USA > New York > The diocese of Western New York : a history and recollections > Part 23
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t In Appendix No. V. to the Journal of 1858 (p. 150) will be found a note of considerable length and interest on the Cable, with the messages interchanged before its temporary failure.
11
REDUCED FACSIMILE OF LITHOGRAPHIC DRAWING OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, BUFFALO. Published during the erection of the new stone edifice in 1851, for the benefit of the " Chime Fund."
Reproduced by permission from the Evans-Bartlett History of St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, copyrighted and published 1903.
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GROWTH IN 1849-59
giving, and an Address from Dr. Shelton. It was an occasion long to be remembered ; but I can only refer to the Address of 1859 and accompanying notes, and the Messenger, for the full account of it.
The Convention of 1859 was held (for the first time) at Elmira. The Rev. Dr. Maunsell Van Rensselaer was the preacher. The chief interest of the gathering was in the Bishop's Address and story of his long absence in England. The Christmas Fund was put under the protection of a canon which limited its appropriations (in spite of some effort to the contrary) to $250, the accumulated fund being now $5,242.80. The Rev. Henry A. Neely reported from a Committee of 1858 the beginning of a collection of "manuscript sermons of de- ceased clergy of the Diocese" with a view to the publication of at least part of them. It need hardly be said that nothing ever came of this project beyond the collection of a large box of MSS. which may possibly be still in the "archives" of the Diocese ; but at the time there seemed to be much interest in the matter.
Something should be said of the growth of parishes and building of churches during the second decade of Bishop De Lancey's Epis- copate and of the Diocese. In 1859 there are reported 138 Clergy, 19 Candidates for Orders, 146 Parishes, 10,834 Communicants, 8,773 Sunday Scholars ; $9,601.86 contributed for Diocesan objects (of which $4,700.98 for Diocesan Missions, $1,502.72 for the Christmas Fund, and $1, 599.79 for the Bishop's expenses in Europe), and $4,094 .- 72 for general objects (about $1,000 each for Domestic and Foreign Missions, and $700 for the Church Book Society) ; offerings for Paro- chial objects are only partially reported, but sum up $48,704.82. A comparison of these figures with 1849 shows that the Diocese had gained in clergy 22 per cent., in Parishes 15 per cent., in Communicants 70 per cent., in Sunday Scholars had much more than doubled ; but in the last two items the gain is more apparent than real, both being reported much more fully in the latter year ; in 1849 only two- thirds of the Parishes make any report of Sunday Scholars. Offer- ings for Diocesan Missions had apparently more than doubled, but in 1849 not half the parishes report anything for that object, while in 1859 the Education and Missionary Board report that there was a deficit in the ordinary collections, made up by a special appeal to the Parishes. These appeals increased in frequency and urgency as years went on. For Domestic Missions there is a slight loss, while for For-
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
eign Missions offerings have doubled. Candidates for Orders have diminished by one; the average number during the ten years was seventeen. During this time the population of the Diocese had increas- ed but 7.7 per cent. ; a very important factor in the question of its numerical growth, the days of emigration to Western New York being now past and gone. On the other hand the growth of the four large towns (Utica, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo) of about 52 per cent. had undoubtedly strengthened the Church greatly, her gain being al- ways largely in centres of population ; although the increase of com- municants in proportion to population does not show as much as in the country parishes. The growth of the Diocese, so far as these figures go, seems to have been steady and substantial, but not in any way remarkable as compared with earlier years. The proportion of Com- municants to population, which is after all the fairest measure of the Church's real progress, had increased from one in 256 in 1839, and one in 166 in 1849, to one in 125 in 1859 .*
Even in 1859 there was not in the whole Diocese what would now be called a large parish, except perhaps S. Luke's, Rochester. The three largest of the now seven Buffalo churches-S. John, S. Paul and Trinity-had respectively 260, 248 and 270 communicants ; three in Rochester besides S. Luke, (that is, Christ Church, S. Paul and Trinity) had 146, 230, and 175; S. James and S. Paul, Syra- cuse, 96 and 258; and Calvary, Grace and Trinity, Utica, 104, 200 and 120. One country parish-Geneva-reports 338 ; one-Water- town-258 ; two-Canandaigua and Oswego-nearly 200 ; four- Binghamton, Batavia, Lyons and Rome-over 150. If to these we add Lockport (Grace), Bath, Waterloo and Palmyra, with over 120 each, we have about all which would be called " strong " parishes even in that day.
The church-building of the Diocese had improved greatly in those ten years, though the churches of really good architecture and sub- stantial character might almost be counted on one's fingers, even including the wooden ones, some of which have lasted longer than those of stone. Richard Upjohn had now become known as the first architect in the country, and very near him in careful study of Pointed
* These last figures are, more exactly. for the years 1840, 1850 and 1860 (see Journ. 1866, p. 184) ; but they give relative proportion in different years fairly enough.
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PARISH CHURCHES
architecture (almost exclusively Early English) were Emlen Littell, Frank Wills, Dudley, and Congdon, all, happily, careful students rather than original geniuses. Upjohn's first work in the Diocese, if I am not mistaken-one of the first, at any rate-was a beautiful stone church in the little village of New Berlin, completed in 1849 at a cost of $8,000, a great undertaking for a country parish of 80 com- municants, none of them rich. I cannot of course describe it, or any other, here, and very likely it has been changed, and perhaps improved, since I saw it in 1854; but it dwells in memory as an almost perfect rural church, better than many later and costlier ones in which the really great architect allowed himself to be governed by the wishes of parish committees. Next to this was a little church (of wood) in Hamilton, for which Mr. Upjohn gave the designs on the condition that they should be executed without any alteration. The simple narrow nave and little chancel (what used to be called a "budding chancel," often all that people could be persuaded to pay for, but in this case probably thought sufficient) were afterward crossed by a transept doubling its size, and I presume it remains to this day as good as ever, like the solid old Norway churches of the middle ages, which nothing but fire or man's folly will ever destroy. The Hamilton church was copied in Cazenovia, with increased length of . nave instead of the transepts, but of poor material and work, and therefore unsatisfactory in comparison. Next to this was the little church at Pulaski, Oswego county, also by Upjohn, much the same as Hamilton and Cazenovia. A church of about the same size and general character at Adams, Jefferson county, from designs by Frank Wills, was consecrated in July, 1850. Six months later comes the sec- ond Trinity Church, Watertown, by Upjohn, the first example in the Diocese of his favourite construction of open-roofed nave and aisles without clerestory. It was of wood, and of plain Early English de- sign, but of considerable size (nave and aisles 108' x 50', tower and spire 165' high), and well finished inside in black walnut, so that its very small cost, $10,300, shows remarkable care in the actual details of the building. In September of the same year Upjohn completed another fine church of simple Early English character at Rome, nave, aisles, chancel and double bell-gable of stone (with a second aisle of two bays on the south), altogether about 80' x 50', at a cost of $8,000. But the next month saw the consecration of another church
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
by the same architect, far surpassing in grandeur and architecture any- thing Western New York had seen, S. Paul's, Buffalo. This noble building was partially destroyed by fire in 1888, and rebuilt with the addition of a clerestory and another bay of chancel, but in other respects is substantially the same outside as in 1851, and in faithful- ness to the true spirit of Early English architecture, it has even now hardly any superior in the country, certainly none in the old Diocese .* The original cost was about $160,000.
A little church was built the next year at Newark, Wayne county, from designs which Mr. Upjohn afterwards published in his " Rural Architecture," as a model for country churches, a distinction of which they were well worthy. Their publication led naturally to their being copied in many parts of the country, (in two or three instances in the Diocese,) sometimes, unfortunately, with additions or (more often) subtractions which did not improve them. The beautiful church (of wood) for which they were made, is now desecrated, and replaced by a larger but not better one of stone.
S. James, Syracuse, consecrated in November, 1853, was the first distinctively free church of good size and enduring material erected in the Diocese, the result of the heroic energy, perseverance, and self- denial of the Rector, Dr. Henry Gregory. Frank Wills, its architect, gained some points in this building over his greater master, Mr. Upjohn. It was of the same general plan and size as that at Rome, but of better material and construction (being throughout of free- stone), and architecturally much superior ; its cost $13,000.1
Two very beautiful stone churches were consecrated in 1854, at Corning and (Lower) Lockport, both Early English, and by Wills and Dudley. Both are still standing, though the former has been sold, # and a larger and much more costly one has taken its place. The four churches last mentioned are noteworthy for their beautiful interior finish and furniture of butternut, one of the finest grained of all the woods native to Western New York.
* The finest feature of the exterior-the west tower and spire of 240 feet in height-was not completed till many years later, and was fortunately untouched by the fire. A complete and fully illustrated account of this beautiful church is given in the " Evans-Bartlett History of S. Paul's Church, Buffalo," just pub- lished. (Oct., 1903.)
t It was destroyed by fire some years ago.
# One does not like to say " desecrated," for it is occupied for worship.
S. JOHN'S CHURCH, PHELPS Consecrated 1856. Chancel added 1896
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PARISH CHURCHES
Another little stone church of great merit was completed and con- secrated at Phelps in 1856, from designs by Major David B. Doug- lass,-the last work of his life. Built in the simplest possible manner of stone picked up by the wayside, and used in the rough for several years before the little flock were able to finish or furnish it, the little church still witnesses to the faithfulness of the architect to the true ideal of the Lord's House, and of the people in giving and working to carry it out .*
I wish I had space to say something of several other churches which illustrate the remarkable advance made in this decade through- out the Diocese in the true spirit of church building; such as the magnificent Grace Church, Utica, second only to S. Paul's, Buffalo (and not in all respects second as it now stands) in size, cost and design ; the lovely rural church at Oxford with its two but not twin towers ; Christ Church, Binghamton, the most perfect in all its parts, perhaps, of all which Upjohn designed for this Diocese ; Waterloo, hardly less complete and perfect, by the same architect ; and Hornellsville, by Dudley. All these that I have mentioned thus far were, happily, in the earliest period of English Gothic,-happily, because it was the only style which it was possible, in that day of beginnings, to carry out thoroughly and consistently.
Several other churches built during this period, of considerable size and cost, and not without merit, can still hardly be classed with those above named in architectural ethos ; among them Grace Church, Lockport, S. John's, Mount Morris, and Christ, Oswego, deserve special mention. There has been no corresponding gain in the true spirit of Christian architecture in later years, so far as I can see ; any more than there has been, I fear, in the true spirit of Christian doctrine and life which the " Oxford movement" awakened among American Churchmen.
There was naturally in those later years of Bishop De Lancey's time some advance in the ideal of public worship and in ritual cus- toms, corresponding to that in church architecture, and like that due in part to the increase in wealth and household refinement as well as to liturgical knowledge. What has been commonly (though inaccu- rately) called the "three-decker" arrangement of pulpit, desk and altar
* A chancel was added in 1897, of the same roadside stone, and it was almost as much work to take down the east wall of 1849, as to rebuild it.
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
of Bishop Hobart's day disappeared with surprising rapidity even in the old churches as soon as Trinity Church, Geneva, had set the example for the new ones, and at the close of this decade had become quite uncommon. Often a chancel was added, and when that was not done, the altar was still put in its proper place, and often used for all parts of the service except lessons and sermon. Fonts and cre- dence tables became not uncommon ; stalls and sedilia, lecturn and prayer-desks (not Litany desks) adorned the new churches, and so did Easter flowers ; but retables, dorsals, altar-lights were yet as far in the future as were "vested choirs." There may have been some altar-crosses before 1860, but I do not remember them, though the cross often appeared on the east wall, as in old S. John's, Canan- daigua, or in the altar window, as in Trinity, Geneva. Memorial windows were only beginning ; happily, for most of the stained-glass of that day was wretched beyond description, as some of our older country churches still testify. One of the greatest practical improve- inents was the frequent and finally universal abolition of pew-doors, and to a considerable extent of pew-renting.
In 1846, Bishop De Lancey could say that " there was no substi- tution of the surplice for the gown " in the pulpits of the Diocese ; but there was as early as 1852, first, I think, by Dr. Ingersoll in Buf- falo, and (with the Bishop's approval) by Mr. Paret and myself, two young deacons, in our country parishes. By 1859 gowns were dis- appearing in a great many parishes ; in S. Luke's, Rochester, that vestment survived (naturally, with the pulpit) till quite recently. Stoles (not coloured, nor embroidered in colour) took the place of the old-fashioned wide-flaring scarf. Bands kept their place to about 1867, when they suddenly withered and died under the biting satire of John Henry Hopkins in the Church Journal. Eucharistic vestments (linen alb and chasuble) appeared in 1860, an importation from S. Alban's (not New York, but) Vermont, where they had been sanctioned by Bishop Hopkins, possibly at the suggestion of his brilliant and fearless son ; worn first by the Rev. N. Barrows at Rome, then by two or three Priests in Oneida county (including myself) and Dr. Jackson at Geneva, and finally, to our great delight, by Bishop De Lancey at his last Diocesan Convention .* The modern abomina-
* They were called at first "the S. Alban's surplice," from the supposed place of their earlier use (or possibly from a confusion between alban and alb) ; and
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RITUAL CUSTOMS
tions of short Roman surplices and stoles covered with gold did not come till long after; would they had never come !
Gloria Patri after each Psalm began to be sung earlier or later in this decade, not displacing, however, the time-honoured custom of Gloria in Excelsis after the Evening Psalms. Here and there the Priest began to sing the ordinary Preface to the Sanctus, instead of leaving it (as in Trinity, Geneva) to a female chorister in the organ- loft, or, as more often, reading the whole unmusically. Other worse customs, such as handing round the remainder of the consecrated wine to the people sitting in their pews, had mostly disappeared long before this. We never knew, happily, in this country, the wretched disputes which have occurred in England over the eastward position, which from my earliest recollection was as universal in this diocese for the Consecration as the "north end " was for the Ante-Com- munion. At Christmas, and sometimes at Easter, the altar was vested in white with wreaths of evergreen or flowers ; at other times there might be (not often, I think) a scarlet cloth (sometimes a black one !) for Feasts and Fasts alike. But perhaps I have said quite enough of these old-fashioned and almost forgotten ways and things.
were worn sometimes only as a new fashion of surplice, not as a distinctively Eucharistic habit. This was probably the case with Bishop De Lancey, who had expressed to me only the day before his dislike of a vestment which " had to be put on over one's head." But Bishop Coxe, as we shall see, distinctly approved and authorized the alb and chasuble as Eucharistic vestments (referring more than once to my own as an approved pattern), and occasionally wore them in celebrat- ing in parishes in which they were in use, as he did in my own church.
I must not leave out Bishop Paret's story of a Rochester lady who felt it her duty to provide him a gown by her own gift supplemented by those of his people, and whose application for that purpose to Mr. Charles Rose ( an " Evangelical Churchman " ) received the reply that if Mr. Paret would agree to wear the gown all through the service, he would contribute, though he liked the surplice better ; but he thought a new coat would be a more useful gift. She took the hint and sent the money to the Rector.
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE CIVIL WAR : ELECTION OF COADJUTOR, 1864
HE remaining years of Bishop De Lancey's Episcopate were occupied largely with the trials brought upon the Diocese in common with the whole Church, by the Civil War of 1861-5. I need hardly say that his part in it all, both official and personal, was the thoroughly consistent one of a Christian Bishop and a loyal citizen. Of merely partizan politics he had, both constitutionally and from principle, the strongest dislike ; and he repeatedly warned his Clergy against allow- ing themselves to be drawn into any purely political action. In 1856 he expresses the hope that
"The Clergy of the Diocese will continue to abstain, as they have hitherto so uniformly done, from intermingling themselves with the political conflicts of the day. In cultivating independence of opin- ion, suffrage, action and expression, we are never to forget that we serve a Kingdom that is not of this world ; that the Gospel pulpit is no appointed place for partizan politics ; . and that our duty is
by example, precept and persuasion to allay, not to provoke, the irri- tations of party and the evils of such conflicts, so far as truth, duty, and the interests of Christ's Kingdom will allow. For myself," he continues, "I have never even voted at an election."*
In setting forth a form of Prayer for the first National Fast appoint- ed by the President, in January, and again in September, 1861, and in the full tide of the War in 1862, he urges upon the Clergy and Laity the same spirit as to party action, but combined with a firm and loyal support of the Government. The words of the latter Address are surely worth giving in full.
" In the perils which hang over our country, the deep interest of our Protestant Episcopal Church is shown in furnishing statesmen for her Cabinet, generals for her Army, and admirals for her Navy, sol- diers for her field and sailors for her ships. We have in this Diocese discountenanced party political discussions of State questions, in her pulpits and her Conventions, as inappropriate to the true objects of the Sanctuary and the Synod. No political action is needed here. But
* Journ. 1856, p. 45.
WILLIAM THOMAS GIBSON
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THE CIVIL WAR
in prayers for her safety, in contributions for her defence, in sacrifices for her rescue, in offerings of counsel, life and treasure for her preser- vation, we stand side by side with our fellow-citizens of every name and faith throughout the land ; in the deep conviction that no form of government has ever been framed by man so favourable to the security, labours and expansion of the Church of God, as the government established by the Constitution of these United States; which, with- out a profession of faith, or any avowal of infidelity, in dating its adoption " IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD," and in exacting oaths of alle- giance, of office, and testimony in Courts of justice, in repudiating an atheist as a witness, and in punishing perjury, has openly recognized the existence of ALMIGHTY GOD, and final rewards and punishments by Him ; in which government the political and religious elements are kept distinct ; which establishes no religion, but admits and protects all ; and which has given a freedom, opportunity, and countenance to the rise and expansion of this Protestant Episcopal Church, amongst others, (on which God has been graciously pleased to shower abun- dant blessings, ) thereby not only justifying but exacting in us the zealous effort, the ready contribution, the cheerful sacrifice, and the fervent prayer that the rebellion against its authority may be sup- pressed, the Union restored, and this REPUBLIC MAY EVER BE PRESERVED; to which petition there is heard in her one hundred and fifty congre- gations in the Diocese, in loud and hearty response, AMEN."*
Which was very well from one on whom some people looked askance as " aristocratic" and " English" (" Anglophile" was not invented then). How far the Bishop's avoidance of party politics was from indifference to the great principles involved is shown by a remark he made to me some years before the war, which I cannot quote exactly, but to the effect that we had a great national evil (or sin) upon us in the existence of slavery, and it did not seem that we were doing anything to solve the problem which sooner or later must be met. i His views on the war and the action of the General Con- vention of 1862 in relation to it are quite fully given in an article in the Gospel Messenger of that date, which he republished as a note to his Address of 1863.$
When, in 1863, the draft for the supply of the Army reached the Clergy of the Diocese, the Bishop promptly brought the matter of
* Journ. 1862, p. 54.
t I remember too his intense and joyful interest in the success of his old friend General Meade (once his Warden in S. Peter's, Philadelphia) in the great and decisive battle of Gettysburg.
# Journ. 1863, p. 27.
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
their relief before the Convention, and at his instance a large sum was contributed for such commutations for personal service as were needed ; and in addition to this he addressed to the President a let- ter urging the assignment of duty as non-combatants to those who were actually brought into service, which request was acceded to. This letter, fully setting forth the principles of the Catholic Church in this respect, was one of his last official papers .*
The last day of May, 1861, brought to a successful completion a great effort for the endowment of Hobart College, begun by the munificent legacy of the Hon. Allen Ayrault, and in which the Bish- op had felt the deepest interest. This involved also the erection of the present College Chapel, the gift of William B. Douglas, and the endowment of the Chaplaincy. How the Bishop felt about this last office and its duties appears in some words of his Address of 1860.
"The religious part of education," he says, "is that in which the Diocese is most deeply concerned. Education needed by boys in College is Physical, Intellectual, Moral and Spiritual. The first is very slightly attended to in any of our Colleges. [Forty years ago.] The second commands the urgent zeal of the teachers ; the third shares a portion of their anxiety and efforts. But the fourth, alike difficult and delicate, demands, what it seldom receives, the care, exertion, vigilance, guidance and instruction of a PASTOR IN THE COLLEGE, disconnected with its police, and independent of the collisions between the Faculty and Students ; a spiritual guide and counsellor, to whom the students might go as to a parent."ยก
With these views the Chaplaincy was founded by that devoted Churchman and generous friend of Hobart College, John Hewett Swift of New York ; the corner-stone of S. John's Chapel was laid at the Commencement of 1862, with a grand address from one of the Alum- ni, the Rev. Dr. William T. Gibson, which should have been scat- tered far and wide in pamphlet form as well as published in the Messenger ; # and on Oct. 29, 1863, the consecration took place, with a Sermon at the Bishop's request by the Rev. Dr. Morgan
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