.
The Episcopal Church has extended this work in remark- able degree. Its influence has been felt in every com- munity of our land. It indeed occupies an envious and conspicuous position in the front rank of the churches of this country in the work which it has done. It has elevated not only the individual, but the community life. Here in Albany the influence of Bishop Nelson is indeed felt.
In Syracuse, where I come from, we have for many years felt the influence of the revered and beloved-the late Bishop Huntington. In that city, even to this day, we recognize with proud acclaim one of your fellow church
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men as the first citizen of Syracuse, ex-Judge Charles Andrews.
Dr. Harriman, I congratulate you. I congratulate the churchmen of St. Peter's Church upon the influence which that church has exerted in this community. I congratulate you upon the history and record of your church, and it is my earnest hope and my earnest wish that the future of your church may be as brilliant and as glorious as its past. I thank you.
THE TOASTMASTER: We thank you for your good wishes, and for reminding us of the responsibilities placed upon our shoulders.
Some years ago, when I was rector of a small church in the Borough of the Bronx, from which I came to St. Peter's, (I do not know whether it was because St. Peter's found it rather difficult to get a rector that they should have gone there to find me-I have often wondered about it)-I found that there was a trust fund with regard to the disposition of which there was a difference of opinion on the part of my vestry. It was a trust fund of some $50,000. It was a very large sum for us, and I thought before any disposition or use of it was made that we ought to have the advice of counsel. On my vestry at that time I had three lawyers, and I can wish no vestry a greater misfortune. One may be a blessing, but three are a curse. I appointed the three, two of whom disagreed with the third, and afterwards the two mentioned disagreed with each other. In due course of time they presented their report. Knowing there would be a division of opinion in the vestry, I said to myself, what is needed here is the very best outside advice that I can get. I went to the Bishop. I received from him a letter of introduction to Mr. Francis Lynde Stetson. I asked Mr. Stetson if he would give us his opinion. He said he would be very glad to do so, and the next morning I received a letter from him. He said he had gone over the matter carefully the night before-think of that !- and that in his opinion, if he had not seen the report of my committee, he would have supposed it was not only illegal, but immoral, to
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spend the money as they suggested. My impression is that neither my vestry nor the congregation followed the advice given them.
I have asked Mr. Stetson here tonight, knowing that his advice, now as then, is of the best, and in the hope that those who hear him tonight may give more heed to what he has to say than did my former vestry and congregation. I take unusual pleasure in introducing to you one whose hair has grown gray not only in the practice of law but in the service of the church, Mr. Francis Lynde Stetson.
Mr. FRANCIS LYNDE STETSON: Mr. Chairman, Bishop Nelson, ladies and gentlemen-I can only say this is so sudden. My name is away down at the bottom of the list, and I was hoping that I would have the chance to roam in the fields where the reaping went on before me, and that there might be some kernels of truth dropped which I could gather in; but now here I am face to face with this awful hour.
Governor Schoeneck has said very justly that anniver- saries tempt to historical allusions. Indeed they do. What are they for? What are we here for? To tell about the two hundred years. If there is nothing in the years, and if this year is just as good as any of them and like any of them, why go back, why not satisfy ourselves with the reflection that there is no such thing as time, but merely a succession of events, and take the last of all as the one for our consideration.
Well, I feel as Mark Hopkins used to say, that it is in the blood of Americans to celebrate anniversaries. The last time I had the pleasure of seeing Governor Glynn, we sat together celebrating an anniversary of bloodshed and of victory. All sorts of anniversaries come up, but I do know that never before have I attended the two hundredth anni- versary of a church. That is a pretty rare thing, isn't it ? And so I told Dr. Harriman that I would like to see a book, that there must be some book containing the history of this Parish, and I took the fine book that he sent me, and I must say I read it through not only last night, as I did the letter of his vestry, but also several nights before that, and I am
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glad to say that I found in it nothing that was either illegal or immoral. (Laughter.)
I found in it, however, a very good starting point. I do think the name of the Reverend Thoroughgood Moor is worthy of being embalmed. Think of it, being " Thor- oughgood," and then capping it with "Moor." That was a fine thing. He didn't have very good luck here, because he came up against the Reverend Johannes Megapolensis and also the Reverend Mr. Schatt. Mr. Schatt had an assistant who was a fine character, Mr. Dallius. Mr. Dal- lius turned out to be a land grabber. He got a grant here sixty miles long and forty miles wide, went up to Lake Champlain, that took in most of the arch-deaconry of Troy and also the most part of the diocese of Vermont. He was expelled and sent back to Holland. Then came the Reverend Mr. Van Heusen.
Now, all of this spot had been boiling and seething before your own first great man came here. I was very much interested in his coming. I tried to visualize that event. It is very difficult to think out the relative sizes of a place at different periods. Why, when St. Peter's was founded in 1716 there were just 4,000 people in Albany, only 4,000 people ! It never attained 10,000 until 1800, when St. Peter's was about one hundred years old. It just passed the 10,000 mark in 1800. In the second century it has grown ten times as much as in the first century. It was unto the little town that the Reverend Mr. Barclay came. We thought so much of him formerly in New York that we named a street after him. I don't know what you have done for him here in that way, but certainly he gave his life and he gave his mind in the service of this Parish. It is a sad story that he should have suffered as he did. Out of that little community came the money for the building of the first St. Peter's out in the middle of State Street, the one that stood here on your clay bank. I was struck especially by one act of neighborliness. Every man in Schenectady save one gave something toward the build- ing of the church in Albany. (Laughter.)
A great work started with this first church, but as time went on poor Dr. Barclay was consigned to an institution.
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The son went down to New York. One after another un- successful venture was made, and the Colonial War came on, and the Revolutionary War came on, and finally came the man who is the real founder of your Parish, and that is the Reverend Thomas Ellison, and I shall always be thank- ful to Dr. Enos for having acquainted me with Reverend Thomas Ellison. That English priest, a graduate of Queens College, certainly was a great contributor to the life of this community. Would that he had lived longer. He died at the age of 43, but, as observed by Bishop Chase, " a venerable man."
Now, we had some rather hard times here in our com- munion, but I want to say at the same time to Governor Schoeneck that they were nothing compared to the hard- ships that his co-religionists went through. If there was anything that the Dutch Calvinists hated, it was a Luth- eran. If a Lutheran attempted to preach the Gospel, he was looked upon as worthy of being consigned to prison. When Mr. Van Rensselaer came up here, notwithstanding that he was the ancestor collaterally to a large part of this present company as I suppose, and was the brother or nephew of the Patroon, because he had consented to be inducted into the ministry by one of the English bishops, the Dutch Calvinists would have none of him. He was taken down to New York where they thought they would send him to jail, but they did not. The Lutherans, too, had a hard time as well as our people.
So, after Dr. Ellison, came the new church of 1803, the second church that was built. The present church already has lasted just as long as that second church. The second church was about to slip down the clay bank, and was found unsafe for habitation. I am glad to know that the present church was planned and built much more securely. That third church was finished under the rectorship of the Reverend Doctor Pitkin, of whom more presently. After the completion of the second church you had a series of rectors, but finally your great one, he who served you the longest of all, excepting our beloved friend who is here now-Bishop Potter served this church for twenty-two years. How well we all knew and loved Bishop Potter in
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New York is a matter of record. Bishop Horatio Potter, a great theologian, was a man of great dignity, even aus- terity of bearing. This was so much so that his nephew Henry tells the story that when Bishop Eastbourn of Mas- sachusetts died, the death was announced to the House of Bishops, then in session, and Bishop Potter came to Henry and he said, "I shall miss him greatly; he was the only man in this House who called me Horatio." He was a great man in his way, ecclesiastically, and of the highest character. He passed in 1854 into the bishopric of the great diocese of New York, then including all this State except western New York. He was succeeded shortly by the Reverend Dr. Pitkin, under whom was started the third church, your present edifice.
Dr. Pitkin, like some others in this room, came from Connecticut. It was a great Connecticut family. Pitkin's history of the United States tells with appreciation of the remarkable meeting that was held here in Albany in 1754 where the great resolutions for the union of the Colonies were adopted, showing a finer spirit than even those of the Revolutionary period. The Pitkins were great peo- ple. One of them was famous for his learning. He was a little, old man, and in summing up a case before the judge his opponent was a Mr. Eels. Mr. Eels, animadverting upon his speech said, "Your Honor will observe that the pipkin is somewhat cracked." "Not so much so," retorted Mr. Pitkin, " but that it will serve to stew eels in." (Laugh- ter.) The Rev. Mr. Pitkin sailed away. I tried to find out from Dr. Battershall what was the mystery of his sailing away. One summer afternoon his parish found that he had sailed away to the Far East. The vestry did not know what to do. They couldn't find out what was the law of the case. They would have to send for some of the gentle- men in Dr. Harriman's former parish to find out what to do when the rector has gone away, and a quorum of the vestry could not be obtained. Finally the problem was solved by Mr. Pitkin's sending in his resignation.
And then came Mr. Wilson. That is a beautiful face of Mr. Wilson in your book, a saintly face. He was an ex- tremely conscientious man, so when Dr. William Tatlock,
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whom we all knew, married my young friend Florence, daughter of Mr. John S. Perry, and went down to be Rector of Stamford, Conn., Mr. Wilson could not stand it alone and he resigned.
Then came Bishop Doane with all his masterful, loving heart. I said to James Gardner one day, " Everybody loves Bishop Doane." He answered, " How can it be otherwise when a man goes on loving everybody else for fifty years." How could people help loving him? He did have that loving disposition. He also had a good way of turning things. I remember that when there was some complaint being made about extravagance in certain festivities he told the story that a man seeing the Bishop of London coming down the street in an Episcopal coach, turned to his friend, who was a minister of the Church of England, and said, " What would St. Paul say to that?" "He would say," answered the minister, " what a blessed change !" (Laughter.)
And after Bishop Doane went there came the one whom we so dearly love. I was referred to as having grown gray in the service of the church. Well, I haven't grown bald. Thirty-seven years of service in this Parish ! Well, for the comfort of Dr. Harriman, I should like to say, "what a blessed change !" I am glad to see Dr. Harriman here, but I am profoundly glad to see Dr. Battershall here too. May he long continue to be with us ! (Applause.)
I feel like saying as did St. Paul, " We are encompassed by so great a cloud of witnesses." They have been a fine body of witnesses in this Parish of St. Peter's, and that is what we are here for, as witnesses-witnesses for the truth; witnesses, as the Governor very properly said, for character; witnesses for that particular character which we call Christian character. We are followers and we profess to be followers of the Lord and Master, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We welcome those of every clime, of every faith, who will illustrate the life that he has set forth as worthy of imitation by the people of all faiths.
When religion, and in that sense I mean not our religion alone, but all of the religions that are held in sincerity and truth, can have their just place upon this earth, we will see the knowledge of the Lord in its widest sense of that
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term, covering the earth as the waters covering the sea, and until we can have the knowledge and the appreciation of religious truth implanted in our youth and in our people, we never shall have a satisfactory result.
No one can deplore or could deplore more than I the introduction of religious controversies or religious tests, and I appreciate Bishop Lawrence's remark in one of his addresses that I have heard him make recently, that to introduce religion as a required course in the public schools would involve the great difficulty of religious tests of the teacher. Therefore, the matter must be considered long and carefully before that is made a matter of compulsion.
But I have felt, and I still feel that there is no reason in the world why the Douai version of the Old Testament, familiar to the children of our churches and of our schools, should not be used. There is nothing there, certainly, that could be injurious, and there is everything that may be highly helpful in filling the minds of the children with the noble truths, the inspiring truths, which could not be found outside of the Scriptures. And it is not merely for gather- ings and organizations, a group of social friends, that St. Peter's Church and the other churches have been organized, and that these buildings have been erected. These edifices stand for an ideal. The church is more than a meeting house, as has been said. To be sure, God is everywhere, but unless we are able to localize Him in our thoughts and in our worship, there is great danger that we may fail to find him there. Again, as it has been said, " Everywhere and nowhere are so pathetically contiguous."
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