USA > New York > The earliest churches of New York and its vicinity > Part 6
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Trinity Parish gained so much in ten years that it became necessary to provide another chapel for its increasing members. St. Paul's was accordingly com- menced in 1763, just a century ago, and completed in 1766. In architectural design and beauty, it was une- qualled, at that period, throughout the land ; and, for its characteristic style, we do not think surpassed, even
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in our own day of boasted progress. Some think the representation of the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, directly over the altar, is inappropriate and objection- able; but this is a mere matter of taste. It is a beauti- ful work. St. Paul's was opened October 30, 1766, and the dedication sermon preached by Dr. Auchmuty. After General Washington was inaugurated, at the old City Hall, Broad street, he retired to St. Paul's, with his officers, to unite in suitable religious services. There, too, that great man frequently received the Communion of the Lord's Supper. Alas! alas! who of his succes- sors, in their responsible office, imitates his pious exam- ple ! In 1774, the.Rev. John Vardill was called as an assistant minister in Trinity. It is worthy of note, that he was the god-father of that excellent citizen, General Laight. Mr. Vardill then in England, and the Revolu- tionary struggle going on, he never entered upon the duties of his sacred office. The Rev. Benjamin Moore and the Rev. Mr. Bowden were also called as assistant ministers in Trinity. Soon after this period the trouble- some times of the Revolution came on, when the . Eng- lish clergy" experienced severe trials. They belonged to the "Church of England," and, of course, had their loyal feelings ; and this fact often brought them into difficulties, and even persecution. The Declaration of Independence greatly increased their trials, as not to pray for the King and the royal family. according to the Liturgy, was contrary to their conscience, oath, and duty : and to use such prayers would have provoked inevitable destruction. To avoid both these evils, the only course was either flight or closing their churches.
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The last became universal, with the exception of - the venerable Mr. Beach, of Connecticut. He was a bold Churchman, officiating as usual, and declaring that he would pray and preach for his King until his tongue should be cut out. Strange enough, he was never dis- turbed in his loyalty ; but notwithstanding all his loyal preaching and praying, down went the royal power, and with it an "Established Church" in America.
When the Americans took possession of New York, most of the royalists retired into the country. Mr. Inglis removed his family, for safety, up the Hudson, and Dr. Auchmuty sought a home with his at New Brunswick, New Jersey. The British again possessing New York, in 1776, Dr. Auchmuty returned once more to the city. Searching the rubbish of his late venerable church and his own house, destroyed by the great fire of September, he found the church plate, with a few trifles. Divine Providence had preserved him two chapels-St. George's and St. Paul's-where he commenced religious services again.
In the midst of these troubles of war, the rector, Dr. Auchmuty, was taken to his eternal rest, March 4. 1777. Mr. Inglis preaching the funeral sermon on the 9th. It was delivered in St. Paul's, which he had consecrated to the Almighty, and where he had declared his last message, two days before his fatal illness. He was a man of humane and benevolent heart, an affectionate friend and husband, and a faithful minister. His mind clear to the last, he united in fervent prayer a few moments before he expired, and without a struggle or a groan, finished his course. Happy end of a pious life !
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Mr. Hildreth's death, the catechist, followed the next year, when Mr. Amos Bull succeeded him, in 1777.
The British evacuated the city on the 25th of Novem- ber, 1783, and "Evacuation Day" is still celebrated, yearly, by a military parade. This event had been delayed some, to afford the "Loyalists" ample time to remove from the country. Dr. Inglis, rector of Trinity, was a fearless and conscientious "Loyalist," but very obnoxious to the "Rebels," as he called the Americans. He resigned his rectorship, November 1, 1783, and left for Nova Scotia-the wisest thing he could have done. The wardens and vestrymen forthwith elected the Rev. Benjamin Moore their new rector-a "Tory," though not so obnoxious as Dr. Inglis.
When the Whigs, however, returned to the city, in November, from their long seven years' banishment, the Churchmen among them became indignant that they should have a new Tory rector; and they soon peti- tioned the State Legislature that a new election might be held. This valuable and curious document is still in existence. We find some well-known family names among its signers :--- Cornelius Haight, John Rutherford, Thomas Lewis, Robert Thompson. Anthony L. Bleecker, William Duer, Edward Fleming. George Leayeraft, John Pintard, Lewis Graham, Simon Schermerhorn, Robert Troop, Marinus Willett, Richard Deane, Anthony Rut- gers, Jacob Leonard, Thomas Hanmond, William Deane. Edward Dunscomb, Sam'l Johnson, Thos. Tucker, John De La Mater, John Holt. Jacob Morris, Thos. Smith. David Provoost. J. Fairlie, Anthony Li-penard, Theodore Fow- ler, John Bailey, Samuel Gifford, Daniel Dunscomb, &e.
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CHAPTER VI.
ST. GEORGES BURNED IN 1814-REBUILT BY THE LIBERALITY OF TRINITY -- BENJAMIN T. ONDERDONK AN ASSISTANT RECTOR-MR. HOBART, ASSISTANT OF BISHOP MOORE-SKETCH OF THE BISHOP --- MR. HOBART, A WARM CHURCHMAN, ELECTED BISHOP, 1811-INS DEATH, 1830-DB. DERRIAN ELECTED RECTOR OF TRINITY, REV. HENRY ANTIION AND DR. J. M. WAINWRIGHT, ASSISTANT MINISTERS -- . DR. WAINWRIGHT BECOMES BISHOP, AND THE REV. EDWARD G. HIGBEE AN ASSISTANT MINISTER OF TRINITY-BISHOP ONDERDONK- THE PRESENT BEAUTIFUL TRINITY ERECTED, AND CONSECRATED MAY 21, 1846-REV. THOMAS C. BROWNELL.
AFTER the very great liberality of Trinity to St. George's, a severe calamity occurred in her history- the fire of 1814. Old Trinity, as usual, extended the helping hand, offering to rebuild St. George's, except its steeple, which was to be replaced by a tower. Trinity also reserved the right of selling at auction all the pews on the ground floor, except twelve near the doors, subject to a reasonable rent, and the proceeds should be appropriated towards the reimbursement of the expenses of the new buildings. The twelve pews. with all in the galleries, were to be disposed of by the vestry of St. George's.
Soon after this the burying-ground was enlarged, by the payment by Trinity of fourteen thousand dollars for some adjoining lands, and a dwelling-house was also provided for the rector. These benefactions to St.
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George's are estimated at not less than the sum of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, and should never be forgotten by those worshipping on that sacred spot in Beekman street.
On the 30th of October, 1813, the Rev. Benjamin T. Onderdonk was made the assistant rector of Trinity, and during that year the Rev. Dr. Beach resigned the same place, when the vestry granted him an annuity of fif- teen hundred dollars a year for life. He appears to have been among the excellent of the earth, pursuing a noiseless course of usefulness in his parish for twenty- nine years, and retiring from it without reproach. This commendation is infinitely better than that which is sometimes bestowed upon greater dignitaries in the Church. His old age was spent in quiet retirement on his farm. near New Brunswick, New Jersey, and he died aged eighty-eight years. On the 12th of April, 1813, the Right Rev. Mr. Hobart was made the assistant of Bishop Moore. This prelate died on the 27th of Feb- ruary, 1816, the vestry of Trinity attending his funeral : and the church, with its chapels, were hung in mourning.
Bishop Moore was a native of Newtown. Long Island, and was born October 5. 1748. He graduated from King's (Columbia) College, and afterwards became its president for many years. Ho pursued his divinity studies under Dr. Auchminuty, went to England in 1744, and was ordained by Bishop Tenick, of London, the same year. Next, he was appointed, with the Rev. Dr. Bowden, an assistant minister of Trinity. afterwards rector in 1800, and then, in 1501, consecrated Bishop. Simplicity of character, with uniform prudence, are said 6
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to have been his distinguished virtues. In Christian labors he was very abundant, the parish register stating that in thirty-five years he celebrated no less than three thousand five hundred and seventy-eight marriages, and baptized three thousand and sixty-four children and adults. After frequent attacks of paralysis, he expired at his residence, Greenwich Village, then near our city, on the 27th of February, 1816, aged sixty-eight. Upon his decease, Bishop Hobart was elected, in 1816, his succes- sor in the rectorship of Trinity.
In 1798, Mr. Hobart returned to Philadelphia, and was ordained deacon by Bishop White, and elder, by Bishop Provoost, in April, 1801. He commenced preaching in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and then accepted an invi- tation to Christ Church, New Brunswick. His next parish was at Hempstead, Long Island. In 1800, he married Miss Chandler, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Chan- dler, eminent for his services to his Church, at home and abroad. Mr. Hobart was soon drawn from his rural charge, to be an assistant minister in Trinity. Many now remember his youthful zeal, eloquence, and fervor in the sacred desk, which, in after years, were sobored into a more practical improvement of his subject, and. this he considered the great end of preaching.
Bishop Hobart, was a strong and able Churchman. and warmly attached to the distinctive principles of the Episcopal Church. Through evil as well as good report, he always manifested a bold, active, and perseve- ring defence of them. Pro Ecclesia Dei, he adopted as the standard of his wishes, duties, labors, and prayers.
In 1811, a special convention was called to provide an
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assistant to Bishop Moore, when a violent opposition" manifested itself against Mr. Hobart for the office. He was elected, however, by a triumphant majority, and was consecrated, in Trinity, May 29, 1811. Bishop White was the consecrator, Bishops Provoost and Jarvis assisting. After this period his life was devoted to the active and unwearied discharge of his important duties. In contending for Episcopacy, as the primitive pattern of the Church, and the appointment of God. as he had a right to do, he was reproached and assailed on all sides. But nothing moved him. He even dis- couraged all amalgamation with other denominations for religious purposes. This, of course, was High Church- ism, and his views were not generally obeyed by his own clergy and people in his day, nor have they been since.
In June, 1824, the Rev. John D. Schroeder, D. D., was elected assistant rector of Trinity, remaining fifteen years, and died in 1839.
Bishop Hobart died at Auburn on the 12th of Septem- ber, 1830. Like the venerable and good Bishop Moore, of Virginia, he was on his Master's work, away from family, and home, and nearest friends, when the Lord called him to the promised land of rest. He was fifty- five years old, and his romains wore deposited beneath the chaneel of Trinity Church. In a recess, a large and magnificent monument has been erected to his memory, beautifully adorned in basso relicro, with a striking em- blematical representation of the consolation and hopes of religion. The monument has a proper inscription. Ilis widow received an annuity of two thousand dollars.
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during her life ; and three hundred dollars were appro- priated for the education of the youngest son, until twenty-one years of age. Dr. Berrian preached the funeral sermon, and prepared a memorial of his life.
The Rev. Thomas C. Brownell was made an assistant minister of Trinity, June 11, 1818, and during the year he was elected Bishop of Connecticut, where, for many years, he faithfully discharged the Episcopal duties.
The rectory of Trinity, vacant by the death of the Bishop, was supplied in the election of Dr. Berrian, who has recently been called to his home on high, after a long, constant, useful life in his Master's vineyard. In January, 1831, the Rev. Henry Anthon was made an assistant minister of Trinity, continuing this connection until December, 1836, when he was made rector of St. Mark's. Here he discharged his sacred work with stri- king diligence and success, universally loved; and he also has recently gone to the heavenly mansion.
In 1836, Dr. J. M. Wainwright was appointed an assistant minister of Trinity, subsequently became bishop, and now likewise rests from his toils. We need say nothing about him, as he was one of our day. and all loved the excellent Bishop. During the same year the Rev. Edward G. Higbee was appointed an assistant minister of Trinity.
In 1836, Bishop Onderdonk's connection with Trinity was dissolved -the " Episcopal Fund" having reached an amount sufficient, of itself. to support this officer of the Church. In his best days the Bishop was indefati- gable in the discharge of his public duties a faithful pastor, going about doing good, especially among the
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sick, the needy, and the distressed. But the best, we doubt not,
"May depart from graces given;"
and we all know the disposition of the mind to point out human frailties, but we do not wish to indulge in this temper. We adopt those beautiful lines of Gray, and will not
"Draw his frailties from their dread abode, Where they alike in trembling hope repose ---- The bosom of his Father and his God."
During the year 1839 it was discovered that the roof of Trinity, yielding to the accumulated pressure of the snow, had swerved some, and it was resolved to build a new one. But, as this would not likely mend the diffi- culty, it was now determined to take down the church, and creet in its place a third one, of more massive and enduring character. This is the present beautiful TRIN- ITY, a magnificent temple, having no equal in our land, and since the Reformation, with the opinion of many, has seldom, if ever, been surpassed by other countries. The old Trinity, of which we have been discoursing so long. was pulled down during the summer of 1839. Concise as we have studied to be, once carefully engaged in our sketch, we could not make it shorter, with justice to the subject.
The new Tiasrry was bogun in the autumn of 1839. and was not completed and ready for consecration before May 21, 1816. Its consecration awakened general and unusual interest. Some families, for past and present generations, had been connected with its sacred history.
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CHAPTER VII.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH EARLY REGARDED THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS-A SCHOOL AT FIRST HIELD IN THE BELFRY-BENEFAC- TIONS TO THE SCHOOL, AND A HOUSE BUILT ON RECTOR STREET -THE NEW EDIFICE IN VARICK STREET-ORIGIN OF KING'S, AFTERWARDS COLUMBIA, COLLEGE-THE "KING'S FARM"-MORE NOTICE OF THE COLLEGE-TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLAR LEG- ACY TO IT FROM MR. MURRAY-ITS FIRST CLASS.
THE Episcopal Church, like the Reformed Dutch, at a very early period in its New York history, manifested great concern in the religious instruction of the young and ignorant. A school was founded in Trinity Parish during 1709, and partly under the fostering care of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. At a later period, it received from the Corporation of Trinity that ample endowment which, with the contributions of individuals, secured for it stability and permanency.
The schoolmasters received about fifteen pounds ster- ling from the venerable society, with fifteen or twenty pounds New York currency, as clerks of Trinity Church. Until the year 1748, the school-rooms were probably hired. In that year, however, the vestry ordered a char- ity school to be built near Trinity, and, until its comple- tion, Mr. Hildreth had leave to keep his school in the belfry of Trinity. The school was no sooner finished than, by some unaccountable accident, it was burned to the ground. The fire was also communicated to the spire
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of Trinity, when, likely, the whole sacred edifice would have been destroyed. but for the active and bold exer- tions of some persons who extinguished the flames. Upon suitable inquiry, it was ascertained that the first man in the steeple was David Kent, who put out the "two lowermost fires," assisted " by a fat man, who soon went away." These, with several others, succeeded in extinguishing the threatening flames, and received fifty pounds from the church-wardens for "their good service."
The church school-house was soon rebuilt, at a cost of four hundred pounds, and its first misfortune rendered the undertaking more popular, as contributions came from all sides. The Free Masons gave fifteen pounds towards clothing the children. A Mrs. Field bequeathed to the school five hundred pounds; Captain Thomas Randall presented a bell ; and Mr. Alexander Troup, a large legacy. Mrs. Elizabeth Sharpas left two hundred pounds for the use of the charity school, and Mrs. Fran- ces Auboyneau four hundred pounds. The husbands of these two liberal ladies had been vestrymen of Trin- ity. Another noble legacy came from the estate of the Hon. John Chambers, for thirty-eight years a warden of the church. It was paid by his wife, to whom the vos- try voted thanks, with a request that "she will be pleased to consent that some public monument be created at the expense of this corporation." When this excel- lent lady died, she exhibited another proof of her kind- ness to this charity school, in a legacy of five hundred pounds, its interest to be paid " towards the support of the girls only." Not long after, there was another devise
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of five hundred pounds from Mr. Elias Desbrosses, who had been a vestryman for twenty-two years. Next fol- lowed a legacy of two hundred pounds from Mrs. Marga- ret Todd, and a large one from Mr. Nathaniel Marston's estate, who was for forty years a warden and vestryman of Trinity Church. About this period several other gifts were received towards this good work, and among these, one from John Stratford Jones, of one hundred and eighty-four pounds twelve shillings and ten pence ; and another of one hundred pounds, a benefaction of the city corporation.
In the year 1795, a plan was reported to convey, in trust, certain property of Trinity Church for the charity school, when eight lots of ground on Lumber, near Rec- tor street, were thus granted to it. Soon after, however, bonds and mortgages, to the amount of three thousand pounds, were substituted for these lots, with a donation of one thousand dollars from the vestry of Trinity, and this was followed by a State appropriation.
At this period, the New York Free School Society inter- fered materially with the original plan of this Episcopal institution, which was designed to bring up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and agreeably to the doctrines of the Protestant Episcopal Church. It was now deemed expedient to introduce into the school the higher branches of English studies, with classical learning, under the name of the New York Protestant Episcopal Public School. Its grand feature of religious instruction was, however, preserved ; it now came un- der the supervision of the Bishop.
Soon after this, John G. Lrake made a donation of one
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thousand dollars to it, and in the year 1832 the vestry of Trinity granted a lease to its trustees of five lots on Canal, Varick, and Grand streets, where the Institution now stands, the balance, by rentals, bringing in an in- come to the Board. In 1845 the school underwent some other modifications, receiving the name of "TRINITY SCHOOL," and is now among the most flourishing and useful literary institutions of the city.
In the original endowment of Trinity by the colonial government. it evidently appears to have been the inten- tion to promote both learning and religion.
As early as the year 1752, the rector and church-war- dens of Trinity parish waited upon Lord Cornbury, the governor of the New York colony, to ascertain what portion of the "King's Farm" his Lordship designed to appropriate towards the " colledge which his Lordp. designs to have built." The origin of old "King's." afterwards "Columbia," can thus be traced to the exer- tions of Trinity Church. No effectual measures, how- ever, were adopted for this purpose, until almost half a century afterwards. In 1754, commissioners were ap- pointed to "receive proposalls for the building of a college."
The "King's Farm" had now been vested in Trinity Church, and its vestry gave lands for the erection of the college. "That is to say, a street of ninety feet from the Broadway to Church street, and from Church street all the lands between Barelay's street and Murray's street to the water side, upon this condition, that the President of the said Colledge forever, for the time being, be a member of and in communion with the Church of
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England, and that the Morning and Evening service in said Colledge be the Liturgy of the said Church, or such a collection of prayers out of the said Liturgy, as shall be agreed upon by the President or Trustees or Gov- ernours of the said Colledge."
There has been a great deal of fault found by illiberal sectarians with these provisions ; but the cause of their adoption is most satisfactorily explained in the letter from the Vestry of Trinity, at the moment, to the Rev. D. Bearcroft, secretary of the "Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel." It says: " We never insisted on any condition, till we found some persons laboring to exclude all systems of religion out of the Constitution of the College. When we discovered this design, we thought ourselves indispensably obliged to interpose, and have had the countenance of many good men of all denominations, and in particular the ministers of the Foreign Protestant Churches in this city, who are appointed Governors of the College, and continue hearty friends to it." Thanks to the founders of this venerable and eminent seat of learning. for laying its corner-stone on the firm basis of morality and religion ! The writer is no Churchman. At this period there were three semi- maries among the " Dissenters" of the Northern colonies, and sectarian in their character. " Yale College" sub- jected its students "to a fine as often as they attend Publie Worship in the Church of England, communi- cants only excepted, and that only on Christmas and Sacrament days."> Well might Churchmen of that day
* Letter to Dr. Beureroft, quoted by Dr. Bordan. History of Trinity Church, p. 103.
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complain of this narrowness and bigotry in early New England orthodoxy, which thus laid such a restraint on other men's consciences. The origin of the prejudice against King's College can easily be traced to the fear lest it should become, in the New York colony, an in- strument of the Established Church of England. This resistance really caused a delay of more than two years in obtaining a charter from the Legislature. What was still more prejudicial, it diverted one-half of certain funds voted by that legislative body to the college, but which were eventually divided between the institution and the city corporation. The grant, and its conditions by Trinity Church, to the college, of a portion of the "King's Farm," seemed to make the institution ex- clusively Episcopalian. As a matter of fact, however, no such advantage or preference was ever manifested, nor has it ever been charged. The very first act of the governors of King's College, on the motion of the Rev. Mr. Ritzema, minister of the Reformed Dutch Church, was to adopt a resolution to establish a professorship of Divinity " for the education of such youth as might be intended for the ministry in that Church." This request granted, the professorship was established "according to the doctrine, discipline, and worship established by the National Synod of Dort." This is decisive proof of the thoroughly liberal and catholic spirit of the college.
Practically, too, the institution has not been exclusive. When it was desired to secure the services of the clo- quent Dr. John M. Mason, the office of provost was spe- cially created, to place him at the head and direction of the college. And to comply with the language of the
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charter, the merely honorary office of president, at the time, was conferred on the Rev. Dr. Harris, a most excellent, exemplary clergyman of the Episcopal Church. When Dr. Mason resigned, the office of provost was abolished, and the original duties of the presidency vested in Dr. Harris, who for many years most efficiently discharged its duties. The well known and respected Hon. Charles King for a long time has now been presi- dent, and, according to the charter, he reads each morn- ʻ ing, in the college chapel, a portion of Scripture, with a brief form of prayer prepared for the purpose, and to which all Christian men, of whatever denomination, may say amen !* It is very obvious. then, that no ground exists to characterize Columbia College as a sectarian institution.
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