USA > New York > The diocese of Western New York : a history and recollections > Part 12
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The most amusing articles, perhaps, in the Messenger of 1838, are " A Peep into Futurity," the comments of a farmer on the too frequent visitations of the new Bishop, who " comes so often they would just as soon hear any other clergyman," and comes too " in a one-horse wagon heavily laden " (with his family, it may be presumed), while " before the Diocese was divided we could always give our Bishop a comfortable conveyance ;" then " in old times we had such a kind friend to help us in old Trinity Church, but now we have no more
* Journ. N. Y. Adj. Spec. Conv. 1838, p. 7.
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PEEPS INTO FUTURITY, 1838
claim on her than any other Diocese." So the farmer and his friend agree in sorrow " that things have taken such a turn," but, we are happy to say, conclude to go to church and make the best of it .*
But three weeks later comes "A Farther Peep into Futurity," twice as long and far more able and witty, by " Second Sight,"whom we are glad to know was no other than BENJAMIN HALE. He tells us that " after the Bishop's visit was over," Farmer Joslin and his friend were" in quite another humour." The farmer thinks there " is a sweet gleam of sunshine all over the parish." The Bishop has stayed long enough to take them all by the hand, to talk with each one, even to heal little troubles which the "parson " had been unable to reach, to " draw the children around him " and give them his blessing, to show himself " not merely in his robes and the thunder of his eloquence, but in the meekness and love of a humble Chris- tian." The farmers find, too, that " it is not going to be as bad as we expected about our poor parishes ;" that New York and Trinity Church are not going to cut them off all at once ; and that Western New York is really not so very poor after all. The only sad thing is that they will not often see their old Bishop, "that warm-hearted man, who has endeared himself so much to both clergy and people."t It is a great pity to condense Dr. Hale's paper ; those who have access to the old Gospel Messenger will find it worth reading in full. He wrote several other able articles for the Messenger (those signed "Latimer " and " Ridley " were by him) and also a pamphlet, which had much influence in allaying the opposition.# The venerable Editor of the Messenger (now published at Utica) was on the other hand strongly opposed to division, though he wrote little, and with his accustomed prudence and mildness.
All argument was ended, of course, by the decisive vote of the Special Convention of August 22, 1838, and its adjourned session of Sept. 11, following the ratification by the General Convention of the amendment to the Constitution providing for division of Dioceses. The final resolution of the adjourned session is :
" That the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New York be divided into two Dioceses, and that the line formed by the present
* Gospel Messenger, April 14, 1838.
t Gospel Messenger, May 12, 1838.
# See his Memoir by the Rev. Malcolm Douglass, D.D., p. 47.
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
Eastern boundary lines of the counties of Broome, Chenango, Madi- son, Oneida and Lewis, and the north-easterly line of the county of Jefferson, as the said lines of those counties are now established by law, be the boundary line between the said Dioceses ; that such division take effect on the first day of November next ; and that the Delegates from this Diocese to the General Convention be requested to present this resolution, duly authenticated, to the General Conven- tion, now in session in the city of Philadelphia, and request its consent to and ratification of the said division."
It was also resolved that the names of the respective Dioceses be determined at the Annual Convention in October ; and a Committee was appointed to report at that time on a " provision for the support of the Bishops in the respective Dioceses of New York."* Three days later, Sept. 14, the action of the Diocese, with the formal con- sent of the Bishop, was laid before the General Convention, and immediately ratified by both Houses of that Body.t On the 19th the Bishop announced to the Diocese his choice of " that diocese which embraced his native city " for his own charge, it having been his only home through life. On the 27th of October the Convention decided unanimously that $35,000, one-half of the disposable fund for the Episcopate, should be secured to the new Diocese for the support of its Bishop.
At the same time it was resolved, on motion of Dr. Hale, that the new Diocese should be denominated " The Diocese of Western New York." I find no record whatever of any debate on this subject ; through a correspondent of the Boston Christian Witness suggested the ancient and Catholic usage of the name of a city, and another one proposed the name "Ontario."§ But "Western New York "
* Journ. Spec. Conv. Adj. Sess. p. 8.
tJourn. Gen. Conv. 1838, pp. 70, 106.
# Journ. N. Y. 1838, p. 61.
§ "We hope the [General] Convention will think of the propriety of returning to the primitive practice of entitling dioceses by the names of their chief cities. Alexandria, Carthage, Jerusalem, Ephesus, in the early history of the Church, . . and Canterbury, York, London, Winchester, etc., designate dio- ceses in our Mother Church. Now is a favourable time for moving the expediency of adopting this practice. 'Western Diocese of New York ' may be a con- venient name for the new Bishopric (even that is far too circumstantial and descriptive), but what names will be devised when the two great Dioceses of New York, almost unwieldly at their very organization, shall be again subdi- vided? The action of New York on this subject is an example which will be
II7
SEES AND PROVINCES
had for many years been a popular and familiar name for this portion of the State, among all classes of people ; and as the very phrase " See Episcopate " was hardly known then, much less the principle which it sets forth, it is not at all strange that a name was chosen which in later years has been felt by very many-most of all by our late Bishop-to be an unfortunate precedent.
The argument of Dr. Hale's pamphlet on the division of the Dio- cese, I should add, was substantially an argument for the Provin- cial System in the American Church (and in the very form in which provision was subsequently made for it by the Canon on " Federate Councils "), as that of Bishop Whittingham's pamphlet was for the See Episcopate.
" Our States," he says, "are in some respects sovereignties ; and the dioceses within the same State (for there will by-and-by be a division in other States as well as ours), may be regarded as constitut- ing in a manner one Church, being invested with a sort of sub- national unity, as our States are sub-nations."*
These are golden words ; far ahead of their day, and even of our own day, as is still Bishop Whittingham's argument ; but there is no question that both had a powerful influence in the unanimity of that final decision, which made Western New York a leader and example to the whole Church in the United States.
The last action of the Annual Council of New York for 1838, is recorded in these words :
" On motion of the Rev. Dr. Milnor, the following entry was ordered to be made on the Journal :
"The measures for the division of this Diocese having been com- menced in a spirit of brotherly love, and with a view to the best interests of religion and the Church ; and having, under the blessing of God, been brought to a happy conclusion ; and the moment being at hand, when, in consequence of the harmonious action on this sub- ject in this Convention, and in the General Convention of the Church, the members of the former are about to separate, not to meet together again as one body ; this Convention desires, as its last solemn act, to record on its Journal the expression of its devout gratitude to
followed sooner or later by other dioceses. The present is therefore the most auspicious period for making a precedent for cases of this nature." (Christian Wit- ness (Boston), Sept. 7, 1838, quoted in the Gospel Messenger of Sept. 15 " with- out note or comment.")
* Gospel Messenger, XII. 70. (June 2, 1838.)
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
Almighty God, for the amicable spirit and propitious termination of their deliberations, and of the entire good-will and affection with which they now part from each other ; as well as their mutual resolution, in their future separate spheres of duty, still to cultivate the most friendly relations towards each other, and to redouble their efforts for the promotion of the glory of God, the cause of the Redeemer, and the prosperity of our beloved Church, as His gracious providence may afford them opportunities, and His Spirit ability for that purpose."
END OF THE SECOND PART
PART THIRD
DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK : 1838-68
CHAPTER XXI
ELECTION AND CONSECRATION OF BISHOP DE LANCEY
HE New (now old) Diocese of Western New York came into being with the assembling of its Primary Conven- tion (as called by the Bishop of New York) in Trinity Church, Geneva, on All Saints' Day, Thursday, Nov- ember 1, 1838. By the request of "several of the Clergy and Laity of the new Diocese," the proceedings were opened by their late Diocesan, Bishop Onderdonk, with the celebration of the Holy Communion and a Sermon. In the vacancy of the Bishopric, the Rev. Dr. Rudd was made Chairman ; the Rev. Pierre A. Proal, D.D., was chosen Secretary ; and these, with the Rev. Dr. Shelton, were appointed a Committee on Credentials. On re-assembling at three o'clock, P. M., their report was presented, and 48 Priests and Deacons (later two more, making 50 in all) answered to their names, II entitled to seats being absent. Of the Lay-Delegates there were present 102, representing 42 parishes, out of 96 in the Diocese.
It seems to me worth while to preserve here the names of the Clergy who formed this first Western New York Council.
They were William Allanson, Henry S. Attwater, Liberty A. Barrows, John Bayley, Seth W. Beardsley,
James A. Bolles, William W. Bostwick, Johnson A. Brayton,
Nathan B. Burgess, Clement M. Butler, Lucius Carter,
Joseph T. Clarke,
Orange Clark, D.D., Ebenezer H. Cressey,
Samuel Cooke,
George Denison,
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
William E. Eigenbrodt,
Pierre Alexis Proal,
Edmund Embury,
John C. Rudd, D.D.,
John B. Gallagher,
Thomas J. Ruger,
Benjamin Hale, D.D.,
William Shelton, D.D.,
Cicero S. Hawks,
Lucius Smith,
Pierre P. Irving,
Richard Smith,
Bethel Judd, D.D.,
Erastus Spalding,
William Lucas,
Henry L. Storrs,
John M'Carty,
Louis Thibou, Jr.,
Stephen M'Hugh,
Foster Thayer,
Thomas Meachem,
Henry Tullidge,
Kendrick Metcalf,
John V. Van Ingen,
Thomas Morris,
Russell Wheeler,
Rufus Murray,
Henry J. Whitehouse, D.D.,
George H. Norton,
Marshall Whiting,
Henry Peck,
Gordon Winslow,
Augustine P. Prevost,
Lloyd Windsor.
One of these, and one only, I believe, is now living ; the Rev. Samuel Cooke, D.D., of Stamford, Conn.
Of the laymen, those familiar with old Western New York will re- call at least a few honoured names : such as
George B. Throop, Jonathan Sprague, Thomas Maxwell, George B. Webster, David E. Evans, Heman J. Redfield, Elisha Stanley, William C. Pierrepont, Charles H. Carroll, George H. Mumford, Vincent Matthews, Frederick Whittle- sey, E. Darwin Smith, Henry E. Rochester, Pascal C. J. De Angelis, John E. Hinman, Thomas H. Hubbard, John C. Spencer, James Rees, Robert C. Nicholas, David Hudson, William L. De Zeng, Thomas D. Burrall, Joseph G. Swift, Robert L. Rose, W. V. I. Mercer, William H. Adams and Abraham Dox.
The first act of the Convention was to place the new Diocese under the charge of the Bishop of New York until a Bishop should be elected and consecrated, and he thereupon took the chair. In his sermon of the morning the Bishop had spoken strongly and warmly of his affection for this portion of his former flock, and his hopes for the future of the new Diocese, and the Convention responded by resolutions expressing similar affection for him and gratitude for his past services. A new Parish (S. Luke's, Brockport) was admitted, and at the evening session a resolution was offered that the Convention do now proceed to the election of a Bishop. " After some discussion, not protracted " (the Messenger says), and the offering of various amendments, (not recorded in the Journal) the resolution was laid on the table by a clerical vote of 24 to 20, and a lay vote of 21 to 19.
JAMES AARON BOLLES
I2I
PRIMARY CONVENTION, 1838
A recess was taken for half an hour (for informal consultation) and at its close another for half an hour more. Finally the Convention ad- journed to the next morning .*
This is all that we learn from our primary authorities, the Journal and the Messenger. But the narrative of Dr. Bolles, who was a member, and a very active one, of this Convention, tells a great deal more. In 1834-5, as we have seen, the names of two very eminent clergymen, Drs. Whitehouse and Hawks, had been the only ones thought of. At this time they appear to be quite out of sight, though the latter appears in the Messenger as a possible candidate. We have seen that Dr. De Lancey had received some votes in the Convention of 1830 as the successor to Bishop Hobart ; but the suggestion of his election now was undoubtedly due to the Rev. Augustine P. Prevost, Rector of S. John's Church, Canandaigua, a young clergyman of rare qualities of mind and heart, as well as excellence in pastoral work and teaching, who had been a pupil of Dr. De Lancey at the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, and in his preparation for Holy Orders .¡ The advice of Dr. Seabury (the eminent Editor of the Churchman of that day) was asked by two members of the Special Convention at Utica, and given decidedly in favour of Dr. De Lancey. The Hon. John C. Spencer, then in New York, being informed of Dr. Seabury's opinion, went at once to Philadelphia to see and "hear" Dr. De Lancey, and returned convinced that he must and could be elected. But the favour- ite with very many at this time was the Rev. Manton Eastburn, D.D. . (afterwards Bishop of Massachusetts), then Rector of the Church of the Ascension, New York, as the successor of the elder Dr. Bedell, and considered one of the greatest preachers and pastors in the country. It need hardly be said that in a general way he represented the " Low Church " element in the new Diocese, (an element very strong, especially in Geneva and Rochester), and Dr. De Lancey the " High Church." But other considerations of course entered into the question. Dr. De Lancey was opposed not only as an "extreme High Churchman" (what different ideas would that phrase convey
* Journ. p. 17. Gospel Messenger, Nov. 10, 1838.
t Mr. Prevost was my own Rector, and I well remember hearing him say on his return from this Convention, with unmistakable gladness of heart, (to a deeply interested parishioner who, from her zeal and active part in all Church matters, was sometimes called "the Bishopess of the Western Diocese") "Ah, I got Dr. De Lancey for you ! "
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
now !) but as " cold " and "aristocratic," of "Tory" ancestry, and anti-republican, etc .* What was said per contra about Dr. Eastburn has not come to light. His friends were quite confident of his elec- tion, but they did not rest on their oars. As soon as the Convention ended its evening session, a meeting was held which finally grew so excited that its chairman, Dr. Hale, (the most thorough gentleman that ever lived), "left the chair in disgust." Dr. De Lancey's friends seem to have been wiser, for they waited quietly,-no doubt in ear- nest prayer, like the Normans on the night before Hastings.
But the Council met in the morning with all seriousness and dignity; and after Matins, and an earnest address by the Bishop, resolved to proceed at once to the election. "Some moments were spent in secret devotions, and the Convention united with the Bishop in appropriate Prayers from the Liturgy."t Nothing is said of any nomi- nations. # The Clergy voted first ; then the Laity by Parishes. I have never seen any record of the actual votes cast for the candidates. The only fact on the Journal is the concurrence of both Orders on the first ballot, " in the election of the Rev. WILLIAM HEATHCOTE DE LAN- CEY, D.D., of the Diocese of Pennsylvania." The Rev. Benjamin Hale, D.D., seconded by the Rev. John M'Carty, offered a resolu- tion, unanimously adopted, making the election of Dr. De Lancey unanimous.
A member of the Convention writes to the Churchman that Dr. De Lancey was elected by " a large majority." If so, it was more than his friends expected, knowing the strong feeling in favour of Dr. Eastburn. § The election was of course a great disappointment to the
* See note on the DeLancey Family, p. 127 infra.
t The tellers for the Clergy were Dr. Shelton, Mr. Prevost, and Mr. William C. Pierrepont ; for the Laity, the Rev. Kendrick Metcalf, Messrs. Charles H. Carroll and William B. Rogers. " The gravity, silence and good order which pre- vailed, must have shown to all present that whatever there might be of difference of opinion, all were moved by the sincerest desire to discharge their duty under a holy trust that the Great Head of the Church would guide them to the best re- sult." (Gospel Messenger, Nov. 10, 1838.)
# Bishop De Lancey said to me at the election of Bishop Coxe in 1865, that " no nominations had ever been made in this Diocese."
§ Dr. Bolles says (and I have lately heard the same thing from the Rev. Gard- ner M. Skinner, then a Hobart student who was present), that as soon as the result of the election was announced, "one good woman (in the gallery, my other informant says) cried out, ' O, poor Dr. Eastburn !' "
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ELECTION OF BISHOP DE LANCEY
friends of the latter, but it was met for the most part in a thoroughly good spirit, the only exception, so far as I know, being in the utter- ances of a bitterly partizan sheet in Philadelphia which even the gentle Bishop White would not allow to come into his house .* None, indeed, were more thankful in later years for the choice of Bishop De Lancey than many of those who had worked most zealously for his opponent ; none of them all more thankful than the good President Hale, who was till death the Bishop's devoted and loving friend. t
The Bishop-elect had become known to the Church as a man of mark in the very first years of his Priesthood. A graduate of Yale 1817, Deacon (Dec. 28, 1819) and Priest (March 6, 1822) under Bishop Hobart, and giving his first pastoral services at his own home at Mamaroneck, N. Y., he became in 1822, at twenty-five, by Bishop Hobart's suggestion, Bishop White's personal assistant at S. Peter's, Philadelphia (his only charge as Priest, ¿ of which it used to be said that no Rector left it except for a bishopric), and was soon after chosen as Secretary of the Diocese and of the House of Bishops. The next year I find published in the Christian Journal an earnest address by him at a public meeting of the " Society for the Advance- ment of Christianity."§ In 1828, at the age of thirty, he became Provost (and Professor of Moral Philosophy) of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Doctor of Divinity of Yale, which was an honour in those days for a young man. He resigned the Presidency of the University in 1833, after five years' service which may be said to have saved that Institution, | and resumed his charge of S. Peter's, which
* The Episcopal Recorder, which in later years became the organ of the "Reformed Episcopalians."
t Dr. Shelton, who strongly advocated the election of Dr. De Lancey, often told afterwards of his meeting him, then a Yale College student, in passing near the old Westchester home of the De Lancey family with his own father (the Rev. Philo Shelton of Connecticut), who said of "young De Lancey," " He is des- tined to be a remarkable man, and to have a distinguished history." And this first impression was confirmed long after by Bishop Hobart's high regard for Dr. De Lancey. Dr. Rudd was another earnest and able advocate for Dr. De Lancey.
# It included, however, Christ Church and S. James, Bishop White being Rec- tor of the three " united Parishes."
§ Christian Journal, July, 1823 (p. 218).
Il "He saved its life," writes one who knew him intimately in Philadelphia, " reviving it from 18 students when he was elected to 131 when he resigned. As he often said, he never sought to do anything but save the Institution, and
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
he retained till he was called to Western New York ; and he was fol- lowed through life by the affectionate regard of the people of that vener- able parish, mostly of the highest standing in Philadelphia. The story of his Episcopate, briefly as it must be told here, will show something at least of those traits of character which called forth such undying affection and reverence in all who had the happiness to know him well .*
The Primary Convention ended its session with various resolutions providing for notification to the Bishop-elect, -for measures for his consecration in S. Peter's Church, Auburn, if practicable,-for the transfer of $35,000 for his support, from the Diocese of New York, as already arranged, and for Trustees of this Fund,-for necessary changes in the Constitution and Canons,-for the time of the annual Convention,-for instructions for the Incorporation of Parishes ; and with thanks to the Acting Bishop and the people of Geneva. t
Dr. De Lancey was notified of his election on the next day after the Convention, and his acceptance of it is dated Nov. 15.
" The decided majority which elected me," he says, "and the gratifying unanimity with which all so readily concurred in the de- cision, fortify me in the belief that, although a stranger to many, I shall not only be received by the Diocese with cordiality, but exper- ience in the discharge of my duties the forbearing kindness and cheerful co-operation which the consciousness of many deficiencies, and a proper view of the responsibilities of the office, make me sensible that I shall greatly need."
The Special Convention for the Consecration of the Bishop-elect met in S. Peter's Church, Auburn (where Bishop Hobart had laid down his office), on the Eve of the Feast of the Ascension, May 8,
only yielded to the wishes of the first men of Philadelphia of that day in accept- ing its Presidency ; and the University has never since fallen from the career on which he launched it."
* " In truth, it was a tremendous sacrifice for De Lancey to leave his dear S. Peter's and his vast circle of loving friends in Philadelphia, to accept the new- formed Episcopate of Western New York. Nothing but his Christian heroism, which forbade him to show cowardice in the face of the enemy, led him to do it, and with his splendid character, that was enough." These words from the Rev. John Brainard, D. D., come just as I have written the above lines.
t Journ. Primary Convention, 24-6.
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CONSECRATION OF BISHOP DE LANCEY
1839 .* Forty-three clergymen of the Diocese were present, of whom thirty-four had been members of the Primary Convention ; thirteen came from other Dioceses, (six from New York, including Drs. Berrian and Taylor, and two from Pennsylvania). Forty-four Par- ishes were represented by 103 Lay-Delegates. The first day of the Convention was occupied with Morning Service and a Sermon by Bishop H. U. Onderdonk, and later with organization and sundry arrangements for the offices of the following day : then followed an Address by the Acting Bishop of the Diocese, on the conclusion of his labours in it, the founding of a new parish (Grace Church) in Utica, the retirement of one of the oldest missionaries, the Rev. George H. Norton of Allen's Hill, the recent decease of another faithful mission- ary, the Rev. Seth S. Rogers, and the incorporation of the first Church School, " Hobart Hall," at Holland Patent, near Utica.
" And now, dear brethren," the Bishop concludes," I have brought to a close the last Episcopal Address to be made to you. . The memory of former years comes over me, when I was wont to take sweet counsel with you as part of a larger charge. They have passed, and have borne along with them dispensations and orderings of God's Providence which have led, rightly and for the best, to the severance which the services of tomorrow will complete. It will not, however, affect that union of my heart with you-and as of you I here recognize the beloved brother who is to be over you in the Lord -which, let me hope, not even death can sever."
The morning of the Feast of the Ascension, we are told, "opened brightly, and the throngs in the streets and places of public resort showed that an interesting and solemn scene was anticipated."
Of the ceremonial we have but the barest details, and can only imagine the accessories from our general knowledge of what church arrangements and services were in those days. " Morning Prayers were read by the Rev. Lucius Smith, and the Lessons by the Rev. George Upfold, D.D., of Pennsylvania, formerly of New York, a warm per- sonal friend of the Bishop-elect." The Sermon was by the Bishop of New York, on "The Episcopal Office," from II Cor. XI. 28. "Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches." It was substantially a plea for
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