USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Williamsport > Chronicles of Christ Church Parish, Williamsport, Pa., 1840-1896 > Part 5
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CHRONICLES OF CHRIST CHURCH PARISH
at a salary of $2,000 and the use of the rectory, and a month later (November 19), having accepted the election condition- ally, Dr. Hopkins made the parish a visit and preached in the church for the first time. He subsequently signified his full acceptance, and his rectorship began on the 10th of De- cember.
In his biography we are told that "the people who came to the early celebration of the Eucharist that Christmas morning were surprised to see that so notorious a Ritualist as Dr. Hop- kins had not changed the violet altar-cloth proper for Advent for a white one !"
At the instance of the new rector, steps were at once taken for the amendment of the parish charter, and a rear- rangement of the lectern and choir seats was effected.
A subject in which Dr. Hopkins from the first evinced the liveliest interest and energy was the division of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. To this end he submitted to the Vestry in March, 1877, a letter which he purposed sending the Bishop, in whose statements he desired and secured the con- currence of the Vestry. Indeed, before he accepted the parish, on the occasion of his visit in November, he set forth his de- termination to endeavor to secure the division of the Diocese, and made it the condition of his acceptance that the parish should further his efforts, and also that Christ Church should be offered to the Bishop of the new Diocese for his cathedral. In the event of accomplished division Dr. Hopkins announced his intention to resign and leave the Diocese. Bishop Howe
torship of Plattsburg to accept the rectorship of Christ Church, which he resigned October 1, 1887, expecting to occupy a chair at the General Theological Seminary, but pending a decision in the dispute which arose in regard to the validity of his election, died at Troy, N. Y., August 14, 1891.
In addition to the "Church Journal," the "Life" of his father, etc., Dr. Hopkins was the author of a number of hymns and hymn tunes, and a designer of ecclesiastical ornament. It is, however, as a powerful and fearless controversialist in the American Church during a crisis of her life that he will probably be best remem- bered. [Ed.]
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successfully thwarted all the efforts of Dr. Hopkins to secure division. To have created the Diocese of Williamsport would have required nearly doubling the assessment for episcopal sup- port from fifty cents a communicant to about one dollar. Unfavorably as this was regarded in some quarters, in 1882, when it was voted to ask for an assistant bishop instead of dividing the Diocese, the assistant bishop's salary was fixed at $4,000, which required an assessment of one dollar and thirty-five cents !
The biography of Dr. Hopkins (by the Rev. Charles F. Sweet) records that when the parishes of the Diocese were asked by circular, "How do you think the need of more epis- copal oversight can be supplied?" only ten per cent. of them replied, "By an assistant bishop," while eighteen per cent. replied, "By a division of the Diocese." Ignorant apparently of the stipulations made with the Vestry of Christ Church, by which Dr. Hopkins promised to leave the Diocese if it were divided, Bishop Howe and others suspected him of an ambi- tion to become the first bishop of the new see.
Dr. Hopkins's efforts in this direction lasted for several years, and at one time seemed almost certain of success. He had secured pledges for the episcopal endowment fund amounting to about $30,000 ; but neither his arguments nor his energetic action could overcome the opposition of "the powers that be."
Energetic measures extending over many years for the extinction of the church debt were finally crowned with suc- cess and the consecration of the church made possible. Ac- cordingly this beautiful and impressive ceremony took place on the 18th of June, 1879, nearly ten years after the church building had been first opened for divine service. The ac- count of the consecration service, published in the "Gazette and Bulletin" the next day, is of such interest to-day as to de- serve reproduction :
"The consecration of Christ Church yesterday morning was one of the finest services ever seen in this city.
At Io o'clock the procession of Bishop and surpliced
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clergy started from the rectory, left front, moving along Third Street to Academy, then to Fourth, and along Fourth to the church. On reaching the middle door of the church, the procession opened, and the Bishop-the pastoral staff being borne before him by the Rector of the church-advanced to the door, which was firmly struck three times with the pastoral staff. It was then immedi- ately opened from within by the Wardens and Vestry, through whose double line the Bishop and clergy ad- vanced. Owing to the Bishop's extreme hoarseness, the processional psalm was sung by the clergy, one of them taking the first half of each verse, to the Eighth Gre- gorian tone, first ending, with intonation ; and the rest of the clergy responding, completing the melody of the chant ; the organ and choir joining in at the Gloria Patri. The Wardens and Vestry closed in behind the clergy, and ad- vanced as far as the rood-screen, where they remained standing until the Bishop and clergy were seated. The instrument of donation and request, signed by the Rector, Wardens and Vestry of the parish, and sealed with the parish seal, was then read by the Rector, the Rev. Dr. Hopkins, the Vestry still standing before him. As he handed the document to the Bishop the Vestry went to their seats. The Bishop proceeded with the consecration service, though able to articulate only with the greatest difficulty. The sentence of consecration was read by the Rev. Cyrus H. Knight, Rector of St. James's Church, Lancaster, Pa.
Morning Prayer was begun by the Rev. Edward M. Pecke, Rector of St. Clement's Church, Wilkes-Barre, the Rev. F. Duncan Jaudon, Rector of St. James's Church, Muncy, taking the psalter ; the Rev. Geo. C. Foley, Rector of Trinity Church in this city, reading the first lesson ; the Rev. Geo. P. Hopkins, of Stevensville, Bradford County, the second lesson, and the Rev. Louis H. Zahner, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Bloomsburg, taking the creed and prayers. The Communion Service was begun by the Rev.
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Dr. Yarnall, Rector of St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, and who was Rector of Christ Church about 35 years ago. He was assisted in the epistle by the Rev. J. H. Black, of Williamsport, a successor of Dr. Yarnall in the rectorship, and in the gospel by the Rev. Dr. Paret, the immediate predecessor of the present rector. Dr. Paret also preached the sermon from the words (John ii:20) : "Then said the Jews: Forty and six years was this temple in building." The sacredness of the temple was shown to be due not to the founder or builder, King Herod, who was an uncom- monly wicked man ; nor was it due to the gifts made to it, for it was the altar that sanctified the gift, and not the gift that sanctified the altar; nor was it due to the purity of the ritual, for no degree of impurity or corruption could destroy that sacredness. It was holy because God ac- cepted it, and His acceptance made it holy, and His abid- ing presence consecrated the building itself, and the gifts made, and the worship offered at its altar. And it was just "forty and six years" since the services of the Church had begun in Williamsport, building up the spiritual tem- ple of true believers. As the preacher gave utterance to the tender reminiscences of his past rectorship here, his emotion almost overcame him; and great numbers of his friends among the crowded congregation were equally moved.
After the offertory (which was devoted to Diocesan missions), the Rev. Dr. Yarnall celebrated, aided in the distribution by the Rev. Mr. Black and the Rev. Dr. Paret.
At the close of the service, after the special prayer, the Bishop gave the blessing of peace, standing in front of the altar and holding the pastoral staff in his left hand, while his right hand was lifted in benediction.
The Bishop and clergy left the church in procession, moving down the broad alley, the Bishop closing the line, and all returning to the rectory, the congregation remain- ing in their places until the clergy had passed out. Be-
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sides those mentioned above, the Rev. John Hewitt, of Bellefonte, and the Rev. William Morrall, of Montours- ville, were present in their robes, making twelve in all besides the Bishop.
The pastoral staff which was borne before the Bishop by the Rector was of carved oak, having on the sides of the crook fourteen jewels (jasper, malachite, agate, lapis lazuli, and white cornelian), and in the centre of the crook the Chi Rho in silver, set with nearly an hundred crystals. The upper part of the straight staff was cased in purple silk, fringed. It was placed in a rest made for it in the Bishop's chair, and will be reserved for the use of the future Bishop of Williamsport.
The floral decoration was chaste and beautiful. Be- sides the font, and the altar cross and vases, the white altar cloth was lined all round its edge with exquisite roses, besides a centre piece of the same; and the lectern and bishop's chair were not forgotten. The new rood- screen was lit up with its fiery cross and its colored lights, and flowers and greenery crested it with additional beauty above.
The music was admirable, the choir being at their best, and the whole congregation joining in the hymns, espe- cially in Old Hundred, which filled the church with its volume of sound.
The day was as glorious a day as June can produce. Nothing-except the serious hoarseness of the Bishop- marred the delightful perfection of the service from begin- ning to end. An abundant and elegant collation was given by the ladies of the parish at the house of Mr. James V. Brown to the Bishop and clergy and invited guests, and from 3 to 5 P. M. a general reception was held there, hundreds of Church people of both parishes and their friends coming in to pay their respects to the Bishop and to congratulate all concerned on the happy services of the day."
The certificate of consecration, at Bishop Howe's sug-
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gestion, was framed and hung in the vestry-room, where it may still be seen.
Beginning with April, 1881, steps were taken for the erec- tion of a "Sunday School Building" or Parish House. The plans presented to the Vestry by Dr. Hopkins were approved in the main, but it was not until the spring of 1883 that the - work was begun. The sum of $8,000 was raised by subscrip- tion for this purpose. The building was completed in the fall of 1883, at a cost of $8,500.
The next year the Ladies' Aid Society tiled the floor of the church at an expense of $1,200. This was a notable un- dertaking, carried on with great enthusiasm. In October, 1884, it was decided to heat the church with steam. The tiling and introduction of heating apparatus cost $3,222.75.
It will be possible here only to sketch summarily some of the more conspicuous achievements of this rectorship. Many changes were made in the furnishings and decoration of the chancel.
Dr. Hopkins's gifts as an artist in correct and scholarly designs for churches and church furniture were of a high order, and his mark was left upon the Church wherever he served. His influence was widely felt in the Church at large and may be traced also in Williamsport outside the parish, as, for example, in some chastely wrought tombs in Wildwood Cemetery, and elsewhere. It is difficult to say whether Dr. Hopkins was most widely appreciated as scholar, writer, preacher, controversialist, musician, poet, or artist, because he was a man of "many parts" and excelled in all.
To Dr. Hopkins can be credited the canopied episcopal chair and prayer-desk, the altar and reredos (the latter after his time altered somewhat and completed with painted panels), and the massive rood-screen (which cost $400). Allusions to some of the chancel furniture that he had introduced will be found in the newspaper account of the consecration, already given. The pastoral staves of the Bishops of Central Penn- sylvania (now Bethlehem), and Wisconsin (now Milwaukee), were also designed by him.
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He was a zealous Churchman and indefatigable worker, a simple-minded man of God, a sympathetic, kindly-mannered friend of "all sorts and conditions of men," especially of the poor and of little children, an able champion of the Catholic Faith and an active propagandist of the Church. He never married, and well past middle age when he became rector of Christ Church, was always understood to have religiously adopted a celibate life. He is said, moreover, to have always worn the tonsure-that is, the shaven crown of a monk-and a full beard.
During his time the debt on the Wadleigh Memorial Chapel, now St. Mary's, was paid off, and in 1886 a lot was bought in "Rocktown," now South Williamsport, for the erec- tion of another chapel. Here St. John's Chapel was built and opened in the spring of 1887, the building and lots having cost nearly $2,000.1 The missions were worked by deacons who lived with the rector. The rectory was regarded as a clergy- house for a religious community, and in order to make possible this ideal of clerical life and service a third story was added to the building. Chief among the clergy who served in the city and neighborhood under the arrangement were the Rev. Charles E. Dobson, the Rev. Enos J. Balsley, and the Rev. William Louis Woodruff.
One of the events of the year in those days still pleasantly remembered by former scholars was the annual union service of the Sunday Schools of the parish in the parish church, when, brave with banners and joyous with song, the chapel scholars joined the school of Christ Church and, after a hearty service, were addressed by their beloved Rector. This custom served well to develop a sense of unity in the different parts of the parish.
The rectorship of the Rev. Dr. Hopkins ended October I, 1887, having extended over nearly eleven years, beginning De- cember Ioth, 1876. It was the longest in the history of the parish. "Christ Church," writes his biographer, the Rev.
1 There seems to be no doubt that Dr. Hopkins paid for the lots (there were two of them) himself. [Ed.]
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Charles F. Sweet, in "A Champion of the Cross," "had grown so strong during his rectorship that he felt he was not able longer, at the age of sixty-seven, with the difficulty he had in walking, and his weakened eyesight, to give the work the at- tention it needed, and therefore, after his election to a profes- sorship in the General Theological Seminary, he resigned his rectorship.1 More than eleven hundred had been baptized, and five hundred and forty-six had been confirmed during his eleven years in Williamsport. The church had been adorned and enriched; two handsome mission chapels had been built, besides the new Sunday School and Guild Hall, from his de- signs ; and, besides, he had become personally responsible for the building of the Church of St. Alban, at Peale, mentioned in his letters.
"The night before he departed a reception was given him, which all the parish attended, and many others. A large sum of money was given him as a last token of esteem, and so, with tears, he separated from his well-loved people."
Shortly before this time the Alumni Association of the General Theological Seminary, New York, had established and endowed the "chair of the evidences of revealed religion," to which the Rev. Dr. Dean had been elected as the first incum-
1 Dr. Hopkins tendered his resignation September 13, 1886, to take effect, in order that the Vestry need not be hurried in select- ing his successor, one year from that time, or on October 1, 1887. In his letter he adds: "But it is expressly asked as a personal kindness to me that before this resignation takes effect the in- cumbrance on the Wadleigh Memorial Chapel be removed, so that I may see it consecrated before my rectorship ceases." The Vestry postponed action on his resignation for a week, and then, when ac- cepting it, agreed to assume the debt of the Wadleigh Chapel within the time specified. The chapel was accordingly consecrated on October 1, 1887, Dr. Nelson Somerville Rulison, Assistant Bishop of Central Pennsylvania, officiating.
The parish having lacked an assistant clergyman for some six months, the Rev. W. L. Woodruff was immediately secured to help Dr. Hopkins, whose infirmities began to press heavily upon him, and remained under Mr. Graff, who assumed office in January, 1888. [Ed.]
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bent, the second choice falling on Dr. Hopkins. Dr. Dean lived less than three years after his election, and upon his death Dr. Hopkins was elected by a large majority to the vacant professorship. "The election to the Alumni Lecture- ship was rejected by the Trustees, the votes being equally di- vided. Thus it was that the old scores against him were paid off. In the winter of 1887-88 he visited California, and spent some happy weeks with his brother Caspar, at Pasadena. The election was repeated, and once more it was rejected. Thus was closed ruthlessly the public career of this able, brilliant, and self-sacrificing son of the Church after a suspense of two years, which effectually shut him out from all occupations."1 It should be added in fairness that a prolonged disagreement had arisen between the authorities of the Seminary and the alumni regarding the conditions under which the chair was to be filled, and this dispute the Alumni Association subsequently carried into the civil courts. Dr. Hopkins never had an op- portunity to fill the place to which he had been chosen. Pend- ing the settlement of the dispute he died, August 14, 1891, nearly four years after leaving Williamsport, in the home of a friend, Dr. Ferguson, in Troy, N. Y. He was 71 years of age at the time of his decease.
Without exaggeration Dr. Hopkins may fairly be pro- nounced to have been one of the most notable and widely known men that the American Church has produced. By his eminent abilities as an ecclesiastical statesman, although until 1886 denied his long-cherished ambition to sit in the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies of the General Conven- tion,2 he rendered conspicuous service to the Church at large as the adviser of many of its leading bishops and priests and as the author or promoter of many measures of far-reaching
1 "A Champion of the Cross," p. 221. [Ed.]
2 "In 1874 he was only a supplementary delegate and had no place on the floor as a member of the House of Clerical and Lay Delegates until, by the departure of one of the regular delegates at the very end of that momentous session, he was called to take his place for a few hours."-"A Champion of the Cross," p. 193. [Ed.]
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importance. Among the latter may here be mentioned the canon of an appellate court drafted by him and adopted by the Diocesan Conventions of Springfield, Quincy, and Illinois, (now Chicago), "thus completing," after twenty years' work, as he wrote in his journal, "the organization of our first prov- ince, setting a model to all the rest of the Church in America." To him was also due, after an effort extending over more than twenty-four years, the reduction of the board governing the General Theological Seminary from between five and six hun- dred members to fifty-one besides the bishops.
A paragraph from Mr. Sweet's biography (pp. 193-195) may here be fittingly introduced :
"The parish was known as a High Church parish, and it was quite willing for Dr. Hopkins to lead it still further along the ways which were then so much spoken against. But his course was not so much in the way of advancing ceremonial as in deepening and enriching spiritual agencies. The ser- vices increased in number and variety, and soon the weekly and festival Eucharist became the rule in the parish. Even more frequent celebrations came later on, and doubtless, if he had not been so frequently called away from home, he would have established the daily offering of the Holy Sacrifice. But there was no unusual ceremonial at these services. There were no candles on the altar, nor were the Eucharistic vest- ments used. The bread was 'fine usual bread,' and the chalice was mixed beforehand in the vestry. Even colored stoles were not used until, after some years, they were given by lay people. The choir was but the old-fashioned mixed choir, and there were no choral services. On Sundays there was an early cel- ebration, and at the usual hour followed the full morning ser- vice and sermon. But there was a depth of devotion apparent in these simple services which arose from an entire personal consecration to the service of the blessed Saviour and a full belief in His presence in the Catholic Church. His parochial activities were not fussy, and he was clear of that bane of modern active Church work-the formation of a vast ma- chinery of guilds and chapters for doing useless and useful
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things with equal efficiency. But he was everybody's pastor in the parish. True as steel himself and faithful to the spirit as well as the form of his vows, he had endless hope for others, never-ending patience with others' foibles or failings, unvary- ing readiness to listen to every tale of sorrow or of wrong, great gentleness in dealing with those who were trying to learn how to repent, breezy, fresh wit and good humor which blew away selfishness and downheartedness, and overwhelm- ing force for the insincere and the hypocrites. His work was a great one. It was not confined to the city or to his own missions. He was always at the service of his brother clergy as far as he could be. He visited outlying and distant mission-stations ; he hunted up the sick and the wretched and forlorn; he would travel for miles and miles over mountain roads to comfort a poor woman in distress. He would preach in country school-houses, administer the communion at night to communicants otherwise deprived of that privilege; at one place he was known as 'the Methodist,' from the fervor with which he preached."
THE REV. WILLIAM HENRY GRAFF RECTOR 1887-1896
MR. GRAFF'S RECTORSHIP. 1888-1896.
THE FLOOD OF 1889-CELEBRATION OF THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL -FURTHER INDICATIONS OF PROSPERITY AND ZEAL.
The Rev. William Henry Graff1 was called to Williams- port from the rectorship of St. Jude's Church, Philadelphia, and took charge of this parish January 29, 1888. His first "assistant" was the Rev. W. Louis Woodruff, who had begun his ministrations here under Dr. Hopkins and who remained until December, 1888. He was advanced to the priesthood May 10th.
In the following March the new rector began the publica-
1 The Rev. William H. Graff was born in Philadelphia, August 1845, and during the Civil War served nearly three years with the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry (Anderson's). He graduated from the Philadelphia Divinity School in 1870. In the same year he was ordained deacon by Bishop Lee, and also priest by Bishop Stevens. While studying at the Philadelphia Divinity School Mr. Graff was lay-reader at the Church of the Ascension, Claymont, Del., and at Calvary Church, Brandywine Hundred. During the summer of 1870 he was assistant to Dr. Benjamin Watson at the Church of the Atonement, Seventeenth and Summer Streets, Philadelphia, and later to Dr. Henry G. Morton, at St. James's, Philadelphia. At Christmastide of that year he was called to the rectorship of St. Jude's, Philadelphia, where he remained for seventeen years, and until he accepted the rectorship of Christ Church, Williamsport, in 1887. When he resigned, in 1896, Mr. Graff did so to accept the position of Vicar of the Memorial Church of the Holy Comforter, Philadelphia, which he still holds.
Mr. Graff married, in 1870, Miss Edith M. Irvine, daughter of Charles and Ella Irvine, who died in 1902, by whom he had four children, two sons, John S. and A. Hewson, both deceased; and two daughters, Frances H. (now Mrs. Dr. M. T. Sime), and Ella Irvine, the latter living with her father. [Ed.]
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tion of "Christ Church Messenger," which ran on continuously until March, 1894, and was revived under Mr. Eckel in 1897, but was discontinued in December, 1898, because under a new rule of the Board of Trade it was impossible to get adver- tising.
When Mr. Graff became rector he found the following guilds already organized and at work: The Ladies' Aid So- ciety, under the presidency of Mrs. John White; the Woman's Auxiliary to the Board of Missions, under the presidency of Mrs. F. R. Weed; St. Mary's Guild, under Mrs. Ann E. Stowell (now Mrs. A. P. Perley) as "The Lady of the Guild ;" a men's guild known as St. John's Guild ; a Hospital Aid Society, with Mrs. F. E. Embick as secretary-treasurer ; and two important committees known as the Vestment Com- mittee and the Flower Committee. At Wadleigh Chapel,1 be- sides the "Committee of Management" and the Sunday School, they had a "Wadleigh Chapel Guild" and an "Industrial School;" and at St. John's Chapel, besides the "Committee of Management" and the Sunday School, the "Bishop Hopkins Guild" and the "Ladies' Aid Society." Messrs. Charles V. Runkle and William Sweeley were lay readers for the two chapels, and the Vestry of the parish comprised Major J. H. Perkins and Mr. J. V. Brown as wardens, and Messrs. John White, Edgar Munson, Charles B. Howard, Dr. William F. Logan, Judge Hugh H. Cummin, George L. Sanderson, Henry C. Parsons, Col. Frederick E. Embick, John J. Crocker, A. Howard Merritt, C. LaRue Munson, Allen P. Perley, and Frederick E. Gleim. That was in 1887.
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