USA > New York > The gospel messenger, Diocese of Central New York > Part 73
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The Rev. . Wm. B. Rogers, formerly Assistant Minister of St. James' Church, Buffalo, will take temporary charge of Christ Church, Guilford, this month, and may decide to remain there as Rector.
:0:
SYRACUSE ITEMS.
Mr. Mark Levy, a member of the Com- mission for "Church Work among the Jews," appointed at the last General Con- vention, paid Syracuse a visit during the early part of September. On account of the absence of nearly all the Rectors from the city he was able to speak but twice here. The work among the Jews is an important undertaking, and far from being popular, but Mr. Levy does much to help to solve the question in a practical, Christ- like way.
At the first "session" of the "school" for lay readers, under the auspices of St. Philip's Society, the Rev. J. Malcolm- Smith, of Baldwinsville, gave instructions Thursday evening in the vestry room of St. Paul's Church. The next "session" will be held in the Sunday School room of the Church of the Saviour sometime this month, when the Rev. Karl Schwartz will give the instructions.
A Mission Station has been established in Eastwood, a growing suburb of Syra- cuse. Sunday School and services are held each Sunday afternoon at 3 and 4 o'clock, respectively, in the town hall until a chapel shall be erected. The work was undertaken by the Rector of the Church of St. John the Divine. The first service was held on the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity.
THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE. [Continued]
11. In the judgment of the Conference it is our duty as Christians to make it clear to the world that purely secular systems of education are educationally as well as morally unsound, since they fail to co-ordinate the training of the whole nature of the child, and necessarily leave many children deficient in a most import- ant factor for that formation of character which is the principal aim of education.
12. It is our duty a's Christians to main- tain that the true end of Bible-teaching i? a sound and definite Christian faith, real- ising itself in a holy life of obedience and love, and of fellowship in the Church of Christ through the. sanctifying grace of the Holy Ghost; and no teaching can be regarded as adequate religious teaching which limits itself to historical informa- tion and moral culture.
13. It is our duty as Christians to be alert to use in all schools every opportunity which the State affords us for training our children in the faith of their parents, and to obtain edquate opportunities for such teaching in countries where they do not already exist.
14. There is urgent need to strengthen our Sunday School system, and the Arch- bishop of Canterbury is respectfully re- quested to appoint a committee to report to him on the best methods of improving Sunday School instruction, and on the right relations between Sunday Schools and the various systems of the catechising in church.
15. It is of vital importance that the Church should establish and maintain secondary schools, wherever they are needed, for children of the English speak- ing race in all parts of the Anglican Com- munion ; and the Conference earnestly supports the plea which reaches it for the establishment of such schools.
16. The Conference draws attention to the pressing need of the services of men and women who will consecrate their lives to teaching as a call from the Great Head of the Church.
153
THE GOSPEL MESSENGER.
17. The regligious training of teachers should be regarded as the primary duty of the Church, especially in veiw of the right use to be made of the light thrown on the Bible by modern research; and teachers should be encouraged in all their efforts to associate themselves for the pro- motion of their spirituel life.
18. The Church should endeavour to promote and cultivate the spiritual life of the students in secondary schools and universities, and should show active sympathy with all wisely directed efforts which have this end in view.
19. The Conference desires to lay special stress on the duty of the parents in all conditions of socail life to take personal part in the religious instruction of their own children, and to show active interest in the religious instruction which their children receive at school.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE - APPOINTED TO CONSIDER AND REPORT UPON THE SUBJECT OF MARRIAGE PROBLEMS.
Your Committee appointed to consider Marriage Problems beg leave to report as follows :
I.
DIVORCE.
The successive Lambeth Conferences have grown more and more emphatic in utterance on the sanctity of marriage as the root of the family life, and the family life as the basis of social order.
The Conference of 1908 finds itself in presence of a sharp contrast. From all parts of the Mission field the fact is borne in upon them that the missionary treats the development of the ideas of sanctity of marriage and family life as the foundation on which he builds the social regeneration of the race. On the other hand, the sanctity of marriage is being violated openly in civilized societies; and there is an avowed determination on the part of persons of extreme opinions to press to the front their advocacy of the complete abolition of the tie of marriage.
The function of the Church in these matters can be stated quite simply. The Church does not make the marriage. The marriage is made by the man and the woman, their consent being duly certified. The function of the Church is three fold : To bear public witness to the fact of the marriage; to pronounce the blessing of Al- mighty God upon the pair who have of their own accord entered upon the holy estate of matrimony, instituted by God Himself; and ever after to guard the sanctity of the marriage bond so long as they both shall live.
It is impossible to note with other than the greatest pain and the gravest condemna- tion the ease with which in these modern times divorces are obtained, and the fre- quency of the cases in which the husband and the wife are in collusion in the appeal to the courts of law.
So far as alleged reasons for divorce are concerned, the Committee unhesitatingly declare that in their judgment there is at most but one cause for which a marriage rightly performed and also consummated ought ever to be broken by a court of law. That cause is, to employ without discussion a phrase of a former Conference, "fornica- tion or adultery." In some States of the United States of America the causes for which divorce is allowed are so numerous and so frivolous, that a rising wave of op- position has been called into existence. The steady pressure of the cleanest publie opinion in favor of a diminution in the number of causes is being applied to the legislatures, already with no inconsider- able success. We would counsel our brethren there, and wheresoever in the world there is such necessity, never to rest until they have purified the law of divorce by the excision of all causes save the one.
For the formation of a clean publie opin- ion, and for its practical outcome in the refusal to be in social relations with adulterers and adulteresses, the Commit- tee would most earnestly appeal to clean- living women in all the many ranks and grades of life. Pure women are the great human power for good in this cause, and
154
THE GOSPEL MESSENGER.
not in this cause only. They can apply a punishment which will soon prove to be remedial in its effect; they can refuse to have social relations with adulteress or adulterer. If they will be brave in this vital matter, the Committee are clearly of opinion that the flood of evil can be stemmed and turned.
It is well known that there is a difference of opinion on the question whether the really (or technically) innocent person should be allowed to marry in Church with the Church's Service. It appears to a majority of the Committee that the objec- tion to saying the solemn words over a person whose wedlock man ha's sundered, "Those whom God hath joined together let not man put asunder," is very great. It is. a grievous misfortune that in so many cases the really innocent person does not exist. The suggestion that the guilty person might be allowed to marry in Church, the Committee unanimously con- demn.
We quote the following from the Address of the Bishop of Los Angeles, entitled
FIRST PRINCIPLES.
I have been thinking a good deal lately about a remark of a young priest to a fellow-priest and myself. "It is," he said, "a hard thing to be an Anglican." And, as I have turned the remark over in my mind, I have arrived at the conclusion that this must be true, and the fact accounts for much that distresses us in these present days. On the one side are those who con- ceive that the Church would be more Catholic did they succeed in popularizing, within the Anglican Communion, customs and theories which are distinctively illegal and Roman. It is not a question of the value of these practices or doctrines, but that they are Roman no one can deny. This may not be to their discredit. There are some practices, modern and Roman, which are admirable and excellent. I hesitate to say that-not because it is not true, but because it seems to me as absurd to appear to commend a great Church
which has produced Thomas A-Kempis, Catherine-of-Sienna and Thomas Aquinas, and a host of others as devout and learned as these ; but unquestionably these and their ecclesiastical descendants stand for certain views about Christian doctrines which are distinctively their own. The Roman Church has deliberately adopted these views concerning the Papacy, concerning the relation of the Blessed Virgin to the scheme of redemption, and concerning ceremonial uses of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, and it has honestly supported them. The Anglican Church, however, on the other hand, has had its views upon these subjects, and it, in turn, has honestly supported them. And yet it is the Roman theories and practices and devotions that, in certain assemblages in the East, uneasy souls have said they would teach and use, whether legal or not.
I can understand a man who after fresh study decides to change his ecclesiastical allegiance. I greatly deplore the fact that some have thought it necessary to do so. I do not belong to the class of ecclesiastics who attribute wrong motives to those who differ with them. Nor do I immediately charge those who leave us as a Christian body, to go elsewhere, with illiteracy or insanity. Many who have taken this step have been intelligent and devout, and they have followed the dictates of their con- sciences. A man at a certain point must, sometimes, break from a past, however cherished it may be, if he is to retain his self-respect. „ If his convictions have changed, that is the only thing he can do. He certainly ought not, in honesty, to re- main where he is, out of harmony with the standards of his own Communion, seek- ing to use methods which belong to a Com- munion alien to the one with which, by his own volition, he is connected.
Let me , also, remind you that time has not changed another series of facts. There has always been a difference of opinion between the Churches of the Anglican Com- munion and the reformed and Protestant bodies of England and the Continent. Our Church in her Ordinal and its preface
155
THE GOSPEL MESSENGER.
states her grounds in unequivocal terms. She may be altogether wrong, and if I may judge by what they say and do, I should think that there were those who, although partakers of and ministers at her altars, beleive that she is wrong. I, for my part, however, beleive that she is right in her theory about the Ministry and the Sacra- ments and that those are wrong who have questioned her position upon these sub- jects. I can see no breach of chartiy in this position but, thinking as I do and pledged as I am to our standards, I should feel that I not only stultified myself but that I did myself a moral injury did I minimize or make light of what I have openly professed. This I. have known communicants and priests at our altars to do. The Ordinal clearly states the Church's theory of the ministry which, at the most solemn moments of our lives, we have declared we believed to be true. In consistency, therefore, if we are eating the Church's bread we have no right to imply, either directly or indirectly, that the Church is only half right and those who deny her faith may be as near the truth as she. It is disloyality to our spirit- ual mother, by innuendo and indirection, to imply that this ministry of ours is not by ecclesiastical lineage a part of the one great ministry instituted by Jesus Christ.
The Presbyterian and Congregational Churches have accepted their own theories after deliberate thought and action. That has been their privilege, and, in consist- ency they are far from apologizing for their mental attitude toward us. We, you and I, on the other hand, are com- mitted to our system, and to act as though the differences between us and these several religious bodies were still open questions is as disloyal to our own Church as it would be to sue to the Pope for a favorable statement as to the value of our Orders.
Anglicanism is a distinct principle easily understood and defined. It is not atten- uated Romanism, on the one hand, nor is it modified Protestantism upon the other.
Let me go back a bit to first principles.
If I know anything about religion, a religious man is a man who accepts the law of God as the law of his life, and the object of successive revelations has been to enable man to obey the Divine command, to impress upon him that the Lord God is worthy of obedience and that happiness lies in the track of it. It took the Jews a good many centuries to learn the lesson, but finally they learned it fairly well. The Christian Church is another school, but it is a school of advanced scholars. In it the disciples of Jesus Christ were to be taught what He had commanded, and then, within its sacred enclosure, they were to be trained in such obedience that they would gladly conform to his will. I conceive, then, that the first and the imperative obli- gation of a Christian Churchman is to obey. If he does not want to be under auth- ority he is at liberty, as a free moral agent, to keep out of all religious associations. That is his privilege, but if his preference brings him into any one of the Churches of the Anglican Communion he makes certain vows and, especially if he enters the ministry, he pledges himself "to give faithful diligence always so to minister the doctrines and sacraments and the dis- cipline of Christ as the Lord hath com- manded and as this Church hath received the same." Now, as I understand it, the distinctive note of Catholicity is obedience, and there are vows and pledges to which we are voluntarily committed. And no matter what elaborately beautiful vesture we use or what ceremonies we observe, varying as such things do with national traditional Churches and with national temperament, we cease to be Catholics when we cease to obey. We may wish for things that this Church does not give us, and there are some that I wish for very much. We may desire privileges that she does not allow us, and there are liberties which I believe that she might well grant, but a true Catholic, while he may agitate and appeal for privileges and changes, must obey the laws which he has volun- tarily accepted as the law of his ecclesias- tical life. In days when anarchy is ram-
156
THE GOSPEL
MESSENGER.
pant, when legislators and executives create and enforce laws with the uncomfortable conviction that any day they may step out of the front door to death, simply because some one does not happen to like the laws they are making and executing; when in our colleges and universities the young men and women resent the rules that make for temperance and decency ; every man in this Church of ours should be punctilious in the matter of obedience no matter what his personal preference may be.
(To be continued.) -: 0 :-
HISTORY OF ST. JAMES CHURCH, THERESA, N. Y .. 1848-1908. (Subject of Illustration.)
The first services of the Church in Theresa were held in the school house and in the old Presbyterian Church by Clergy- men from Brownville and other places, among whom were the Rev. Messrs. Starkey, Hills and Samuel and Levi Nor- ton. Finally, with no Clergyman in charge, on July 16, 1848, a parish was organized under the corporate name of "The Rector, Church Wardens and Vestry- men of St. James Church in the town of Theresa, in the County of Jefferson," the annual election to be held on Monday in Easter week.
The first vestry consisted of Horace and Daniel Parker as wardens, and Thomas Robinson, Alonzo M. Ferris, E. W. Lewis, S. L. George, Willet P. Jarvis, Percival B. Salisbury, Franklin Parker, and Joseph Fayel as vestrymen. Mr. Fayel is the only living member of that vestry and still resides in Theresa. The certificate of incorporation was attested by Horace Parker, who presided at the meeting, and George W. Cornwall and Joseph Atwell, who were present and witnessed the pro- ceedings. . It was recorded in the County Clerk's office in Watertown August 12, 1848.
The parish was admitted into union with the Diocese the same year, and the annual report of 1849 showed that it then had 12
families, 60 individuals and 11 Communi- cants, and 3 had been baptized.
In October, 1849, a committee was ap- pointed to consider the matter of building a Church, and on February 19, 1850, the vestry adoptel plans for a frame structure prepared by Mr. Upjohn, of New York. The corner stone was laid by Bishop De -. Lancey July 19, 1850, when he also con- firmed Mrs. Daniel Parker, Mrs. Chauncey Chadwick, Mrs. Alonzo M. Ferris, Mrs. Malona Watson and Miss Sarah Pearce.
The Rev. W. A. Fiske became Rector in September, 1850, and the Church, having been completed at a cost of $2,600, part of which was given by Trinity Church, New York City, was consecrated August 7, 1851, by Bishop DeLancey, who at that time confirmed Mrs. George Parker, Mrs. James Pearce , Mrs. Franklin Corliss and Mrs. Franklin Parker. The latter says she well remembers the day the corner stone was laid and how she entertained the Bishop and other Clergymen at lunch in her somewhat cramped quarters over her husband's store.
About a month after the consecration the plaster fell from the ceiling, and the whole interior of the Church was soon after ceiled with wood at an expense of $160.00.
Mr. Fiske resigned December 31, 1851, and was succeeded by the Rev. Messrs. B. W. Whitcher, February 11, 1852, to February 13, 1854; Robert Horwood February 11, 1855, to May 6, 1857; and M. B. Benton, spring of 1858, to January 1, 1861.
The Rev. Dennis Smith, Deacon, took charge in the spring of 1861, and was ordained Priest by Bishop DeLancey in St. James' Church, May 16, 1862, the Rev. Theodore Babcock, of Watertown, preach- ing the sermon.
The tower, terminating in a tall spire, was only slightly connected with the Church, and during a severe gale in 1863, was blown over bodily and across the roof of Mr. Chadwick's house, partially wreck- ing the house and wholly destroying the tower.
157
THE GOSPEL MESSENGER.
Mr. Smith died September 28, 1863, and was buried in the village cemetery.
Then apparently came a vacancy till the Rev. John Blair Linn took charge Septem- ber 17, 1865. During his Rectorship the tower was rebuilt, but not so tall, and the Church was otherwise repaired and im- proved at a cost of $500.00. The resid- ence of Mrs. Lull, on the lot where Dr. Santway's house now stands, was bought for a Rectory at a cost, including repairs, of $1,800.00; an Estey organ was pur- chased by the parish, and a marble Font was given by Mr. Asa Whitney, of Phila- delphia, Pa. Mr. Linn resigned in August, 1869.
The Rev. Francis W. Hilliard became Rector May 20, 1870. In July, 1873, he was placed in charge of an Associate. Mis- sion including Theresa, Redwood, Ant- werp, Evans Mills and the surrounding region, and in September following the Rev. Hugh Bailey, Deacon, became his assistant. This plan was abandoned when Mr. Hilliard resigned in February, 1874; but, as there was at that time no Parish Register in Antwerp or Evans Mills, the beginnings of Church work in those places are recorded in the Theresa Register at this point, including baptismns, confirma- tions, etc.
The Rev. John J. Andrew was Rector from May, 1874, till May, 1875, and the Rev. Charles A. Wenman May, 1875, till October 1, 1877, when the Rev. J. B. Finn took charge.
On July 1, 1877, the parish received from the estate of the late Dr. Lucius Hannahs, of Theresa, a legacy of $1,000. On the first day of January, 1878, this was loaned upon a mortgage on a farm at seven per cent, the income therefrom to be ap- plied, according to the terms of the will, toward the Rector's salary. It now bears only five per cent.
On January 5, 1878, the "Parsonage" was sold to Mr. Chadwick for $1,740.00, $640.00 of which was used to pay a debt, the balance being applied on a new build-
ing, (the present rectory), adjoining the Church. This was occupied August 1st following by Mr. Finn who remained till the end of the year 1879.
The Rev. G. G. Perrine's rectorship lasted from September 1, 1880, to October 6, 1892,-the longest in the history of the parish. The records of his official acts in both Redwood and Theresa show that he was a true shepherd of the sheep commit- ted to his care, and he is still spoken of with much affection by those who knew him.
The Rev. John C. Smiley took charge Christmas, 1892, and remained till Aug- ust, 1901. Besides bringing a large num- ber of young people to baptism and con- firmation, he succeeded in raising several thousand dollars outside of the parish, and practically rebuilt the Church, which was given a new foundation and a handsome brick exterior with stone trimmings. The interior was ceiled anew throughout, new winodws, mostly memorials, replaced the old ones, a new pulpit, new organ, a polished-brass altar rail and a handsome carved oak altar were added, the latter being a memorial to the late Roswell P. Flower. The sacristy was greatly en- larged to accommodate the vested choir, and the whole building was lighted by electricity.
Soon after Mr. Smiley left came the Rev. Dr. E. T. Evans, who remained till the Spring of 1902. During this time a rear portion of the Rectory was raised thus giving an additional sleeping room up stairs.
The Rev. Henry Knott had charge a few months in 1902.
Next came the Rev. C. J. Lambert for a few months in the summer of 1903.
During the fall of the same year the Rev. F. P. Winne, of Watertown, officiated as a supply for a few weeks only.
The present Rector, Rev. Thomas Duck, took charge Easter Day, April 3, 1904.
[To be Continued.]
158
THE GOSPEL MESSENGER. TREASURER'S REPORT. The Treasurer acknowledges the receipt of the following sums during the month of Aug, 1908, viz
Diocesan Missions.
Diocesan
Expense
Fund.
Domestic
Missions.
Foreign
Missions.
General
Missions.
Deaf Mute
Missions.
Christmas
Fund.
General Clergy
Relief Fund.
Building Fund.
Ministerial
Education
Colored
Missions.
Relief Fund of
the Diocese
Adams,
$.
$ .
$
$ $.5.10 $. $
Afton,
2.66
Alexandria Bay,
Altmar,
Antwerp,
Auburn, St. John's,
St. Peter's,
32.50
Augusta,
1.00
.97
Aurora,
Bainbridge,
15.00
Baldwinsville,
Big Flats,
Binghamt'n,ChristCh. Good Shepherd 5.75
..
Trinity
Boonville,
Bridgewater,
Brookfield,
Brownville,
1.54
Camden,
Canastota,
..
Candor,
Cape Vincent,
8.00
Carthage,
Cayuga,
2.90
Cazenovia,
20.00
. .. Champion,
Chenango Forks,
Chittenango,
Chadwicks,
Clark's Mills,
Clayton,
4.71
Clayville
Cleveland,
Clinton,
19.75
Constableville,
10.00
Copenhagen,
Cortland,
Deerfield,
6.00
Dexter,
4.50
Dryden,
5.00
Durhamville,
Earlville,
East Onondaga,
. Ellisburg,
Elmira, Emmanuel, 20.80
Grace,
Trinity,
Evan's Mills,
Fayetteville,
Forestport,
Frederick's Corners, Fulton,
Glen Park,
.21
Great Bend,
Greene,
15.00
Greig,
9.00
Groton.
.50
Guilford,
5.83
6.32
Hamilton,
3.43
Harpursville,
2.50
.
... . .
...
..
Hayt's Corners,
·
...
. .
. . . .
. . ..
$
$
$
.
·
.
·
.
.
.
.
.
·
·
·
.
.
Fund.
Church
$
159
THE GOSPEL MESSENGER.
Diocesan Missions.
Expense Diocesan
Fund.
Missions. Domestic
Foreign
Missions.
General
Missions.
Missions. Deaf Mute
Christmas
Fund.
General Clergy
Relief Fund.
Church
Building Fund.
Ministerial
Education
Colored
Missions.
Relief Fund of
the Diocees
Holland Patent,.
$
$ ..
$
$
$
$
$
$
Homer, .
10.00
1.50
Horseheads,
Interlaken
Ithaca,
13.01
Jamesville,
5.50
Jerusalem Mission
.69
Jordan,
2.20
Kiddders Ferry,
Kendaia
Lacona,
LaFargeville,
1.88
Lowville,
5.00
Manlius,
16.31
Marcellus,
McDonough,
McLean,
1.12
Memphis,
1.00
Mexico,
Millport,
Moravia,
7.09
Mount Upton,
New Berlin,
New Hartford,
New York Mills,
Northville,
Norwich,
11.17
Oneida,
7.78
Onondaga Castle,
1.00
Oriskany,
Oriskany Falls,
Oswego, Christ Ch ..
Evangelists,
13.45
Owego,
2.65
4.05
Oxford,
20.50
Paris Hill,
Phoenix,
Pierrepont Manor,
Port Byron,
Port Leyden,
Pulaski,
Redfield,
Redwood,
.
Rome, Zion,
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