USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > Newport > Annals of Trinity church, Newport, Rhode Island, 1821-1892 > Part 17
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NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.
ordered that there shall be a body of men competent to act with full authority in matters of ecclesiastical dispute, who are relieved from the influence of all prejudices and excitements; and when they have acted, it becomes all loyal Churchmen to submit to their decision without cavil or opposition.
In the case before us we have exhausted every possible device to settle the controversy by counsel and fraternal appeal, and, failing in all these efforts, we have reluctantly consented to the organization of a new Church, as the only way to secure perma- nent peace, and to provide for the opening of the Chapel during the summer months, which we have always considered to be very desirable.
And now I appeal to you all, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as your chief Pastor, to cease from further conten- tion, and to exercise that charity towards each other which should distinguish the followers of our Saviour and members of the same Holy Communion. If any of you feel that you have been wronged, be willing to bear the wrong patiently. Allow the influence of the wise and prudent to prevail in your councils and to mould the public sentiment. Give no heed to brawlers. Let not the Church fall behind the world in courtesy and charity. Ask yourselves if any possible good can come from the perpetuation of hostile and angry feeling. Do not suppose that the whole blame in this wretched controversy lies with either side. "In many things we offend all." There is none so immaculate but the tongue of slander may find in him some reasonable cause of offence. But we are more profitably employed in detecting and curing our own faults, than in scan- ning and magnifying those of others. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. The end of the commandment is charity."
In all that we have done, through every stage of this sad trouble, we have aimed simply to promote the best welfare of the Church, and if possible, to rescue our beloved Communion from contumely and disgrace. No one who is competent to exercise a calm judgment, can doubt that we have sought only to promote order, tranquility and Christian love.
At my consecration, I was asked: "Will you maintain and
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set forward, as much as lieth in you, quietness, love, and peace among all men; and diligently exercise such discipline, as by the authority of God's Word, and by the order of this Church, is committed to you?" To which I answered: "I will do so, by the help of God." If in the endeavor to keep this solemn promise, I shall ever incur reproach, I accept it as one of the conditions of faithfulness: praying that God may give me strength and power to perform every duty which devolves upon me, with- out fear or hesitation.
And now may grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, be ever with you, in truth and in love.
I am very affectionately, Your friend and Bishop, THOMAS M. CLARK.
Providence, July 20th, 1861.
To the Rt. Rev. Thomas M. Clark, D. D., Bishop of Rhode Island; Rt. Rev. Sir:
Your Pastoral Letter addressed to the members of the Episcopal Church of Newport, was read to our people on the morning of the eighth Sunday after Trinity. Printed copies were also circulated among us, and the whole matter of the Chapel was again unhappily brought before the public.
As Trinity was the only Church in which your Letter was read, we feel it our special duty to address you this our frank and respectful answer.
On the 17th of May, 1860, the Bishop and Standing Com- mittee, after due deliberation, unanimously refused to admit All Saints Chapel as a fourth Parish, "as there was already ample accommodation for all who are disposed to attend upon the services of our Church at Newport, and the success of a new Parish could only be attained by the serious and permanent injury of the three churches now existing."
On the 11th of June, 1861, no notice having been given to the three churches interested, the Bishop and Standing Commit- tee "advised and consented to the formation of a new parish under the name of 'All Saints Parish.'" We are at a loss to
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conceive of this sudden change of policy. "The serious and permanent injury to the three existing churches" remains exactly as in the previous year, and "the Church accommodation" is now more than "ample" in consequence of the reduced number of visitors at Newport. The mere pertinacity of the applicants does not constitute a sufficient reason for reversing a righteous judgment, nor in the opinion of this Vestry, has the conduct of the petitioners been such as to entitle them to the sympathy or indulgence of the Church. To evade a certain Canon, they appealed to the civil authority, the Board of Aldermen, and effected a change in the boundaries of a ward in this city; when the Bishop of the Diocese appointed and published a day for his official visitation at Trinity to administer the Rite of Con- firmation, these Petitioners in a body seceded from their Parish Church, and with a layman on that day held service at All Saints Chapel. Subsequently, when the Bishop and Standing Committee forbade the opening of the Chapel, either as a fourth Parish or as private property, this same layman was engaged for the Season, on a salary, and for the greater part of the year did actually conduct all the services of the Church, the administration of the Holy Sacraments alone excepted. As you, Rt. Rev. Sir, are not ignorant of these transactions, this Vestry will not volunteer to defend the honor of the Church, or to de- fine the sins of Schism and Rebellion.
On the 15th of June, 1860, the Bishop and Standing Com- mittee again unanimously refused to grant the prayer of the Petitioners, ruling among other matters, that the Chapel could not be opened "so long as it is held as private property, the revenue to be applied at the sole discretion of the owner, liable to be occupied by a clergyman subject to no control so far as the management of the Chapel is concerned, except that which necessarily grows out of his general canonical obligations to con- duct the services of the Church with propriety, it not being requisite that he should even be connected with the Diocese." The wisdom of this decision has already been proved, for we hear with unfeigned sorrow that at the opening of the Chapel this Season, a clergyman, "not connected with the Diocese," "subject to no control, as far as the management of the Chapel
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is concerned," has publicly denounced the Canons of the Church, thereby wounding the feelings of many loyal Episcopalians, both of this and other Dioceses. Whether All Saints Chapel remains "held as private property," or whether it has been legally trans- ferred, a minister or spiritual head elected and the Parish duly organized according to the requirements of the Canon, we do not presume to inquire, confidently relying upon the justice and integrity, the vigor and firmness of the Ecclesiastical Authori- ties. But if this Parish should be duly organized, we respectfully ask you, our Bishop, what is the canonical position of these seceders, or rather, what is their relation to the Parish of Trin- ity. Members and Communicants in the Corporation, recorded and reported to you as such, retaining their pews, enjoying all the rights and privileges of Membership, they, from frivolous causes, leave their own place of worship and become members, wardens or vestrymen of another Parish. Now, this anomalous state of things, and all this wretched controversy, would have been avoided had the little Chapel of All Saints been allowed to remain unaltered; or, if when removed, it had "recurred to its original position as a Free Chapel," according to the recom- mendation of the Bishop and Standing Committee in their circu- lar of May 17th, 1860: for divested of all sophistry and special pleading the Fact is undeniable that All Saints Chapel, erected principally, if not entirely, by members of Trinity Church, was for nine years a Free Chapel, open to strangers during the sum- mer, with daily service, prosperous, successful, and in entire conformity with the wishes and intentions of the contributors.
In conclusion, Rt. Rev. Sir, we beg to assure you that when your unexpected letter was read to our congregation, "All Saints Chapel" had been peaceably opened for four or five Sundays. Although disappointed at finding the little community of New- port again exposed to this irritating subject, we made no objec- tion, but quietly "ceased from further contention." The old Parish of Trinity, prosperous in its temporal and spiritual affairs, cannot be affected by the establishment of any new church, but as a matter of opinion we conscientiously believe that the suc- cess of a new parish "can only be attained by the serious and permanent injury" of Zion and Emmanuel Churches. You have
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ruled otherwise, and as "loyal Churchmen we have submitted to your decision without cavil or opposition." We therefore consider your Pastoral Letter as uncalled for, and its reprimands and admonitions not deserved by the congregation. In the pres- ent unhappy state of our country, we seek comfort and consola- tion in the religious services of our Church and, at least, we hope to find peace and tranquillity within the bounds of our Sanctuary.
In behalf of the Vestry of Trinity Church, MARSHALL C. SLOCUM, Senior Warden.
J. D. OGDEN, Secretary. Newport, R. I., August 9th, 1861.
August 21, 1861. At a Vestry meeting the following letter from the Bishop of the Diocese, was read and ordered to be placed on file :
To the Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church, Newport; Gentlemen :
Your communication of the 9th inst. is just received.
In reply allow me to say, that if the Pastoral Letter, which I recently addressed to the members of the Episcopal Church in Newport, was read in Trinity Church and not in the other churches, it was by no direction of mine; I simply requested that the sheets which I forwarded should be distributed among the people.
It is well known that I have uniformly declared myself as opposed to the protests against the opening of All Saints Chapel, and have exerted my influence to secure their repeal. This was not because I approved of the mode in which it was proposed to institute services there; for in my private communications to the Rev. Dr. Mercer, I implored him to abandon his plan, re- linquish control of the building, and thus remove the main cause of contention. The course which I felt constrained to pursue with him has resulted in a rupture of the closest friendship and most intimate relations. I have been charged in certain letters recently addressed to me, with collusion with him, in his original project for removing and enlarging the Chapel, and with a wil-
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lingness to receive pecuniary compensation, for allowing him to carry out his plans. In reply, I can only say that he never consulted me, and I never advised him at all on the subject. All that I ever had to do with the Chapel, was to preach there for a few Sundays, alternately with the Rector of Trinity Church, taking his place in his own Chapel on the intermediate Sundays ;. and this I did at his earnest solicitation and statement, that it would be entirely agreeable to the Congregation of Trinity, and would, further, tend to produce peace and harmony.
The grounds upon which the ecclesiastical authority acted, in recognizing the formation of a new parish in Newport, are briefly given in my Pastoral Letter. We regarded the question before us as a mere choice of evils, and I venture to say that every clergyman in the Diocese, not personally involved in the controversy, under the existing circumstances, would acquiesce in our decision. As it regards my own consent to the action of the Standing Committee, it was based, not only upon what seemed to be right and expedient but upon the impression con- veyed to me, that it was the opinion of the most judicious per- sons in Trinity Church, that the establishment of a fourth parish in Newport is the only effectual way to close the present unhappy controversy.
I am, therefore, amazed at the reception given to the recent action of the ecclesiastical authority of the Diocese; and I am more astonished that the kind and affectionate letter which I have addressed to the Churchmen of Newport, should have been construed into a cause of offence, and declared to be the occa- sion of reviving a controversy which was beginning to die out.
That the state of feeling at Newport was such as to demand my official interference, I know from evidence which would be most mortifying and degrading to the Church, if it were given to the public. The only objection made to my letter in the Standing Committee, was, that it was milder than the occasion demanded.
That letter was not addressed to the churches in their cor- porate capacity; it censured no action of the Vestry of Trinity Church, but it was a simple word of counsel and godly admoni- tion to the individual members of our Church in every quarter,
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who have been and still are, indulging unchristian feeling, and uttering unchristian sentiments in relation to each other.
If a Bishop in the Church, when he sees that she is exposed to reproach and contempt, may not, in imitation of apostolic precedent, give expression to these paternal counsels which befit the emergency, it would seem as though the Episcopal office were, in a great degree, superfluous.
This controversy has given me more trouble, anxiety and pain than all my other experience in the ministry put together. I have done everything that I could to secure peace and restore that harmony to the Church, without which there can be no temporal or spiritual prosperity. In these efforts I have not been sustained by any party, but have incurred the reproach of all. I might in the beginning have taken ground against the opening of the Chapel in any form, and then a large number of communicants would have been driven from the pale of our Church. I might in the beginning have so defined the parochial boundaries in Newport, that the friends of the Chapel could have worshipped there, under any ministration that they pre- ferred. I did neither: when the worshippers there invited a layman to read the service to them, which they had an un- doubted right to do, although I never officially consented to this, I declined to declare myself opposed to it, hoping that after a time, those who had left their former place of worship would return and cooperate harmoniously with their brethren. On the other hand, when the protests were made against any clergyman's officiating in the Chapel, in the very act of declar- ing myself opposed to these protests, I declined to interfere for their removal. What right then have the Churchmen of New- port to charge me with double dealings in this matter? What right have they to charge me with the basest motives, as they have done, by speech and in letters addressed to me (of course I have no reference here to any action of yours), when I have striven in a matter where I had not the slightest personal ad- vantage to secure, by every conceivable desire to reconcile dif -. ferences, and save the Church from ruin? I feel myself deeply and seriously aggrieved in this whole matter. Neither party in this whole matter has done me justice.
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One point further and I have done. In a letter received from your Rector [Rev. O. H. Prescott] he writes as follows: "It is said that when you opened the way to your being called to the Rectorship of Trinity Church, and proposed the withdrawal of the protests, it was under the assurance that you would ac- cept the invitation, and could hinder the opening of the Chapel. Surprise is expressed that your Episcopal duties should be af- fected by your Pastoral connection, and that you did not do, as Bishop and Rector of Grace Church, Providence, what you were understood to be pledged to do, if you became Rector of Trinity Church, Newport." The Vestry of Trinity Church knew that I never gave "an assurance that I would accept the invitation," which they did me the honor to give; and further, that I never said that in the relation of their Rector, I could "hinder the opening of the Chapel." I did, indeed, encourage them to be- lieve that I would accept their kind and earnest invitation, if I found it possible for me to do so; and after returning home I had fully determined to accept, although I had never signified the fact to any person outside of my own family; and I should have become your Rector if it had not been for the irresistible interference of my people and Vestry here: so that I can be charged with no want of faith in this matter. As to my hinder- ing the opening of the Chapel as Rector of Trinity Church, it was said in your Vestry meeting, that if I could come to New- port, it was immaterial whether the Chapel was open or not: no pledge was demanded of me on the subject, and I certainly should not have given one, if it had been asked.
Had it been possible for me to have accepted the Rectorship of your Church, I have no doubt that, so far as the people of Trinity were concerned, there would have been no difficulty in adjusting the relation of the Chapel to your parish, in a manner satisfactory to all parties.
I have written much more at length than I intended, and with the kindest and most grateful feelings towards the Wardens and Vestry of a Church, to which I feel myself indebted for numer- ous acts of undeserved regard and attention. Painful as your communication is to my feelings, I am glad that it has furnished me with the opportunity of saying what would otherwise have
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NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.
found no expression. Were you, Gentlemen, to know all that I have done in this matter, you would see that if private entreaty, earnest remonstrance and solemn appeal could have averted the . controversy, and removed the original cause of offence, these troubles would never have occurred. I trust that the whole matter will rest here, and that with the explanation I have now given, mutual confidence, friendship and good will between us, may be indissolubly and forever restored.
Ever truly and affectionately your friend and Bishop,
THOMAS M. CLARK.
Providence, August 16th, 1861.
The following answer to the above was unanimously adopted, and ordered to be sent to the Bishop, and to be put on file:
To the Rt. Rev. Thomas M. Clark, Bishop of Rhode Island; Rt. Rev. and Dear Sir:
Your letter of the 16th has been duly received. The object of our communication of the 9th of August, was to ex- press our regret, that notwithstanding our reasonable and con- sistent course of action and our loyal and quiet submission to the decision of the authorities, we should nevertheless be con- sidered worthy of receiving a Pastoral Letter of advice. We were not aware that certain insulting letters had been addressed to you, charging you with collusion and pecuniary interest in the matter of the Chapel; and although you do not hold us responsible for these letters, yet we beg voluntarily to disclaim any connection or concurrence with them. If, as has been in- timated, these letters were anonymous, no language can express our mortification, that you should have been exposed to such unmanly attacks. It is unnecessary for us to say, that we have not the slightest suspicion, or the most distant idea, from what class of individuals these missives could have emanated.
While we regret that our communication has been painful to your feelings, we must acknowledge, that it has not been with- out its good effects. It has "furnished you with an opportunity of saying what would have otherwise found no expression "; and
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it has enabled us to define our position, and to put on record our motives and cause of action.
Sympathizing with you on the trouble, anxiety and pain you have endured during this protracted controversy, we beg to assure you, that from us you shall receive no further annoy- ance; and we sincerely and cordially respond to your hope, "that mutual confidence, friendship and good will between us may be indissolubly and forever restored."
In behalf of the Vestry,
MARSHALL C. SLOCUM, Senior Warden.
Newport, August 23d, 1861.
On motion of Mr. Edward King, it was resolved: that in each year there shall be made six general offertories, or collec- tions, in our Church, to such purposes as the Rector may desig- nate.
November 12, 1861. The Senior Warden was instructed to have the Church communion plate insured against fire, to the amount of $400.
Voted: that Governor Gibbs and Dr. King be a committee to purchase or obtain the old Altar of Trinity Church, which is now in this city. 397/2
The committee on music, the Rector, Dr. King and Mr.
391/2 SOME YEARS before the above vote, when the Church was undergoing repairs and refitting, a number of ladies raised a sufficient sum to purchase a new altar, and the old one was, for the time being, placed in the belfry, where it was given to the sexton. He intended to take it home and put it to domestic use, but found that the carpenters had made a work bench of it, and had so shook it that it was no longer available for that purpose. Mr. William Gilpin saw it in its demoralized condition, bought it of the sexton, had it repaired and then took it to his office. There the above committee saw it, and could have had it for the asking, but neglected to take any further action in the premises. It is still, as the writer under- stands it, at the disposal of the Vestry, if a proper place can be found for it.
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Lawrence, were requested to devise some scheme for improving the music.
Voted: that a catalogue of all books belonging to the Cor- poration, shall be made and printed, under the superintendence of a committee: the committee to be the Rector, Dr. King and the librarian of the Sunday School.
December 9, 1861. The Senior Warden reported that he had effected insurance on the Church plate to the amount of $350.
The Committee on Music made the following report:
"The Committee respectfully report, that they are satisfied, that with proper and sufficient instruction, a choir of boys can furnish such music as is needed in our service, and that with the present organist's other engagements, it is quite impossible to give the attention and practice necessary to this end; there- fore,
"Resolved: that Mr. Tourgee be notified that the Vestry wish to terminate their engagement with him as organist, on the last day of the present month.
"Resolved: that Mr. Henry S. Cutler, the director of the music in Trinity Church, New York, be and he is hereby to take the superintendence of the music in Trinity Church, New- port, with the privilege of appointing a deputy director, Mr. Cutler having the entire responsibility of the music, and that the salary given at present be continued to Mr. Cutler, in monthly payments.
"Resolved: ยท that the organ be put in thorough repair and efficiency, under the direction of Mr. Cutler and the present committee on music, and that the sum of $500 be appropriated for that purpose."
The report and its recommendations were adopted.
January II, 1862. The following communication was laid before the Vestry:
"The Music Committee respectfully report, that the organ
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has been examined by Messrs. Cutler and Wilcox, who agree in the opinion that the $500 already appropriated, will put the instrument in thorough repair, without doing much towards its permanent improvement.
"The Committee have also ascertained, that at an outlay of $1000 the organ can be renovated and enlarged, as to be made virtually a new instrument, as good, according to its size, as can be bought in the country.
"Under these circumstances, the Committee wish to refer the matter back to the Vestry for further instructions: it being their opinion, that the best thing to be done, will be to recom- mend to the Corporation to appropriate $1000, for the thorough repair and enlargement of the organ.
"The Committee further recommend that the Senior Warden be authorized to hire a piano, and place it in the School Room, for the use of the Organist, in drilling the choir."
The report was received and ordered on file, and its recom- mendations were adopted.
January 30, 1862. Meeting of the Corporation; 17 corpora- tors being present.
Voted: that it is inexpedient to repair the organ at present.
Voted: to defer the election of Rector to Thursday next.
February 7, 1862. At an adjourned meeting of the Corpor- ation, the meeting adjourned to the evening of the same day, there not being a quorum present.
At the adjourned meeting in the evening there were present: John Barker, George Hall, M. C. Slocum, William Cornell, James Birckhead, J. L. Van Rennselaer, William C. Gibbs, Job T. Langley, William Littlefield, Henry Bull, William Gardner, Charles H. Mumford, William Burns, Russell Coggeshall, Wil- liam E. Dennis, G. Spingler: 16.
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