USA > New York > The centennial history of the Protestant Episcopal church in the diocese of New York, 1785-1885 > Part 9
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* "You shall take especial care that God Almighty bee devoutly and duly served throughout yor government : the Book of Common Prayer, as it is now es- tablisht, read each Sunday and Holy day, and the Blessed Sacrament adminis- tered according to the Rites of the Church of England. You shall be careful that the Churches already built there shall bee well and orderly kept and more built as ye Colony shall, by God's blessing, bee improved. And that besides a compe- tent maintenance to bee assigned to ye Minister of each Church, a convenient House bee built at the Comôn charge for each minister, and a competent Propor- tion of Land assigned him for a Glebe and exercise of his Industry.
" And you shall take care that the Parishes bee so limited & settled as you shall find most convenient for ye accomplishing this good work.
"Our will and pleasure is that noe minister bee preferred by you to any Ecclesiastical Benefice in that Our Province, without a Certificat from ye most Reverend the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury of his being conformable to ye Doc- trine and Disciplin of the Church of England, and of a good life and conversa- tion.
" 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 ye removal of him, and Įto supply the vacancy in such manner as wee have di- rected. And alsoe our pleasure is that, in the direction of all Church Affairs the Ministers bee admitted into the respective vestrys.
" And to the end the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the said Archbishop of Can- terbury may take place in that Our Province as farr as conveniently may bee. Wee doe think fitt that you give all countenance and encouragement in ye exer- cise of the same; excepting only in Collating to Benefices, granting licenses for Marriage, and Probat of Wills, which wee have reserved to you our Govr & to ye Commander in cheif for the time being."
"And you are to take especial care that a Table of marriages established by ye Canons of the Church of England bee hung up in all Orthodox Churches and duly observed."
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Dongan never allowed his personal views to interfere with his official duty. He recognized the fact that he had no dis- cretion in the matter, and he persisted, though complaining mournfully at last that he found it hard work to make the average Protestant pay the preacher's salary. In this state of affairs, as may well be imagined, it was not easy for the Church to make progress, but the men of those days acted no doubt according to the light which they possessed. To- day the Church asks no favors, and is all the stronger by relying upon her own resources.
The story of the Colonial period is every way remarkable. Never before, perhaps, not even in that age of Hebrew his- tory, when the conqueror of the Jews stood forth to rebuild their walls and the temple, was religion found hampered by such curious circumstances. The advocacy of the Church by Henry VIII. was embarrassing, but the zeal of acknowledged Roman Catholics, combined later with the unwilling service of a New York Dissenting Legislature, was simply grotesque .. In those days men were sometimes more zealous for the form of godliness than for its power. It was in many respects a cruel age, an age in which they consented to the prose- cution of small offenders, even viewing with satisfaction the execution of a servant-girl upon the gallows in New York for stealing what is described as "sundry articles," the poor creature dying, as the newspaper states, in great terror.
In 1693 the Ministry Act was passed, and then came a
" And you are to take care that Books of Homilys & Books of the 39 Articles of ye Church of England bee disposed to every of ye said Churches, and that they bee only kept and used therein."
" And wee doe further direct that noe School-master bee henceforth permitted to come from England & keep School within our Province of New York with- out license of the said Archbishop of Canterbury ; And that noe other person now there or that shall come from other parts bee admitted to keep school without your license first had. "
" You shall permit all persons of what Religion soever quietly to inhabit with- in yor Government without giving them any disturbance or disquiet whatsoever, by reason of their differing Opinions in matters of Religion, provided they give noe disturbance to ye publick peace, nor doe molest or disquiet others in ye free exer- cise of their Religion."-N. Y. Col. Docs., III., 372.
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struggle respecting its interpretation. The details of this episode are given in the accompanying paper found in this volume. The case is a clear one, even though the handful of Presbyterians in New York affected to believe that the Church and State of England were untrue to all their tra- ditions, and devised an Act for the establishment of Dissent. This is a point that we must not evade, since out of the old controversy come those periodic assaults upon Church in- stitutions to which allusion was made at the beginning.
In 1695, Governor Fletcher told the New York Assembly, that the interpretation of the Ministry Act was a matter that belonged to the Courts, to which, however, the Presbyterians made no appeal. The Assembly was not an authority. It was a creature of the Crown, and not a true republican representative body. The part performed by New York in developing republican institutions was small. In 1621, Vir- ginia had made an advance that New York did not reach a hundred years later ; for at that time, while the Pilgrims were starving in their communal huts at Plymouth, free represen- tative government, the first established in America, was firmly and intelligently planted in Virginia. In fact, the posi- tion of New York with respect to the development of popu- lar rights, has been misunderstood. The ancient Presbyter- ian was deceived in fancying that the New York Assembly had the power to establish Presbyterianism. The modern Churchman is deceived if he supposes that it established the Church of England. It could not do anything except what the King, through its agent, the governor, allowed. So far as the Church of England was concerned, the business of the Assembly was simply to recognize the legal status of the Church. That was all that the Act accomplished in 1693. Until then it was inexpedient to act, but when the Duke of York reached the throne he felt the responsibility, and did what he conceived to be his duty to the Crown. New York was at that time nothing but a province, and continued in the same condition down to the period of the Revolution, never having been able to secure a charter, and remaining in a state of vassalage.
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It has been stated in a recent work, Church Law,* that "the legal status" of the churches here in America, in the Colonial days, "excepting as modified in some of the colonies by civil enactment, was according to the de- cisions of the English courts that of entire independence." Granting this, for the sake of the argument, the declaration would not affect the case of New York, as the civil enact- ment endorsed by the Crown was secured. But the statement is not true with regard to the old English colonies. The case quoted in support of the view is the modern case of Long vs. the Bishop of Cape Town, the language of the Courts being as follows: " The Church of England in the colonies which have an established legislature and no Church established by law, is to be regarded in the light of a voluntary association, in the same situation with any other religious body, no better but no worse." On this it is to be remarked that it is a modern decision, respecting the colonies now existing, the decision growing out of an advanced stage of the British Constitution, which had six remarkable periods of growth from 1215 to 1701, while ever since wonderful progress has been going on. The Cape Town decision when announced, filled large portions of the Church with surprise, it not having been supposed that the Constitution, and consequently the interpretation of the law, had made such an advance.
It is our duty, however, not simply to recognize the law as it is, but as it was. Let us, therefore, go back to the case as it stood in the early Colonial days, since the integrity of our present position may be somewhat involved in the justice or the injustice of the action of the past.
In 1692, when Governor Fletcher bade the Assembly pass an Act for the support of Divine Worship, he planted himself on solid ground, declaring that the Law of Magna Charta provided " for the religion of the Church of England." This it may be remembered is recognized in Article II. of that instrument, which declares that "the Church of England shall be free and have her rights intact and her liberties unim-
* Andrews' Church Law, New York, 1883, p. 2.
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paired."* This did not satisfy the Presbyterians of New York, who, in 1753, in a publication called the Independent Reflector, attempted to set Magna Charta aside, by the fol- lowing paragraph. The writer says:
" The Common Law of England, properly defined, consists of those general Laws to which the English have been accus- tomed from time to time, whereof there is no memory to the contrary ; and every law deriving its Validity from such im- memorial Custom must be carried as far back as to the Reign of Richard I., whose death happened on the 6th of April, I199. But the present Establishment of the Church of Eng- land was not till the fifth year of Queen Ann. And hence it is apparent that the Establishment of the Church of England can never be argued from the Common Law, even in Eng- land ; nor could any part of it, since it depends not for its Validity upon Custom immemorial."-Independent Reflector, 1753, P. 177.
The author of this extract attempts a good deal. First, in an arbitrary manner, and without any reason that a legally constituted mind can accept, he tells us that the law deriving validity from custom, must go back to Richard I., 1199, or sixteen years before Magna Charta, which, by such tactics, would be put quite out of the field. Now, as said, is not one entitled to hold that fair-minded men must agree that this attempt is arbitrary, covering a position assumed with- out reason? For if we cannot recognize Magna Charta, what can we recognize? No doubt some may remember that when the charter was approved there were those high in position who wondered very much where the charter came from. Possibly the Presbyterians of 1753 wondered, too, yet the great charter existed, substantially, in the Constitutions of Clarendon, 1166, or thirty-three years before Richard I., as required by the Independent Reflector ; and even in the Laws of Beauclerc, Henry I., 1106, ninety-three years before the stipulated time. Henry I.'s charter was the first written charter, and out of this and that of Henry II.,
* " Quod Anglicana ecclesia libera sit et habeat jura sua integra et libertates suas illesas."-Blackstone's Great Charter, p. 28.
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Magna Charta came. Besides, generations before the time of Henry I., the Church of England was a part of the un written Constitution, and entered into the Common Law of the Land. Blackstone does not contravene this.
Next we have the statement that the Church of England was not established until the fifth year of Queen Anne. But the fact is that the Church was established from time im- memorial, as we must recognize. In 1707 the union between England and Scotland was consummated, continuing until now. The Act then passed was, not to establish the Church of England, but to secure the Scotch in their old ecclesiastical status, and protect the then existing and recognized establish- ment of the Church of England, which all along had been as much established as monarchy itself. It secured to the Church of England nothing that she did not already possess, while it left the colonies just where they stood before. This argument from the Reflector was the best that the Presbyterians could devise, and that, too, at a time when the whole subject was fresh and the memories of men clear ; at a time, in fact, when, if ever, the enemy of the Establishment would be able to find something to say.
The Church in New York seems to have been a part of the ;. common law, though, like a great deal of common law, it did not, for a time, gain due respect. Chancellor Kent distinctly says, that " English statutes passed before the emigration of our ancestors applicable to our situation and in amendment of the law, constitute a part of the common law of the country." (Com. I., 472). Magna Charta was confirmed by many parlia- ments. Also West says, in Chalmer's Opinions of Eminent Lawyers, that " the Common Law of England is the common law of the plantations, and so all statutes in affirmance of the Common Law antecedent to the settlement of a colony, un- less there is some previous act to the contrary; though no statutes made since those settlements, are those in force unless the colonies are particularly named." Hoffman refers to a similar teaching in the case of Bogardus vs. Trinity Church. No decision is found that overturns the position of Governor Fletcher, that Magna Charta provided for the religion of
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the Church of England. The Church by common and statute law was projected into the Colony of New York with the State, and both were founded in accordance with recognized principles of justice and religion.
During the half century following the Ministry Act there were faint-hearted Churchmen, both in New York and Eng- land, who quailed before the Presbyterian outcry, and were half inclined to yield the ground. Quotations from the writ- ings of such men could easily be made. There are always those who in a crisis are ready to court popularity or stay impending hostilities by abandoning the cause. They are, however, hardly the men whom we are now called to admire.
It will thus appear that the status of the Church of Eng- land during the Colonial period was misconceived by many in the early times, even as in our own day. The real sig- nificance of the Ministry Act has not been appreciated by all Churchmen. The issue involved was an issue that the action of an Assembly composed mainly of Dissenters could not materially affect. They themselves knew it, and, therefore, without seeming to strike at Magna Charta, really sought, by arbitrary decisions and interpretations, to set that instrument aside. Nor was it a question of numbers ; for if it had been a question of numbers, the mere handful of Presbyterians ex- isting in 1693 would have had no advantage over Churchmen. Cadillac, in 1692, estimated the number of English families in New York at forty. Dongan's report, made during his administration, shows that the English population increased slowly. Colonel Heathcote, who did not appreciate the real position of the Church, said, in 1714, that there were forty Dissenters to one Churchman at the time the Ministry Act was passed. But there were probably five hundred Dissenters to one Presbyterian, that denomination having no organi- zation in New York at the time Heathcote wrote. The question, therefore, was a legal question that could not be decided by any local ballot. Governor Fletcher, how- ever, held a clear and consistent view of the subject. King Charles, who instructed the Commissioners, understood the situation perfectly as it was related to the colonies, but he
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saw that New England was practically in a state of rebellion, rendering undesirable any attempt to force the Church upon the people, while he recognized the fact that in New York there was at that particular time no large Church of Eng- land population. Consequently he acted a wise part, by giving the Commissioners the advice which they actually received. The Duke of York recognized the same state of affairs, and, being a Romanist, he counselled general tolera- tion, under which policy, he fancied, the Protestants might be divided, and, ultimately, conquered. The Duke carried this policy as far as deemed prudent, but at last, to secure his position in the State, he resolved to do his duty by the Church. This finally led to the passage of the Ministry Act, which could have had no validity or value, whatever might have been the local strength of the Church, if it, had not been based upon recognized principles of Magna Charta. The Dissenting Assembly felt very bitter when contemplat- ing its own action ; and so, likewise, did King John, who, after signing the great charter, returned to Windsor from Runnymeade, and threw himself upon the ground, rolling in uncontrollable rage, and snapping like a madman at the grass. But neither King nor Dissenter had any remedy. On both sides of the sea, however disowned and oppressed, the re- ligion of the Church of England was the legitimate Law of the Land.
THE historian of this evening, said Bishop Potter, has told you, dear brethren, of the organization of this diocese. The story of the dioceses which have sprung from the bosom of the mother, New York, is to be told by other lips. It is cer- tainly a chief interest in these services that we are honored with the presence of sons who are also fathers in the Church, and it is my privilege, first of all, to present to you one, the worthy successor of the great DeLancey, who was schooled at the feet of Hobart, and who comes here to-night, himself the father of a diocese, to speak to us both for Western New York, and in the absence of the Bishop of Central New York,
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of its daughter, the Diocese of Central New York. There are none here who need that I should introduce him, and there are many to whom his voice will come with particular charm, as one who in this city early learned to love the Church, and was in later years called hence from the Rector- ship of Calvary Church to the position which he now adorns. I have great pleasure in presenting the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Western New York.
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ADDRESS OF RIGHT REV. ARTHUR CLEVELAND COXE, D.D.
MY Right Reverend Brother, Right Reverend and Rev- erend Brethren, and you, my Christian Brethren of the Laity : Taking up the narrative where the historical essay closed, we might go on and survey the history of the Church in the State of New York, with great and inspiring interest. We have no time to observe what wonderful things God has done by agencies apparently weak, but it is His delight to show that while He permits us to be fellow-laborers with Him, He is capable of working without us, of working beyond and above us, and of doing wonderful things whereof we are glad, in which after all we can discover very little that is done by ourselves.
When I think, my Right Reverend Brother, of what the Church in New York might have done, had all those who, for one hundred years have shared her blessings, been possessed of a deep sense of their personal duty to make known the tidings of the Gospel to every soul within the bounds of this State, oh, how meagre appears the result. I say when we think what would have been the consquence had all the clergy, and particularly the laity, been animated by the spirit of the first Christian ages ; of the days when every man who professed the name of Christ undertook to fight manfully under His banner, and that not in rhetorical figure, but as one who counted not his life dear unto him; who was willing to take joyfully the spoiling of his goods, and to give his body to be burned that he might have a portion in the eternal inheritance of the Re- deemer, whom he glorified and magnified in life and death.
Oh, for that martyr-spirit of the first ages, which is so lack- ing in our times ; which, I think, in some respects was not so essentially lacking in the days when this diocese was founded. We congratulate ourselves now upon having, with our pleasant homes, these magnificent fabrics for churches, and we see religion enshrined in much that strikes the eye; but, alas, I fear we may be too willing to congratulate ourselves on all this without reflecting upon what the Church was in the
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hearts of those who, without any such accompaniments, never- theless understood and valued her privileges and resolved, one hundred years ago, to leave to their children, her richest blessings purchased by sacrifices. What less could have in- duced Seabury and White, and the brave men of that age, clerical and lay, to do what they did ? There was little to ex- cite enthusiasm ; their means were apparently small ; books, schools, everything seemed wanting ; and to be a minister of Christ in the communion of this Church was to be subjected to a great many forms of trial of which we know nothing. Nay, to be even a layman of this Church, unless it was in this favored city, was to be deprived, through a large portion of the year, of almost every thing which we count essential to one's religious life. If reflections like these, my Right Reverend Brother, might be more freely worked out, I am afraid we should feel that, after all, this day should be to us one of humiliation : certainly not one of self-sufficient pride. "Not unto us, but unto Thy name," great God, be the glory and the praise.
When we have thus made becoming acknowledgments of our own demerit, " let us now praise famous men," and speak with thanksgiving and joy of all those glorious spirits who were successively raised up to carry on the work and to bless us and our children after us.
My right reverend brother has spoken of me as a native of New York. It is of no importance ; but not to sail under false colors, let me say that I was born in the neighboring State of New Jersey ; albeit, within forty miles of New York, where, in Hibernian phrase, "I became a native " when but two years old. At six years of age I knew parts of the Cate- chism, and kept my first Christmas in dear old St. Paul's. I am thankful that I am under the roof of St. Thomas' church, to say here that in the original St. Thomas' church (a build- ing which greatly impressed my fancy as a child), I was privi- leged at seven years of age to keep my second Christmas, and to hear the mellifluous tongue of Duffie. He struck me at that time as one of the most gracious specimens of a Christian pastor that could be conceived of ; and I retain, to this day,
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the sweet sounds that came upon my ear, in the words of the Epistle and Gospel, as he read them on that joyous Christmas of 1826. Duffie was the delight of children, and one of the few who knew how to interest and instruct them. Ah, if it were becoming, if it were proper, what stories I could tell of the Church in this city as it rose upon my boyhood's imagination, and grew brighter and brighter every year. How lovingly I remember the clergy of those days; how well I remember Bishop Hobart, his week-day ministrations, and the sermons which he preached when I was a boy. I could not be kept away from the fair temples of God, even for boyish play. At this point, I may add, that I was present when Dr. Upfold was instituted rector of St. Thomas' Church, to succeed the lamented Duffie. I could recall many pleasant memories of that glorious man, the great bishop, who preached that morn- ing; and many more, gathered from others, since I succeeded to a portion of his diocese in Western New York. My dio- cese and its college are trophies of Bishop Hobart's life. To him we owe our existence. He regarded that region as his peculiar missionary field; he bestowed much love and labor there : and, as representing the oldest daughter of the Diocese of New York, I may feel that I am speaking of a region which ought to be beloved by the Churchmen of New York. It must be so, if you reflect that it was there, in Western New York, that Bishop Hobart's last labors were given to God. It was there that he laid down his pastoral staff and his life and went to his reward. Well do I recollect the thrill of unfeigned sorrow that went through this city (when there was no rail- road and no telegraph), as, day after day, the papers announced that the bishop had fallen sick at Auburn, and that his life was despaired of. So it always occurs with great events even in our days; something comes beforehand, and no one knows how it comes ; but the news is everywhere surmised, and then at last comes the sudden blow. Permit me to recall the fune- ral of Bishop Hobart, which I followed from St. John's Square all the way down through Walker Street to Broadway, and so on to Trinity Church ; the most decorous and most venerable, in every respect the most impressive funeral that I ever be-
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held. All New York looked on and everything was done with decency and order, yet without parade and with a sublime simplicity. The funeral train was very long; there were no carriages, save one or two, perhaps, for the bishop's family, and all that was good in New York seemed present. The ministers of religion, the students of Columbia College, in academic dress, and venerable presbyters of the diocese, in gown and cassock, with bands, made a striking figure.
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