USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > A history of Grace Church in Providence, Rhode Island, 1829-1929 > Part 7
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1 Mrs. Sturtevant gives the vote as: Clergy, 16-5, and Laity, 48-16.
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It is not unlikely that Dr. Clark had been known by fame to the Vestry of Grace Church for many years. By rather curious coincidence he not only succeeded Dr. Vinton at Portland but also John A. Clark in Philadelphia, as he preceded Dr. Tomkins at Christ Church, Hartford. For some years he had held a promi- nent, if not very satisfactory, position in Boston as assistant to Bishop Eastburn in the bishop's capacity as Rector of Trinity Church.
Dr. Clark, then forty-two years of age, was in the full tide of a promising rectorship in Hartford. The records of Christ Church show that so great was his popularity there that the church was thronged Sunday after Sunday. At the evening services espe- cially the aisles were filled with chairs to accommodate the crowd of worshippers.
The reference in the records of the Hartford Church as to Mr. Clark's assuming the rectorship curiously enough applies almost perfectly to his coming to Grace Church.
"The Rev. Thomas M. Clark had been chosen as Rector in 1851, with great unanimity. He was a man of so much ability and dignity of character, that he gained the entire affection and confidence of the parishioners. He was in the position to act as the wise and just counsellor and mediator, and succeeded in quieting differences thought to have been important, and in turning attention to a serious consideration of the financial state of the Parish. He was the leader who was needed at just this time."1
Early in November Dr. Clark signified his willingness to accept and to begin his duties as rector2 on March 1, 1855, when his resignation was to take effect in Hartford on the completion of just four years of service. Later in November a committee of six of the Vestry were chosen to make arrangements for the con- secration of the bishop-elect, for which the Standing Committee of the Diocese had selected Grace Church. This consecration took place on the morning of Wednesday, December 6th, in the presence of a large and distinguished assemblage-more dis- tinguished it would seem than any gathering in the church before
1 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH, HARTFORD, by Gur- don W. Russell, Hartford, p. 118, 1895.
This monumental work of Dr. Russell's, in two volumes and over 1500 pages, gives the history of Christ Church from Colonial times. In Volume II all the records of births, marriages, etc., are reprinted.
2 His bishopric began on his consecration in December.
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or since. There were nine bishops present, taking part in the Office of Consecration. The chief consecrator was the aged Bishop Brownell, Dr. Clark's own bishop in Connecticut, who eleven years before had held the same position at the consecration of Dr. Henshaw. In his first convention address Bishop Clark gave the following account of the proceedings of that day :--
"Brethren of the Clergy and the Laity:
"On the sixth day of December, 1854, I received consecration in Grace Church, Providence, as Bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island. Morning Prayer was read by the Rev. Dr. Crocker, as- sisted by the Rev. Mr. Brewer, and the Consecration office was performed by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Brownell, Presiding Bishop, assisted by Bishops J. H. Hopkins, of Vermont, G. W. Doane, of New Jersey, Manton Eastburn, of Massachusetts, George Burgess, of Maine, John Williams, of Connecticut, H. W. Lee, of Iowa, Horatio Potter, of New York, and Horatio Southgate, late Mission- ary Bishop at Constantinople. The six senior Bishops united in the laying on of hands. The sermon was preached by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Hopkins. Nearly all the Clergy of the Diocese, and a large number from other regions, were present and engaged in the solemn services.
"On the evening of December 6th, a Missionary meeting was held in Grace Church, Providence, where a large number of the clergy and laity, who had assembled in the morning at the consecration service, came together again to consider the spiritual wants of the world. Addresses were made by the Rev. Dr. Van Kleeck, Secretary of the Domestic Committee of the General Board of Missions, the Rev. Dr. A. H. Vinton, of Boston, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Lee, Bishop of the Diocese of Iowa, and myself. A liberal collection was taken, as the beginning of a fund, to be invested in lands, for the extension of the Church in the State of Iowa." 1
The Reverend Daniel Goodwin, D.D., who was present on this occasion, gives the following vivid description of the consecration.
"The scene was most impressive. The church, which was quite new, was considered at that time an architectural wonder, and the many arches of the vaulted ceiling looked down in solemn grandeur on the crowded congregation. Through the first painted. windows ever seen in Rhode Island came stealing in the many-
1 From the Bishop's Address, Convention Journal for 1855.
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colored light upon the heads of the Right Reverend Fathers in the sanctuary. What a gathering that was of the giants, not simply giants in office but also in intellect and spirituality. There were to be seen the tall and stately form of Horatio Potter, who had been for just two weeks Bishop of New York; Henry Washington Lee, Bishop of Iowa; John Henry Williams, Assistant Bishop of Connecticut; George Burgess, first Bishop of Maine, poet, scholar, apostle, and saint; Horatio Southgate, late Missionary Bishop of Constantinople; the stern and austere Manton Eastburn; George Washington Doane, Bishop of New Jersey; and the first Bishop of Vermont, John Henry Hopkins, defender of the faith. But chiefly upon my youthful imagination remained impressed the venerable consecrator, Thomas Church Brownell, primus inter pares, Bishop of Connecticut, Presiding Bishop of the Church, but meek and simple as a little child. Then what a glad thrill went through every heart, when there arose, clad in his rochet, the still youthful candidate with his dignified form and motions, certain and alert. How clearly, like a silver bell, rang out his voice as he promised, in all humility of soul, conformity and obedience to the doctrines, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church, closing with the solemn adjuration, 'So help me, God, through Jesus Christ'-a promise who will dare to rise and charge him with ever infringing through all of the almost fifty years of his pilgrimage?"1
Bishop Clark took vigorous hold of church affairs in Providence and Rhode Island. Throughout December, January, and Febru- ary he had made many visitations in the diocese while continuing his duties as rector in Hartford. He chose for his residence in this city 34 George Street, the second house east of Magee Street where he lived all through his rectorship and until the close of Dr. Greer's rectorship in 1888. His salary as bishop was at first only $500, of which St. John's and Grace Church contributed $70 each.
At this time the affairs of Grace Church were not in the best condition. The new church edifice was without both spire and chapel, which were integral parts of the original design of the architect.2 There had been a deficit in running expenses for several years back, and the question of providing adequate music at slight expense, or with the aid of voluntary special subscrip- tions, was perennially vexing. Bishop Clark's daughter, Mrs.
1 THOMAS MARCH CLARK by Mary Clark Sturtevant, pp. 69-70, Milwaukee, 1927. 2 A wash sketch in color, said to have been prepared under the direction of Mr. R. M. Upjohn and given by him to Mr. James Lewis Peirce, shows what was the architect's idea of the finished edifice.
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Eugene Sturtevant, states that the Church was very much run down as a result of the interval of over two and a half years since Bishop Henshaw's death. As from Bishop Clark's time to the present, no really serious break in rectorships has hampered the progress of Grace Church, it may be noted here that in the course of less than twenty-six years after its organization Grace Church had been without a rector for seven and a half years in all, or decidedly over a quarter of its history. In its history of three- quarters of a century from Dr. Clark's coming to the present the vacancies amount to less than three and a half years.
The parish statistics show that the number of communicants had been reported as 330 in 1852 and also in the three years follow- ing. Moreover, the figures of Bishop Clark's first years would indicate that a number of these were non-existent. Under the new rector, however, the increase was marked,-to 452 in 1858 and 480 when he resigned in 1866. As the diocese as well as the parish had been without a leader for nearly three years, the new bishop had to give zealous attention to its needs. In his reports he laments the fact that he feels obliged to be away from his parish so much, especially on Sundays, when his "place at Grace Church was taken by one or other of the clergy of the diocese."
The intelligent and devout spirit in which the bishop faced these difficulties is well shown in the eloquent charge on "The Position of the Church" which he delivered to his first diocesan con- vention in June, 1855, and of which fifteen hundred copies were printed by order of Convention. The charge closes with these ringing words:
"It is rather against the combined influence of modern science, a subtle philosophy, a captivating literature, and popular organiza- tion, that we must be prepared to defend the citadel of the Church. We shall need to have a personal faith that can endure any shock; and a spirit of self-sacrifice that can bear any privation; and a charity that hopeth all things; and a holiness, so pure, so elevated, so symmetrical, so Christ-like, that we shall be lifted above the suspicion of reproach. We must reproduce the life of Jesus, and we are safe; the Church is safe; the world is safe." 1
Dr. Clark while in Hartford had enjoyed the assistance of a remarkable musician, Lewis T. Downes, as organist and choir- master. Within a few months of the beginning of the new rector- ship the Music Committee entered into negotiations with Mr.
1 Primary Charge to the Clergy, Diocese of Rhode Island Thomas March Clark, 1855.
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Downes, looking to his coming to Providence and bringing some of his choir with him. The Vestry, on June 7, 1855, voted to "accept the proposition of L. T. Downes for furnishing a choir for the sum of $1250 per annum, provided $250 can be raised by subscription," that is, for $1000 from the current income. Mr. Downes and his assistants came that summer and furnished to Grace Church music that soon became famous.
Mr. Downes, although not a professional musician, continued for over twenty years in charge of the music of Grace Church and was prominent in the musical circles of Providence. It is of inter- est to reproduce herewith the complete program of the music for Easter Day, 1870, when he was still in charge of the music at Grace Church and was assisted by a very able quartet1 and vol- unteer chorus.
MUSICAL SERVICES AT GRACE CHURCH, EASTER, 1870
Ist service at 6 o'clock a. m.
I. Introit Hymn 233 Dr. Elvey Tallis
2. Responses to Versicles
3. Easter anthem "Christ our Passover" Chappel
4. Gloria Patri after Psalms 2, 57 and III Downes
5. Te Deum Laudamus
Dr. Smith
6. Jubilate Deo Dr. Smith
7. Responses after Creed Tallis
2nd Sunday School Service at 9 o'clock a. m.
I. Easter Hymn Dr. Elvey
2. Anthem "Christ Being Raised from the Dead" Gill
3. Easter Carol "Gems and Flowers, etc." Ward
4. Easter Chorus "Christ is Risen" Rev. S. Parker
3rd Service with Confirmation and Holy Communion at 103/4 o'clock a. m.
I. Introit Full anthem "O give thanks" Goss
2. Kyrie Eleison
W. T. Best
3 . Gloria Tibi from "Stabat Mater" Rossini
4. Anthem with full melody for male chorus and Tenor recitation
5. Hymn: Soprano solo with female chorus Gounod
6. Sanctus
Smith
7. Hymn 96
8. Gloria in Excelsis
1 The quartet on Easter, 1870, seems to have been as follows :- Mrs. A. E. Rob- bins, Miss J. A. Dench, Mr. B. W. Hood, Mr. Alonzo R. Williams.
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4th Service at 71/2 o'clock p. m.
I. Responses for Versicles
Tallis
2. Gloria Patri after Psalms 113 and 114
Downes
3. Gloria in Excelsis after Psalm 113
Thorne
4. Cantate Domino Dr. Smith
5. Benedic Anima Mea adapted to a Magnificat
Jackson
6. Responses after Creed Tallis
7. Soprano solo with female chorus
Gounod
8. Grand Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah Handel
Before Dr. Clark had been in office a year, another crisis arose in the organization of the parish. Owing to dissensions in the large vestry (13), Edward Walcott, who had been Senior Warden for fourteen years, sent in his resignation at the end of February, 1856. He was so insistent that the Vestry finally accepted the resignation late in March, with a vote of thanks to Mr. Walcott for his long and efficient service. The loss was a serious one. Mr. Walcott was one of the most prominent and able laymen in the diocese and continued for many years after this action to repre- sent Grace Church in Convention. There he was a member, and for a long period Secretary, of the Standing Committee of the Diocese, succeeding in that office the eminent Thomas Burgess of St. John's. Mr. Walcott was also several times elected deputy or provisional deputy to General Convention.
The following account given by John B. Anthony in 1904 shows how ill prepared the parish was to meet this emergency.
"Early in 1856 there were serious dissensions in the Vestry, and Edward Walcott and William T. Grinnell, Senior and Junior Wardens, resigned their offices. Edward A. Greene and myself were chosen to fill the vacancies in the Vestry on March 24, 1856, and, three days later, we were elected Wardens, Mr. Greene as Senior and I as Junior Warden.
"We both declined to serve as Wardens, and while considering the subject of remaining in the Vestry, various influences were brought to bear upon each of us. Mr. Walcott's arguments, I remember, had great effect upon me, and, Mr. Greene still in- sisting upon his declination, I promised to accept the office of Junior Warden if the Vestry would heal some of its difficulties by electing Mr. Grinnell as Senior Warden. This was done, and Mr. Grinnell and myself worked together, most harmoniously, fully eight years."1
1 From Recollections of Fifty Years in Grace Church by John B. Anthony, Senior Warden. Grace Church Monthly, May, 1904.
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The records show that in the election of the new Vestry at Easter, 1856, both the Wardens and Dr. Brownell, the only one of the original Vestry of 1829 still in office, together with three other vestrymen, were not reelected. Their places were taken by a younger group containing much promising material. When these results were known four of the new vestrymen, Messrs. Greene, Anthony, Blodgett, and Hoppin, and one of the seven who had been reelected resigned. The immediate result of the attempts to reconcile differences was the election a few weeks later of William T. Grinnell as Senior Warden and Alexander Hodges as Junior Warden. Quite likely the fact that Mr. Anthony's place on the Vestry had already been filled operated to prevent his immediate reelection as Junior Warden, and it is also likely that Mr. Hodges accepted only for the remainder of that year. During this trying time the affairs of the parish were not neglected. The income from the taxes and rentals of pews, which was slightly over $3,000 for the year 1854-5, rose to over $4,000 by 1856 and over $4,600 in 1857, with the tax stationary at seven percent. F committee was appointed early in 1856, no doubt at Dr. Clark's instigation, to look into the matter of finishing the church, which reported that about $8,000 would be required; and the matter was not pressed at that time.
It was significant, and doubtless in the interests of harmony, that at the Annual Meeting at Easter, 1857, the number of the Vestry was reduced from thirteen, the number of the five years previous, to seven, and that the first of these seven was Rt. Rev. Thomas March Clark, the only period in the first eighty-seven years of the parish when the Rector was a member of the Vestry.1
This small working Vestry initiated two important aids to the business-like administration of the affairs of the parish, which are still in practice. At the Annual Meeting of 1858 the Vestry for the first time not only recommended a definite set of appropria- tions but also made a formal annual report to the Corporation. That year the report was only "received, and placed on file," but from 1859 to the present these reports have been recorded after the minutes of the annual meeting. Of less significance, perhaps, than the words of the early rectors preserved in the Journals of Diocesan Convention, they are yet very important sources of historical detail.
1 The other members of this diminished Vestry were: William T. Grinnell, George W. Chapin, James Lewis Peirce, John B. Anthony, Robert Manton and B. C. Shaw. Bishop Clark, when present, presided at the meetings. Within eight years (1865), the number was enlarged to eleven and the Rector was left off.
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It was in 1857, too, that there began the remarkable official careers of John B. Anthony and James Lewis Peirce,1 which, extending over a period of about half a century and marked by sound intelligence and unstinted devotion, contributed incalculably to the well-being of Grace Church and the efficient management of its affairs. Mr. Anthony was Junior Warden for twenty years and Senior Warden from 1877 to his death in 1904. Mr. Peirce was Treasurer from 1857 to 1905 and died in office as Vestryman. Through a series of untoward accidents, Mr. Peirce found the Treasurer's books in a very confusing condition. A serious fire2 in the spring of 1857 increased the responsibilities of this young official. Yet so energetically and skillfully did he cope with the difficulties that at the annual meeting of 1858 it was voted that "The thanks of the Corporation be and hereby are tendered to Mr. James Lewis Peirce, the Treasurer, for the able manner in which he has performed the duties of his office." Nor did the remaining forty-seven years of his term show any falling off in ability. The income varied considerably from year to year and necessary expenses were even more widely fluctuating; yet through it all, by constant vigilance and timely personal appeals, Mr. Peirce kept the financial condition sound, the deficit always within bounds, and several times was able to report a surplus at the end of the fiscal year.
The number of pews sold, and especially of those rented, had been decreasing in the last years of Dr. Henshaw's rectorship in spite of persistently large attendance. This situation was speedily altered in the new rectorship. In 1859 the report of the Vestry stated that "nearly every seat has been rented." Under these circumstances an increase in the small tax seemed in order and the rate was raised to eight percent in 1860 and to ten percent in 1864.
In these years the church was frequently crowded with wor- shippers, and at the Sunday evening service it became almost the regular thing to bring in chairs from the chapel for the large num- bers who could not secure seats in the pews. This chapel, seating four hundred and affording ample accommodations for the Sunday
1 It is interesting to note that Mr. Anthony was born the year Grace Church was organized and Mr. Peirce a year later, 1830.
2 This fire, due apparently to the catching fire of the cold air box, perhaps from an overheated furnace, on Saturday, March 14th, made it impossible to hold services in Grace Church for two or three weeks. Bishop Clark records that "our next door friends of the Unitarian Congregational Society kindly put their house of worship at our disposal, and having at the time no minister of their own, contented themselves with such services as we could give them."
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School, numbering two hundred and seventy-five pupils and thirty-three teachers, was built in the fall of 1857 at an expense of $9,000. Mr. Anthony at the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary described the raising of this money as follows: "At one of our meetings, when there seemed to be little hope of securing the required amount, Mr. Amasa Manton, who had been a generous supporter of the Church, arose, and offered to give two thousand dollars, if the balance could be raised. This set the ball in motion, and in due time we had a commodious and beautiful chapel."
Some time later Bishop Clark bore witness to the important results of this addition and said: "The rapid growth of all branches of the School after our removal into the new chapel1 amply justified the expense incurred."
The Rector was particularly concerned in these early years with strengthening the spiritual life of his parish. Of the Confirmation Class of 1856, numbering twenty-four, he records "ten of those confirmed were from the ranks of our most active and influential young men." The class of 1858 numbered seventy-seven.
Feeling that Lent was very inadequately observed, Bishop Clark arranged, in 1857, a series of daily afternoon union services; on Monday and Tuesday at Grace Church, Wednesday and Thursday at St. John's, and Friday and Saturday at St. Stephen's. It is said that often every seat was filled at these services, which were kept up for many years. The bishop also administered the "Supper of our Lord" in Grace Church on the afternoon or evening of Thursday in Holy Week, in which the clergy and laity of several parishes united, and which attracted favorable notice from other dioceses. In 1863, if not earlier, he instituted the custom which still prevails of having Morning Prayer, with music, at six o'clock on Easter Day.
In those days the Litany was much thought of and was regularly used at least once on Sunday. Bishop Clark realized, however, that where the number of communicants was large the full service of Morning Prayer, Litany, and Holy Communion was unduly long. Before he had been many years at Grace Church he an- nounced that when there was to be the Communion, he should omit Morning Prayer. It may well have been at that same time that he introduced the six o'clock Morning Prayer for Easter. In 1866 the early service on Easter ended with the Litany.
1 By 1860 there were 45 teachers and 486 scholars,-an increase of well over 50 percent in three years.
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A History of Grace Church
For many years the feeling had been growing that the church which had been without chapel or steeple since 1846 must be completed. Soon after Dr. Clark came it was planned to push both these matters, but the difficulties seemed too great. The practical need for adequate quarters for the Sunday School, which had quite outgrown the inconvenient and unattractive structure on the corner of Snow and Middle (Chapel) Streets, was more immediately pressing than the steeple, and soon after Easter, 1857, the Corporation voted to separate the two projects and press energetically for the chapel, as has been described. The Rector, however, could not willingly forego the idea of having the people worship in a church whose exterior was as completely satis- fying and uplifting as was the interior. After the Vestry had made several abortive attempts in this direction, Bishop Clark took advantage of the approaching Thirtieth Anniversary to preach on Easter Day, 1859, a stirring historical sermon on the text from Ezra V, 16. "Since that time, even until now, hath it been in building, and yet it is not finished." 1
In the course of that timely address, which was published in full in the Providence Journal, the preacher said: "And now the proper time has come for the introduction of our text, and for its practical, personal application. 'Since that time, even until now, this church hath been in building, and yet, as you all know, it is not finished.' Do you ever mean that it shall be? 'Certainly.' I take it this is the unanimous reply of the congregation. When? 'Whenever we are able to do it.' You will never be any more able as a parish than you are today. We have not a vacant pew in the church. Some of you may be individually richer five years hence than you are now; but I do not believe that the parish, as such, will be. We may very possibly be called to colonize before five years more have passed, and so to part with some of our strength.
"It will not be to our credit if we allow this beautiful church to be shorn of its fair proportions, and its tower to be surmounted by a wooden shed much longer. How many more Easter morn- ings shall we suffer to dawn upon us before the rising sun gilds the glittering cross at the summit of our spire; and how many Christmas eves must pass by before our chime rings its merry carol from the belfry? The houses in which you live, your stores
1 It is of interest that Mr. Greer in his first sermon, on September 15, 1872, preached on this same text, giving it a spiritual rather than a material significance.
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