USA > New York > The Diocese of Central New York; the founding fathers > Part 11
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Not all of these services were held within the church proper. Sometimes they were in the basement or in a "lecture room," as was true at Ithaca in 1860. On other occasions those interested gathered in private homes. At Cortland and Holland Patent, to
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cite but two examples, this practice was common. But when held in private homes the worship revealed considerable latitude; an evangelical attitude was often shown in prayer, song, and sermon. Most frequently the Prayer Book was discarded and in its place extempore petitions were heard from minister, warden, or anyone so moved. Matching this were personal witnessings of God's Grace. On some of these occasions, often held at night, these gatherings were devoted to a study of the Bible or Church history. Finally, a sermon or lecture was delivered. It would be wrong, however, to assume that non-liturgical worship characterized all weekday services. The Journal, a dependable source, is replete with contrary evidence. At McLean, for example, in 1854 the service opened on Wednesday morning with prayer followed by the litany and lec- ture. Christ, Oswego, had Morning Prayer on Fridays in 1848, while at Trinity, Utica, in 1844, this office preceded Holy Com- munion on Friday from May to October ; during the remainder of the year this parish had evening prayer with sermon on Fridays. Here as in other instances there were special weekday devotions during Lent. At Elmira a series of lectures were given on the Apos- tles Creed while at Waterville daily services and lectures featured Wednesday night meetings in 1861. Christ Church, Binghamton, had services on all feast and ember days, while at Sherburne public devotions were held on every day for which the Prayer Book had an office. At Lowville, in 1868, the new rector, the Rev. Wm. N. Irish, stimulated the growth of the parish by his lectures and ser- mons on man's temptations.
Like De Lancey, Bishop Coxe was friendly to weekday services and encouraged the use of lay readers for such occasions. When these meetings could not be held at the church he directed them to be at the homes of one of the communicants. Here, he said, let the instructions take the form of "Cottage Lectures" or even "Conver- sations." Such are known to have been held at Auburn in 1868. In reference to these weekday meetings, De Lancey thought they deserved commendation rather than condemnation. Many high churchmen felt differently and this explains why in 1849, in ap- plauding "Lectures" as a most useful way of training "your flocks," he stated :
Not only is the whole field of theology thus thrown open, but all correlative topics connected with history, insti- tutions, usages, worship, character, liturgy, rites, prospects, sufferings and triumphs of the Church of Christ; the errors,
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schisms and secessions; the persecutions and trials which have signalized its progress; and whatever may tend to enlighten, aid and direct your people in the paths of God, may be in the way of lectures subservient to their improve- ment.
Among the means whereby people might be brought to God, De Lancey stressed both the lecture and the pulpit. The latter was the great agency appointed by Christ for instruction and edifica- tion. Thus all preaching was to edify and teach. "Jejune and vapid declamation will not answer in the religious training of a flock. Your people must be fed with meat, not with froth; with truth, not with error; with fact, not with feeling." Knowledge, he con- tinued, should arrest ignorance and light must disperse darkness. "Your sermons must embrace a full course of theology." The Bish- op knew only too well the current and well founded criticism that was being made about the sermons in the Church.1 Dr. Craig of Louisville, so James T. Addison records, firmly believed that all candidates for orders should be taught to read English and that practical experience in preaching was separated altogether too much from the class room.
Professors, not themselves engaged in the active duties of the ministry, sink the minister in the scholar, and so are unfitted to send forth practical men ... No sermon written in a seminary was ever fit to be preached.
To which, Dr. Addison adds, that the criticism "sounds as if they had been written yesterday." He also quotes Bishop Freeman as saying that most sermons "were over the heads of people" while Bishop Upfold is reported to have stated that sermons were "read in a dull, cold, prosy manner, and monontonous tone, and often very lengthy, with eyes bent close to the manuscript." In these conclusions, Bishop Coxe, was in agreement. At the end of a serv- ice at the Seneca County Convocation, for example, the Bishop gathered the clergy about him and addressed them on the "Peniten- tial System" and of the proper way of bringing this before the laity in the reading and conducting of the service. Gibson, the editor of
1 No attempt has been made to search for diocesan reactions. To do so would extend the scope of this study. Evidence found, however, suggests an acceptance of De Lancey's advice. There is a wealth of material avail- able for a study of sermons. Bishop De Lancey's, for example, are preserved at the Diocesan House in Buffalo. Many of the sermons relate to social, political, economic subjects as well as to religious themes. The Rev. Pierre Proul of Utica and his friend the Rev. A. Schuyler of Oswego frequently preached on the slavery issue.
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the Messenger, applauded Coxe's informal addresses and frequently introduced into the paper comparable material from other clergy throughout the state.
Bishop De Lancey also had much to say about the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion-the titles generally used during his episco- pate for this sacrament. His successor, Bishop Coxe, frequently spoke of it as the Eucharist, though in Central New York the clergy and laity alike continued to use the Prayer Book term- "The Lord's Supper or Holy Communion." Here was a unifying medium, deeply entrenched in history, that blended well with Amer- ican temperaments and allowed, at the same time, for personal loyalties to the Church from all communicants. The peculiar genius of the American Church that had promoted its enviable compre- hensiveness was present throughout the years reviewed by this study. To what extent this balanced policy accounted for the growth of the Church in upstate New York is a matter of opinion. But no one will deny that the growth, which was greater than that of any other faith, was due in no small measure to the splendid leadership and churchmanship of both bishops and their devoted clergy and laity.
Still using Megary's edition of the Prayer Book, one discovers divergencies between the order and substance of the Communion office then followed and present practices. Older members of the Church will readily recall that prior to 1928 the Communion serv- ice in the Book appeared directly after the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels and that the so-called disciplinary rubrics, seldom noticed today, were placed after the title of the office and not, as at present, at the close. Both Books, however, refer to the "Table" though today it is the "Holy Table," covered with a "fair white linen cloth" before which in the years under review a "minister" and not a "priest" stood during the Ante-Communion service. More- over the minister stood either at the north or right side of the Table or where Morning Prayer was normally read as he began the office with the traditional Lord's Prayer and the Collect that followed. Then came the Decalogue to which might be added the Summary of the Law; today the latter may be used instead of the former except on any given Sunday in the month, when the Ten Com- mandments are to be read. There was no Kyrie; nor were there any versicles after the Collect for Grace. Thus the minister pro- ceeded from the Summary to the Collect of the Day, the Epistle, and the Gospel. One will also note that there was no hymn or
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anthem between the last two and that it was to the announcement of the Gospel the people responded : "Glory be to thee, O Lord"; there being no provision for the present response following the Gospel. The Ante-Communion then concluded either with the Apostles or Nicene Creed unless one of them had been said earlier in the service ; today, however, the Nicene Creed, though required only on certain days, such as Christmas, is used virtually at every celebration.
Provision then appeared in the Book, as at present, for church notices but unlike the rubric of 1956 no permission existed for a Bidding Prayer or authorized prayers and intercessions. The ser- mon then followed after which the minister returned to the Lord's Table and said one or more of the offertory sentences. Meanwhile lay officers gathered the collection and carried it to the Priest, as the minister from then on was named, who having presented the alms to God placed them on the Table. Having done this the Priest brought to the Table sufficient bread and wine. Nothing was said about how this action was done, an omission that remains true to this day. Reflecting low church standards, however, the celebrant merely placed, he did not offer as today, the elements on the Table.1 Nor was there any hymn, anthem, or word of thanks- giving following the collection, after which came the prayer for the "Whole State of Christ's Church, Militant"; today the last word is missing.
The Communion service proper then followed as today, except for verbal changes here and there, through the Sursum Corda ("Lift up your hearts") after which came the Preface (there was none for Epiphany or the Feast of the Purification) and the Sanctus which was said or sung by the priest and people. Then followed in order the "Prayer of Humble Access" and the Prayers of Conse- cration whereas today the reverse is true. Next came a hymn after which the clergy made their communion followed by the people, the words of administration being the same. After all had commu- nicated, the Lord's Prayer was said-today this comes before the Prayer of Humble Access-the Prayer of Thanksgiving, the Gloria in Excelsis or a hymn, and then the Benediction. "And if any of the consecrated Bread and Wine remain after communion, it shall not be carried out of the Church ; but the minister and other Com-
1 See Shepherd, op. cit., pp. 72-73 and the Prayer Book Dictionary, op. cit., for suggestive comments about the "Oblations," a Credence Table, the Mixed Chalice, and a Lavabo.
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municants shall immediately after the Blessing, reverently eat and drink the same." In such a manner the service ended.
Leaving the prescribed rite and rubrics and viewing those sources that relate what took place, one notes certain divergencies. That there was a lack of uniformity is evidenced by the suggestions made by the House of Bishops in the 1830's as to "Postures in the Com- munion Office." The Priest, it was stated, should stand as befits his "sacrificial" character except where kneeling was required by rubric. Both the Confession and the Prayer before Consecration was to be said kneeling. The people were to kneel during all pray- ers but should stand for the Gloria in Excelsis and other hymns. The Epistle should be heard sitting; the Gospel, standing, while the offertory sentences were to be heard sitting. One often observes that late in the 1830's the word "altar" as opposed to "table" was used in some parishes ; the following decade, the two words were used interchangeably. Again, as at Elmira in 1842, one reads of "the sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving" being "offered at the altar on the right side according to ancient usage." It should also be mentioned that bread commonly in use was identical with that served at family meals, and that generally the wine was not mixed with water. Again, as De Lancey stated, candles were not used in the 1840's though they may have been in some churches toward the close of his episcopate. It was about this time that the Messenger reported how some communicants received the wafer with gloved hands while others took the element from the priest by the finger. Frowning upon this practice, the editor suggested that a better way was to receive the wafer in the palm of the right hand; and he urged all to read Hobart's tract, A Companion for the Altar.
All in all, though De Lancey has been described as a high churchman and possessed of conservative attitudes it is probably more correct to conclude that in Central and Western New York the celebration of the Lord's Supper was in accord with the accepted mores of that age. Following the consecration of Bishop Coxe there was a tendency to increase the richness of the service by the introduction of more ritual, ornate communion vessels, and church furnishings. The words "Altar" and "Eucharist" become more common. The Messenger, now carried more advertisements reflect- ing these trends such as "Priest's Prayer Books," the Rev. A. O. Oxendan's, Our Church and Her Services, and strongly recom- mended "Bishop Mant's little volume" on rites ; the latter, as edited by Dr. William Wilson "of our diocese" was a model to be fol-
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lowed. Meanwhile Coxe in sermon and correspondence employed terms disliked by low churchmen, such as "The Purification," "The Holy Eucharist," and the "Catholic and Apostolic Church." He also sought by pastoral letter to encourage the service, seldom used today, of "The Churching of Women." Likewise he gave his blessing, as De Lancey would not, to the idea of Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods in the Church. It may also be noted that to the Church at Geneseo he suggested the use of a drain for disposing of the "obla- tions of the sacred vessels and the relics of the consecrated elements."
But Coxe refused to be swept off balance. Over and over again he rejected the ritualism attributed to Pusey in England. Public criticism on his part of Puseyism, in the spring of 1866, brought bitter complaints from Bishops W. C. Potter and W. R. Whit- tingham of which Coxe writes in his diary:
Alas, this respect of persons has cursed the Ch. for 25 years & has made the secession to Rome a steady stream. By God's grace I will not be moved. My convictions are strong & my mind is made up as to duty. May the Lord fight for me and with me.
A few days later, after reading the latest news from England, he wrote :
My strictures on Pusey are not relished in England but I cannot help that. What the English bps. fail to do, I must do as well as I can-lest the entire Episcopate seems to succumb ... The Lord knows it pains & grieves me but it pains me much more to see the havoc that is made in the Church by influence accorded to a very mischievous man- too feeble to see his own way or to direct others. . . My con- flict with this Pusey book has kept me from better & more pleasant duties in the way of writing.
Meanwhile he ran foul of Bishop Hopkins of Vermont who had come to the defense of Pusey. It was a malicious attack, Coxe declared, and he regretted it deeply because he now believed he had the
... painful duty of 'contending earnestly for the faith' poor old Dr. Pusey is sapping & under mining by his bag generalship though I doubt not his motives are pure.
Shortly thereafter he read the July issue of the English Christian Revied, which he thought did him
... a great hardness. They held me up as the only Bp. that has rebuked Dr. Pusey; thus 'some very small arch-
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deacons have been making a faint outcry against it. A still smaller American bishop has uttered his growl; but we are much mistaken if the Episcopate at home are likely to attack it, however, some of the body may disapprove of its con- tents.' It is not pleasant to be thus insulted by those who once caressed me, etc., in England, my old friends will utterly misunderstand me; but I bless God, those who thus despise me despise Cranmer, Latimer & Ridley in the same pages & glorify Newman. It is a glory to be despised in such manner & by such good men; only I am unworthy of this great dignity.
Battle lines were now being sharply drawn and in the early fall of the same year Bishop Hopkins' provocative book, The Law of Ritualism appeared. In this volume the Bishop argued for the use of incense, altar lights, the mixed chalice,1 and vestments, believing that a "faith and gorgeous ceremonial" would bring to the Church new life and vigor. Whether Hopkins' ideas were realized is a matter that does not concern this study though it does interest us to note that his views received much attention at a special meeting of the House of Bishops in October, 1866. A result of this gather- ing was the appointment of a committee composed of Bishops John Williams, Jackson Kemper, and Arthur C. Coxe to prepare a state- ment of the "views of the Bishops" and publish it as the judgment of those who were signers.
Ultimately endorsed by twenty-eight bishops, the document be- came known as the "Declaration of Ritualism." Standing solidly upon the Book of Common Prayer as the law of the Church the signers, Bishop Coxe being one, declared :
And we ... consider ... any attempt to introduce into the public worship .. . usages that have never been known, such as incense, and the burning of lights in the order of Holy Communion ; reverence to the Holy Table or to the elements thereon, such as indicate or imply that the sacrifice of our Divine Lord and Savior 'once offered' was not a 'full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world'; the adoption of clerical habits hitherto unknown, or material alterations of those which have been in use since the establishment of our episcopate, is an innovation which violates the discipline of our Church, 'offendeth against its common order and hurteth the author-
1 That is, administering not pure wine, but wine mixed with water. The mixed cup was common in England before the Reformation and was con- tinued by the Book of 1549. It was omitted in 1552 and never restored. Thus the use of such in America aroused opposition from low churchmen.
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ity of the Magistrate, and woundeth the consciences of the weak brethren.'
Having thus satisfied their feelings in respect to Puseyism, the Committee expressed themselves to the low churchmen as follows:
Furthermore, that we be not misunderstood, let it be noted that we include in these censures all departures from the Laws, rubrics, and settled order of this Church, as well as by defect as by excess of observance, designing to main- tain in integrity the sound Scriptural and Primitive, and therefore the Catholic and Apostolic spirit of the Book of Common Prayer.
In these matters, Bishop Coxe clearly had the support of the clergy of his diocese. In the previous November, for example, Gibson in the Messenger had characterized Bishop Hopkins and the ritualists as those "who run everything to extreme" and who have embraced ritualism as "a mere thing of candles and censers and vestments and attitudes rather than as a question of liturgical development and doctrinal truths." Later, while regretting the scandal brought to the Church by "puerile imitations of the Roman Mass," Gibson stated that he favored "any lawful primitive usage which legitimately illustrates and impresses some Gospel truth, which does not furnish a mere spectacle to gaze at, but connects itself at once intelligently and forcibly with the devotional feelings of the people." Again, in January, 1867, he commented,
There is nothing a papist is so much afraid of as Prim- itive Catholicity. And all we have to do in this matter is to remember and act upon Bishop Coxe's distinction be- tween what is Liturgical, that is what brings out the truth and beauty of our service in actual devout worship, and what is Ritualism, namely that which tends to make the service an unintelligible mummery or spectacle.
The Bishop himself spoke and wrote from time to time in a similar vein. On one occasion he stated :
I own it does seem to me as mockery of God, when I see Christian ministers, and Candidates for Orders, spend- ing their night and days in studying the mere romance of religion, and in talking and thinking about pictures and bows and crossings and about this color or that in the sol- emn service of Him.
Again he wrote :
I agree with the Bishop of Vermont that our black satin
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is not a very ornamental habit but I think it will answer all the purposes for which it was put on my shoulders and I pray God I may have grace to make it only half so beautiful from association, as my venerated predecessors in the Epis- copate have made it in my eyes ... I am disposed to vote in the House of Bishops that all questions about 'blue and purple and scarlet' should lie on the table to be called up only when 'beauty of holiness' shall be more visible among us; only when the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ shall be seen and known and loved in this land in her true character as the Bride of Christ and the only faith- ful witness and keeper of Holy Writ.
To what extent these and similar matters rocked the peace of the Church in Central New York cannot be measured with any precision. One method involves an analysis of the frequency of Holy Communion. Prior to 1840 it is probable that celebrations were held only on Christmas, Easter, and Whitsunday except in a few places where a monthly service was reported. Between then and 1848 a total of 1,700 communion services were held for a yearly average of more than two hundred which was only slightly better than the period before. But between 1859 and 1868 the number rose to 8,200 or eight hundred and twenty for each year. Most of this increase came in Oneida, Onondaga, Jefferson, Che- nango, and Oswego Counties. Among the parishes having more than one hundred and fifty celebrations between 1859 and 1868 were those at New Hartford, Auburn (St. Peter's), Ithaca, Utica (Calvary), Pierrepont Manor, Waterloo, Oswego (Christ), Syra- cuse (St. Paul's), Rome, Syracuse (St. James'), and Watertown (Trinity), the last named leading with over two hundred celebra- tions. The largest single number in any given year was at Trinity, Syracuse, where in 1868 there were fifty services; next in order was St. James', Syracuse, which in the same year had thirty-seven.1
Although these figures indicate that an increase in celebrations had taken place since 1840, they would also seem to reveal that much less stress was placed upon Holy Communion than is true today. The evidence, however, is by no means impressive even when one adds the conclusions to be drawn from the changes that took place in church architecture, interior furnishings, music, and
1 Private communions, relatively few reported, are not included.
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the like. Probably Bishop Coxe was not far from truth when in 1868 he stated :1
The Diocese continues in its steady way and still walks in the 'good old paths.' We are almost absolutely not dis- turbed by tendencies to that puerile and tawdry ritualism which accompanied often by false doctrine and by pre- varicating morality, has excited of late so much reasonable anxiety.
1 Writing at a later date, the Rev. W. M. Beauchamp states that the Diocese under Bishop De Lancey "happily avoided extremes"; much the same opinion was expressed in a letter to the author from the Rev. A. L. Byron-Curtiss of Utica, January, 1956.
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CHAPTER X
PSALTER AND SONG
Congregational singing, a vested choir, and the use of an organ have become so common that it is hard to realize these forms of worship are relatively new in the Church. That is not to say early Christians did not sing of the "Glad Tidings" and since many were Hebrews it seems reasonable to assume that psalms were used in their services. Pliny, a Roman historian, refers to Christian singing "in turn," that is antiphonally, and it is known that during the Arian controversy both parties propagated their views by composing verses and setting them to some popular tune. Later, the medieval- ist Prudentius used folk music for hymns, one being "Earth has many a noble city." Thus hymns, carols, ballads, and psalms became customary in the services of medieval cathedrals and monasteries.1
Possibly this trend may have influenced the parish churches, but there is little evidence. Life on a medieval manor was so rough and stinted that it must have precluded much music in rural Eng- land. So long as the great mass of the people could not read and since there was no printing press to provide copies of songs and chants for the few who could, congregational singing, as we know it today, hardly existed. But the Renaissance brought the printing press, the Church was restored to the people by the Reformation and, with these ends secured, the laity wanted and were encouraged to take an active part in prayer and song. An extension of metrical psalms appeared which in turn led to the printing of psalm books. One of these, The Whole Book of Psalms. .. with apt notes to sing them withal, later called the Old Version, by Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins was issued about the middle of the sixteenth century. In an edition of 1562 and in keeping with Elizabeth I's Injunctions seven hymns including Veni Creator and a "Thanks- giving after Holy Communion." Not until 1696 did a rival appear in the New Version of the Psalms of David fitted to tunes by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady. Later editions added chants, such as the Te Deum and Nunc Dimittis, and hymns like, "While Shepherds watched their flocks by Night." Meanwhile others issued original hymns for special services. The trend then shifted some- what; during the eighteenth century composers like William
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