USA > New York > The diocese of Western New York : a history and recollections > Part 8
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DIOCESAN MISSIONS IN 1827
to secure the latter freed from the corrupting alloy of the former. And this we shall do, if we steadfastly take as the landmarks that are to regulate us, the doctrines, order, and worship of our Church. Let us not neglect the vital doctrines of the sinfulness and guilt of man, of justification through a lively and operative faith in a Divine Saviour, of sanctification through the power of the Holy Spirit, because these inestimable characteristics of the Gospel are lamentably deformed by the errors of speculative heresy, and the extravagances of a rampant enthusiasm. But let us not seek to connect with the full pro- vision which our Church has made for advancing the holiness of her members, practices, however plausible, unknown to her sober yet fer- vent spirit. Never advancing beyond her prescriptions into any well meant but unauthorized means of advancing the interests of religion, let us apply all our efforts to give effect to her evangelical doctrine, her Apostolic Ministry, her primitive and rational worship."*
The Missionary Reports of the year, while as always of much interest, call for no special remark, except perhaps a noteworthy para- graph in that of Mr. Davis, the Catechist of the Oneidas, on a sub- ject which in that day had hardly begun to attract general attention.
" The Oneidas," he says, " are gradually improving in agriculture. and the mechanic arts ; and such has been their advancement, that every doubt must vanish as to their susceptibility of being raised to the privileges and enjoyments of civilized men. My situation is ren- dered much more pleasant by the recent formation of a Society among the white people in our vicinity, the object of which is to prevent the sale of spirituous liquor to the Indians. It is composed of the most respectable part of the white population, and they are determined to put an effectual stop to an evil which has hitherto been the most formid- able one we have had to contend with, and which has contributed; more than any other, to the degradation and misery of these unfortu- nate people. The Society are taking measures to have the existing law prohibiting the sale of ardent spirits to the natives, under a severe penalty, strictly enforced against every offender, and have already begun to realize the most beneficial results."t
A CHILDREN'S CHOIR OF 1827.
At the risk of unduly prolonging this chapter, I add an interesting article from the Gospel Messenger, I. 187 (Dec. 8, 1827). The writer is " desirous of pointing out to the surrounding villages (in W. New York) the most interesting, impressive, and successful attempt to improve Church music," that he recollects ever to have witnessed.
* Journ. N. Y. 1828, p. 26.
t Journ. N. Y. 1828, p. 53.
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
" It was at Geneva that I spent last Sunday, and being totally unprepared for anything out of the ordinary range, I should have thought that the state of my own feelings, arising from the distance from my friends, the romantic location of the village, etc., afforded the real key to the mysterious charm, had I not perceived that some of those who appeared to be old members of the congregation were affected to tears. About twenty interesting boys and girls (some of whom did not appear to be more than six or seven years of age) occu- pied the front of the gallery ; and produced such a volume of tone, that, together with the plainness, simplicity, and solemnity of their style of singing, and the sweetness of the harmony, made me find a witness in myself how much this part of our excellent service contri- butes, when duly attended to, to the forming of that devotional frame of mind so devoutly to be wished for when we assemble to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.
" What excited my feelings almost to enthusiasm, must indeed have been delightful to the parents and friends of the children. To hear them at so early an age assist in the celebration of the praises of the Most High, and to witness their serious and amiable deportment, must have created sensations almost to be envied.
" Some of the hymns, too, from the admirable selection lately promulgated by the Episcopal Church,* were introduced with appro- priate tunes. This mode of enriching and giving variety to our hitherto limited collection of sacred melodies, is much to be approved of ; and it is gratifying to find that this point, which seemed to be the last refuge of prejudice, is at length giving way before the march of intelligence.
" The conduct of the music was evidently under the direction of musical talent not to be expected in so new a country, and the pro- curing of which reflects no small credit on the congregation. This is a matter of the greatest importance, as, without competent teachers, following the example of Geneva in other arrangements, however desir- able it may be, would, of course, have an opposite tendency to the one wished for ; since children at that age are susceptible of receiv- ing impressions which will endure for life. And in the present instance, I may truly say that not even in Boston can they boast of
* The Hymns, as distinguished from the " Psalms in Metre," and 212 in num- ber, were set forth and appended to the Prayer Book by the General Convention of 1826, and kept their place till the Hymnal of 1871 was published. They were compiled largely from a pamphlet of " Paraphrases " by Bishop H. U. Onder- donk, and the changes from the common versions of many popular hymns (e. g. our present 335 and 336) were by him.
t Some "old-fashioned " Churchmen of that day strongly objected to singing anything in metre except the " Psalms of David."
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WOODRUE
THE SECOND S. PETER'S CHURCH, AUBURN Consecrated 1833
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A CHILDREN'S CHOIR
Church singing more truly in taste ;* and I shall look to another visit to Geneva with the sincerest pleasure.
"' Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.'
" FUGA. " Hudson's Hotel, Tuesday morning."
* The Boston " Handel and Haydn Society " was in that day the ne plus ultra of sacred music in this country. So testifies my father, who had been a Boston- ian, and was now organist of S. John's Church, Canandaigua.
CHAPTER XIV
BISHOP HOBART'S LAST YEARS: THE ONEIDAS, 1829
E find in the last two years of Bishop Hobart's Episco- pate, the same round of continuous labours in the Mis- sions of his great Diocese, as well as in the fast-growing city of New York and its suburbs,-labours, alas ! more and more evidently beyond his failing strength. In Janu- ary, 1829, he visits the northern and western portion of the State, and on the Feast of S. Paul has " the gratification of consecrating Christ Church, Oswego, a large and beautiful Gothic edifice of stone in that rising village," and confirming forty persons. Four days later (Jan. 29), he consecrated S. Michael's Church, Geneseo, " a brick edifice of the Gothic order, in its exterior and interior handsomely and appro- priately furnished." On the 7th of February he consecrated Zion Church, Palmyra, in which also " great taste and propriety are dis- played as to the style and arrangements of the building." In July he visits the Oneidas again, confirming 97 of them, and " was inexpres- sibly gratified with the evidence of their piety and Christian zeal." Ten days later he held a council with the chiefs in relation to their spiritual interests, " in an ancient butternut grove, from time imme- morial their council ground," where the chiefs and warriors arranged themselves in circles within which the Bishop and Clergy were seated.
" Groups of young men and women and children scattered around the assemblage, regarding with evident attention and interest what was said and done. The address to me of one of the chiefs, to which I replied, the speech of another to the natives, and the final address of the orator of the nation to me, were marked by strong good sense, and by simple and commanding eloquence. It is the strong dictate of Christian sympathy and duty to cherish this mission among the Oneidas, who are so favourably disposed to our Church, and who are advancing in the arts and comforts of civilized life."
On the 14th of September he visited this mission for the third time this year, and admitted their Catechist, Solomon Davis, to Priest's Orders, he having been ordered Deacon at Manlius only the day before.
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THE ONEIDAS, 1829
" The peculiar situation of the Oneidas," the Bishop says, "ren- dered it desirable that Mr. Davis should without delay receive Priest's Orders. On this occasion, a pertinent and affecting address, drawn up at the request of the chiefs, was read to me in their name, in which they requested me to recognize Mr. Davis as their permanent Pastor. This was done in a simple significant ceremony, suggested by them. The chiefs standing behind each other, each chief placed his hands on the shoulders of the chief before him, and the first chief on the shoulders of Mr. Davis, whom I took and held by the right hand while I replied to their address. By this ceremony they wished me to understand that a strong bond of union was formed between them, their Pastor, and their Bishop."*
In August and September (immediately after recovery from illness, and attendance at the General Convention in Philadelphia), he visits Avon, Hunt's Hollow (consecrating the churches in these places), Le Roy, Batavia, Allen's Hill, Canandaigua, Waterloo, Bath, " Big Flatts," Havanna (probably what is now Montour Falls), Catherine Town, Ithaca, Moravia, Onondaga Hill, Syracuse, Jamesville, Man- lius, Paris, New Hartford, Utica, and some parishes farther east, this visitation extending nearly to October, and including that to the Oneidas already mentioned. At several places there were ordinations of Priests and Deacons.
The Bishop speaks with great pleasure of the procuring by the " Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Piety in the West- ern District," of a press (afterwards, and for many years, known as " the Hobart Press") for printing the Gospel Messenger at Auburn,
* I found at Oneida (Wis.) in 1895, the sons and grandsons of these chiefs with a vivid recollection, not, of course, of the scene itself, but of the story of it, and of other visits of Bishop Hobart, which they had heard again and again from their fathers, whose chieftainship (with a very strong moral and official control of their people) they inherit. One might travel far to find nobler looking men than these Oneida chiefs of the present day. An article in the Gospel Messenger of 1829 gives the following account of their behaviour in church :
"I beheld around me a large assembly of these children of nature, all appar- ently seriously meditating on the things of religion, and the duties which belong to the worshipper. No face was turned in idle and irreverent gazing about the house ; and when from the vestry we entered within the chancel, and knelt before the altar, the whole congregation by a simultaneous motion arose from their seats and kneeled to offer up their private devotions. . There was
. none of that affected delicacy which prevents their more enlightened brethren from falling low on their knees before the footstool of God."
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
and tracts and other publications in the interests of the Church. And finally he mentions as
" A subject of deep lamentation, the insufficient supply of clergy- men," through which " some feeble congregations are gradually wast- ing away, and numerous opportunities are lost of establishing our Church in situations highly favourable to her extension. The only remedy is that which is successfully applied by other denominations of Christians, to provide the means of educating pious young men for the Ministry. The Committee appointed on this subject, of which I am Chairman, are prepared to report a plan for raising permanent contri- butions for this object. The success of the plan will of course depend on the zealous and persevering exertions of the Clergy and Laity. I cannot for a moment suppose that these will be wanting."
A Canon was accordingly adopted by the Convention establishing a " Theological Education Fund," and making it the duty of every Minister in charge to have collections or subscriptions made, which, after reaching $100, should entitle the congregation (or individuals) to a beneficiary pursuing theological studies in the Diocese under the direction of the Bishop and Standing Committee. This is obviously one anticipation of Bishop De Lancey's plan for the foundation of a diocesan " Training School."*
These were not only the last words which Bishop Hobart addressed to the Convention of his Diocese, but the last official record of his Episcopal acts.
The Diocean Convention of 1828 appointed a Committee "to devise a plan for the creation of a fund for the Relief of Clergymen of this Diocese whose circumstances may require it, and who may be incapacitated, by age or sickness, from any further discharge of their clerical functions." That Committee reported in 1829 "that it is expedient to establish a society to be denominated the Clerical Annuity Society of the Diocese of New York," and another Com- mittee was appointed to organize such a Society. It was referred to the same Committee " to consider of some suitable method for the relief of such clergymen of the Diocese as may at present, be disa- bled from the discharge of professional duties."t A meeting of the Clergy for forming the Society was called by the Committee for Oct. 6, 1830, the eve of the Convention. # But that is the last allusion to
* Journ. N. Y. 1829, pp. 21-4, 66.
t Journ. N. Y. 1829, p. 25.
# Christian Journal, XIV. 288. (Sept., 1830.)
...
RECTORY OF S. PETER'S CHURCH, AUBURN Where Bishop Hobart died, 1830
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BISHOP HOBART'S LAST YEARS
the subject that I find in the Journals or elsewhere till long after. Probably the overwhelming interest of Bishop Hobart's death and the election of his successor prevented the meeting from being held.
The Rev. William W. Bostwick, of Bath, reports the founding of S. James's Church, " at the growing village of Hammond's Port," where " the principal proprietor, Mr. Lazarus Hammond, has gener- ously given to the Vestry an eligible site for the erection of a church." The same zealous Missionary reports a beginning of services at Olean, Wayne, and Pleasant Valley. At " Catharine Town, Big Flatts, and Painted Post," under the Rev. John D. Gilbert, prospects are improv- ing, and at " a new and promising village in this town, situated at the head-waters of Seneca Lake, the Church has recently opened her services and found a number of friends." This place is called " Havanna " in the next year's report, but no parish was organized at that village (now Montour Falls) till 1856, while S. James's Church, Watkins (then called Jefferson), close by, was organized that very year. The Rev. Rufus Murray reports the organization of S. John's Church, Ellicottville, which, with " Oleans " (formerly Olean Point), will form a pleasant Missionary station. The Rev. Edward Andrews reports a new rectory and bell at New Berlin, and church, rectory and bell at Sherburne, Chenango Co., where the Church had been planted only two years before .* Ithaca, under the Rev. Ralph Williston, is growing into a prosperous parish, with missions in several neighbouring villages.
* The foundation and rapid growth of this little parish were largely the result of the work of one layman, Harry N. Fargo, a merchant of Sherburne, who gave time, labour and money to build it up; took charge of Sunday School and lay- reading ; and gave himself and all he had unsparingly to the Church's service till his death.
CHAPTER XV
LAST WORK AND DEATH OF BISHOP HOBART, 1830
HE year 1830, the last of Bishop Hobart's life, reports the founding of parishes at Westfield, Hector, Oriskany, Olean, Guilford, Watkins, and Fayetteville, and the building of a church in the new mission of Christ Church, in the town of Pompey, Onondaga county, where, far from any village or even hamlet, there was for years after this a congregation including nearly every family within several miles, and more than one hundred communicants. The zealous missionary in charge (the Rev. James Selkrig) built with his own hands a good sized and good toned organ for the church. For a time the parish did a good work and had every prospect of permanent success ; but in the end it was found impossible to sustain a church so far from any centre of secular life and work, and the church was deserted and finally taken down .*
The Journal of 1830 contains also the first report of the Rev. William Shelton, "Missionary at Buffalo, Erie county, and parts adja- cent," who took charge of that station Sept. 1, 1829, with a missionary stipend of $125. He says that "the present condition of the parish is felicitous," (notwithstanding the " disheartening circumstances " under which it was founded, ) and that "a few years more of prosperity will place it on a level with any of the churches of the West." There were then between 50 and 60 communicants, six having been added during the year. t
The arrangements for the removal of the Oneida Indians to their new Reservation in Wisconsin (then a part of the Territory of Michi- gan) were nearly completed, and the greater part of them left this year their ancient home in New York, and took up their residence near Green Bay, at what was then called Duck Creek, but has since been named Oneida. A small portion of them, with their Missionary, the Rev. Solomon Davis, remained at Oneida, N. Y., until 1833, when
* An account of a visit to this "deserted Church " appears in the Gospel Mes- senger (XXXII. 22, Feb. 19, 1858), showing its condition in 1856.
t Buffalo was then a busy village of some 6,000 inhabitants.
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LAST WORK OF BISHOP HOBART, 1830
their old home was entirely broken up, and the mission chapel sold and removed. Happily, the Church did not cease to care for them, and they are, in their Wisconsin home, still her faithful children, assembling regularly from miles around for the services in their beauti- ful church, and taking part both as Catechumens and Communicants with an earnest and reverent devotion delightful to behold .*
The Bishop made his last visit to " the Western District" in August, 1830, arriving at Rochester Aug. 28, and on the following day, Sun- day, instituting the Rev. Dr. Henry J. Whitehouse as Rector of S. Luke's Church, and confirming sixty-five persons.
On Monday he consecrated S. Paul's Church, on the east side, paying (as the village paper says) " a deserved compliment to those who had been instrumental in founding and completing the noble edifice, striking for the novel elegance of its arrangements and decorations.t The Bishop adverted to the contrast which the brief reminiscence of twelve years presented between his first officiating to not more than four Episcopal families, and the imposing circum- stances attending the present visitation."
From Rochester the Bishop went directly to Auburn, arriving on Sept. I at the home of the Rev. Dr. Rudd (the rectory of S. Peter's Church), in his usual health, with the exception of a slight cold, and confirming and preaching the next day. This was his last official duty. A bilious attack (to which he had been subject occasionally for many years), so slight, apparently, at first, that he had deter- mined to go on to the consecration of Christ Church, Pompey, the next day, soon developed severe, and later fatal symptoms ; and on Saturday, the 11th, death being evidently near at hand, he received his last Communion at the hands of the Rev. Dr. Rudd.
" When the person officiating came, in the Confession, to the words, 'by thought, word and deed,' the Bishop stopped him and
* Of the thousand Oneidas on the Reservation, as I am informed, there is hardly one unbaptized adult or child; and a very large proportion of the adults, both men and women, are communicants. In May, 1895, I had the great pleas- ure of preaching to them, through their Deacon and interpreter, Cornelius Hill, (a chief now in Priest's Orders,) and bringing to them some memories of their old New York home. I shall never forget the grand chorus of men's (as well as women's) voices with which the chants and hymns were sung.
t Still standing (1903) on S. Paul St., but blocked up between two enormous shops, abandoned and desecrated.
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
said, ' You know the Church expects us to pause over these words ; pause now, repeating one of the words at a time, till I request you to go on.' This was done, and the pauses in each case were so long, that a fear passed over our minds that he had lost his recollection, or fallen asleep. This, however proved not to be so ; he repeated each word, and after the third pause added, ' Proceed, I will interrupt you no more.' At the proper place he requested to hear read the 93d hymn [" Thou God, all glory, honour, power, Art worthy to receive "], and as soon as the reading was ended, he sung clearly the second and third verses. During the night he said very little, and for about four hours was nearly insensible to what was passing around. He sank into the arms of death without a struggle, and his face soon assumed that engaging expression which has in life so often delighted those who loved him."
The Bishop died at four o'clock on Sunday morning, Sept. 12, 1830, aged 55 years wanting two days. In the afternoon of that day his remains were taken to Weedsport, eight miles from Auburn, and thence conveyed by the Erie Canal and Hudson River to New York, reach- ing the city on the morning of Sept. 16. In the evening of the same day they were laid beneath the altar of Trinity Church. The proces- sion on foot from the Bishop's house in Varick St. numbered some 700 persons, including eighty clergymen (in gowns) and many laymen repre- senting the city and country parishes, the State and City Government, the General Theological Seminary, Columbia College, and a number of Church, Historical, Literary and Benevolent Societies. The Buri- al Service was said by the Bishop (Moore) of Virginia, and the Rev. Drs. Lyell and Schroeder. It was followed by a sermon from the Rev. Benjamin T. Onderdonk, D.D., the Bishop's intimate friend, and a few weeks later his successor .*
I cannot even mention here the honours to Bishop Hobart's memory which came from all parts of the country and all religious denomina- tions, the account of which fills a large part of the last volume (1834)
* Christian Journal, XIV. 313-16,325 : N. Y. American, Sept. 17, 1830.
The N. Y. Evening Post of the next day is the authority for the incident which has been so often related, of the military honours rendered by the corps of " Scott's Cadets," commanded by Captain Jackson, who happened to be on parade in Broadway. " They halted and divided to allow the procession a passage. The men were ordered to place their arms in the usual position for doing military honours, and stood with their faces bowed on their pieces in a natural and expres- sive attitude of respect and sorrow." (See Bp. Coxe's interesting account of the funeral, at which he was present, in Cent. Hist. Dioc. N. Y., 1885, p. 107.)
RT. REV. JOHN HENRY HOBART, S.T.D.
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DEATH OF BISHOP HOBART, 1830
of the Christian Journal. The fullest appreciation of him, both as a man, and as an "epoch-making " Bishop, has been given by Bishop Coxe in his contribution to the Centennial History of the Diocese of New York,-an article which should have had a far wider circulation as a separate publication. In his address on the same occasion the Bishop says truly that the Diocese of Western New York and its Col- lege " are trophies of Bishop Hobart's life ; to him we owe our exist- ence." It is of course with the influence of his Episcopate on this Diocese that we are chiefly concerned here ; and we may see that in three respects at least it was truly " epoch-making "; that it left an impress on the Church in Western New York which it would not have had without him, and which it has largely retained to this day. First, in actual growth on foundations laid through his wise and vigorous over- sight. We have already noted the fact that the Church in his time gained nearly three-fold on the rapid increase of population in this part of the State. He found Davenport Phelps the only Missionary west of Utica, in a population of 350,000 ; he left thirty-six within the same limits,out of the fifty-two in the whole of New York. He found twenty parishes and missions with five churches, two of them unfinished, and less than five hundred communicants; he left sixty-six, with thirty-six churches built and consecrated, and 2,331 communicants, and about one thousand children under catechetical and Sunday-school instruc- tion .* He found no provision for the support of the Episcopate except the salary of an Assistant Minister of Trinity Church ; he left an Episcopate Fund of $46,474. All this increase was largely owing to the personal efforts of the Bishop, but much more, doubtless, to the spirit which his character and example infused into his Clergy and Laity. But of far greater importance was his championship, and his clear and persuasive setting forth in his preaching, his addresses, and his books, of the distinctive principles of the Church, until his time,
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