^!f'r i ! i ! m n5i Pi liil ill iph,,. IHhii^ rat i If i 'if.r .-iiiiiiiriii ilu ituiiiii THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES b (L\ < r u ^y- ST. George's chapel, beekman street, 1752 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK 17^2-181 1-1911 BY THE REV. HENRY ANSTICE, D.D. SECRETARY OF THE HOUSE OF DEPUTIES OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION HAR PER & BR OTH ER S NEW YORK - MCMXI COPYRIGHT. 1911. BY HARPER a BROTHERS CONTENTS PAET I iNTRODrcTORY Page xiii. CHAPTER I Religious Beginnings in New York (1623-1748) Foreword — First Settlement on Manhattan Island — Religious Services — Domine Bogardus — The first Church — The Church in the Fort — Absence of Religious Toleration — First Municipal Government — Persecution of Lutherans and Quakers — Civic Affairs — England's Claim to the Territory — Expedition to take Possession — Religious Toleration under English Rule — Dutch Reoccupa- tion — Second Surrender to the English — Chaplains in the Fort — New York under Royal Gtovemors — The Earliest Churches — Attempts to secure legal Ministerial Maintenance — The City Vestry — Incorporation of the Reformed Dutch Church — The Beginnings of Trinity — Election of Mr. Vesey as Rector — • His Ordination — Incorporation of Trinity Church — Cordial Relations with the Dutch Congregation — Description of the original Trinity Church — Hos- tility of Gov. Bellomont — Property ceded to the Church under Lord Corn- bury — Description thereof — The " Venerable Society," the S. P. G. — Steady but slow Gro\vth of the Church — Gov. Hunter's Antipathy to Mr. Vesey — His appointment as Bishop's Commissary — Wm. Bradford's Publication of the First Newspaper — Enlargements and Improvements of the Church — Close of Dr, Vesey's Rectorship — Election of Rev. Dr. Henry Barclay . . Page 1 CHAPTER II The CnAPEn:, Period (1749-1811) Need of increased Church Accommodation — Steps to secure a Chapel in the Parish — Description of the Edifice — Account of the Opening Service — Assign- ment of Rev. :Mr. Auchmuty to its Special Charge — The Collegiate Plan of Clerical Service — Tlie Charity School — Foundation of King's College — Its Commencements in St. George's — Interest in the Institution in England— The Pantiles, Clock, and Burial Fees — ^Vork among the Negroes — Death of Dr. Barclay— Rev. Mr. Auchmuty Rector— Portents of the Revolution— St. Paul's Chapel — Society for Relief of Widows and Children of Clergymen- Financial Condition of Parish — Gift to St. George's by Gov. Tryon Position of Clergy at Outbreak of the Revolution — Gen. Washington in New York Rector Auchmuty and Assistants close the Churches and Leave — The British General occupies New Y^ork — Return of the Clergj.- — Disastrous Fire — Trinity Church destroyed— Total losses of the Parish— Collections for Charity School O^ iv CONTENTS —Use of St. George's given to Dutch Congregation— Chapel Items— Service for Refugees— Close of War- Resignation of Dr. Inglis — Evacuation by Brit- ish — Public Thanksgiving — Dangers to Church in Transition Period — Special Difficulties confronting Parish — Rev. Dr. Provoost Rector — Elected Bishop — His First Ordination in St. George's— Rebuilding of Trinity— Rector Provoost's Wise Administration — His Resignation — Rev. Dr. ]\Ioore his Successor in both Parish and Episcopate — Conditions in the City in 1811 — The Jones-Hobart Controversy— Action of the Corporation of Trinity. Page 22 CHAPTER III Period of Organization and Kewley Rectorship (1811-1816) Preliminary Action of Trinity Vestry — St. George's Questions — Trinity's Answers — Certificate of the Congregation — Act of Incorporation — First Meeting of St. George's Vestry — Steps to secure a Rector — Services by Rev. Dr. John Bowden and Rev. John Brady — Purchase of Bogert Property — Other gifts from Trinity — Lots received for Endowment — Vestry Directions as to the Services — Chanting a Vexed Question — The Van Wagenen Incident — Call of Dr. Kewley — His Acceptance — Mr. Brady continued as Assistant Minister — Institution of both by Bp. Hobart — Right to Transfer Pews — Third Service on Sundays — Church destroyed by Fire — Services held in Church Du Saint Esprit — Application to Trinity for Aid — Consent to rebuild on Basis of Reimbursement in part through sale of Pews — Additional Lots granted for Endowment — Purchase of Burling Property — Relative Rights of Rector and Assistants — Rector appeals to Bisliop — Desires to visit Eng- land^ — Vestry consents — Rector returns — Xew Church Consecrated — Sale of Pews — Sundry Directions of the Vestry — Description of the new Edifice — Thanks to Vestry of St. Esprit Church — Land bought — Vaults and Owners — Troubles of the Assistant Minister — His Resignation — Resignation of the Rector — Dr. Kewley's Letters — ^Acceptance of Resignation — Dr. Kewley's Departure from country — His Letter to Bishop Hobart with Reasons for Returning to the Church of Rome — Surprise and Indignation in St. George's Page 49 CHAPTER IV The Mllnor Period (1816-1830) Invitation to Visit New York — Mr. Milnor's Reply — A Committee Visits Philadelphia — ^Mr. Mlilnor called — Visit to New York — His Acceptance — Letters of Transfer — Rev. Ralph Williston ad interim — Institution by Bp. Hobart — Letter of Institution — Characterization of Dr. Milnor's Ministry and Influence — Appreciation by Vestry and Congregation — Sunday-school Work — The Stress laid upon it by Drs. Milnor, Tyng, and Rainsford — Its Inception through Laymen — The Sunday-school and Lecture-room Building — Its Formal Opening — Account of the Various Schools — New Organ, Bell, and Clock — Rectoi-'s Proposition to erect a Study — Accepted by Vestry — ]\Ir. Thomas Smith's Gift of Bell — Clock placed in Steeple — Rector's Proposi- tion as to Sunday-school Galleries in Church — Accepted by Vestrj" — Monu- ment to Rev. J. W. Eastburn — Schedule of Real Estate — Income' and Ex- penditure — Organ Fund raised by Rector — Contract for Instrument — Growth of Congregation — Rector's View of Conditions — ^Mention of Rev. Mr. Tyng — Dr. Milnor's Hold upon his People — Points of Criticism from Outside — CONTENTS V Theft and Recovery of Records — Contributions for City Poor — Widening of Cliff Street— List of Communicants — Improvements in the Church — Illness of Rector— Thankfulness for his Recovery— His Sense of Pastoral Responsi- bility-Portraits of the Bishops and Rector ordered — Accident to Rector — Death of De Witt Clinton— Request for Notice thereof from Common Council Dr. Milnor's Sermon — Bp. Hobart's Refusal — Comments of Christian Journal— Sa^ndford's Sketch of Church Ruins— Anderson Bequest— The Clerical Association — Musical Matters Page 77 CHAPTER V The Milnob Period (1830-1836) Dr. Milnor's Mission to England— Rev. ^t H. Henderson in charge — The objects of this ]\Iission— Societies to be Represented— Departure and Arrival— The May Anniversaries — Engagements and Journeyings — Arrival Home — Generous Spirit of Vestry — Appreciation of Mr. Henderson's Services — Death of Bp. Hobart — The Hobart-Milnor Controversy — Union Societies — American Bible Society — American Tract Society — Spiritual Blessings in Parish — Diocesan Obligations — City JNIission Society — Cholera in New York — The Rector at his Post — ^Missionary Spirit of St. George's — General Convention of 1835 — " The Church is the Missionary Society," Dr. ]Milnor's Suggestion — Separa- tion of Domestic and Foreign Work — Its Partisan Results — Dr. Milnor elected Secretary of Foreign Comnjittee — Statement to the Vestry — Its action thereon — Rev. Jas. W. Cooke, Assistant INIinister — Dr. ]Slilnor's Overtaxed Strength — Asks Counsel of Vestry — Relinquishment of Secretaryship — Death of Bp. White Page 114 CHAPTER VI The Milnor Period (1836-1845) Interest of St. George's in Theological Education — Establishment of Gen. Theol. Sem'y — St. George's Scholarship — Dr. ]\Iilnor's Trusteeship — The Oxford Tracts — Institutions at Gambler — The Milnor Professorship — Names of In- cumbents — Rev. ]SIr. Cooke to remain as Ass't Minister — Organ and Clock — • Van Wagenen Devise declined by Vestry — St. George's Scholarships in Trinity School — Prot. Epis. Mission Society — Cemetery Project — Trend of Population Up-town — Portrait of Bp. Inglis — Resignation of Mr. Cooke — Rev. P. P. Irving, Assistant — Waldron Legacy — Rector's Illness and Recovery — Services by Rev. W. H. Walter — Trial of Bp. Onderdonlc — Dr. Milnor as a Witness — The Problem of the Do^vu-town Church — Project of an Up-town Chapel — Sudden death of Rector — Dr. Stone's Tribute — The Funeral and Interment — Action of Vestry — Memorial to Trinity Church as to new Chapel — Monument to Dr. ]Milnor Page 142 CHAPTER Vll The Tyng Period (1845-1851) Call of Dr. Tyng — Letter of Acceptance — His First Sermon — Recognition by Vestry of Mr. Ir^ing's Services — Settlement in the Rectory — Project of New Sunday-school Building — Overshadowed by Proposal of New Site — Dr. Tyng's Plan — Initial Action of Vestry — Decision for Fourteenth Street Site — Otter of vi CONTENTS Peter G. Stuvvesant — Plans adopted— Laying of Corner-stone — Schedules of Property— Rev. Dudley A. Tyng Assistants-Rector's Evening Scr^'ice3 in Church,' Eighth Street \ind Astor Place — Trip to Euroi^e- Services in Chapel of University of New York — New S. S. Building — Assistance for Rector — Opposition to Plans of Rector and Vestry — Details of Rector's Plan— Views of the Opposition— The Decisive Vestry Election — R. L. WooUey's Defama- tion of ]\ector — Action of Vestry — Commission appointed by Standing Com- mittee of Diocese — Its Report — Death of Dr. Stearns — Transfer of Govern- ment to Stuyvesant Square — ^Arrangements for opening Sei-vice — Provision for IMusic, Sexton, and Sale of Pews — Resolutions of Thanks — Inauguration of Worship — Expenditure to Date advanced by Wm. Whitlock — Sermon by Dr. Berrian — Tlie Restrictions on St. George's Property — Negotiations with Trinity to secure their Release — Friiitless of Results — Obstructive Activities of some in Beekman Street Congregation — Memorial to Vestry — Conferences Held — Agreement Impossible — Appeal of Remonstrants to Trinity — Vestry Election — Generous Proposition of Re-elected Vestry — Counter Proposition of Dissentients — End of Negotiations — Obligations Met by Temporary Loans — Completion of S. S. Building — Consecration of Church — Attendance of Rector and Vestry of Trinity — The Pending Application for Release of Restrictions — Action of Trinity Vestry — Propositions and Counter Propositions — Final Agreement — Details in Report of Committee — Action of Vestry — Report of Special Committee on Temporalities and Financial Policy — Adoption of Re- port — Conveyance of Beekman Street Church to Cburch of Holy Evangelists. Page 162 CHAP1"ER VIII The Tyng Period (1851-1865) Beginning of City Missionary Work of St. George's Sunday-schools — ^Rev. Calvin C. Wolcott — The Rector's Parochial Activities and ]\Iethods — Brief European Trip — Dr. Heman Dyer becomes Assistant — Additions to Rector's Salary — R^siung of Ten Years' Work — Growth of Sunday-schools — Benevolent Con- tributions — Sunday-school Monograph — Completion of Spires — Clock and Bell — Mural Tablets — Rector's Trip to Holy Land — Death of P. G. Arcularius — Rector's Bereavement in Loss of his First-born — Dr. Dyer's Resignation as Assistant— His Published Tribute to Dr. Tyng— Rev. W. F. Paddock, As- sistant — Rev. Jas. E. Homans — Rev. S. H. Tyng, Jr. — Intention of Church of Holy Evangelists to abandon old St. George's — Reorganization as Free Church of St. George's Chapel — Trustees' Proposal of Sale — Protracted Negotiations between Trinity and St. George's — Terms of Final Amicable Settlement — Party Feeling rn the Church and Diocese — Controversy between Dr. T\Tig and Dr. Berrian — The Evangelical Societies — Outbreak of Civil War — Staunch Loyalty of Rector and Congregation — Dr. Tyng's Lftterances on National Days — Parish Investments in Government Securities — Lectures on Preaching — Philadelphia Divinity School — Dr. Dyer again Assistant — Rev. W. T. Sabine— Rev. T. R. Chipman— Rev. U. T. Tracy— Rev. Brockholst IMorgan — Rev. C. W. Bolton — Rev. C. S. Stephenson — Monograph on City Mission Work — Changes in Congregation — Death of Joseph Lawrence — Dr. Tyng's Country Home — Summary of Twenty Years' Work . . . Page 194 CHAPTER IX The Tyng Period (1865-1878) Burning of the Church — Plans for Rebuilding — Irving Hall Secured for Services — Opening of Rebuilt Church — Consecration by Bp. Potter — Report of Build- CONTENTS vii ing Committee — Memorial Windows and Gifts — Eights of Pew Owners — Plan of Pew Valuation — Bp. Potter's Pastoral — Trial of Eev. Dr. S. H. Tyng, Jr. — Action of Xew York Convention on Oflerings — Protest of Vestry — Rev. W. N". McVickar, Assistant — Rev. Morris A. Tyng — New Organ — Dr. Schramm fol- lowed by Mr. Fleishhacker in German Mission — Attendants at Chapels not Voters at Church Elections — Decoration of Chancel — Repairs to Side Galleries — Completion of Quarter Century of Rectorship — Financial Items — Changes in Clerical Staff — Repairs to North Spire — Fourteenth Street Chapel Rebuilt — Rector's Trip to Europe — Rev. Dr. Matson Meier-Smith Officiating — Validity of St. George's Title — Finances of Corporation — Proposed new Church Up- town — Outline of Plan Adopted — Consideration of Plan Suspended — Rev. Chas. D. Marston called as Associate Rector— Declined — Retrenchment Neces- sary — Rector's Thirtieth Anniversary Discourse — Death of Wm. Whitlock, Jr.; Adolphus Lane; Wm. T. Blodgett — Warning Prosperity — Dr. Walter W. Williams called as Associate Rector — Relations of Vestry to Mission Chapels — Dr. Williams' Letter of Acceptance — Provision of Salary and Furnished House — Division of Labor — Change of Hour of Service — Organ Recitals — Illness of Rector — Action of Vestry — Rector's Letter in Reply — Conference with Wardens — Letter of Resignation — Accepted and Annuity voted — Elected Rector Emeritus — Resolution of Parish IMeeting, Easter Tuesday — Dr. Williams elected Rector — Letter of Committee — His Acceptance — Dr. Tyng's Parting Sermon — Resolutions of Special Committee — Retirement ended Active ]\Iinistry — Sympathy of Friends — Letter of Pp. Bedell — Strength inadequate for Sustained Effort — Pre-millennial Conference — His Country House — His Peaceful End — Action of Vestry — Review of His ISIinistry — Funeral Service — Address of Bishop Lee — Interment in Greenwood- — Tribute of Bp. Potter. Page 232 CHAPTER X The Williams Rectorship and Interim (1878-1882) Situation of Extreme Difficulty — Need of Retrenchment — Consolidation of Chapel Work — Retirement of Rev. Mr. Fleischhacker and Rev. Mr. Buchanan — Communication from Messrs. Philips, Dominick, and Marshall — Rector's Statement — Steps to effect Sale of Fourteenth Street Chapel — Rev. J. Rice Taylor, Assistant — Sale of Fourteenth Street Property — Rector's Plan for Consolidation Declined by officers of Sunday-school of Chapel — Bread of Life School disbanded — Proposal to Sell Nineteenth Street Chapel — Project of Boy Choir — Report of Music Committee — Rev. Newi;on Perkins Assistant — Revival of Plan for Removal Up-to^vn — Salaries of Clergy Raised — Death of Wm. A. Haines — Bach's Music by Oratorio Society — Death of Hon. Wm. E. Curtis — Death of Ross W. W^ood — General Convention in St. George's — Notes of its Work — Popular Evening Services — Report of Committee on Up-town Site — Closing of Chapel of Free Grace — S. N. Penfield Organist — Extra Salary voted to Rector — Dr. Williams' Resignation — Action of Vestry — Rev. Newton Perkins in Charge — Letter of Vestry to Retiring Rector — Mr. Perkins' Duties — Steps to secure Rector — Rev. Dr. J. H. Eccleston called — Declined — Sale of Nineteenth Street Property — Tender of Use of St. George's to Church of the Incarnation — Financial Statement — Call of Rev. W. S. Rainsford — Rev. Hugh Maguire in Charge — Death of Dr. J. B. Reynolds — Insistence on Call to Mt. Rainsford — His Visit to New York — Interview with Vestry — Letter of Rector-elect — Explanatory Letter of Mr. Chas. Tracy, Warden — ^Ratifying Action of Vestry . . . Page 271 viii CONTENTS CHAPTER XI The Rainsford Period (1883-1893) New Metlicxls to meet New Conditions — Chancel Choir and Organ — Clergy House — Envelope System — Rev. R. L. Brydges, first Assistant — New pulpit — Increased Accommodation for Runday-school — Rev. E. F Miles, M.D. — J. G-. Bierck, organist — Services and Organizations — Rev. Lindsay Parker — Grati- fying Statistics — Characterizations of Rector — Avenue A Mission — St. George's Chronicle — Growth of Parish — ^Mr. ^Morgan's Offer of a Memorial House — Advent ;Mission — Dr. Rainsford on ^Ministerial Education — Increased Income from Envelope Plan — Sunday-school in Irving Hall — Large Confirmation Class — Success of Free Church System — Old Epiphany House — Stanton Street Mission — Lay readers set apart by Bp. Potter — Dedication of Memorial House — Increase of Endowment — Description of Memorial House — Spires taken down — Wm. S. Chester, organist— Illness of Rector — General Con- vention in St. George's — Fresh Air Work — ]SIr. IMorgan's stimulating Offer to increase Endowment — Rector's Presentation of the Subject — Mr. C. J. Wills in charge of Stanton Street Mission — New Alms Basin — Sunday-school Superintendents — New Plans of Study — Children's Service — Clerical Staff — Deaconess House — Dr. Rainsford on Social Salvation — New Choir Room — Trade School — Battalion Club — Death of C. J. Wills — Final disposition of Stanton Street Mission Page 292 CHAPTER XII The Raixsford Period (1893-1905) Review of Ten Years — Pen Picture of ]\Iemorial House — Dr. Rainsford on Drink Problem — What the Church should do for the Working-man — Sundry Parochial Items — Death of W. H. Schieffelin — St. Andrew's Brotherhood Incident — Change to Advent of Annual Election of Vestry — Death of Chas. E. Tracy — Avenue A Mission given up — Handsome Increase in Church En- dowment — Parochial Statistics — The Ringing- of the Bell — Meeting of all Parochial Organizations — Interest of Rector and Vestrymen in Citizens' Union Campaign — Reunion of the Rector's twenty-two Assistants — Rector's Address at Bicentennial Celebration of Trinity Parish — St. George's Repre- sentation in Spanish-American War — Entire Church Property repaired and improved — House-to-house Visitation — Lectures to Working-men — St. George's Year Books — Dr. Rainsford on Changed Conditions — New Deaconess House — Lots in N. Y. Bay Cemetery — Parochial Statistics and Activities — Rector's Twentieth Anniversary — Dr. Rainsford's Address in Phila. — Improvements in the Church Edifice — Consolidation of Missionary Interests — BreakdoAvn in Rector's Health and Departure for Europe — Mr. Birckhead, Minister-in- charge — New Trade School Building — Death of F. H. Betts — Resignation of Dr. Rainsford — Action of Vestry — Rev. Hugh Birckhead elected Rector — Reviews of Dr, Rainsford's work Page 330 CHAPTER XIII The Birckhead Rectorship (1906-1911) Letter of Acceptance — House for Superintendent at Rockaway Beach — Camp Rainsford at Blackball — Missionary Tliank Offering — Theological Education — CONTENTS ix Special Musical Services— Death of John Noble Stearns— Gratifying Statistics of First Year of New Rectorship — Grand Prix awarded at Paris Inter- national Exhibition for St. George's Socialized Work — The Book, Admin- istration of an Institutional Church — Neighborhood Changes — Dr. Dawson's Advent Mission — " The Children of Bethlehem " musical service — Celebration of Hudson and Fulton Anniversaries — Frederick Danne Bequest for Seaside Work — Gift for Camp Rainsford — Rector's Treatment of Pressing Problems — His Marriage in the Church — Festival and Pantomime on St. George's Day — • Additional Chancel Organ installed — Tuberculosis Class — Modification of Fresh Air Methods — Title to Rockaway Beach — Laymen's Missionary Move- ment in St. George's — Interest in Missions — Decision of Vestry to publish a History of the Parish — Sketch of the Writer — Arrangements for Centennial Celebration — Notification and Appeal to Parishioners and others — Parochial Statistics — Dr. Birckhead's View of the Promise of the Future for St. George's Church Page 370 PART II BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES The Rectors 399 Wardens and Vestrymen 431 Assistant Ministers 456 APPENDICES I. Wardens and Vestrymen 473 II. Assistant Ministers 476 III. Clerks of Vestry 478 IV. Treasurers 478 V. Organists 479 VI. Parish Clerks 480 VII. Sextons and Assistant Sextons 480 VIII. Deaconesses and other Women Workers 481 IX. Inventory of Church Plate, Memorial Windows, Tablets, etc. . 482 X. Communicants in 1822 484 XL Communicants in 1845, remaining in 1868 490 XII. Parishioners in 1846 490 XIII. Incumbents of St. George's Scholarship in Gen. Theol. Sem'y. 494 XIV. Subscribers to Chapel Fund, 1911 495 ILLUSTRATIONS Seal of the Corporation Title page. St. George's Chapel, 1752 Frontispiece. Map of Montgomerie Ward, 1765 24 River Front with St. George's Chapel, 1798 . 40 St. George's Church and Rectory, 1815 68 The Rev. James INIilnor, D.D 78 The Church Bell, 1818 92 The Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., 1842 162 St. George's Church, Stuyvesant Square 180 St. George's Chapel with Church 200 Chancel of the Church, 1848-1865 200 Views of Church after the Fire, 1865 232 Interior View of the Church, 1869 242 The Rev. Walter W. Williams, D.D 254 The Rev. Stephen H, Tyng, D.D 270 The Rev. William S. Rainsford, D.D 292 Memorial House and Rectory, 1888 312 St. George's Church, 1890 316 St. George's Choirs : 328 Deaconess House, 1902 350 Cadet Battalion 354 Church Interior with Christmas Decoration 360 Evening Trade School Building, 1905 362 The Rev. Hugh Birckhead, D.D 370 Fresh-air Cottages 372 Diagram of Rockaway Beach Property 387 The Rev. Henry Anstice, D.D 390 St. George's Church, Interior 396 Vignettes of the Wardens and Vestrymen 432-458 The New Memorial Chapel 496 INTEODUCTORY This History has been written at the instance of the Vestry to emphasize the completion of the first century of the corporate ex- istence of St. George's Church. It aims to embody in a permanent form the various events which have contributed to make its annals noteworthy ; to sketch the careers of its several rectors, its wardens, vestrymen, and assistant ministers; to make accessible in printed form letters and documents worthy of preservation. To compress the available material within the compass of a con- venient volume, without omitting items essential to the complete- ness of the story, has been no easy task. Original and documentary sources of information have been carefully examined, and every effort made to insure accuracy of statement and of statistical data. In preparing the severely condensed outline of religious beginnings in the Dutch days, the many published histories of that period have been studiously consulted. The History of Trinity Church, by Dr. Dix, has proved fertile in facts relating to the establishment of that parish and of its eldest daughter, St. George's Chapel; and the courtesy of the rector and the comptroller of that corporation, the Eev. Dr. Manning and Mr. H. H. Cammann, in affording ready access to the carefully guarded records of that parish and contemporane- ous pamphlets, is gratefully acknowledged. For the history of St. George's during its centennium its five volumes of manuscript records have been carefully read, and facts and extracts culled therefrom to blend with matter from other reliable sources in the construction of our continuous narrative. Special indebtedness is due to the Memoir of Dr. Milnor, by the Rev. Dr. John S. Stone, and to the Life of Dr. Tyng by his son, C. Rockland Tyng, for facts relating to the periods they cover; and for the later periods to A Preacher's Story of His Work by Dr. Rainsford, the Administration of an Institutional Church by Dean Hodges and John Reichert, and the Year Books of the parish. The names of many books and news- papers from which quotations have been made, the quaint spelling and capitalization of that day being preserved in the excerpts, will be found in the course of the narrative, but many others, too numer- ous to catalogue, have yielded facts or suggestions as to some line of further investigation. xiv INTRODUCTOEY The narrative will not appeal to all alike, but will be read with varying interest in its several parts. Some incidents recorded and some views expressed the writer would have been glad to have modi- fied, but the truth of history demands a candid and impartial presentation of material facts; and a truer review of the character and work of those whose words and acts are chronicled may be presented in their own self-revealings and a more just impression of events in the setting afforded by original documents. The sketches in Part II. are as complete and accurate as diligent inquiry as to salient facts has rendered possible. It would have been a pleasure to make mention of the many other devoted workers of the past and present who, in their several spheres, contributed to the paro- chial results achieved ; but to have done so would have overtaxed the space available. The Publication Committee' of the vestry, under whose auspices this work has been accomplished, consists of the rector and wardens, with Mr. William Edmond Curtis as chairman and Mr. John Reich- ert as secretary. To the invaluable and indefatigable labors of Mr. Reichert are due the gathering of a large mass of valuable material, and especially the assembling of that notable collection of photo- graphs from which the portraits and illustrations in this history are reproduced. Vignettes of eighty-two out of the whole number of ninety-eight wardens and vestrymen who have served the church in the one hundred years will be found in connection with the bio- graphical sketches. To the librarians of the Society Library, the New York Historical Society, the New York Geneological and Biographical Society, the Public Library, Columbia University, and particularly to Mr. E. H. Virgin, of the General Theological Seminary, for courtesies ex- tended, and to all who have so kindly, directly or indirectly, con- tributed facts, data, or incidents, which add to the interest of this volume, the author tenders his most cordial thanks. It may not be unreasonable to hope that fuller acquaintance with its honorable past may induce a deeper interest in the welfare and possibilities of the St. George's of to-day. Henry Anstice, PART I HISTORY OF . ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH CHAPTER I RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN NEW YORK (1623-1748) The history of St. George's Church has interest for a wider circle than those immediately connected with that church or those whose ancestors participated in its upbuilding and development. Its influence in shaping the religious life of the community has been noteworthy and pronounced. It has stood always for ideas and methods well defined, which in their zealous application could not fail to achieve results. The strongly marked insistent personality of each of its great rectors, supported as they were by a devoted loyal people, endowed St. George's with a prominence and power which commanded attention and respect. However men might differ from the views and principles for which St. George's stood, its leadership was recognized and felt. St. George's, having now completed a centenary of parochial ex- istence, is fittingly observing her centennial celebration of that fact. But the annals of her past must cover a much longer period than a century, for sixty antecedent years of chapel life must add their chronicles of strivings and achievements to those of the centennium of her independent being, to constitute the record of that continuous life and honorable activity which has secured for St. George's Church a significant prestige and notable position in the history of New York. The narrative divides itself into four well-defined and charac- teristic periods, — that of the Chapel and those so dominated and imbued by the forceful personality of its illustrious rectors, Doctor Milnor, Doctor Tyng, and Doctor Rainsford. A brief review, however, of the yet earlier religious history of the city may fitly preface the annals of St. George 's Chapel and the Church. 2 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The earliest attempt at permanent settlement on Manhattan Island was made in May, 1623. Prior to that date, since Hudson's voyage of discovery in 1609, nothing but traders' huts had been erected on the island and no adventure undertaken to organize a colony or cultivate the soil. A trading charter had been granted to ^ some associated merchants by the States General of the Dutch Re- public " to make four voyages within three years," which had expired by its own limitation in January, 1618. But the Dutch Government, perceiving that the only way to establish ownership of territory in the New World was to secure possession, at last assented, after long discussion and much heated controversy, to a project of an influential body of its enterprising merchants; and the West India Company was organized with vaster privileges than were ever granted to a private corporation. Under their charter, which was approved in its final form by the States General June 21, 1623, they were empowered to exercise the functions of a sovereign state, * ' to colonize and govern and defend New Netherland. ' ' They could appoint officials, administer justice, contract alliances, erect forts, and carry on war on land or by sea. So vigorously prosecuted was this last-named privilege and so phenomenal the successes of its well-armed fleet in capturing Spanish prizes, and thereby bringing to the Company immense returns, that the work of colonization went on but haltingly. But not entirely unmindful of that clause in its charter which provided that it should " advance the peopling of the fruitful and unsettled parts," it manned an expedition which reached New Amsterdam in May, 1623, consisting chiefly of Wal- loons, some thirty families, under Cornelis Jacobson May, who was to remain in the colony as its first Director. These people were of Gallic origin who had fled to Holland from religious persecution and inhabited the frontier between France and Flanders, and who now desired to find a permanent home in the New World. Other adventurers followed in the succeeding year with William Verhulst, who succeeded May as the Director, but whose oJBficial term was of a similarly short duration. To Peter Minuit, however, who arrived May 6, 1626, a man of energy and experience, is due the credit of superseding the simple rule of his predecessors by an organized government, in which he had the assistance of a Council vested with legislative and judicial functions. A fort was erected and a ware- house, and with fresh arrivals from Holland the population of the island soon increased to some two hundred people. The earlier colonists brought with them no ordained clergyman, but Minuit was accompanied by two ' ' Krankbesoeckers, " or " com- RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN NEW YORK 3 forters of the sick," whose duties included reading to the people from the Scriptures and instructing them in the Creeds. In August, 1628, however, the Rev. Jonas Michaelius, accredited to his work by the Synod of North Holland, established the first " form of a church " in Manhattan, Minuit the Director-General being /ap- pointed one of the elders. " At the first administration of the Lord's Supper we had," writes Michaelius, *' full fifty communi- cants, not without great joy and comfort for so many Walloons and Dutch. . . . We administer the Holy Sacrament of the Lord once in four months. The Walloons and French have no service on Sundays otherwise than in the Dutch language, of which they under- stand very little." The first place where stated religious services were held was the loft of Francis Molemaecker's horse-mill fitted up for the purpose, and in a tower connected with which there had been hung some Spanish bells captured at Porto Rico in the preceding year by the "West India Company's fleet. This mill was located on the north side of what is now South William Street between Broad and William. When Domine Everardus Bogardus came over in 1633 with the new Director-General Wouter Van Twiller, he " would have none of the loft of the horse-mill in which his predecessor had preached and prayed," so a small wooden church was built for him on the shore of the East River, which was at that time the present line of Pearl Street, between Broad and Whitehall, and a parsonage house was erected for him near by. The Domine " preached with vigor on Sundays and on week days kept a watchful eye on civic affairs." Many of Van Twiller 's acts failed to meet with his ap- proval, and when the former resented his criticisms Bogardus de- nounced him from the pulpit as a " child of the devil." William Kieft succeeded him as Director - General in 1638, under whose auspices a new church was built within the fort. This fort, which under successive names played such an important part in the early history of the city, was completed in 1635 and was a quadrangular structure three hundred feet long and two hundred and fifty wide, located on some rising ground bounded by the present streets called Whitehall, Bridge, State, and Bowling Green. It inclosed a guard-house and barracks, the public offices, and a house for the Director-General; and in time came to be " distinguished not less for its social and political associations than for its characteristics as a military post." The suggestion of a new church came from David De Vries, a conspicuous and attractive figure in the affairs of the colony. He 4 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH rallied the Governor on the mean appearance of the little church in Pearl Street and quoted the example of their New England neighbors as making it their first care to provide a suitable meeting- house in every new town and settlement and offered himself to give one hundred guilders toward a new church. The Governor was much impressed, but was at a loss to know how to provide sufficient funds till the happy thought occurred to him of utilizing the ap- proaching marriage festivities of the stepdaughter of Domine Bogardus as a fit occasion for circulating a subscription. The Domine had wooed and won, some years before, the wealthy widow of Roelof Jansen, more commonly known as Anneke Jans, which marriage had enhanced his position and influence. And now at the wedding of his wife's daughter a subscription paper for the new church was passed around among the merry-hearted guests, whose generosity was stimulated by the abundant beverages and the rivalry of the occasion, and handsome sums were readily subscribed. A stone church was erected in the fort, at a contract cost of twenty- five hundred guilders, seventy-two feet long, fifty-five wide, and sixteen high. In its front wall on a marble slab was inscribed, " Anno Domini 1642, William Kieft, Director-General, hath this commonalty caused to build this temple." The church was called St. Nicholas, in honor of the tutelary saint of New Amsterdam, and here for half a century a succession of ministers of the Reformed Dutch Church, all educated in the universities of Holland, con- ducted service in the Dutch language until 1693, when the new church on Garden Street (now Exchaiige Place) was ready for occupancy. It was natural and fit that the religion of the national Church of Holland should thus be firmly established in the jurisdiction of the West India Company, but of religious toleration there was none until after the English gained possession of the colony. In the articles for its government prepared by the Company at New Am- sterdam, August 30, 1638, the following occurs : Religion shall be tang'ht and preached there according to the Confession and formularies of union here publicly accepted in the respective churches, with which every one shall be satisfied and content, without, however, it being inferred from this, that any person shall be hereby in any wise con- strained or aggrie^'ed in his conscience, but every man shall be free to live up to his own in peace and decorum; provided he avoid frequenting any forbidden assemblies or conventicles, much less collect or get up any such. This was liberty of conscience for a man's own personal guidance, but a clear denial of the right to public worship save in the Dutch KELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN NEW YORK 5 language in the Dutch Church. Similarly, in the new charter granted to the Patroons in 1640, it was provided that " no other religion was to be publicly tolerated or allowed in New Netherlands save that then taught and exercised by authority in the Keformed Church in the United Provinces," for the inculcation of which the Company promised to support good and fit preachers, schoolmasters, and comforters of the sick. The doughty Peter Stuyvesant, who succeeded Kieft as Director-General in May, 16-47, proceeded to en- force these regulations " with all the zeal of a bigot " as soon as his attention was no longer engrossed by the determined and in- cessant demand of the Burghers for some form of representative government, which had theretofore been denied them. This bitter struggle with the Governor culminated in an appeal to the States General of Holland, resulting in a decree ordaining municipal gov- ernment in New Amsterdam, with a city charter modeled after that of the cities of the mother country, providing for a schout or sheriff, two burgomasters, and five schepens, which elective officers were to combine both legislative and judicial functions; which gov- ernment was inaugurated in 1653. A Description of Neiv Nether- land, published in this same j'ear by Adrian van der Donck, one of the three representatives sent to Holland in 1649 with the peti- tion for municipal government, had created a fresh European inter- est in America, and men of many nationalities flocked to New Amsterdam, anticipating that the traditional Dutch policy of re- ligious toleration prevailed across the sea. So steady was the migra- tion that between 1653 and 1664 the population of the town doubled, while that of the whole province increased fourfold. In 1654 the Lutherans had become so numerous as to desire to form a congregation, but the two Dutch ministers uniting in a protest against permitting him to remain in New Amsterdam, the minister who had been sent over by his co-religionists in Holland was arrested and deported by Stuyvesant, and some Lutheran par- ents who refused to have their children baptized in the Dutch Church were fined and imprisoned. xVn appeal to the "West India Company proved fruitless through the opposition in New Amster- dam, which was based on the ground that " if the Lutherans were tolerated the English Anabaptists and Independents, of whom there were many in the province, would demand the same liberty," and the Director-General was instructed to " use all moderate exertions to allure the Lutherans into the Dutch Church and to matriculate them in the Reformed religion. ' ' In 1656 the Dutch clergymen in New Amsterdam complained 6 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of conventicles held at Newtown across the East River ' ' from which nothing could he expected but discord, "confusion, and disorder in Church and State ' ' ; and Stuyvesant issued a proclamation for- bidding " unauthorized preachers to hold conventicles not in har- mony with the established religion as set forth by the Synod of Dort." Preachers and people alike were threatened with heavy penalties for violation of this ordinance which Stuyvesant had promulgated " to promote the glory of God, the increase of the Reformed religion, and the peace and harmony of the country." Immediate complaint of the enforcement of this invidious law was sent to Holland and called forth this rebuke to the intolerant Di- rector : We would fain not have seen your Worship's hand set to the placard, against the Lutherans, nor have heard that you oppressed them with the imprisonments of which they have complained to us, because it has always been our intention to let them enjoy all calmness and tranquillity. Where- fore you will not hereafter publish any similar placards without our pre- vious consent, but allow all the free exercise of religion in their own houses. This spirit of religious intolerance was the more deplorable be- cause so utterly at variance with the hospitality which the mother country had so freely shown to the distressed and persecuted for their religion's sake who had been refugees in Holland; and, further, for the reason that in New Amsterdam were many English who had fled from the insupportable religious tyranny of the Puritans of Massachusetts, who, having crossed the sea professedly for liberty to worship God after the dictates of their own consciences, were zealous in denying to others this same precious liberty. As in New England, so in New Amsterdam, the Quakers were especially sub- jected to bitter persecution. A party of these, of whom five had been expelled from Boston within the previous year, sought refuge in New Amsterdam. Two of the women were arrested and im- prisoned for preaching in the streets, but were released and with the others sent through Hell Gate to Rhode Island, ' ' where, ' ' as the Dutch ministers reported to the Holland Classis, '' all kinds of scum dwell, for it is nothing else but a sink for New England " — their euphemism for an asylum for the persecuted. One of the refugees, however, Robert Hodgson, desiring to settle in Long Island, went to Flushing, where he was well received ; but later, for preach- ing to the people in the town, was haled to New Amsterdam, brought before Stuyvesant and the Council, and, without being allowed to speak in his own defense, was sentenced to two years' hard labor chained to a wheelbarrow with a negro or to pay six hundred RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN NEW YORK 7 guilders. Upon failing to work as ordered, he was subjected to torturing cruelties, being finally released through the merciful in- tervention of the Governor's sister and ordered to leave the prov- ince. A leading citizen of the new settlement of Rustdorp (now Jamaica), Henry Townsend, was sentenced to pay eight Flemish pounds or to be flogged and banished for holding Quaker meetings in his house. The town officers of Flushing, where Townsend for- merly resided, to their lasting honor, drew up a spirited remon- strance, declaring: The law of lo^e, peace, and liberty forms the true glory of Holland; so love, peace, and liberty, extending to all in Christ Jesus, condemn hatred, strife, and bondage. . . . We desire not to offend one of His little ones under whatever form, name, or title he appear, whether Presbytei-ian, In- dependent, Baptist, or Quaker. Should any of these people come in love among us, therefore we cannot in conscience lay violent hands upon them. Stuyvesant 's reply to this was to cashier and fine the sheriff, throw the town clerk in jail, suspend the justices of the peace from office, and visit various penalties on others of the thirty signers of the document. These severe measures, however, did not check the spread of Quakerism even in Flushing, for later one John Bowne was re- ported to the Director as holding conventicles in his house for the Quakers of the surrounding villages. He was heavily fined, im- prisoned for three months, and finally transported, while the Di- rector issued a proclamation against any religion except the Dutch Reformed " in houses, barns, ships or yachts, in the woods or fields, under the penalty of fifty guilders for the first offense, double for the second offense, and for the third quadruple with arbitrary cor- rection. ' ' But the banishment of Bowne was the harbinger of a better day for New Netherland, for the exile so effectively " manifested his case " to the directors of the company at Amsterdam that to Stuyvesant from across the sea came this rebuke from his superiors : Although it is our cordial desire that similar and other sectarians may not be found there, yet as the contrary seems to be the fact, we doubt very much whether rigorous proceedings against them ought not to be discon- tinued, unless indeed you intend to check and destroy your population, which in the youth of your existence ought rather to be encouraged by all possible means. Wherefore it is our opinion that some connivance is use- ful, and tliat at least the consciences of men ought to remain free and unshattered. Let every one remain free as long as he is modest, moderate, his political conduct in'eproachable, and as long as he does not offend others or oppose the government. Such have been the maxims of prudence and toleration by which the magistrates of this citj^ have been governed; and the 8 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH result has been that the oppressed and persecuted from evei*y country have found among us an asylum. Follow in the same steps and you will be blessed. So persecution ceased in New Amsterdam. Meanwhile the civic affairs of the colony, for many reasons, went on from bad to worse. There was war with the savages, constant disputes with the authorities of Connecticut on questions of juris- diction over Westchester and the territory eastward, restlessness under the Dutch government on the part of English settlers in western Long Island; and when, to meet the pressing exigencies of his government, the Director-General drew upon the West India Company at Amsterdam for four thousand guilders, so low had the public credit fallen that he could iind no one to cash his draft until he pledged four of the brass guns in the fort as security for re- payment. Meanwhile also the government of Great Britain prepared to press its claim to the entire territory occupied by the Dutch. This claim was based upon the facts that the region was pre-empted by the English on the ground of Cabot's discovery of the mainland in 1497, and that King James in 1606, three years before the explora- tion by Henry Hudson of the river which bears his name, had covered the territory occupied by the Dutch by overlapping patents issued to two separate companies. It was vastly important to con- solidate the scattered strength of the English settlements of Vir- ginia and Maryland on the south and New England on the north, between which lay the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, The British Government had never conceded to the Dutch settlers a title to the soil, but had regarded them as interlopers settled upon Eng- lish territory; and in their earlier trading and attempts at settle- ment the Dutch had protested that they made no claim to permanent possession. King Charles II. issued to his brother James, Duke of York and Albany, March 12, 1661, a patent covering the entire territory from a point in New England to Delaware Bay. The new proprietor lost no time in fitting out an expedition to take pos- session of New Amsterdam. As Lord High Admiral of the English Navy he detached for the purpose four ships, mounting in all ninety- two guns with about four hundred and fifty regular soldiers and their oflScers. Col. Richard Nichols was appointed to command the expedition and to be the Duke's Deputy Governor when in pos- session. Associated with him as royal commissioners were Sir Robert Carr, Col. George Cartright, and Samuel ]\Iaverick, who were fur- nished with detailed instructions. The fleet appeared first on the RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN NEW YORK 9 New England coast, and, after the commissioners had declared civil and religious liberty at Boston, proceeded to New Amsterdam, whose harbor they entered on the 19th of August. Governor Stuj^-esant was in no position to resist the demanded capitulation; the people with good reason were utterly disaffected toward the West India Company ; even the Dutch Domine, Megapolensis, protested against " any further opposition to the will of God "; the inevitable hap- pened on the 8th of September, 1664 ; Fort St. Nicholas became Fort James and New Amsterdam became New York. In the articles of capitulation the rights and liberties of the Dutch inhabitants were abundantly safeguarded, their prejudices respected, and their continued use of the old church within the fort was guar- anteed. It was most amicably arranged that after the usual Sunday morning service, conducted by the Dutch Domine, the English chap- lain should read the Church of England service there before the Governor and garrison. As an illustration of the greater liberty of conscience and worship which was fostered by the new English regime, the following letter from Governor Nichols to the Dutch local authorities is of interest : Gextlemex: T have lately received letters from the Duke Wherein it is particularly sigiiifyed unto me that his Royall Higliness doth approve of ye Tolleration given to ye Lutheran Chui'ch in these partes. I doe there- fore expect that you live friendly and peaceably with those of that pro- fession giving them no disturbance in ye exercise of their religion, as they shall receive noe countenance in but on ye contrary strictly answer any disturbance they shall presume to give unto any of you in your divine worsliip. Fort James in New York this loth day of October, 1666. At a later date the French Protestants and the Presbyterians applied for charters for church organizations. In August, 1668, Col. Francis Lovelace succeeded Governor Nichols, and it was during his administration that a Dutch fleet of twenty-three ships with sixteen hundred troops on board, war at the time existing between Holland and England, on the 28th of July, 1673, sailed into the harbor and took possession of New York. Its name was changed to New Orange, Anthony Colve was ap- pointed Governor, and the local magistrates were instructed " to take care that the Reformed Christian Religion be maintained in conformity to the Synod of Dordrecht without permitting any other sects attempting anything contrary thereto." But the Dutch su- premacy was brief, for on the 16th of February, 1674, peace was concluded between England and Holland, and by the treaty of 10 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Breda New York was surrendered to the British Crown. Major Edmond Andros was appointed Governor, and among his instruc- tions for the government of the colony was the following : You shall permit all persons of what Religion soever, quietly to inhabit within the precincts of your jurisdiction, without giving them any dis- turbance or disquiet whatever, for, or by reason of their differing opinion in matter of Religion; Provided they give no disturbance to the publique peace nor doe molest or disquiet others in the peaceable exercise of their religion. Although the first use of the liturgy of the Church of England was in the chapel of the fort after the surrender of New Amster- dam to the English in September, 1664, the names of whatever chaplains may have officiated have not come down to us. The first chaplain of whom we have any record was Eev. Charles Wolley, who sailed from England May 27, 1678, whose ministry was ac- ceptable but of brief continuance. He was followed by others whose names have been preserved, but it does not appear that their labors were directed toward or effective in building up a following for the Church of England among the people of the town. The Governor succeeding Andros was Col. Thomas Dongan, who proved himself to be a most able executive. As government chaplain he brought with him the Rev. Dr. John Gordon, but being himself a Roman Catholic he had an English Jesuit priest as his private chaplain, who was carried on the pay-roll as a " reader." It was under his just and wise administration that a representative body elected by the people was joined with the Governor and Council in the administration of the affairs of the colony. This body at its first session, October 7, 1683, guaranteed religious liberty '* to all people and persons who professed faith in God by Jesus Christ." The accession of the Duke of York to the throne as James II. February 6, 1685, vested the province of New York in the Crown of England, and was signalized by the appointment of Sir Edmond* Andros as Governor-General of his Majesty's " province of New York as of the other Colonies of our said territory and Dominion of New England." But this wise plan for the consolidation of the interests of the English colonies, especially in ^dew of the warlike aggression of the Canadian French and their Indian allies, was short-lived in its operation. The New-Englanders did not want consolidation, and upon the arrival of the news of the flight of King James and the accession of William and Mary they promptly imprisoned Governor Andros and members of his Council and each of the New England colonies revived its old charter and former RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN NEW YORK 11 government. In New York grave disorders resulted from the un- certainties of the situation, and the Lieutenant-Governor, Francis Nicholson, upon hearing the news from England and tidings of the imprisonment of Andros in Boston, hastily departed from New York. The supreme authority was thereupon exercised ad interim in behalf of AVilliam and Mary by Jacob Leisler, a militia captain and mer- chant of high standing, in the face, however, of much factious op- position. The newly commissioned Governor, Col. Henry Sloughter, at last arrived in New York March 19, 1691, with a royal renewal of the assurance of " liberty of conscience to all persons excepting Papists." He allied himself with the faction antagonistic to Leisler, signed the death warrant of that unfortunate and misjudged patriot, and himself died after an incumbency of only four months in the gubernatorial office July 23, 1691. With his successor. Col. Benjamin Fletcher, who arrived August 29, 1692, the real life of the Church of England in New York began. The royal instructions, which were a reiteration of those given to his predecessor and which he set about to execute with diligence, clearly contemplated the Establishment of the Church of England in the province, as the following extract shows : You shall take care that God Almighty be devoutly and duly served thi'oughout yr Government, the Book of Common Prayer, as it is now es- tablished, read each Sunday & Holy-Day and the blessed Sacrament admin- istered according to the Rites of the Church of England. You shall be carefull that the churches already built there be well and orderly kept and more built as the Colony shall by God's blessing be improved, and that besides a competent Maintenance to be assigned to the Minister of each Orthodox Churcli, a convenient house be built at the Common Charge for each Minister and a competent proporeion of land assigned to him for a Glebe and exercise of his industry. . . . Our Will & Pleasure is that noe Minister be Preferred by you to any ecclesiasticall Benefice in that our Province, without a Certificate from the Right Reverend the Bishop of London of his being comformable to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England and of a good life and conversation. At this time there were in New York four regular congregations — the Dutch and the English in successive occupation of the old church in the fort, the Lutherans, and the French. The congregation organized in 1687 as L'Eglise des Refugies Franeais a la Nouvelle York, but whose name was subsequently changed to L'Eglise du Saint Esprit, had erected a small church near the fort. The Lu- therans had built for themselves a church outside the " land-poort," the gate where Broadway met the city wall. The Dutch congregation in December, 1691, had concluded that 12 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH " the church in the fort was decaying and was no longer fit for public worsliip without going to great and unnecessary expense." They accordingly took order for the purchase of a site about 80X175 feet on Garden Street (now Exchange Place) for which they paid fifty-four pounds and proceeded to erect a building thereon. Until its completion, however, they continued worshiping alternately with the English in the old church in the fort as heretofore. The Governor, however, when the Dutch moved into their new church (which, to anticipate somewhat, they generously shared with the English congregation pending the erection of Trinity Church), in his address to the Assembly December 12, 1693. stated that, " King's Chapel in the fort being ready to fall down, to the danger of many lives, I thought it convenient to pull it down." It was rebuilt, how- ever, for the use of the garrison, the Rev. John Miller being the chaplain. But on the completion of Trinity Church in 1698, the church in the fort became secularized in its use, the officials and soldiers attend- ing the services at Trinity, where the chaplain assisted the rector. In Governor Hunter's time, because of his inveterate hostility to Rev. Mr. Vesey, the church in the fort, which had again become dilapidated, was refitted, and the chaplain, the Rev. John Sharp, was ordered to re-establish w^orship there, which the Governor at- tended, and others who sympathized with him in his dislike of the rector. It later fell again into neglect, and the church in the fort after experiencing the vicissitudes of a century, was finally destroyed by fire March 18, 1741. Governor Fletcher now addressed himself with earnestness to the difficult and trying task of inducing the Asseml^ly to co-operate Avith him in carrying out his instructions as to establishing the Church by providing a proper maintenance for the ministry. A " Min- isterial Maintenance " bill had been proposed by his predecessor in April, 1691, but the Council had failed to endorse it. A bill, how- ever, was introduced into the Assembly in IMay, but was rejected and another ordered to be brought in. Nothing having thus been accomplished under the preceding administration, Governor Fletcher, in October, 1692, urged the matter upon the attention of the As- sembly, but they allowed the session to close without any specific action. When the next Assembly convened in September, 1693, the Governor in his address used the following language : I recommended to the former Assembly the selling of an able Ministry, that the worship of God may be observed among us for I finde that gi'eat & fii'st duty very much neglected; lett us not forgett that there is a God RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN NEW YORK 13 that made us who will protect us if we serve him. This has been alwayes the first thing I have recommended, yet the last in your consideration. After much heated discussion a bill was finally passed which provided that " there shall be called, inducted, and established a good sufficient Protestant minister to officiate and have the care oF souls; in the city of New York, one; in the County of Richmond, one; in the County of Westchester, two; in Queens County, two." For the maintenance of the New Y^ork minister one hundred pounds was ordered to be " assessed, levied, collected, and paid," and the freeholders were to be summoned annually to choose ten vestrymen and two church wardens, and the wardens were directed to pay the stipends in quarterly instalments to the ministers whom the vestry had called. In the first vestry elected under this act there were only three members of the Church of England, and it is no occasion for sur- prise, therefore, that, after voting to levy the required tax of one hundred pounds, they recorded " ye opinion of the Board that a dissenting minister be called to ofiQciate and have the care of souls for this City as aforesaid." The claim of the Rev. John Miller, who was chaplain to the troops in the fort and the only clergyman of the Church of England in the city, to be inducted into the " living " of New York was therefore disregarded, although favored by the Governor for the place. The vestry allowed a year to elapse without further action and were superseded by a new vestry in January, 1695, in which only one Churchman had membership. Under a threat from the Governor of legally prosecuting them, under the terms of the Act for neglect of duty, this vestry finally met January 26, 1695, and " called Mr, William Vesey, nemine contradicente, " which indicates that all did not vote. The Governor was not satis- fied ; neither were his opposers, and nothing resulted from this elec- tion. In April the vestry or a portion of them petitioned the As- sembly to define their powers, and the Assembly gave it as " the opinion of this House that the vestrymen and church wardens have power to call a Dissenting Protestant minister, and that he is to be paid and maintained according as the Act directs." A third city vestry was elected in January, 1696, one-half of whom were mem- bers of the Church of England. Meanwhile the minister, elders, and deacons of the Dutch Church had petitioned the Governor, June 19, 1695, to incorporate them as a body politic, which petition was favorably acted upon and an ample charter with liberal provisions was granted. May 11, 1696. 14 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Sundry members of the Church of England now bestirred them- selves to petition the Governor, March 19, 1696, for a license to pur- chase a piece of land and erect thereon a church by voluntary con- tributions. Governor Fletcher cordially favored the project and issued a proclamation authorizing the solicitation of funds. This enterprise seems to have stimulated the city vestry at last to some definite action, and on the 2d of November they recorded : Wee ye Church Wardens and Vestry men elected by virtue of ye said Act having read a Certificate under the hands of tlie Reverend Mr. Samuel Myles, Minister of ye Chureli of England in Boston in New England, and Mr. Gyles Dyer and Mr. Benjamin Mountfort, Church Wardens of ye said Churcli of ye Learning and Education, of the Pious, Sober and Re- ligious behaviour and conversation of Mr. William Veasy and of his often being a Communicant in the Receiving ye most holy Sacrament in the said Church have called the said Mr. William Veazy to officiate and have ye care of Souls in this Citty of New York. And ye said Mr. William Veazy being sent for, and acquainted with the Proceedings of this board did re- turn them his hearty thanks for their gi'eat favour and affection shewed unto him, and Assure them that he readily Accepted their Call and would with all Convenient Expedition Repair to England and Apply himself to the Lord Bishop of London in order to be ordained according to the Litergy of ye Church of EIngland, and would return to his Church here by the first Convenient opportunity. It was the same Mr. Vesey who had been named in the abortive resolution of the second city vestry in January, 1695. He was a man of talent and blameless life, a graduate of Harvard, and though without " any orders," to use Chaplain Miller's phrase in describ- ing him, he had exercised his gift in preaching in various places; at Sag and at Hempstead in Long Island and in King's Chapel, Boston, where he was studying theology under the rector, Rev. Samuel Miles, when he was called to New York as the city min- ister. That the voyage to England was expensive and perilous may well account for much of the irregularity in these and succeeding years which prevailed in Church matters generally in the early religious history of the country, the ministrations without Orders, and the unavoidable omission of administration of the Sacraments. That Mr. Vesey, however, might be speedily and regularly ordained, it was : Ordered that the Justices and Vestrymen doe direct a Warrant to the Church Wardens for to pay Mr. William Veazy (called to officiate as Minister of this Citty) the sum of Ninety-five pounds. Cun-t. Money of New Yorke, itt being ]\Ioney now in their hands Raised by virtue of an Act of Genl Assembly for ye Maintenance of a Minister, and itt being to be lent to the said Mr. William Veaz}^ towards the Defraying of his Ex- RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN NEW YORK 15 penses in his Voyage for England for ye proeui'eing his Ordination accord- ing to ye Litiu-gy of ye Church of England and that he give bond for the same. On repairing to England he was honored by the University of Oxford with the degree of M.A., was ordered deacon July 25th, and ordained priest August 2, 1697, by the Bishop of London, returning at once to New York. Meanwhile the promoters of the new Church, who now described themselves as the " Managers of the Affairs of the Church of Eng- land," petitioned the Governor for an Act of Incorporation. The desired charter was promptly granted, as had been that desired by " The Eeformed Protestant Dutch Church " in the preceding year. It bears date May 6, 1697, and incorporated Trinity Church under the name of " The Kector and Inhabitants of our said City of New York in Communion of our Protestant Church of England as now established by our Laws." It recognized the Rector of Trinity Church as the " good and sufficient Protestant minister " provided for in the Assembly Act of 1693 and entitled him to the annual in- come of one hundred pounds which the City churchwardens and vestrymen, yearly elected under said Act, were to le\'y5 assess, collect, and pay over to the said Rector. The land described in the Charter, whose possession was granted and confirmed to the Corporation, was " three hundred and ten feet on Broadway northward, thence west to Hudson's River, thence southward along the said river three hun- dred and ninety-five feet, and thence by the line of our garden east- ward to the place of beginning." In addition to this, the Governor granted a lease to Trinity Church for seven years of the land known as the King's Farm, The Charter named the Bishop of London as the first Rector, but provided for a resident priest in the parish ' ' to be preacher and assistant to the said Rector in the celebration of the Divine Offices." Mr. Vesey, being provided with proper letters from the Bishop of London, was inducted into the parish by Gov- ernor Fletcher on Christmas Day, 1697, the ceremony being per- formed in the new Dutch Church in Garden Street, the Dutch Domines, Selyns of New York and Nucella of Kingston, being among the subscribing witnesses. This was the civil ceremony based upon the call of the City Vestry wliich had been confirmed by that Body on the preceding evening and had primary reference to " the legal status of the incumbent and to the temporalities of the cure." It was on the 13th of March, 1698. that at the opening ser\ace in the now completed Trinity Church Mr. Vesey " did declare before his congregation his unfeigned assent and consent to all and everything 16 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH contained and prescribed in and hy the book entitled the Book of Common Prayer, etc.," and read the certificate of the Lord Bishop of London of date August 2, 1697, that he had personally before him subs('ril)ed the acknowledgment and declaration according to the Act of Conformity, etc. ; in testimony whereof the Governor set his hand and seal to a document reciting the fact March 25, 1698. The Dutch congregation, pending the completion of Trinity Church, had granted the alternate use of their building to Mr. Vesey and his people. Most friendly relations existed between the two con- gregations, as testified by Domine Selyns in one of his official reports to the Amsterdam Classis. The Dutch felt under obligations to the Governor for granting their very liberal charter, and the English felt under obligations to the Dutch for allowing the City Vestry to call Mr. Vesey. It was a far echo of this old friendly feeling which in 1779 reciprocated this courtesy of the Dutch by the tender of the use of St. George's Chapel when the Dutch Church had been appropriated by the king's troops for a hospital; of which specific mention will be made hereafter. The original edifice was of small size and simple character, with a gallery on the south side for the use of the Governor and Council which was subsequently extended, and a private pew in the south- east corner was erected by Governor Fletcher for his family at his own expense, which he later deeded to the Church. The great bible and other books were also contributed by him. The communion- plate and furniture were secured through the good offices of the Bishop of London, and from him was received later a valuable donation of books for the use of the parish. This communion- plate was that which had been used in the church in the fort, but was now no longer needed there, owing to discontinuance of the services. It remained in the care and use of Trinity Church until in 1710 there came, as the vestry record, " from her most sacred Majesty, Queen Anne, her royal and particular gift of a noble set of plate for our Communion Table, for which we are infinitely obliged to her Majesty for that bounty." The bright outlook for the Church was, however, soon clouded, as the Earl of Bellomont, Governor Fletcher's successor in April, 1697, was openly indifferent, if not hostile, to its growth and pros- perity. The validity of the Church's charter was attacked and his antipathy to the Rector was intense and implacable. He induced the Assembly to vacate the lease of the King's Farm which his predecessor, whom he cordially hated, had granted to the Church. But, under the stress of his violent antagonisms to prominent polit- RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN NEW YORK 17 ical leaders in the Colony, his persecution of Domine Dellius and his animosities toward the Church, he died in March, 1701. The arrival of Lord Cornbury as his successor in May, 1702, was hailed by the clergy of the Province as an auspicious event. He renewed the lease of what was now the Queen's Farm, as Anne had come to the throne in March, 1702, and the Assembly passed an Act, June 27, 1704, " granting certain privileges and powers to the Rector and Inhabitants of the City of New York of the Communion of the Church of England as by law established." Under the pro- visions of this Act and upon the recommendation of the Governor, the farm was ceded to the Church in fee by royal patent November 20, 1705. The property which under this patent w^as given to the Church was made up of three separate parcels. The first of these was originally known as the West India Company farm and was " to be tilled for the benefit of the Company's servants." It em- braced the land lying approximately between what are now Fulton and Chambers streets and from Broadway to the Hudson Elver. After the conquest by the English, being government property, it became the Duke's farm; and subsequently, when the Duke of Y'ork became king, it was known as the King's Farm. North of this property lay a tract of about sixty-two acres belonging to Anneke Jans, who afterward became the wife of Domine Bogardus, extend- ing from Chambers to Christopher Street, and which was called the Domine 's Bouwerie. Under the provisions of her will this farm was sold, chiefly for the benefit of her children by her first husband, and purchased by Governor Lovelace, through whom it became the prop- erty of the Duke ; and, having been consolidated with the adjoining tract above mentioned, the whole was henceforth known as the Duke 's and later as the King's Farm. The grant of Queen Anne included a third piece of Crown land lying to the south of the lot on which Trinity Church stood and known as the Queen's Garden, extending from " Broadway on the east to low- water mark on the west." It may be added that after the Revolution the first Constitution of the State of New Y^ork, that of 1777, which declared its independence of the British Crown, ordained " that nothing in this Constitution contained shall be construed to affect any grants of land within this State made by the said King or his predecessors or to annul any charters to bodies politic by him or them or any of them prior to October 14, 1775." Various attempts have been persistently made to impeach the title of Trinity Church to the property or portions of it thus granted which have been wholly unsuccessful, and its possession by this venerable corporation has been a perennial source 18 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of blessing in upbuilding and maintaining the interests of religion both in this city and elsewhere. No historical sketch of any portion of the Church in this country can fail to make grateful recognition of the all-important part in the establishment and maintenance of churches and their clergy, which was borne by the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts " commonly known as " The Venerable Society " or the " S. P. G. " This organization was chartered June 16, 1701, its declared objects being " to provide learned and orthodox min- isters for the administration of God's Word and Sacraments among the King's loving subjects in the plantations and colonies beyond the seas and to evangelize the aboriginal inhabitants." It was the work of this magnificent Society which planted the Church in all the northern colonies, and to it, therefore, in large degree the Church in this country " is indebted under God for her first foundation and a long continuance of nursing care and protection." The voluminous correspondence of the missionaries of this Society which has been carefully preserved is a mine of historical information in the language of the men who labored and prayed amid the difficulties and discouragements incident to their pioneer work. Transcripts of these and other documents relating to the Church in the original colonies, preserved in the collection of MSS. at Lam- beth and Fulham palaces, were made under the direction of the Historiographer of the American Church, the Rev. Dr. Francis L. Hawks, in a number of ponderous folios which are stored in the archives of the General Convention at the Church Missions House in this city and a few of which have been published. The Rector of Trinity " was not directly connected with the Society, but his assistants were its missionaries and his catechists and lay readers were supported by appropriations from its treasury." The growth of the Church was steady but slow, for the adversaries were many. Conditions were thus described by the Vestry in a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury: It is but of late years our Church had its being and is yet but very tender the gi-eatest part of the Inhabitants of this Province are of the Dutch and French Reformed Religion or Dissenters & Quakers, & but 3 County's within this province would receive a Church of England minister, to wit Queen's County West Chester and Richmond. & of these County's but the smallest number goe to the worsliip. With much adoe we have overcome the Debt we had contracted by the building of our Chm-ch and Steeple, wch latter is designed for a Ring of Bells, the walls are of good thickness and foundation above 30 foot square, it is got so high as the ridgepole of the KELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN NEW YORK 19 Church, but for want of money, we were forced to cover it there and for the present have hung in a Bell of 6sd weight, the free gift of his Lordp of Loudon. The Bishop of Bristol in the year 1699 sent us over so many stones as did i:»ave all the Isles of our Church. Col. Fletcher who was Governor of this Province from 1692 to 1698 gave the first Life and being to it and Avas a large Benefactor out of his private fortune. His successor in the Government (on the contraiy) endeavored to ruin it, altho' he some times came hither to receive the holy Sacrament which we hope God has forgiven him, the Viscount Combury next to him, during his Govemmt has endeavored not only to restore but advance the Churches Interest and made in this Grant wch by the accot we had, from liis successor the Lord Lovelace is sliaken and rendered disputable, until her most Sacred Maty shall be graciously pleased to re establish us therein. Col. Nicholson has likewise been a Benefactor to our Church of the first Rank. A thousand pounds will be required to finish the Steeple which we propose for our next task, & are about making up that sum. There is much more wanted, vizt, a Dwelling house for our Minister and a Vestery Roome with a Ring of Bells and a Sett of Organs. What we cannot effect ourselves we shall leave to God Almighty's good Providence and must recommend the work to our Posterity'. We want also a couijle of large Branches of Candlesticks to hang in the Body of our Church, Communion Plate, Books and Vestments, and these last we are credibly informed, have been designed for us by the late King William, and since by her present Maty, but by what ill fate or accident, we know not, we are still without them. When Governor Hunter arrived, June 16, 1710, the troubles of the Rector and the Corporation became so aggravated and unbear- able that Mr. Vesey felt forced to make a journey to England to lay the case of the Church before the home authorities. The an- tipathy of the Governor toward the Rector had been bitter and unre- lenting and manifested itself in a wide variety of ways. Mr, Vesey 's representations to the ecclesiastical authorities, however, resulted not only in his being sustained at every controverted point, but he returned invested with the dignity and powers of " Commissary of the Bishop of London," in whose jurisdiction lay the churches in America. The Governor, though with ill grace, yielded in ac- quiescence; the withheld salary was paid, and the difficulty which had been created by the Governor's restoration of the old Chapel in the fort, apparently to provide a place of worship for malcontents beyond the direct jurisdiction of the Rector, was composed by the Governor's appointing one of the assistants of the parish, the Rev. Robert Jenny, to be chaplain in the fort for the garrison only, while assisting the rector otherwise at the Church, the Governor himself going thereafter ' ' regularly to the parish church with great propriety and decorum." The first newspaper in New York, called The Gazette, appeared 20 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH in 1725. The printer and publisher was an Englishman who had come over with William Penn in 1682, hut after ten years in Phila- delphia, on Governor P^'letcher's invitation, moved to New York and became Printer to the Crown. The Book of Common Prayer was first printed in New York by this William Bradford about 1704, for at that time the church wardens were instructed to loan him thirty or forty pounds for six months without interest, Chaplain Sharpe going security for him, to purchase paper for the purpose. He was a man of character and good repute, a vestryman of Trinity from 1703 to 1710, and his remains lie in the churchyard not far from Broadway. Alterations and enlargements of tlie Church edifice during a series of years were made prior to 1737, wlien the Vestry ordered a further addition on the north and south sides " conformable to the new building at the east end of the church." " A Sclieam for making an organ for Trinity Church," laid before the Vestry by John G. Klemm, of Philadelphia, was approved June 1, 1739, but it was two years before the organ was completed. IMr. Klemm 's son was im- ported from Philadelphia to be the organist. It was placed in the west gallery and tlie pipes were '' gilded with gold leaf." A plan for an " Alter Piece " produced by Mr. Kobert Elliston was ap- proved, and the wardens were instructed to send to England " for a new Sett of Furniture for the Communion Table, Pulpit, and Read- ing Desk: of the best English Crimson Flower Damask: with a plain silk ffringe Lining and Tassels." " Three branches " were also ordered and a small branch for the pulpit and another for the reading-desk, all the branches to be gilt. Smith's History of New York gives this description of the Church after its final enlargement in 1737 : It stands very pleasantly upon the Banks of Hudson's River, and has a large Cemetery on each side, inclosed in the I'ront by a painted paled Fence. Before it a long Walk is railed off from the Broad-way, the ]ileas- antest Street of any in the whole To\\ti. The builduig is about 148 Feet long, including the Tower and Chancel, and 72 feet in Breadth. The Steeple is 175 Feet in Height, and over the Door facing the River is the following inscriiDtion : . . . The church is, within, ornamented beyond any other Place of publiek Worship amongst us. The Head of the Chancel is adorned with an Altar- piece, and opposite to it, at the other End of the Building, is the Organ, The Tops of the Pillars which support the Galleries, are decked with the gilt Busts of Angels winged. From the Ceiling are suspended two Glass Branches, and on the Walls hang the Arms of some of its princii)al Bene- factors, The Allies are paved with flat Stones. RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN NEW YORK 21 The long and checkered rectorship of Doctor Vesey was now wearing its close, but the growth of the Church in the forty-nine years over which it had extended is attested by the following extract from an official letter to the secretary of the S. P. G. under date of November 27, 1745 : Revel. Sir, here I must beg leave to observe to you that in the year of Our Lord 1697 I was ordained by Dr. Compton the then Bishop of Lon- don, and sent here by his Lordship to officiate at Trinity Church in the City of New York; at which time, besides this Church and Chapel in the port, one church in Pliiladelphia, and one other in Boston, I don't remem- ber to have heard of one building erected to the public worship of God on this northern continent of America, from Maryland, where the Church was established by a law of the Provinces, to the east-most bounds of Nova Scotia, wliich I believe in length is 800 miles. And now most of these provinces or colonies have many churches, which, against all opposition, increase and flourish, under miraculous influence of Heaven. I make no doubt it will give a vast pleasure to the Honble Society to observe the wonderful blessing of God on their pious cares and endeavours to promote the Christian Religion in these remote and dark corners of the world; and the great success that by the concomitant power of tlie Holy Ghost has attended the faithful labours of their Missionaries in the conversion of so many from vile errors and wicked practices to the faith of Christ and the obedience of Ms Gospel. The Rector's last attendance at a vestry meeting was on April 3d, and he died July 11, 1746. The Rev. Dr. Henry Barclay was elected to the rectorship October 17th and was inducted into office by the Governor, George Clinton, on the following Sunday. The former assistant, Rev. Richard Charlton, left the next month to undertake the missionary charge of St. Andrew's, Staten Island,, and the Rev. Samuel Auchmuty was appointed in his place. CHAPTER II THE CHAPEL PERIOD (1749-1811) St. George's Chapel was the second saored edifice erected in New York for the celebration of public worship according to the Use of the Church of England. It owed its origin to the pressing and realized necessity for largely increased church accommodation to keep pace with the growth of population, and particularly in view of the pronounced drift toward the ' ' English Church ' ' on the part of the younger members of the old Dutch families. For be it remembered that the worship of the Reformed Dutch Church was still conducted in the Dutch language; and it was not until 1764 that the insistent demand within that Church for a minister who could officiate in both languages was met by the appointment, through the Amsterdam Classis, of a Scotchman from Zeeland, the Rev. Archibald Leslie. But meanwhile the accessions from the Dutch Church had become so numerous, and the seating capacity of Trinity Church so utterly inadequate, that the proposition to build a Chapel of the parish Church met with universal approval. The initiative formal action was taken April 15, 1748, when the Vestry recorded its opinion That it's become absolutely Necessary to build a Chappell of Ease to Trinity Church, and being Desirous to Build the same where it will be most Commodious and Convenient to the CongTegation in Generall — ordered, that the Chiu'ch Wardens (with others named) be a Committee to Consider where will be the most proper place for Building the said Chappell, and to hear the Sentiments of the Congregation, with their several Reasons, and to make their Report to this Board with all convenient Expedition. A divergence of opinion speedily developed as to the best location for the proposed chapel. A " site adjojoiing to the garden of the late Doctor Dupuy " was authorized to be purchased on the 3d of May, 1748, but nothing came of this proposition. On the 4th of July a committee was authorized " to purchase Six Lotts of Ground fronting Nassau Street and Fair Street [now Fulton] from THE CHAPEL PERIOD 23 David Clarkson, Esq., on such terms as they shall think Reasonable, to Build a Chappell of Ease to Trinity Church thereon." The com- mittee, a week later, reported to the vestry that they *' had Agreed with Mr. Clarkson for the said lotts for five hundred pounds to be paid in a Year." But the committee further reported that Severall Persons Residing in Montgomerie Ward [which was that part of the city lying east of William Street] appearing and alledging that the lotts of Coll. Beekman, fronting Beekman's and Van Cliff's Sts., would be more commodious for building said Chappell on, proposed, that if the Vestry would Agree to the Building of the Chappell there, the Inhabitants of Montgomerie Ward Would Raise Money among themselves sufficient to purchase the ground; and that if Mr. Clarkson insisted on the perform- ance of the Agreement with him for his Lotts, they would take a Conveyance for them and pay the purchase Money. So generous a proposition could hardly fail of acceptance, and a committee was appointed to examine the title to the property and plans for the new Chapel were ordered to be procured. At a meeting of the Vestrj' January 23 d it was order'd That the Committee Appointed to Inspect the Title of Coll. Beek- man to the Land near the Swamp, have power to Agxee with the said Coll, Beekman for the purchase thereof, for Such Sum as they think fitt, and that they jDrepare Deeds to be by liim Executed for the Conveying of the same to ' the Rector and Inliabitants of Trinity Church ' ; and when such purchase shall be so made, that they agree with James Burling for ex- changing part of the said Ground for a Lott of Ground belonging to the said James Burling adjoyning thereto, or such part thereof as they can agree with Him to Exchange for the Same on such Terms and for such Consideration as to them shall seem Meet. At the same meeting the committee " produced severall plans," and it was unanimously resolved " that the Chappell of Ease be built," and the committee, reinforced by two new members, was authorized to '' agree with workmen and purchase the Materialls and agree on the plan for Building. ' ' At the vestry meeting March 23, 1749, the committee reported that the deeds had been executed and that Captain Aspinwall had, on behalf of the inhabitants of Montgomerie Ward, paid six hundred and forty-five pounds for the same. An adjoining lot was later purchased of John Killmaster, for which one hundred and twenty- five pounds was paid. A member of the vestry, Robert Crommelin, was the architect whose plan had been adopted and under whose supervision the work of construction proceeded, but so slowly that the chapel was not ready for occupancy until July 1, 1752. The method of erection was by partial contracts, for as late as January 24 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH 14, 1751, a notice appeared in The New York Gazette, revived in The Weekly Post-Boy, That a Cornmittee of the Vestry of Trinity Chui-eh, will meet every Friday at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, at the house of William Cook, near the City Hall, to ti-eat with such Workmen, Carpenters and Masons, as will undertake the building and finishing the Galleries and Pews, and other inside work of St. George's Cliapi^el. Considerable taste and skill were displayed in the building, which was impressive through '' its spaciousness, solidarity, and beauty." It was faced with hewn stone and had a tiled roof. The length exclusive of the chancel was ninety-two feet and its breadth seventy- two. The steeple, which was irregular in shape, rose to the height of one hundred and seventy-two feet. The pulpit, reading-desk, and chancel-rail were constructed of mahogany, which was given by a sea captain who had lost his mainmast in a storm and had rigged up a temporary one in a West India island, where he had taken refuge and where mahogany was the only lumber available and which he contributed to the Church as a thank-offering on his re- turn to New York. Among the personal gifts which were made toward the building of the chapel were one of ten pounds from the Archbishop of Canterbury and one of one hundred pounds from Sir Peter Warren, coupled with the request " that a pew might be appointed for Sir Peter and his family in case they should come to this country." Mr. Isaac Latouche presented a marble font, for which " generous present " the thanks of the Vestry were voted to him February 4, 1751. (See note on page 48.) In preparation for the occupancy of the chapel the Vestry April 1, 1752, ordered that the pews be let for one year to the highest bidder on Monday, April 13th, and at a subsequent meeting Wednes- day^ July 1st, was appointed as the day for the formal opening, of which notice was ordered to be given in Trinity Church, the two preceding Sundays; and the Rector, Colonel Robinson and Mr. Mayor, were designated as a committee " to waite on his Excellency the Governor and Inform him sometime before Notice be Given in the Church." The contemporary account of the occasion was published in the Post-Boy of July 6th, but the original draft, having been slightly altered and abridged, the sender of the same expressed his mind to the editor in the following letter, which appeared in the next week's issue and which is here reproduced, with the accompanying apology, incidentally illustrating the difference in tone and temper between v^^^^ THE CHAPEL PERIOD 25 the editor of the olden time and the independent conductors of modern journalism : Mr. Parker. The following Account of the Opening of St. George's Chapel, was sent to the press, last Saturday a Week, to he inserted, at the Request of many of your Readers in your Gazette; hut to their great Surprize, when the Paper came out, on Monday following, they found the Account they had sent, strangely perverted, curtaiVd and maimed; you are therefore desired to in- sert in your next verbatim. Last Wednesday (being the Day appointed) was open'ed St. George's Chapel, upon which Occasion, the Rector, Assistant, Church- Wardens, and Vestry, of Trinity-Church assembled in the Vestry-Room, in the Charity School-House, where they were met by some of the Town and neighbour- ing Clergy, and other Gentlemen of Distinction, from whence they set out in regniar Form and Order, attended by the Charity Scholars, 40 Boys and 12 Girls, who Avalk'd before in Pairs, with their School-Master at the Head of them; and at the City Hall, were join'd by the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Common Council. After which, they all proceeded to the Chapel, where Divine Service was perform'd, with the utmost Decency and Propriety. The whole Ceremony concluded with an excellent Sermon, preach'd by the Rev. Mr. Henry Barclay, Rector of Trinity-Church, suit- able to the Occasion from these Words, Lev. xxvi. 2, — Reverence my Sanctu- ary : I am the Lord." (The Printer of this Paper happen'd to he out of Town all the Time of composing and printing last Week's Gazette; but as the Paragraph came both then and at this Time without any Name; and the Person left to the Care of his Business, Knowing hotv fatally the Printer had been mistaken {according to the present Notion of the Connoissiurs of the Liberty of the Press) in Printing Things ivrote by Authors incog, he applied to some Gentlemen ivhom^ he thought the Printer's Friends, for their advice upon it; and as both he and they looked on all Articles unsign'd, as to he sup- posed to come from the Printer they took the Liberty to alter it in such Manner as they thought most grammatical, and to give the least Offence: The Printer begs therefore once more, that those Gentlemen who write Articles of any kind, relating to Church or State, would be pleased to put their Name to them; that so the poor Printer may not hear the blame: He is indeed apprehensive that all considerate Lovers of their Coimtry wUl look upon his Resolution, as one small step towards abridging the long lov'd and dear bought Liberty of Englishmen. And had he now Time, he would make a further Apology for it; hut as that is wanting, must defer it for another Opportunity ; only he assures them, that if he had been at home, he should not have offer'd to niter the above Article; and believes it was not done ivith any Design to prejudice it.) The erection of the Chapel at once afforded largely increased ac- commodation for the rapidly growing number of adherents to the English Church, and also stimulated the drift toward it on the part of many who had been educated in the Dutch Church. The special charge of St. George's Chapel was assigned to the assistant minister, the Rev. Samuel Auchmuty, and the Vestry voted 26 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH that sixty pounds in addition to the annual allowance be paid to the Rector and also to his assistant *' in consideration of their ex- traordinary duties at the Chapel until another minister be pro- vided." The history of the Chapel for the sixty years before its separation from the mother-church is interwoven with that of Trinity Church. Its ministers were the clergy of that parish ; its affairs were directed by the Vestry elected by the qualified voters of the parish, wor- shiping either in the Church or the Chapel; its charities flowed in the same channel. Until the establishment of St. Paul's Chapel, which was opened for Divine Service in 1766, Trinity and St. George's together represented the Church in the city of New York, and then these three congregations represented it until after the Revolution. The " collegiate " idea or that of '' an association of churches having pastors in common " was that which obtained in the Reformed Dutch Church, the original congregations being united under one ecclesiastical jurisdiction until the Garden Street or South Church was separated in 1813 and other independent congregations came gradually into being. But the original Collegiate Church re- mains in existence and highly prosperous to the present day. The clergy of Trinity, accordingly, officiated in turn in the parish Church and in the Chapel according to a published roster, and the same rule obtained after St. Paul's Chapel and St. John's came into being and were included in the ministrations of the parish clergy. The favorite charity of the parish was the Charity School, which had been founded by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at the suggestion of Colonel Heathcote in 1709. William Huddle- stone, who had officiated as Clerk of the Church from its beginning, was appointed schoolmaster at a salary of fifteen pounds. He was succeeded by his son Thomas, upon whose death Thomas Nixon was appointed in 1732. He was succeeded in 1741 by William Hildreth, during whose incumbency and while he was successfully carrying on his work in the belfry of the church, the Vestry erected upon ad- .iacent ground a school building in 1748. Unhappily, however, it was unaccountably destroyed by fire soon after its erection, and the flames, being communicated to the spire of the Church, were with difficulty extinguished there. The schoolhouse, however, was prompt- ly rebuilt, contributions being freely made therefor. It was a popu- lar charity and collections were annually taken in its support in the Church and in the Chapel. Announcements were freely made and publicity given to these sermons in the local papers, of which the THE CHAPEL PERIOD 27 following from The New York Gazette or the Weekly Post-Boy of October 21, 1764, may serve as a sample : We hear, that two Charity Sermons are to be preached in order to raise a Sum of Money, sufficient to cloath the poor Children belonging to the Charity School, in this City. The first by the Rev'd. Mr. Barclay, at Trinity Church, on the next Sunday in the Forenoon: The other by the Rev'd. Mr. Auchmuty, at St. George's Chapel, on the Sunday following, in the Morning. N. B. As the Charity School in this City, receives poor Children of every Persuasion amongst us : so it is to be hoped, that every Catholic, benevolent, and well disposed Christian will generously contribute to the Relief and Comfort of a Set of poor helpless Children, (many of them Orphans) who without the Kind Charity proposed, must inevitably be greatly exposed to Cold and Nakedness, this ensuing Winter. It may be of interest to state that bequests for the School and a liberal endowment by the Trinity Corporation having placed the Institution on a permanent basis, it was incorporated in 1806 and twenty years later was reorganized by the trustees as a school for instruction in English education and classical learning under the title of The New York Protestant Episcopal Public School. Its name was again changed in 1845 to Trinity School, and it has since grown into that splendid and well-equipped institution now located in West Ninety-first Street. The genesis of that other institution of learning, of which every New-Yorker is justly proud and which owes its origin to the fore- sight, persistency, and energy of the Churchmen of that da}'^, should be recorded here. It was on the 31st day of October, 1754, that the Royal Charter passed the Governor and Council, which at last, after much delay, wrangling, and bitter opposition on the part of those who hated the Church of England, founded King's College, which has grown into our magnificent Columbia University. The educa- tional work had been begun by the Rev. Samuel Johnson, who was named in the charter as the first president and who constituted the entire faculty, on the 17th of July, with eight students, in the new schoolhouse adjoining Trinity Church. The promise of Trinity parish to provide a site for the College was handsomely realized in the donation of the plot of land (voted May 14, 1754) between Barclay and Murray streets and between Church Street and the river. The condition of the grant was That the President of the Colledge forever for the time being be a mem- ber of and in Communion with the Church of England, and that the Morn- ing and Evening sen-ice in said Colledge be the Htergj^ of the said Church or such a Collection of Praj-ers out of said Liturgy as shall be agreed upon by the President and Trustees or governors of the said colledge. 28 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Plans for building were adopted July 13, 1756, and the corner- stone laid August 23d. The first Commencement was held in St. George's Chapel, June 21, 1758, at which the first public oration by a graduating student was delivered by Samuel I'rovoost, afterward Rector of Trinity and Bishop of New York. The Neiv York Mercury of June 26th speaks of it as ' ' the first Solemnity of the kind ever celebrated here, which was through the whole conducted with much Elegance and Pro- priety. The order of the Procession from the Vestry Room where the College is now held to St. George's Chapel " is given in detail, and the orations and other exercises sympathetically described. Eight graduates received the degree of B.A. and thirteen educated elsewhere were honored with the degree of Master of Arts. There was no Commencement in the following year, but thereafter, until and including 1764, the Commencements were regularly held in St. George's. This was the first Commencement at which President Myles Cooper presided. May, 1764. It was attended by General Gage and His Majesty's Council. The Salutatory was delivered by Richard Harrison; John Jay, the other member of the graduating class, pronouncing an address on the ' ' Blessings of Peace. ' ' That much interest in the College was felt in England is attested by the fact that a Royal Brief was issued under the Great Seal of Great Britain, August 19th, 1762, authorizing the making of a collection throughout the Kingdom from house to house for the joint and equal benefit of the colleges in New York and Philadelphia, the result accruing to King's College from which collection was about six thousand pounds, the King himself contributing four hundred pounds. The original prospectus of the undertaking bears unmis- takable marks of a most liberal spirit, utterly confuting the fears which had been so vociferously expressed that the Institution would be conducted in a narrow and sectarian way; and the inclusion by the Charter of the ministers of the Dutch, Lutheran, French, and Presbyterian churches in the Board of Governors reflected the cos- mopolitan character of the city even at that early day and betokened the breadth and catholicity which has ever marked the administra- tion of King's College and Columbia University. An extract from the vestry minutes of January 30, 1760, is of interest : It being represented that the Pantiles on the Roofe of St. George's Chappell are too weighty for the Roofe and Walls of the said Chappell, it is resolved and ordered that the said Tiles be removed and sold and the Roofe shingled. THE CHAPEL PERIOD 29 At this same meeting Mr. Robert Crommelin, a member of the Vestry and the architect of St. George's Chapel, offered to the Cor- poration '' a clock from Europe at the prime cost," which offer was accepted and a committee appointed " to have the same clock raised up in the Chappell in such manner as they shall think most convenient. ' ' It was also ordered that the burial fees at the Chapel should be at the same rates as those at the Church. The following advertisement appeared in the New York Mercury of September 15, 1760 : THIS is to infoi-m the Public, that a Free School is opened near the New-Diitch-Chnrch, for the instruction of 30 Negi'o Children, from 5 years old and upwards, in Reading, and in the Principles of Christianity, and likewise sewing and knitting; which School is entirely under the Inspection and Care of the Clergy of the Church of England in this City: Those Persons therefore that have the present Usefulness, and future Welfare of their young Slaves at Heart (especially those born in their Houses), are desired to apply to any one of the Clergy, who will immediately send them to the aforesaid School, and see that they be faithfully instructed. N. B. All that is required of their Masters or Mistresses, is that they find them in Wood for the Winter. Proper Books will be provided for them gratis. For many years the clergy of the parish, with the assistance of a line of humble and devoted Catechists, had done what they could to better the spiritual and intellectual condition of the slaves, of whom there were some fifteen hundred in the city in 1705, when Elias Neau began his self-denying and successful catechetical labors. Slavery had been introduced into the city by the Dutch, and the pitiable condition of these unfortunates is thus described by Dr. David Humphrys, secretary of the S. P. G., in his Historical Ac- count: The negroes were much discouraged from embracing the Christian re- ligion, upon accoiuit of the very little regard showed them in any religious respect. Their marriages were performed by mutual consent only, without tlie blessing of the (^liurch; thej- were buried by those of their own countiy or complexion in the common field, without any Christian office, perhaps some ridiculous heathen rites were performed at the grave by some of their own people. No notice was given of their being sick that they might be visited; on the contrary frequent discourses were made in conversation that they had no souls and perished as beasts. By Mr. Neau's efforts, however, more than two hundred Cate- chumens were gathered, and though he was handicapped by the impossibility of getting them together except by candle-light when the day's toil was over, he taught and trained them, and on Sun- day afternoons assembled them in the church to be occasionally ex- 30 JilSTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH amined by the Rector, and from time to time presented well- prepared candidates for Holy Baptism. That he was highly es- teemed is evident from his membership in the vestry from 1705 to 1714. Upon his death the Venerable Society acceded to the request of the Vestry that a presbyter should take his place and sent, in 1723, the Rev. Mr. Wetmore to be Catechist and otherwise to assist the Rector, the instruction of the blacks, however, being his most conspicuous duty. A succession of teachers for these people attested the Church's interest in their welfare, and it is worthy of note that when St. George 's was erected and the Rev. Mr. Auchmuty assigned to its special care one of his designated duties was to hold catechetical exercises for the negroes at the Chapel. The observance of Thanksgiving Day, which was an established institution in old New York, is thus chronicled in the Neiv York Mercury of August 15, 1763 : Thursday last, being the day appointed by Authority for a general Thanksgiving throughout this Province, the following Texts were made use of, by the Gentlemen Clergy of the several Denominations in this City; which we have been assured, were extremely well adajited to the purport of the day and handled on all Sides with gi-eat Propriety, viz. At Trinity Church by Dr. Barclay, from Psalms 178, Verses 28, 29. At St. George's Chapel by Mr. Auchmuty, from Psalm 27, Verses 6, 7. Then followed the names of other churches — the Presbyterian, the Baptist, the Moravian, the Old Dutch, the New Dutch, the French, and the Synagogue, with the preachers and texts, and the account closes with the statement, " After the different congrega- tions had broken up and his Honour the Governour had returned to the Fort, His Majesty's and other Healths were drank under the Discharge of the Cannon." The Rector of the parish. Rev. Dr. Henry Barclay, departed this life, August 20, 1764, universally lamented; and the Rev. Mr. Auchmuty, who had had special charge of St. George's, was at once elected to the rectorship, the Rev. John Ogilvie taking his place as assistant minister. The Rev. Charles Inglis, who later became Rector, was added to the clerical staff, June 7, 1765, These were the troublous times which presaged the American Revolution. The obnoxious Stamp Act was to take effect in No- vember, 1765. A Provincial Congress had been held which denied the right of Parliament to tax the people and drew up an address to the King protesting against the Stamp Act. On the 21st of May, 1766, the principal clergy of the English Church in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut met in convention in Dr. Auchmuty 's THE GHAPEL PERIOD 31 house, and of his sermon in connection with this gathering the New York Mercury of May 26th records : The Doctor after a pathetick Application to his Brethren, in the con- clusion of his Sermon addressed himself to his Audience, and congratulated them upon the Kepeal of the disagi-eeable Stamp Act, and then concluded the whole Avith Such Advice as our present Circumstances highly require should be followed. St. Paul's Chapel, the second daughter of old Trinity, was opened for Divine Service in November, 1766. The contemporary account of the service in the New York Journal does ample justice to the beauty of the edifice and the solemnities of the occasion. " The venerable Chapel still stands on its old site, the only surviving ecclesiastical relic of the Colonial era." But the earlier St. George's having long since been translated to a more favorable location, the present generation fails to identify the elegant structure on Stuy- vesant Square with the St. George's of the olden time. The fact remains, however, that St. George's Chapel was the elder sister of St. Paul's by fourteen years, and by that period St. George's has the longer record of continuous and useful service. The establishment of the new Chapel so stimulated the growth and increased the work of the parish that in December, 1766, the Rev. Samuel Provoost was appointed an additional assistant min- ister, " to officiate in his turn at the several churches on the Lord's Day and at Prayers on week days when requested by the Rector. ' ' The first steps toward the formation of a Society for the relief of the widows and children of clergymen of the Church of England were taken at a meeting held in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in October, 1767, and within a few years identical charters were se- cured in the three provinces of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsyl- vania and a treasurer appointed for each. After the Revolution, the accumulated funds were equitably divided, and the work in- augurated by the ancient corporation is still carried on in these three States. One of the evidences of the trying times which Church and State were rapidly nearing was the anxiety felt about the financial con- dition of the parish, which suggested the necessity of reducing the staff of clergy. The Rev. Mr. Provoost met the situation by resigning his position and retiring from the city in 1771, though his well- known political views probably had some bearing on the case. A most acceptable gift to the parish is noted in the following letter from the Governor to the Rector, which he acknowledged December 29, 1772 : 32 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH To Dr. Auchmuty: Sir: I am to request the favor of j'ou herewith to receive a Sett of Church Furniture, Plate and Books, which I present as a New Year's Gift for the sole use and service of St. George's Chapel in tliis City. I am with esteem, Sir, your most obed't Servant, Wm. Tryon. The New York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury of January 4, 1773, in publishing the fact, adds, " Such a generous Donation must endear his Excellency to every friend of Religion and Virtue." Upon the death of the Rev. Doctor Ogilvie, November 26, 1774, the Rev. Benjamin ]\Ioore and the Rev. John Bowden were appointed assistant ministers of the parish, subscriptions being depended upon to provide their support. As we are entering on consideration of the Church affairs in Revolutionary times, it may be well to glance at the position of the clergy. In all the Colonies there were three hundred congregations, large and small, and perhaps two hundred and fifty clergymen of the Church of England. The development of the Church in Amer- ica had been but slow, largely due to lack of the Episcopate and the resultant lack of coherency and discipline. It was the Church of the representatives of Royalty in each provincial government south of New England, the Church of the office-holders, and in general of the leaders in business and society. The clergy, most of them, were Englishmen by birth and with few exceptions mission- aries and stipendiaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; and those who were Americans had sought their Orders on the other side and so were clergy of the Church of England, and as such at their ordination had subscribed allegiance to the British Crown. It is well known that a large number of the lead- ing patriots, signers of the Declaration, generals and statesmen, who laid the broad and sound foundations of the new Republic, were members of the Established Church. But it is not as well known as it might be that many of the clergy in Virginia and else- where were aggressive leaders in the patriot cause; a few served in the ranks, and in South Carolina out of twenty when hostilities broke out five only remained royalists and left the country. But the great body of the clergy did not feel that the appeal to arms in vindication of resistance to oppression, and the assertion of colonial rights and liberties, or even the changed status wrought by the immortal Declaration of the Independence of the Colonies, absolved them from their fealty to the Crown or duty to still use the Liturgy THE CHAPEL PERIOD 33 unmutilated by omission of prayers for the King, for it was not yet certain what the issue of the struggle was to be. The inde- pendence of the Colonies was not yet achieved, and so it was not clear as yet that the new governmental power was " ordained of God." The Philadelphia clergy generally took the patriot side. In and about New York they cast tlieir influence in favor of the Crown. He who was afterward first Bishop of Connecticut was then the rector of Westchester, and, probably in part through fear of Puritan ascendancy and the destruction of the Church should Eng- land's power be subverted, plunged into such effective leadership that by polemic pamphlets and his personal appeals to members of the Assembly he seriously retarded the progress of the patriot cause. King's College lost its President, the Rev. Myles Cooper, whose offensive activities on the same side subjected him to threat- ened violence, from which flight only saved him. The files of the Society, the S. P. G., abound in letters (copies of which lie in the archives in the Church Missions House), giving most pitiful, pathetic portraitures of the hardships and sufferings of the royalist clergy. Their " conscientious devotion to their mistaken sense of duty and a readiness to suffer in the cause of Church and Crown cannot be gainsaid." This tribute to their faithfulness and loyalty was paid in his sermon before the S. P. G. at its anniversary in England in 1784 by the Bishop of Oxford : The characters of these worthies will entitle them to a lasting memorial in some future impartial history of the late events in that countiy (Amer- ica). Their firm perseverance in their duty amid temptations, menaces, and in some cases cruelty, would have distinguished them as meritorious men in better times. General "Washington entered New York in April, 1776, hoping to hold possession. Doctor Auchmuty, being quite indisposed in health through labors and anxiety, retired to New Brunswick with his family, leaving the care of the parish with his senior assistant, Mr. Inglis, who, after the Declaration of Independence, decided to close the Church and St. George's and St. Paul's Chapels, as he was unwilling to dis- continue prayers for the King, and to continue services with the prayers included might subject the edifices to damage. In his report to the S. P. G. Mr. Inglis wrote : After we had ceased to officiate publicly, several of the rebel officers sent to me for the keys of the churches that their chaplains mig'ht preach in them; with these requisitions I refused peremptorily to comply . . . for I could not bear the thought that theu- seditious and rebellious effusions should be poured out in our churches. 34 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The other assistants now went to friends in the country. The Church and Chapels remained unmolested. A letter dated Staten Island, August 17, 1776, preserved in the New York Historical Society says: The Episcopal Cliurches in New York are all shut up, the prayer books burned and the ministers scattered abroad in this and neighboring pi'ovinces. It is now the Puritans' high holiday season, and they enjoy it with rapture. After the disastrous Battle of Long Island, Washington evacuated New Y^'ork, and General Howe, with the British troops, took pos- session and made it his headquarters till the close of the war in 1783. Mr. Inglis at once returned and " solemnized Divine Serv- ice," which was joyfully attended by the Royalists who remained in the city. But within a week occurred a terrible disaster. In the early morning of September 21st a fire broke out in a small wooden house on the wharf near Whitehall Slip. The wind blew fresh from the south. All was done that was possible to arrest the flames, the soldiers and the sailors from the fleet rendering eiflcient service, but there was no sort of fire apparatus, and the inhabitants left in the city were few. Long before the main fire reached Trinity Church its roof and steeple were in flames and the venerable edifice was doomed. St. Paul's Chapel and King's College were in the line of fire, but were with difficulty saved. Suspicions and charges of incendiarism were freely made, but there is no proof that the fire was not accidental. Besides the Church and its Charity School, the Rector's house, the old liUtheran Church, and some five hundred other buildings were destroyed. On the following day, which was Sunday, the first after the English occupation, a sermon was preached by Chaplain O'Beirne which met with such favor that it was published by request. Tlie Rector soon after returned to the city, having with great difficulty passed the American lines by night and on foot. He found his own house as well as the Church in ruins, but was thank- ful that Providence had preserved St. George's and St. Paul's. He relieved his mind by a sermon rather violently phrased in its al- lusions to " cruel enemies " and " violent incendiaries," but the stream of events proved too much for his strength and in the follow- ing IMarch he died. The Assistant Minister, Rev. Charles Inglis, sixteen days later was elected Rector. During the distractions and sufferings of the Revolutionary times but scant attention was given to Church affairs. The resources of the parish were rapidly dwindling. By the disastrous fire Church property was destroyed amounting to twenty-two thousand two hun- THE CHAPEL PERIOD 35 dred pounds, besides the annual loss to the Corporation of five hundred and thirty-six pounds, the annual rent of two hundred and forty-six lots of ground, the tenants' buildings on which had been consumed. The parish registers were also burned, the record of the marriages since 1746 alone escaping. But the Charity School was not forgotten in these trying times, for the annual collection was regularly made. Even when the Church lay in ashes after the great fire of 1776, the local papers announced the usual collection in St. George's and on the following Sunday in St. Paul's " for the same laudable purpose." The following phrasing of the notice in the New York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury of November 24, 1777, may be of interest : On Suuday next a Charity Sermon will be preached in the Forenoon, at St. George's Chapel, for the Benefit of the Charity School in this City. — Should the Weather l3e bad, the Sermon will be postponed to the following Sunday. It may be proper to inform such as are not acquainted with the Nature and Design of this Institution — that this School consists of 86 Scholars, viz. 56 Bo3"s and 30 Girls, who are annually cloathed and instructed in the Principles of the Christian Religion. They are taught Reading, Writing, and Aritlimetick, and the Girls Xeedle Work ; Books, Paper, &e. found them. The Aiders of this pious Work are also informed, that the School is visited once a Month by the Rector, Church Wardens, and a Committee of the Vestry of Trinity Church, and the Children carefully examined; and that the Institution is princiiTally supported by the Contributions of benevolent Persons, collected at the Sermons which are annuallj' preached for its Benefit. The veteran schoolmaster, "William Hildreth, had reported to the S. P. G. in October, 1776, that his scholars had gradually dwin- dled, that he with other friends of the government had fled from New York to avoid being sent as prisoners to New England, and that upon returning to the city, after the King's troops had taken possession, he found it in flames. He was collecting his scholars and hoped soon to gather them all in. But l\Ir. Hildreth died May 11th of the following year and Amos Bull was appointed his suc- cessor. The Eev. IMr. Bowden resigned his position as assistant minister in April, 1777. The Vestry Records of October, 1779, contain this interesting entry : It being represented to this Corporation by one of its members, that the Old Dutch Church in this City is at Present used as a Hospital for His Majesty's Troops, The Board Impressed with a gratefull Remembrance of the former kmdness of the Members of that Antient Church in permitting the use of their Church to the Members of the Church of England, when 3G HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH they had no proper edifice of their own for that purpose, offer to the Members of the Ancient Dutch Church the use of St. George's Chajaple for celebrating their worship on Sundays and such other times as they shall chuse to perform Divine service. They hope from nine to eleven o'clock in the morning and from one to three o'clock in the afternoon will be con- venient to the Members of the Dutch Church. If these hours should be very Inconvenient the Vestry will endeavor to meet their wishes as far as they can consistent with the duty they owe to their own congregation. In justification of this action, the Rector wrote to the S. P. G., Novem}3er 26, 1779 : The members of the Dutch Church in this city had always lived in the utmost harmony with the members of our Church. . . . The Loyal Dutch contmued in the City after it was reduced by the King's Troops; & a loyal Minister officiated for them. But the Commandant was imder the necessity of taking their Church lately for an Hospital; and the Dutch Congregation sigiiified their inclination that we should assist them, I im- mediately called my Vestry, & after maturely considering all circumstances we judged it adviseable for many reasons to let them have the use of one of our Churches. Accordingly their minister now Officiates for them early in the mornmg, & between our Services in St. George's Chapel, without any interniption to my Congregation. I believe we did right in tliis, & think you would have been of the same opinion, were you acquamted with our situation. The formal acknowledgment of this courtesy was made April 8, 1780, signed by the ofiScers of the Dutch Church and addressed to the Rector : Permit us, sir, thro' you, to return our most grateful thanks to the Vestry of Trinity Church for their kind offer of St. George's Chappie, with the use of wliich we were so happily accommodated during the time our Church was occupied by his Majesty's troops. The Clii-istian like behaviour and kind attention shown them in our distress by members of the Cluirch of England T\ill make a lasting impression on the mind of the antient Re- formed Dutch Congregation, who have always considered the interest of the two churches inseparable, and hope that this Instance of Brotherly Love, will evince to posterity the cordial and happy union subsisting be- tween us. We are, wdth gi-eat Regard, Dear Sir, Your most faithful and obedient servants. At a meeting of the Vestry, April 5, 1781, Thomas Collister petitioned that body to take into consideration of allowing me a Salaiy for Taking care of St. George's Chaple which will be putting me on a Footing with Other Sextons, as it woidd be an encouragement to me to see that it is kept in Good Order & Clean in Avhich I would take great delight & spare no Pains to accomplish. THE CHAPEL PERIOD 37 Whereupon twenty pounds was voted as his salary, and nine years later he was appointed Sexton at St. George's exclusively. Another official of the Chapel was complained of to the Vestry as " deficient in Psalmody." For a clerk of the parish this was a most unfortunate defect, and he was informed that he could no longer officiate in that capacity, but his salary would be paid until the end of the year. In May, 1781, a committee was instructed to paint the east end of St. George's Chappie, to repair the Steeple with the materials they may think most proper & to examine the state of the paint on the said Steeple. There were many royalist refugees gathered at this time in the city, and through the local papers notice was given that the Gov- ernor had been pleased to allow them and others who had no seats in the churches to use the great Court Room in the City Hall for Divine Service, the refugee clergy to officiate in rotation. The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19, I78I, brought His Majesty's ministers to realize that the Independence of the Colonies must be formally recognized. But when the royalist clergy in New York learned that such action was intended they were thrown, as one of them wrote to the Venerable Society, " into the utmost surprise and consternation." The Rector of Trinity, who had been signally offensive in his opposition to the patriot cause, saw no other course open to him than to resign the rectorship, which he did November 1, 1783, and sailed away to Nova Scotia, where he subsequently became Bishop. His resignation was ac- cepted and his assistant, Mr. Moore, elected to succeed him. Doctor Inglis had preached his farewell sermons in St. George's and St. Paul's on the preceding Sunday, October 26th. The Treaty of Peace was signed in Paris November 3, 1783, and the evacuation of New York by the British followed on the 25th of the same month. New York might well be " glad at their departing." The city had for seven years " been remorselessly exploited to the point of exhaustion." It had been " a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy." Of the twenty-five thousand inhabitants in 1776 not more than half remained at the close of the war. The desolations wrought by the great fire which had left Trinity Church and other buildings in ruinous heaps were still unrepaired. The churches generally had been dismantled and defiled. The houses of the patriots had been pillaged and despoiled; nor did rich royalists escape the loss of horses, plate, provisions — anything an insolent soldiery could lay their hands upon. But courage soon revived, 38 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH waste places were renewed, channels of business were unclogged, the city grew at an amazing rate and flourished. " A day of public thanksgiving for the final establishment of American Independence, and the long-desired restoration of civil government in the blessings of an honorable peace," was proclaimed by the Governor and duly observed on Thursday, December 11th. The Rev. Doctor Rogers preached in St. George's and the Rev. Mr. Moore in St. Paul's. The period of transition from Colonial existence to the formative conditions of the new Republic was one beset with dangers to the Church. The gathering of the fragments, scattered and scanty, within the limits of the several States and fusing them into a homogeneous consolidated body was a work full of difficulty and calling for the wisest statesmanship from the first tentative con- vention in October, 1784, which formulated " Fundamental Prin- ciples," through the first General Convention in 1785, which framed the Constitution, on through the efforts to secure an American Episcopate, and until the agreement on the Prayer Book in its final form in 1789. These matters of deep interest, however, can- not be treated here. Bishop White's Memoirs of the Church, Bishop Perry's History of the American Episcopal Church, and other valu- able works give ample details of the steps by which the Church was fully organized. Nor can we pause to chronicle the process of forma- tion of the New York diocese from 1785. But we must note two special dangers and grave difficulties confronting the parish, of which St. George's was a part, in the transition from the old order to the new. One of these lay in the renewed endeavors persistently pur- sued to invalidate the Church's title to its landed property both by its enemies in the Legislature and by the importunate Bogardus claimants. The other sprang from the necessity of harmonizing the Whig Episcopalians, as they called themselves, who had been on the patriot side and those who had adhered to the King's cause. The former were not acquiescent in the Vestry's action in calling Mr. ]\Ioore so promptly to follow Doctor Inglis in the rectorship, and their petition to the " Council for the temporary government of the southern district of the State " resulted in an order vesting in nine Trustees " the possession of all and every the Estate of the Cor- poration of Trinity Church " until the Legislature should act. The Rev. Mr. Provoost, sometime assistant minister, who had withdrawn at the outbreak of the Revolution, was by these Trustees invited to take charge of the Churches — that is, St. George's and St. Paul's — THE CHAPEL PERIOD 39 thus ignoring Mr. Moore 's rectorship, who promptly declined further to officiate pending adjustment of the matter in a legal way. In the " Act [of April 17, 1784] for making such alteration in the Charter of the Corporation of Trinity Church as to render it the more conformable to the Constitution of the State " a new Vestry was named as petitioned for by members of the Church, and the new Vestry promptly legalized Mr. Provoost 's position as Rector. Doctor Dix observes in his History of Trinity Church : It was a fortunate thing for the Parish, at that moment, that its head should be a man, not only of high repute for learning, culture, and knowl- edge of affairs, but also identified fi'om the beginning with the cause of the American Revolution, and enjoying the full confidence of the State Govern- ment and the patriotic citizens of New York. He was a man of courtly manners as well as of education and refinement, and it was said of him and his contemporary. Doctor Livingston of the Dutch Church, " that when they met on Sunday and exchanged salutations, they took up the entire street, and re- minded beholders of two frigates under full sail exchanging saluta- tions with each other." At the Convention of New York, held in June, 1786, Doctor Provoost was elected Bishop and sailed for England in company with Dr. William White, of Pennsylvania, his brother bishop-elect, with ample credentials to the Archbishop of Canterbury seeking Episcopal Consecration. The first ordination of the Bishop of New York on his return is thus recorded by the Daily Advertiser of October 20, 1787 : On Sunday last, in St. George's Chapel, in tliis city, Mr. Richard C. Moore and Mr. Joseph G. J. Bend were ordained Deacons of the Episcopal Church, by the Right Rev. Samuel Provoost D.D. Bishop of said Church in this State. These gentlemen, according to the usage of the Church, are ordained Deacons, with special permission to preach; and it is requisite they should continue Deacons for some time, previous to their admission into the order of Priesthood. The Chapel was unusually crowded, the ceremonies of Episcopal ordina- tion being novel in America. The solemnity of the occasion, the gTeat good conduct which was observed through eveiy part of it, and an excellent Ser- mon, adapted to the present time delivered by the Rev. Benjamin Moore, with an admired diction and eloquence peculiar to him, made a pleasing impression on the audience. We cannot, on this occasion, but with pleasure reflect that the Protestant episcopal Church, in these States is now perfectly organized, and in the full enjoyment of each Spiritual privilege (in common with other de- nominations) requisite to its preservation and prosperity. The rebuilding of Trinity Church, which had been lying for twelve years in ruins, was begun in 1788 and completed in 1790. The 40 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Daily Gazette of November 12, 1789, has this unique reference ta it in an enthusiastic account of various improvements in the prog- ress of the city : But amongst all the numberless improvements carrying forward there is none tliat desei'ves approbation more than the New Church in Broad- Way; the Si^ire of which, by help of good Conductors, will be a great preservative against lightning, to all the houses situate within the distance of Several hundred paces, and particularly so to the Federal Hall, where Congress meet. On the completion of the building pews were set apart for the President of the United States, the Governor of the State, and members of Congress, the rest being disposed of at public auction sale March 1, 1790, and the church was then consecrated by Bishop Provoost on the 25th of the same month. Dr. Abraham Beach, an assistant minister, preaching from the apposite text: And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Loi'd is in this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven. Bishop Provoost was still Rector of Trinity, as indeed his two immediate successors in the Episcopate, Bishop Moore and Bishop Hobart, were each incumbents of both offices at the same time. Under his wise and prudent management, the old prestige and influence was gradually regained and furthered. The parish prospered, and a salutary sign thereof was handsome increase in the salaries of the parochial clergy and the adoption of the policy of generous bene- factions, out of the rapidly increasing income of its landed property, to new and struggling parishes both in the city and in the State which justly entitles the Corporation of Trinity to the honored name of ** Mother of Churches." Bishop Provoost resigned the rectorship November 1, 1800, but continued to exercise episcopal functions until September 3, 1801, his last ordination being to admit the Rev. John Henry Hobart to the priesthood in April, 1801, in Trinity Church. The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Moore, who, at the close of the rectorship of Doctor Inglis, had been elected Rector, but who, owing to circumstances already detailed, did not enter upon the office, was now elected Rector ; and upon the resignation of Bishop Provoost 's jurisdiction as bishop to his own Convention and to the President of the House of Bishops in September, 1801, Doctor Moore was elected to the Episcopate of New York September 5th and was consecrated on the 11th of the same month. The Rev. John Henry Hobart became assistant min- ister September 8, 1800, and the Rev. Cave Jones in January, 1801. THE CHAPEL PERIOD 41 The first exercise of episcopal functions by Bishop Moore was in St. George's Chapel, October 11, 1801, on which occasion he ad- vanced a deacon to the priesthood, the Rev. Daniel Nash. In an appended note to the original entry he wrote: " This my first Episcopal duty, I have performed. By God's blessing may it be beneficial to His Church." His second Confirmation service, the first having been held in Trinity Church, was in St. George's Chapel, when ninety-two candidates received the Laying-on-of-hands ; on March 31, 1805, he confirmed sixty-six candidates, the Rev. Mr. Hobart reading prayers, and forty-two others three years later. In the spring of 1811 Bishop IMoore was stricken with paralysis, and on his nomination the Rev. Doctor Beach was appointed As- sistant Rector on the 13tli of March. The Bishop also called a Special Convention to consider the propriety of appointing an as- sistant bishop, at which Convention, held on the second Tuesday in May, the Rev. Doctor Hobart was elected Assistant Bishop of New York. Bishop Moore becoming incapacitated for the discharge of any clerical duty, the Rev. Doctor Beach was virtually Rector for the next two years and Bishop Hobart discharged all the duties of the Episcopate. As we approach the transition from the Chapel period to that of St. George's independent life, it is fitting we should note con- ditions, civic and social, political and ecclesiastical, under which St. George's Church came into being one hundred years ago. The city's population by the census of 1810 was 96,373, of whom 8,137 were free blacks and 1,686 were slaves. The number of names in Longworth's City Directory for 1811-12, the thirty-sixth year of national independence, was 17,500. There were some 16,000 houses, mostly of wood, though there were many structures of red brick, some with slate roofs. The common type of house was three stories with low basement used as kitchen or cellar, with dormer windows protruding from the peaked roof of the upper story, of which type there are a few still standing in the older sections of the city. Some of the more pretentious dwellings had roofs with a flat space in the middle enclosed by a railing and slanting to front and rear. The prevailing color of the paint on wooden houses was white or red, and even if the front was white the back was generally red. The red sandstone back of the City Hall as originally built was a re- minder of that ancient fashion, the front and sides being of marble. The occupancy of this City Hall dates from July 4, 1811, its erection having been begun in 1803 and now completed at a cost of five hun- 42 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH dred thousand dollars. The park in which it stood, which then included the site of the present Post Office, was surrounded by a picket fence. The Bridewell, or city prison, stood close beside it on the west on Broadway; the jail, or debtors' prison, which later became the Hall of Records, but recently demolished, stood on the Chatham Street side of the City Hall, while the Almshouse and Engine-house stood in the rear. The " Old Government House," in which were included the Custom House and Federal Courts, stood on the south side of Bowling Green, practically on the site on which the new Custom House has recently been erected. The maritime trade centered on the East River front. Sea-going commerce was the leading pursuit. The shipping business, with its accompanying wealth, was in few hands. The registered tonnage was equal to that of Boston and Philadelphia combined, though the latter city had nearly as many inhabitants and more extensive manufacturing concerns. New York was, therefore, the chief com- mercial emporium of the country and in 1769 had established a Chamber of Commerce. The distribution of incoming cargoes was largely made through auction sales. The wholesale dealers were chiefly located on Pearl and Broad streets and on Hanover Square. On Water, Front, and South streets were extensive warehouses. "William Street from "Wall to Fulton was the shopping street for ladies' retail trade, especially in dry goods. On Broadway below Leonard Street and on Wall and State streets stood residences of prominent citizens, and in Pine, Beekman, and Pearl streets many homes were located. On the west side Greenwich Street was more closely built than any other and contained six hundred numbered houses. Washington Street had but a few scattered buildings. There was no West Street then and boat-landings came up to Washington. The Post Office was located on the southwest corner of William Street and Garden Street (now Exchange Place). The postmaster, Theodorus Bailey, lived in the house and held the office for some twenty-five years until 1827. He was assisted by two or three clerks. The rate of postage was eight to twenty-five cents, accord- ing to distance, on one sheet of paper of foolscap size or less. Delivery by carrier was a private enterprise of the postmaster, for which he made a charge. There was one mail daily between New York and Washington, the transit occupying thirty-six hours. The habits of the merchants involved late hours. Little business was done before nine or ten o'clock in the morning, but many shops were kept open till nine o'clock at night. Men in business dined at two or three o'clock in the afternoon, but four o'clock was the THE CHAPEL PERIOD 43 fashionable hour. Mechanics worked evenings from October to April. The sidewalks were of brick, a few of stone. The pavement on Broadway ended at Worth Street, the sidewalk at Leonard Street. There were two crossings at the sluggish waterway which gave place to Canal Street — one at Broadway, the other at Greenwich Street. To the north of this were only a few scattered buildings whose residents were regarded as " living out in the country." On the Bowery line, however, the city was built up as far as North Street, now called Houston. The streets were lighted by whale-oil lamps and were swept twice a week, every man being responsible for the sweeping in front of his own house. Garbage was collected by the " bell-man," as the scavenger was called. Bakers peddled bread and cake in baskets, and milkmen, with a yoke on their shoulders from which were suspended two tin pails, furnished the milk. Small negro boys were the chimney-sweeps, licensed by the city. The household servants were largely blacks and mulattoes, some slaves, some free, but there were also white domestics. Water was ill- supplied by the Manhattan Company, which had secured control of public sources of supply and was incorporated in 1799, Its water was distributed through bored wooden logs from the reservoir in Chambers Street and obtained by the people from pumps and wells located in the streets. There were also private wells and cisterns, but the best esteemed source of water-supply was the ' ' Tea Water Pump," located in Chatham Street near Pearl, which was of superior quality, and the water was carted in hogsheads and de- livered to customers about the city. To understand the social life of New York at this period, it is necessary to recall the conditions which existed prior to the Revolu- tion, when social distinctions were well defined and undisputed. The original Dutch proprietors of the vast landed estates, many of whom had city houses, and the successful merchants of the olden time, were the aristocracy of that day and founded families whose mem- bers in successive generations filled the places of oiScial dignity and ruled society. Under the English governors, the men from over-sea, who were high-bred, intelligent, identified with government, as- similated readily with the Dutch gentry, intermarried with them, and there resulted that social, political, and exclusive class of culture and refinement which constituted the colonial aristocracy before the Revolution. The men dressed with elaborate care in costumes of the period of English importation. French fashions were affected bv the ladies. Small merchants and house - owners 44 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH moved in a lower social scale, and then came clerks, mechanics, servants, and slaves. But difference in social rank was not made the occasion for an aggravating insolence nor did it seem to engender bitterness. The Kevolution, with its democratic tendencies, however, swept away the political power of the ruling class, which in the main was Tory and loyal to King George; and with the loss of power and wealth social supremacy was doomed. But there were many of the gentry who espoused the patriots' cause, and when the war was over it was but natural that these should still be leaders in affairs and in the social life of the rejuvenated and fast-growing city. So that in 1811 we find such scions of these older families as were themselves entitled to respect and leadership, exerting powerful influence in State and Church. The customs and the manners of pre - Revolutionary times still lingered. Clothing still came from England and from France, while some adhered to the small clothes, cocked hat, and hair in queues which characterized the earlier generation. The most im- portant day in all the year was New Year's Day, which was em- ployed in the exchange of ceremonious calls, with cake and wine and punch provided for all guests. New York did not go dry in 1811. There were one hundred and sixty taverns and thirteen hun- dred and three groceries licensed to sell strong drinks. But despite such ample provision for the bibulous, our ancestors in those days were without what we esteem essential modern comforts. They had no friction matches, no stove-coal for cooking or heating, and, of course, no hot - air furnaces, no gas - lights, no hot or cold water running in house or yard, no ice for domestic use, no free letter- carriers or messenger-boys, no omnibuses or street-cars, no railroads, telegraphs or telephones, electric light or automobiles ; but doubtless they were comfortable according to their lights. Of public institutions there were five banks, ten insurance com- panies, and six markets. The New York Historical Society, or- ganized 1804, the Society Library, established 1754, which was located on Nassau Street between Cedar and Liberty, and the American Academy of Arts, incorporated 1808, ministered to the literary and artistic tastes of the people. There was an orphan asylum society and a few benevolent or social organizations. The New Y'ork Manumission Society maintained the schoolhouse in the rear of St. George's. The beginnings of the Public School system date from 1807. The New York Hospital stood on Broadway be- tween Duane and Anthony (now Worth Street) ; it embraced a lunatic asylum and lying-in department. Columbia College, con- THE CHAPEL PERIOD 45 sisting of two buildings, was located on the College Green which oc- cupied the two blocks between Murray and Barclay streets and from Church Street to Chapel Street (later called College Place and now West Broadway). The only theater in 1811 was the old Park Theater on what is now Park Row. The new Olympic was opened in the following year. There were eight daily papers and Tlie ChvrcJiman Magazine. Of churches there were fifty -two in all. There were Trinity and its chapels, St. George's and St. Paul's, the third chapel, St. John's, having been begun in 1803 and completed in 1807. The following eight congregations had been organized and taken precedence of St. George's, which was some fifty years or more their elder, through admission to the Convention as independent integers of the Diocese of New York; St. Mark's in the Bowery was organized October 10, 1799 ; Christ Church, built in 1793 on Ann Street near Nassau, was admitted into union in 1802 ; the French Church du St. Esprit, located on Pine Street near Nassau, was organized in 1804, it having been a French Huguenot church since 1687; St. Stephen's on Broome, corner of Chrystie, April 12, 1805; St. Michael's, Bloom- ingdale, in 1807; Grace Church on Broadway, corner of Rector, in 1808; St. James's on Hamilton Square was admitted into union 1810; Zion Church, on Mott Street, corner of Cross, was incor- porated March 13, 1810, the congregation and its minister having previously been Lutheran. All of these churches were materially aided by the Corporation of Trinity and in most cases large grants of valuable land were made. Besides the twelve Episcopal churches, there were eleven Presbyterian of four varieties; seven Reformed Dutch; six Methodist; two African Methodist; four Baptist with one Abyssinian Baptist ; two Roman Catholic ; of German Re- formed, Evangelical Lutheran, Moravian, and Universalist one each ; two Friends' Meeting-houses, and one Synagogue. Such was New York in 181]. It was the year when the Com- missioners who had been ' ' empowered to lay out streets, roads, and public squares of such width and extent as to them should seem most conducive to the public good," Gouverneur Morris, Simeon De Witt, and John Rutherfurd filed their Report on April 1st — that admirable document to which we are indebted for the sym- metrical street plan by which the city of the future was laid out on paper, from North Street, now Houston, on the east and Clinton Place and Greenwich Avenue on the west to 155tli Street, and in accordance with whose lines the city 's growth has been accomplished. It was the year of the great fire w^hich broke out in May at the 46 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH corner of Duane and Chatham streets which caught the cupola of the jail and the steeple of the Brick Church, both of which public buildings, however, were preserved from the destruction which over- took so many lesser structures. It was the year when De Witt Clinton's bill became a law, April 8, 1811, investing commissioners " with power to manage all matters relating to the navigation between the Hudson and the Lakes," thus making possible the Erie Canal which in earlier years did so incalculably much for the commerce of the State. It was the year when on May 13th the corner-stone of Tammany Hall was laid at the southeast corner of Nassau and Frankfort streets, the Tammany Society having been incorporated as a benevo- lent organization six years before, meeting in Fraunces' Tavern; and it was the year of its open revolt against the candidate of its party for Lieutenant-Governor in the State election which took place in April, 1811. It was the j^ear of the political excitement which heralded the declaration of the War of 1812 against Great Britain, the growing certainty of which divided popular interest with the controversies about " Clinton's Ditch." Brooklyn at this date was an unincorporated village of some fifteen hundred inhabitants. Jersey City was known as Powle's Hook, which boasted one tavern and one store. Hoboken was even smaller. Ferries were maintained by horse-power boats with a tread- mill wheel in the center and barges rowed by men carried pas- sengers. The first steam ferry to the Jersey side was inaugurated in October, 1811, and one to Brooklyn followed three years later. In ecclesiastical affairs there was in the Episcopal Church a much- perturbed condition, owing chiefly to the Hobart-Jones Controversy. The Rev. John Henry Hobart, at the age of twenty-three, had been called to an assistantship in Trinity Church in September, 1800, and the Rev. Cave Jones to a similar position only four months later. The former having been prominently named for the vacant Bishopric of New York, it was inevitable that the candidacy of one of such pronounced views, and though so young already a leader of opinion in the Church, should arouse opposition on the part of those whose doctrinal opinions were at variance witli his. In the case of his fellow-assistant minister, a personal antagonism so intensified his conviction of the unfitness of Doctor Hobart for the episcopal office that he precipitated what proved to be a long and bitter con- troversy into which most of the prominent clerg3^men and laymen THE CHAPEL PERIOD 47 of the day were unhappily drawn. He published a pamphlet en- titled *' A Solemn Appeal to the Church, being a plain statement of Facts in the Matters pending between Doctor H. with others and the Author." The publication of this pamphlet in May, 1811, while it failed to defeat the election of Doctor Hobart to the Bishopric, did incalculable harm to the Church through the heated strife which it precipitated. Pamphlet after pamphlet followed one another in quick succession until over twenty " Statements," " Remarks," " Addresses," etc., had been contributed to the bibliography of the subject. That " Mr. Jones was a man of blameless repute " and that ''up to the breaking out of the unfortunate controversy he had been held in high regard by the Corporation and in loving esteem by the people to whom he ministered " is the testimony which the late Rector of Trinity has recorded of him in his History of the Parish. He further says: " There can be no doubt of Mr, Jones 's sincerity ; the impress of candor is on his production ; but his judgment was at fault, and after all is said and done the main point brought out is this, that men of very different temperaments were most unfortunately yoked together. Doctor Hobart was brusque, irritable, and inclined to domineer; Mr. Jones, on the other hand, was morbid and apt to magnify and brood over dif- ferences until, unable to subdue his feelings, he finally rushed into print with his ' Solemn Appeal. ' ' ' The Vestry of Trinity treated the matter dispassionately and fairly. They deprecated the controversy between its assistant min- isters and deplored the reproach thereby brought upon the cause of religion. The congregation of St. Paul's Chapel, in which Mr. Jones had chiefly exercised his ministry, stood loyally by him, and the Vestry was ready to permit that Chapel to become an inde- pendent church, " that the people might elect the Rev. Mr. Jones as its Rector." Some months, however, after the consecration of Bishop Hobart, the proposal for the separation of the Chapels re- maining still unanswered, a committee of the Vestry reported, Sep- tember 5, 1811, as follows: " In respect to the disorderly state of Trinity Church and its Chapels, proceeding from the misbehaviour of the Rev. Mr. Jones and which became the subject of the early animadversion of the Vestry, the committee are constrained to de- clare that in their opinion the peace of the Church cannot be re- established so long as the connection between the Vestry and the Rev, Mr. Jones remains undissolved. ' ' The whole matter was finally submitted to arbitration, but it was not until October 30, 1813, that the final judgment was rendered by the arbitrators and a large sum 48 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of money awarded to Mr. Jones in full settlement of all his claims against the Corporation. To prevent the recurrence of a similar refusal, on the part of any assistant minister of Trinity parish to retire when the Vestry should deem his usefulness at an end, a special resolution was adopted which still remains in force: " That the assistant ministers employed by this Corporation (other than the assistant rector) are considered as holding their offices during the pleasure of the Vestry." Note. — The font referred to on page 24 was a European product, finely sculptured, originally destined for a South American cathedral, but which had found its way to New York on board a naval prize. A fine bell costing £88 3s 2d was hung in the belfiy. CHAPTER III ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP (1811-1816) The following resolution adopted by the Vestry of Trinity Church, June 13, 1811, introduces us to a consideration of the steps by which St. George's Chapel became an independent corporation: Resolved, That from the circumstances and situation of the Congrega- tions associated with Trinity Church it has become expedient that the Con- nection between Trinity Church and St. George's and St. Paul's Chapels be dissolved, and that the said chapels be endowed and established as Sepa- rate Churches in like manner as Grace Church has been established. It was further resolved " that the foregoing resolution be re- ferred to a committee to devise and report a plan for carrying into effect the objects therein referred to " and Messrs. King, Harison, Clarkson, Leroy and Raymond were elected by ballot to constitute the committee; and on July 11th the Vestry specifically " authorized this committee to confer with the committees of the pew-holders of these chapels on the subject of the said resolution." Meanwhile committees had been designated by the people of both chapels and the subject duly and jointly considered. On the fifth of September the committee of the Vestry reported as follows : The committee to whom was referred the resolution of the Vestry, con- cerning the separation of St. George's and St. Paul's Chapels, respectfully report that they liave conferred with the committees appointed for tliis purpose by the congregations of St. George's and St. Paul's. In the course of this conference, they have stated and explained the reasons which have influenced the Vestry to propose a separation, and have moreover answered, in their best discretion, such queries as have been made by these committees respecting the endowment of the said chapels and concerning those matters about which information was desired. Hitherto the committee have re- ceived no definite communication from the committees of the two chapels. Further conferences may be deemed requisite, and some time may yet be necessary to enable these congregations to form a satisfactory determina- 4 50 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH tion. Whenever this shall be done, no time will be lost in laying the same before the Vesti-y. On the 4tli of November the committee submitted for the con- sideration of the Vestry a report embodying three papers, which in view of their importance here follow in full. The first was a series of questions proposed by the committee of St. George's Chapel, the second contains the answers which, subject to the approval of the Vestry, had been made by the committee of Trinity, and the third is a certificate of the congregation of St. George's approving the terms of separation expressed in the foregoing papers. ST. George's questions "We the subscribers appointed a committee by the congregation of St. George's Chapel to confer with the Vestry of Trinity Church on the subject of a separate Establishment of said Chapel, knowing the extreme solicitude of said congregation to be minutely and correctly informed of eveiy cir- cumstance relative to their separate standing in the event of a separation taking place from Trinity Church, do, in behalf of themselves and the congregation they represent, on this occasion request written replies to the following questions : First. — Will the Corporation of Trinity Church endow St. George's Chapel with property in lands out on leases at low rents that will produce a present revenue of three thousand dollars"? Second. — To what amount will the above endowment be increased, pro- vided a grant can be obtained from the Legislature of the State for ex- tending the funds of the Corporation of said Chapel; and until said grant can be obtained, will the Corporation of Trinity Church agree to pay to the order of the Vestry of St. George's Chapel such additional siuns as may be wanted to support their Establishment? Third. — Are the congi-egation of St. George's Chapel to look upon them- selves as a branch of the family of Trinity Church, and in case their funds should be found inadequate to defrajdng the yearly expenses, keeping the Church in repair, etc., or to repair or rebuild their property if injured or destroyed by fire, will the Vestry of Trinity Church continue to view said Chapel as the eldest child of the family entitled to every needful assistance, or is the present proposed separation to be considered as pre- cluding them from eveiy future aid or assistance from the mother Church? Fourth. — Will the Vestry of St. George's Chapel in the event of a sepa- ration taking place, be entitled to frefpient and unqualified conferences with the Vestry of Trinity Church in all things relative to their mutual interests and support? Fifth. — Are the Vestiy or eongi-egation of St. George's Chapel to be perfectly free to call sucli minister or ministers as they please without any control from the Corporation of Trinity Church? Sixth. — Will the Corporation of Trinity Church enlarge the yard of said Chapel by purchasing some ground adjoining thereto; erect a public vault or vault? therein, build a vestry-room, and provide a permanent and suit- able dwelling-house for the Rector? ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 51 Seventh. — Will they enclose said yard when enlarged with a suitable wall and fence similar to that of St. Paul's? Eighth. — Is there any discrimination contemplated respecting the inter- ment of the dead who are members of the Episcopal Church in the burial- grounds of each Church, or are they to remain as heretofore open to all? Ninth. — Is the amount of pew rents in St. George's Chapel to be in- eluded in the sum set off for its maintenance and considered as a part of the revenues of said Chapel? Tenth. — Is the present free school to be considered as exclusively belong- ing to Trinity Church, or are the Churches that may be separated there- from to have equal rights therein, and are annual collections to be made in them for its support; and in case it should be necessary to have a free school of our own, will Trinity Church afford us suitable assistance for that purpose? Eleventh. — In case the Vestry of St. George's Chapel should think it necessaiy and proper to have an assistant minister to their Rector, will the Vestry of Trinity Church give them such aid as may be neeessai-y to enable them to support liim? Harry Peters. Jno. Whitten. Isaac Lawrence. John Greene. ROBT. Wardell. trinity's answers To the first and second questions. — The endowment shall be in lands suf- ficient to yield a permanent annual revenue of three thousand dollars. In case the present rents fall short of this sum, Trinity Church will annually make up the deficiency; and whenever St. George's Chapel shall by law be enabled to receive the same the permanent endowment shall be increased to four thousand dollars; in the mean time, if the income of St. George's shall be insufficient to defray their annual expenses, the deficiency, not exceeding one thousand dollars a year, shall be supplied by Trinity Church. Third question. — Trinity Church will cherish the recollection of their union with St. George's and will be always disposed, according to their abilities, to assist St. George's in their necessities. Fourth question. — In every matter affecting their mutual harmony and prosperity, Trinity Church will freely and sincerely confer with St. George's, it being their opinion that these conferences should be conducted by com- mittees of the respective Vestries. Fifth question. — St. George's will choose their own minister without any interference or control on the part of Trinity Church. Sixth and seventh questions. — Trinity Church will build or purchase for St. George's a parsonage house, and until this can be conveniently done they will hire a house for the minister. As soon as their funds will permit they will likewise erect a vestr\'-room. enlarge the churchyard, and enclose the same. They do not approve the making of publick vaults. Eighth question. — The dead to be buried as heretofore and without dis- crimination between the churches. Ninth question. — The endowment to be exclusive of pew rents, which will be regulated and applied by St. George's. Tenth question. — The present Charity School is founded for the common 52 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH benefit of the Episcopalians of the city. It is governed by its own Trustees and not by Trinity Church; it is, therefore, expected that annual collections will be made in all the churches toward the support of tliis school; and should others become necessaiy, that they be founded on the same compre- hensive principle. Eleventh question. — Should the Rector of St. George's, thro' age or infirmity, be at any time unable to perform his customary duties, Trinity Church will assist St. George's in the support of an assistant. CERTIFICATE OF THE CONGREGATION We the Subscribers of the congregation of St. George's Chapel, having read and considered the tex'ms proposed by a committee of the Vestry of Trinity Church for a Separate Establishment of said Chapel, are of opinion that it will be conducive to the mutual interest, harmony and prosperity of said churches to separate on the terms proposed, and we do most cordially approve of the same and are desirous that it be carried into effect as soon as can be conveniently done. (Signed) : Harry Peters. Isaac Lawrence. Isaac Carow. John Greene. Robert Wardell. Abram R. Smedes. Samuel Stansbury. Robert Bogardus. James D. L. Walton. Walter Mitchell. A. Hamilton. Hugh Wishart. Benj. Halstead. Jolm C. Halstead. Jacob Leonard. John Ruckel, Jr. Ezekiel Bishop. Wm. Rollinson. Peter Urban. J. Schieffelin. Gei'rit H. Van Wagenen. Samuel A. Biu'tus. Francis Ogsbury. D. R. Lambert. Edw. Higgins. William Phelp. Alex'r Ogsbury. Gilbert Haight. John Mason. Jno. Whetten. Thos. Lawranee. William IMclntire. Sam'l Thoi'ne. J. D. Chambers. Luke Ki]}. Geo. H. Clussman. R. Crommelin. Thos. Cadle. W. H. Ward. Wm. H. Smith. Dan'l S. Robertson. Edward Seabuiy. [John Titus. Daniel Kingsland. James S. Stringham. Willet Coles. Quintin Millen. John Onderdonk. Jolm B. Tredwell. Cornelius Schermerhorn. Moses Judah. John Bloodgood. E. W. Laight. Francis Dominiek. John Clark. Jno. Jas. Lambert. Wm. Smith. Tyler Maynard. Jolm P. ScheiTuerhorn. Gerardus Post. Elijah Humphrey. The report thus presented, embodying the three foregoing papers " being maturely weighed and considered, it was thereupon resolved as follows : First, Besolved, That the Rector, church wardens, and vestrymen of Trinity Church do approve and agi'ee to the separation of St. George's Chapel upon the terms expressed in the aforesaid report and do engage and promise to do and perform all things which according to the tenor thereof ought to be done and performed on tlieir part, provided always and this promise as well as its performance is upon the express condition ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 53 that the Church so separated be and shall continue in union with the Protestant Episcopal Church of the State of New York. Second, Resolved, That a certified copy of the aforesaid report and resolution be delivered to Harry Peters, Isaac Lawrence, Robert Wardell, John Whetten, John Greene, the committee appointed by the congregation of St. George's, and that they be and hereby are desired as soon as may be, to commimicate the same to the said congregation in order that the requisite measures may be talien to become incorporated by the name of the Rector, church wardens, and vestrymen of St. George's Church in the City of New Yoi'k. I certify the foregoing to be a true extract from the minutes of the proceedings of the Vestry of Trinity Church in the City of New York at a meeting of the said Vestry held in the said church on the fourth day of November in the vear one thousand eight hundred and eleven. Dated this 7 November, 181 J. T. L. Ogden, Clerk." It may be noted that four of those signing the Certificate of Incorporation were members of the Vestry of Trinity Church — Messrs. Van Wagenen, Dominick, Laight, and Onderdonk. All preliminary arrangements having been thus happily com- pleted, St. George's became an independent church, as is evidenced by the Act of Incorporation, vt'hich includes the names of the original wardens and vestrymen and which important document is here re- produced. ACT OF INCORPORATION AVe, the subscribers, do certify that the congTCgation of St. George's Chapel in the City of New York, have this day met for the purpose of incorporating themselves as a Protestant Episcopal Church, under the name or title of the Rector, church wardens and vestrymen of St. George's Church in the City of New York, and they have accordingly elected Gemt H. Van "Wagenen and Harry Peters, church wardens; and Francis Domi- nick, John Onderdonk, Isaac Carow. .Jolin Greene, Isaac Lawrence, Ed- ward TV. Laight, Robert Wardell, and Cornelius Schermerhora, vestrymen, to hold their offices respectively until Tuesday of Easter week next en- suing the date hereof, at which time and annually thereafter on each Tuesday of Easter w^eek are to be chosen two church wardens and eight vestrs^men as successors to those then in otlSce. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this nineteenth day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eleven. Signed and sealed in the pres- f y^% \ ence of ( ^§ ) John Titus, Chairman (L. S.), Wm. Ustick, f ^S ^ '^"^- ^^^^tten (L. S.), Thos. Lawranee, ( | H' J Isaac Burr (L. S.). Sam'l Gedney. \ g' f [Endorsement] City of New York s.s. Be it remembered that on the- 20th day of November, 1811, appeared before me De Witt Clinton, Mayor 54 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of the City of New York, the within-named John Titus, John Whetten, and Isaac Burr, personally known to me, and acknowledged personally that they signed and sealed as their voluntary act and deed the within certificate respecting the incorporation of a Protestant Episcopal Church in the City of New York under the name or style of the Rector, church wardens, and vestrymen of St. George's Church in the City of New York. I do allow it to be recorded. (Signed) De Witt Clinton. Recorded in the office of clerk of the City and County of New York in Lib. No. 1 of Incorporations of Religious Denominations, page 73, this 20th day of November, 1811. Exam'd by (Signed) S. La whence, Clerk. The first meeting of the Vestry of St. George's Church was held in the vestry-room on Saturday, November 23, 1811, at which both wardens and all the vestrymen were present. Mr. Gerrit H. Van Wagenen presided. The first business transacted was to order the proceedings of Trinity Church relative to the separation of the Chapel, and the proceedings of the meeting incorporating the Church to be entered on the minutes. Mr. Edward W. Laight was elected by ballot clerk of the Vestry and Mr. G. H. Van Wagenen was similarly elected treasurer. Jacob Leonard was appointed parish clerk, Peter Erben organist, John Purdy sexton, all for one year and at the salaries heretofore allowed them by Trinity Church. At a subsequent meeting Mr. Purdy was also appointed collector of pew rents. A committee consisting of Messrs. Dominiek, Onder- donk, Van Wagenen, Peters, and Carow was appointed to apply to and obtain from Trinity Church the property stipulated as an endowment for St. George's. Messrs. Laight, Greene, Onderdonk, Van Wagenen, and Lawrence were appointed a committee to pre- pare and report rules and regulations for the government of this corporation and to make an application to the Legislature for a special charter. The wardens were requested to take measures for keeping the church open and supplying the services. Messrs. Domi- niek, Schermerhorn, and Wardell were appointed a committee on pews and repairs. The first Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. was the time designated for the regular meeting of the Vestry. The clerk was instructed to provide the necessary books and sta- tionery for the use of the Corporation and to prepare a common seal for this Corporation. Thus was the business of the newly in- corporated St. George's Church happily inaugurated. The seal which the clerk was directed to prepare, of which a representation is given on the title-page of this book, was formally ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 55 adopted as the seal of the Corporation, February 5, 1812. The de- scription accompanying it was : " A Dove, with an olive branch in its bill, alighting on the Globe overshadowed with a Glory, in the center of which is a triangle and around the Seal the words and figures — viz.. Seal of St. George's Church, New York. Inc. a.d. 1811." A request to the Vestry of Trinity for a gift of a service of Communion Plate was kindly acceded to, and the wardens of St. George's were authorized to procure the same to be made at the expense of the parent Church. The supply of services seems to have occasioned the wardens much difficulty, and they urged upon the vestry the desirability of calling a rector as soon as possible. A meeting of the congregation was accordingly called for February 7, 1812, " to ascertain the salary to be allowed to the rector of this Church, in addition to the use of the parsonage house expected to be purchased for this Church by the Corporation of Trinity Church." At this meeting two resolutions were adopted: " That the church wardens and vestrymen are hereby authorized to pay out of the revenues of the Church the sum of two thousand dollars for the annual salary of a minister, which appropriation is, however, intended and hereby declared to continue during the pleasure of a majority of the whole number of church wardens and vestrymen for the time being and no longer." " That the church wardens and vestrymen provide a suitable dwelling-house for the accommodation of the family of such minister during his continuance in office." Meanwhile members of the congregation had been busying them- selves about the selection of a rector, and at a special meeting of the Vestry, January 2, 1812, a communication from Samuel Guilford, Jr., Francis Ogsbury, Abraham K. Smedes, and Daniel S. Robert- son was received, enclosing a recommendation for the appointment of the Rev. S. F. Jarvis as rector signed by one hundred and two members of the congregation. No action was taken, however, and the communication was ordered to lie on the table for further con- sideration. But on the following Wednesday the Vestry met again, and, having become satisfied that some who had signed the recom- mendation had done so unadvisedly, resolved to return the same to the gentlemen who had presented it for the reason aforesaid. At this time the services were being conducted by the Rev. John Brady, who became a conspicuous figure in the earliest history of the parish, serving it most acceptably both as minister-in-charge and as assistant under the first rector. Previous to his appointment, 56 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH the Rev. Dr. John Bowden had rendered such services, at the request of the wardens, as were deemed worthy of a formal expression of the thanks of the Vestry and an honorarium of one hundred and fifty dollars. The reverend gentleman, however, declined any financial remuneration, stating that he considered the thanks of the corpora- tion sufficient compensation for his services. This generous behavior on his part, however, did not go unrewarded, for at a later period, when in consequence of the great disastrous fire of 1835 his family had become reduced to distress through the insolvency of certain fire- insurance companies, the income from which had been their chief means of support, the Vestry delicately conveyed to them through their pastor, the Rev. Doctor Berrian of Trinity Church, the sum of two hundred dollars in consideration of the services which Doctor Bowden had once rendered to St. George's and in sympathy with their recent misfortunes. At the expiration of the Rev. Mr. Brady's temporary engagement, a further engagement was entered into with him for the term of one year from the 1st of April at the salary of sixteen hundred dollars, with the stipulation that when a rector shall be called to this Church he should be considered an assistant for the residue of the said term. He was also " authorized to make such occasional changes with the clergy in the afternoons of the Sabbath as he may from time to time deem proper, and also that he request an interchange with such of the clerg}^ as any four members of this Board may in writing require. ' ' The clerk of the Vestry, who had been ordered to procure two certified copies of the law passed at the last session of the Assembly of the State of New York relative to the holding of property by this corporation, reported in September, 1812, that he had delivered one copy to the senior warden and one copy to the Vestry of Trinity Church. The need of a vestry-room and of a parsonage house being keenly felt, the attention of the Vestry of Trinity Church was called to the Articles of Separation agreed upon, in which it was expressly stipulated " that Trinity Church will build or purchase for St. George's a parsonage house, and as soon as their funds will permit they will likewise erect a vestry-room, enlarge the churchyard, and enclose the same." An offer of lots on Cliff Street suitable for the enlargement of the churchyard was presented to the Vestry, through the senior warden, by Cornelius J. Bogert at a special meeting. May 27, 1812, and the property committee was directed to consider the advisability of the purchase of these lots and to confer with ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 57 the Vestry of Trinity Church on the matter. This action was duly communicated to the Vestry of Trinity; but eight months having elapsed, the Vestry of St. George's became impatient at the delay and appointed a special committee, January 22, 1813, to confer with a committee of Trinity Church for carrying into effect the covenants contained in the Articles of Separation. In the ensuing April the Corporation of Trinity resolved to " pay or assume the payment of $3,125 to C. J. Bogert, being the consideration for the lot of ground on Cliff Street adjacent to the churchyard," which for its enlarge- ment St. George's Vestry desired and had contracted to purchase. The report of the treasurer of Trinity Corporation for the year ending April, 1813, shows further expenditure for St. George's, for the Service of Plate already referred to, an iron railing about the property, and repairs to the church, amounting to $5,104.62. The first annual convention of the diocese, subsequent to the in- corporation of St. George's, was held in Trinity Church in October, 1812, at which nineteen clergjinen were present and twenty-six parishes were represented. The journal of the first day's proceed- ings includes the following entry: A certificate of ineori:>oration of St. George's Church, New York, was read and approved and the same received into union with this Convention; whereupon Harry Peters, G. H. Van Wagenen, Francis Dominiek and Edward W. Laight having presented their certificate of appointment as Lay Delegates from said church, which was read and apj^roved, took their seats in the Convention. The parochial report gave the following statistics: Families, about 185 ; Baptisms, 25 ; Communicants, 60 to 80 ; Marriages, 9 ; Funer- als, 10. Meanwhile, by deed dated May 13, 1812, twenty-four lots of ground located on Greenwich, Barclay, Murray, Warren, Chambers, and Reade streets, yielding at the time a rental of three thousand dollars per annum on leases of twenty-one years, had been deeded to St. George's for its endowment. The property in Beekman Street on which the Church stood was conveyed by deed dated August 4, 1812. Both these conveyances, however, contained conditions which in later years were prolific of trouble when St. George's decided to remove to Stuyvesant Square, as will be de- tailed at a later period of this history. In the fall of 1812 the Rev. Mr. Brady was requested by the Vestry to open the Church for public services on Wednesday evenings dur- ing the winter season, and he was notified that " the restrictions 58 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH on him as to the exchanging with clergymen had been taken off." Soon afterward, for reasons not stated, the evening service was changed by resolution to Thursdays instead of Wednesdays, and the collections at these services were discontinued. The Vestry further directed " that the chanting be omitted on the morning when the Sacrament is administered and the Vol- untary be entirely omitted, and the Gloria in Excelsis be chanted in the afternoons as well as in the morning." The question of chanting was a vexed one in those earlier days. Its leading advocate was the Rev. Dr. William Smith, a Scotch- man who came to this country in 1785 and has been called the " Father of chanting in the Episcopal Church." He was a scholar- ly Churchman of the Connecticut type, a student of liturgies, and the author of the '* Office for the Institution of Ministers into Par- ishes or Churches " in our Book of Common Prayer. His views on Church music, however, he had much difficulty in impressing upon the Churchmen of that day, as is evident from a letter addressed by him to Bishop Hobart under date August 8, 1811, preserved in the Hobart MSS., in justification of his published views against his critics, some of whom in the diocesan convention had attacked them on account of " unrubricalness. " His letter concludes: I am truly sick of defending a work, which I am confident stands in no need of defence, but there is no withstanding prejudices and private con- ceptions. From the Clergy I never expected such a degree of fastidious- ness — from the laity I had to look for eveiy opposition that ignorance & prejudice could muster up: — But 'a little' (puritanic) 'leaven leaveneth the whole lump.' With my ardent wishes, that health and. happiness may attend vou I am Rt Rev'd & Dear Sir Your Reverence's friend & humb Svt William Smith. When the chanting was introduced into St. George's Church, it is said that the innovation created great surprise and indignation among the old people, and glances were exchanged between the occupants of the pews until Mr. Gerrit Van Wagenen, one of the wardens, unable to suppress his overflo^^'ing anger, arose and ex- claimed, '' Away with your Jew gibberish; we want no such non- sense in the House of God ; give us the psalms and hymns as of old ' ' and walked out of the Church. James De Lancey Walton arose, saying, "I go, too," and many of the congregation followed his example. One excited old gentleman advanced toward the chancel, giving vent to his feelings by exclaiming, " Well, is God or the devil to be in command?" But the prejudice wore off in time, ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 59 and the chanting at first barely tolerated at length came to be popular. The James De Lancey Walton referred to in the above incident was the then owner of the celebrated mansion, " Walton House," No. 324 Pearl Street. It will be recalled that the sumptuous ap- pointments and entertainments in Walton House prior to the Revo- lution, when the well-known William Walton of that period owned the mansion, were unscrupulously referred to in the British Parlia- ment as fair examples of the comforts and even luxury existing in the Colonies, and that the assertion was made in Parliament that in \iew of all this as claimed the Colonies were quite prosperous enough to stand a tax. St. George's was still without a Rector at the close of 1812. The Vestry met November 18th, and being agreed upon the importance of securing " a respectable and suitable clergjanan " as rector without delay, and being apprehensive that the terms of the resolu- tion adopted by the congregation at its meeting in February, where- by the continued payment of salary to the rector should be de- pendent upon the will of the majority of the church wardens and vestrymen '' would prevent the securing of a suitable clergyman in consequence of the annual uncertainty attendant on his support," it was ordered that a meeting of the congregation be called for November 24, 1812, to consider the resolution of February 7th. At this meeting James De L. Walton was chosen chairman and Robert Wardell secretary. The object of the meeting having been stated and discussed, it was resolved " that this church have a rector and assistant minister," and the meeting adjourned until Thursday evening after the lecture. At that time the objection- able resolution was rescinded, and the Vestry was requested to call the Rev. John Kewley, M.D., to the rectorship, with a salary of two thousand dollars and a dwelling. To give effect to this action of the congregation, the Vestry met, December 2, 1812, and directed the following letter to be sent to Doctor Kewley signed by the wardens and vestrymen and attested by the corporate seal : Reverend Sir, — At a full meeting of the wardens and vestrymen of St. George's Church in the City of New York held this evening in said Church the following Resolution was unanimously passed, viz., This Board ha\ang full confidence in the favourable report wliich its members indiWdually have had of the sound piety and useful talents of the Rev. Dr. John Kewley of ]\Iiddletown in the State of Connecticut, therefore Resolved, that the Rev. Dr. John Kewley be requested to take upon him the Rectorship of this Church, and that a respectable Dwelling House be provided for him, with 60 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH a salarj' of two thousand dollars per annum, to be paid to him in quarterly payments, and that a call be made out accordingly. In persuance of this resolution we the wardens and vestr^-men of the said Church do earnestly and solicitously request your accejjtance of the Rectorship thereof. Among many reasons, which might be urged to induce upon you to accede to our wishes, a very projninent & enforcing one is the unanimity which pre- vails in our congregation in making this our request. Again we beg your acceptance of this charge, and we most heartily & humbly invoke the Great Head of the Church, that he will make the Pathway of Duty plain before you, and leaving the Result with him in whose Hands are the Hearts of all men, we individually hereunto subscribe our names & affix the seal of our Church and Corporation. At the next meeting, December 16, 1812, the warden reported that a letter had been received from Doctor Kewley, which was read and ordered to be inserted on the minutes. The contents of the letter, however, are not known, as only two lines were inserted on the record, which read: " Gentlemen, yesterday evening I re- ceived your letter containing the call inform — " and here the transcript on the minutes ends, nor is there mention of other busi- ness or of adjournment. The inference is that the letter led to the necessity of a second communication from the Vestry and that the clerk simply failed to complete the record of the meeting. At the next meeting, however, January 6, 1813, this second letter was pre- sented : MiDDLETOWN, CoNN., 29th December, 1812. To the Wardens & Vestrymen of St. George's Church, City of Xew York. Gentleiiex, — I hereby certify and make known to your Board and through you to the congregation of St. George's Church my acceptance of the office of Rector to which I have been elected by their vote. The Honor- able testimonial of the Election duly signed and sealed, I also hereby ac- knowledge to have received. With fervent prayers for the divine blessing on the proposed connection, I am gentlemen, yours most respectfully, J, Kewley. By this acceptance the Rev. Dr. John Kewley became the first Rector of St. George's Church. No date, however, appears to have been fixed for his entrance on his duties, but on ]\Iarcli 17th the vestry record states that the Rector is daily expected to take charge of the parish, and the wardens were directed to make the necessary certificate of the call to the Assistant Bishop and request him to appoint a convenient time for the ceremony of Institution. The Rev. John Brady had faithfully performed his duties as minister of the Church ; and as the term for which he had been called had nearly expired his appointment was continued on the same terms as hereto- fore, and the wardens were directed to notify the Assistant Bishop ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 61 and request him to institute Mr. Brady as assistant minister. As a token of appreciation of his services the Vestry voted him the sum of four hundred dollars in addition to his yearly salary of sixteen hundred dollars, in view of the fact that he had been doing alone the entire work of the parish. So the rector and assistant minister were instituted at the same time into their respective offices, the ceremony taking place on the 25th of March, the follow- ing notice of the event appearing in the current issue of The Church- man's Magazine: On Thursday the 25th of March, being the festival of the Annunciation, the Rev. John Kewley was instituted rector and the Rev. John Brady an assistant minister in St. George's Church in the city of New York by the Right Reverend Bishop Hobart. On this occasion Morning Prayer was celebrated by the Rev. Samuel F. Jarvis, and a sermon preached by the Rev. Dr. Richard C. Moore. Evidently the privilege of transfer of pews by members of the parish had been somewhat abused, and the Vestry found it ex- pedient, June 2, 1813, to declare " that no transfer of any right in either of the said pews can be considered valid without the ap- probation of this board first being had, the right in fee simple to which being declared to be vested in the Rector, wardens, and vestry- men of this Church. ' ' The institution of a third service on Sundays had been requested of the rector, but while expressing himself willing to hold the service as desired he wished it to be understood, as expressed in a letter addressed to the vestry, that " this is a voluntary service which at his pleasure and discretion he moj either suspend or dis- continue altogether without being liable to censure for so doing." On Wednesday morning, January 5, 1814, St. George's Church was destroyed by fire. In the Commercial Advertiser of the same date there appeared the following account of the destruction of the time-honored building: Melancholy Fire. — At an early hour this morning, five dwelling houses and St. George's Chapel (one of the finest Episcopal churches in this city) in Beekman Street, and one dwelling house and the African School-House in Cliff Street, together with a number of workshops and other small buildings in the rear, were destroyed by fire. The flames continued to rage with uncontrolled fury for several hours. The wind was liigh, and the flakes of fire flew in various directions and to a great distance, and were it not that the roofs were covered with snow, which was then falling, an immense number of buildings would have been destroyed. We regret to add that three of the firemen were badly injured by tlie falling of one of the houses in Beekman Street. Mr. Burger of Engine No. 9 is said to be 62 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH dangerously wounded, Mr, George Gossman of the same engine and a per- son belonging to No. 13 although badly wounded are not considered in danger. Very providentially the steeple of the Church fell within the building. Had it fallen into the street, most probably many lives would have been lost. The fire made its first appearance about one o'clock in a shop. The Church took fire about two, and had been burning for about one & one-fourth hours when the steeple fell. The loss of the Church is about $100,000, $30,000 of which was insured. It was supposed that the fire originated by design. Another contemporary and somewhat rhetorical description of the burning of St. George's is given in Stanford's Concise Descrip- tion of New York, 1814 : This splendid edifice, which was very little inferior to St. Paul's in the gi'andeur and beauty of its architecture, was most unfortunately destroyed by fire on the night of the fifth of January last. The fire oi'iginated in a stable about fifty j'ards from the north end of the church, and from the number of buildings of wood with which it was surrounded, among which the fire immediately extended, every exertion to preserve it proved inef- fectual. The night was dark and tempestuous, and the solemn stillness which but a moment before reigned throughout the city was exchanged for a scene of greater dread and confusion than had been witnessed for many years. The burning of the church presented one of the most awful spectacles that the imagination can picture. The immense columns of flame curling ai'ound its tall steeple and ascending to the very clouds, and the general conflagration which was visible in every direction, was calculated to inspire the mind with the highest feelings of reverence and sublimity. In The Story of the Volunteer Fire Department of the City of New York, by George "W. Sheldon, Harper & Brothers, 1882, we read: Mr. John W. Degrauw, that veteran fireman, remembers well how the women turned out with buckets at the burning of St. George's Church in Beekman Street seventy-odd j^ears ago, and helped fill the engines, and how the old chui'ch clock, when the building was enveloped in fiames. struck three times, at three o'clock in the morning, just before the steejile fell. ' I thought,' he says, * that it was a wonder.f ul sight.' On the day of the fire the Vestry met at the Rector's house to make provision for the maintenance of Divine Service with- out interruption. The French Church du St. Esprit, located on Pine Street near Nassau, was considered the most suitable and convenient for the temporary accommodation of the congregation, and a committee was appointed to make application to the Vestry of that Church for the use of the same, if possible on the following Sunday. The corporation of that Church, which had within a year ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 63 experienced the generous kindness of St. George's Vestry in de- fraying the expense of a new fence around their property, readily consented to the occupation of their edifice and pews were allotted therein to the pew-holders of St. George's by the pew committee of that Church. Two new surplices were ordered, and the treasurer was instructed to cause '' to be made a strong and convenient chest to contain the communion plate," which, happily, had escaped the fire. A special committee was appointed to represent to the Vestry of Trinity " the calamitous state of this Church and congregation and to urge their immediate attention to our present exigencies " and also to request a conference with them by a committee on this sub- ject. It will be recalled that in one of the questions propounded by St. George's at the time of the separation, the contingency of the destruction of their edifice by fire was specially mentioned as one which should entitle " the eldest child of the family to every need- ful assistance ' ' of the mother church ; which question was met with the general assurance that Trinity Church " will always be dis- posed, according to their abilities, to assist St. George's in her necessities." It was, therefore, with full confidence in the generous disposition of the Trinity Vestry that, the dreaded eventuality hav- ing come to pass, present application for aid was made. The com- mittee reported on the 25th of January that they had met a com- mittee of the Vestry of Trinity Church and that after conference that committee had declared that " they would propose to their Vestry to consider St. George's congregation in the same light as if they were still a part of the corporation of Trinity Church, and that in their opinion their Vestry would rebuild St. George 's Church as it formerly was, except the steeple, provided that they should have the right of selling the pews in said Church, with the exception of some to be reserved for the poor of the congregation." This proviso permitting Trinity Church to sell practically all the pews in the church to be rebuilt did not meet with favor in St. George's and conferences and correspondence were had between the two committees. The first modification of their proposal to which the committee of Trinity consented was to except " the pews on one side of the gallery and a few on the ground floor remote from the pulpit " from the general sale toward the "reimbursement of Trinity Church for the expense of rebuilding. The St. George's contention, however, was that in view of the fact that one hundred and nineteen of its families out of one hundred and eighty-four were financially unable to purchase pews and could only pay a small 64 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH annual rent, " the reasonableness and necessity of having at its disposal one of the galleries and half the ground floor, that is an equal half of the whole number of pews, should be admitted." The final concession of the Trinity Vestry was that all the pews in the gallery and the twelve single pews nearest the doors on the ground floor should be left at the disposal of the Vestry of St. George's. These terms were accepted and Trinity Church was authorized to sell all the pews on the ground floor, excepting the twelve nearest the doors, at public auction subject to a reasonable rent, which rent was to be collected and taken for its own use by the Corpora- tion of St. George's, and the proceeds of the sale of pews should be taken and applied by Trinity Church toward reimbursement of the expense of rebuilding. The Vestry of Trinity at once took order for prosecuting the work. Jacob Sherred, a member of their vestry, was appointed architect and proposals from contractors were invited. In response to St. George's application to Trinity for increased endowment eight additional lots of ground were generously granted for that purpose by deed dated April 1, 1814, and the following extract from the minutes of June 27th of the same year is further evidence of her liberal and helpful spirit : The committee heretofore appointed by the Board on the application of St. George's Church, relative to the further execution of the ari'angement under which they were separated from this Corporation, reported that the estate of Thomas Burling adjacent to the churchyard of St. George's, can now be purchased for $14,000; therefore ordered that the said committee be authorized to purchase the said estate for the use of St. George's Church and that the treasurer make the necessaiy advances for the same. Resolved further, that they take measures for enclosing the most westerly of the two houses on the lot above refeiTed to, to be hereafter completed as a dwelling house for the rector of St. George's pursuant to the Articles of Separation. The relative rights and prerogatives of the Rector and his as- sistants had been in Trinity Parish at times a cause of irritation and controversy, and now unpleasantness appeared between the first Rector of St. George's and his assistant. The following letter is the latter 's answer to a communication from the former and fully states his case : Rev. Sir, The communication which I lately received from you is a desideratum which I have for some time past intended to solicit; inasmuch as circum- stances seemed to require something formal & specific on the subject therein discussed. ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 65 In respect of the prerogatives of a Rector, as you have set them forth, I have only to obser\'e, that they are as supreme as they could well be stated. Without entering into any discussion respecting these Rectorial rights, & upon the supposition that they are precisely as you have stated them, I think I may venture to remind you, Sir, of the following particulars which seem to direct the manner of the application of these rights : In the first place, I presume I may say, that it is the general expectation of all con- cerned, that the public scr'dces of our Church should be di\'ided in the alternate mode between the Rector & Assistant; with those exceptions which mutual convenience may suggest ; — In the second place, it was most undoubtedly my firm expectation, when I was emjjloying my most strenuous efforts to obtain a Rector over the Church &. me, that I should, at least in the public sei'V'ices of the Church, share the benefit of a division of labour. In respect of private duties, I made an offer of sustaining the whole burden, as far as you might desire; & including m them all the occasional services of the week. In the third place: It is the custom of the Rector of Trinity Church, who perhaps is invested with more power by the charter of that Church than Rectors in general, to assign an equal division of publick duty to himself & Assistants in the alternate mode. This, it would seem, has, in a degree, established a precedent in this citj', on the relative privileges of Rector & Assistants. If, Sir, from these particulars, you with me form the conclusion, that I am authorised to expect & request that I be placed on the same ground with the Assistant Ministers of Trinity Church, I have reason to hope, that the application of your Rectorial prerogatives to my situation will prevent uneasiness and complaint. The thing is still to be tested. After a due time has been allowed to judge of the justice of your arrangements from the natui'e of the arrangements themselves, I shall then know on what I have to depend. On the next paragxaph of your commmiication. Sir, I can make no re- marks, as I do not exactly comprehend its meaning. On the succeeding paragraph, I regxet that I am obliged to state, I must differ from you in opinion. If the Parishioners of St. George's Church can recognise me as possessed of Parochial powers by Ecclesiastical au- thority, they can request me to exercise them on their behalf; and of course can extend to me for the same what perquisites they please. In proof that I am possessed of Parochial power, permit me to refer you to the following parts of the office of Institution — the Senior "Warden presents the keys of the Church to the new Incumbent, saymg — In the name and behalf of St. George's Church, I do receive & acknowledge you, the Rev. J. B. as Priest, and Assistant Minister of the same; and in token thereof give into your hands the keys of this church. — Then the new Incumbent shall say. I. J. B. receive these keys of the House of God at your hands, as the pledges of my institution, and of your Parochial recognition, and promise to be a faithful Shepherd over you ua the name of the Fathei', the Son & the Holy Ghost. On this ground, therefore, I must decline, Sir, accepting the permission you were pleased, to give me, of saying to our Parisliioners, that it is your wish I should perform those services for which perquisites are expected. I am perfectly willing to perfoi-m any of those ser\'ices for vou, when your ease & convenience require it, upon your re- 5 66 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH quest. The will of the people in this city has always been the criterion on this point. With prayer to God thro' Jesus Chi-ist, that I may have grace to act in this matter according to godliness, I subscribe myself, Your brother in Christ John Brady. June 27, 1814 Monday Morning The Rector thereupon appealed to the Bishop for his judgment in the matter in the two following letters, wiiich are preserved in manuscript, as are others which appear in this History, in the in- valuable and voluminous collection of letters addressed to Bishop Hobart and other documents known as the Hobart Manuscripts, which are in the otficial custody of the Registrar of the General Convention in the Church Missions House in this city: New York, 26 July, 1814. Right Revd. Sir, Certain circumstances not necessary to be mentioned, and certain opinions advocated by the Assistant Minister of St. George's, aifecting, in my judg- ment, the rights of Rectors of Churches, render it desirable to me to have, in writing, your answer to the following questions : Is an Assistant Minister, chosen and instituted by the Parish to be con- sidered as Assistant to the Rector, or to the Parish? Hath such an Assistant Minister any separate, distinct or independent Parochial rights of Office or .lurisdiction from those of the Rector? Hath such an Assistant Minister a right to perform Parochial acts, except in subordination to and in conformity with the directions of the Rector, either expressed or implied? Are the celebrations of Baptisms, Marriages, and Funerals of the mem- bers of a Parish to be considered as Parochial Acts? An answer to the foregoing Questions, as soon as convenient, will greatly oblige Right Revd. Sir Yours affectionately John Kewlet. New York, 2 August, 1814. Right Revd. Sir, The circumstances which induced me to request your answer to certain questions, may be easily known from a perusal of the enclosed letters. But I may further add, that a sentiment has been expressed to me more than once that all Ecclesiastical authority emanates from the People. It is now, as I think, high time that my Assistant should be sensible that two heads cannot be admitted in the same Church. It is not, nor hath it ever been my wish, to curtail, but, on the contrary it hath been my wish to increase, the emoluments of the Assistant Min- ister. But at the same time I confess it is mortifying, and degrading ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 67 to the office I hold, to find not only that attention which ought to be paid to the Rector transfen-ed to the Assistant Minister, but also to be told by that Assistant that such is the popular will. It is my wish that the Assistant Minister in St. George's Church should perform all those offices for which occasional i3eeuniary advantages are derived — but at the same time, I think, modesty requires him to consider this more as a favour than a right of oflice. I think he should esteem the consideration of the people in this particular as proceeding more from a desire of making Ms situation in life comfortable, than from a desig-n of raising him in popular opinion and regard over one whom they freely solicited and chose to become their Rector. Did the Young Man manifest that such were his sentiments there would be no uneasiness on this account. It is true, I expect soon to be absent from the Parish and, whether I shall ever return, is altogether uncertain — but, I wish both the Parish and Assistant to know the respective relation in wliich their Rector and his Assistant stand towai'd the Parishioners, and the Parishioners toward them, and they to each other, in order that hereafter no difficulties may be ex- perienced on this score. This is now become neeessaiy, for should I return to take charge of the Parish or should I not go to England as soon as I expect to do, I could not submit to retain the Rectory of St. George's, on the footing I now seem to hold it — the Parish would very soon have to decide cither to part with their Rector or the Assistant Minister. With again requesting your answer to the questions contained in my former letter, as soon as j'our convenience may admit, and that the enclosed letters be returned j remain Right Rev'd Sir Yours affectionately J. Kewlet. At the same time that Doctor Kewley was thus appealing to the Bishop he expressed to the Vestry, under date of July 29, 1814, his desire to visit his native country and proposed a series of minute arrangements as to the functions of the assistant minister during his absence, the services to be maintained, the custody of the com- munion plate, the distribution of the alms, etc. The Vestry ac- ceded to his request for leave of absence for one year, his full salary to be continued until one mouth after his departure from New York and thereafter one-half thereof to be allowed. The Rector on his part invested the Senior Warden with all his power and authority, except in matters ecclesiastical, and agreed to ratify and confirm whatever might be done by the Vestry in his absence " not con- travening or altering the resolutions heretofore entered and agreed to in reference to the intended visit of the Rector to Europe." The Rector further intimated that possibly circumstances might occur after his arrival in England which would induce him to remain there permanently and to resign his present connection with St. George's, " of which he would be enabled to transmit to the Vestrv 68 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH intelligence within six months after his departure from this country, unless his passage to Europe should be unusually protracted or unless the state of war should prevent the arrival of that intel- ligence. ' ' A committee was appointed to confer with the assistant minister relative to the services of the Church during the absence of the Rector, which committee reported, September 21, 1814, " that the Rev. Mr. Brady was willing to take upon himself all the services on Sundays, but not the Thursday evening lecture, for such additional compensation as the Vestry might deem reasonable." This arrange- ment being acceptable to the Vestry, they fixed his compensation at the rate of four hundred dollars per annum in addition to his present salary as assistant minister. All necessary arrangements having now been made, the Rev. Doctor Kewley sailed on the ship Fingal, Captain Stanton, October 24th, for Havre de Grace. The assistant minister was at this time visited with severe do- mestic affliction, for an entry appears in the records, January 23, 1815, providing " that the funeral of the deceased consort of the Rev. Mr. Brady be conducted and the expenses attendant on the same be defrayed by the funds of this Church." The Vestry was now anxiously looking forward to a speedy com- pletion of the church and rector's house and appointed a com- mittee to confer with Mr. Sherred the architect with reference to expediting the same. Another committee was appointed " to con- fer with the committee of Trinity Church relative to the building a vault under the chancel in St. George's Church and also to the obtaining a bell, organ, clock, and lustres for the church." The Vestry in September requested the assistant minister to call upon Bishop Hobart and inform him that the church was nearly ready for occupancy and request him to appoint a day for con- secration. In his address to the Diocesan Convention in October the Bishop stated that St. George's had been rebuilt and was ready for consecration. The first meeting of the Vestry in the new edifice was held October 31, 1815, the Rector arrived from Europe No- vember 1st, and the service of consecration was conducted by Bishop Hobart on the 7th of the same month. The pews in the new church were sold at public auction, ac- cording to the agreement between the Vestries hereinbefore set forth; those upon the ground floor, with the exception of twelve nearest the door being disposed of November 1st, to reimburse in part the Corporation of Trinity Church for the cost of rebuilding St. George's, under the direction of a committee consisting of the ST. George's church and rectory, beekman street, i8i; ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 69 comptroller and treasurer of Trinity Corporation, together with Messrs. Sherred, Jay, and Ogden, which committee was invested with " power to decide in behalf of this Vestry upon all incidental questions which may arise in relation thereto." The sale netted $23,129. The remainder of the pews, except such as were declared free or were reserved for the black people, were offered for sale as advertised in the current issue of the Neiv York Gazette and General Advertiser, November 7, 1815 : PEWS IN ST. George's church For sale on Monday next in said Church, by R. Bartow, 12 Pews on the Ground Floor, and all the Pews in the galleries except those adjoining the side walls and the six most easterly Pews. The sale for the eight front Pews over the side aisles will be public, and open for all bidders; but the sale for all other pews will be confined to such persons as are communicants of St. George's Church, or who at the time of the conflagration of the Church hired a pew or seat therein, and who now do not hold any pew in same. All pews except the above mentioned eight front pews, will be sold for the term of three years and the whole will be subject to the pay- ment of an annual rent. The conditions will be made known at the time and place of sale. By Order of the Committee. All pews were sold subject to an annual rental ranging from twenty-five dollars for the two highest and twenty dollars for the next twenty-eight down to five dollars each. The proceeds of the sale for account of St. George's amounted to $2,184.81. The cost of rebuilding the church, which had been begun in the spring of 1814 and completed in October, 1815, and of the Rector's house was $84,075, of which $30,000 was provided by the insurance, $23,129 by the sale of pews, and $30,946 was paid by the Corpora- tion of the Mother Church. A description of the rebuilt church is given in Onderdonk's His- torical Pamplilets, published in 1845, which, however, includes some items as the bell, clock, organ, chandeliers, and the smaller gal- leries which were installed at later dates after completion of the building : It is a plain and unpretending stone structure, with five long windows on each side, over which are the cornices of the eaves. The roof is steep pitched, and has a plain white balustrade nmning along the gaitter. In front, the tower projects slightly in advance of the main building, but the gi-eater portion of it lies withm the Church. The extreme length of St. George's is 101 feet 6 inches, and its width is 72 feet 6 inches, covering a space of 7,275 square feet. The toAver contains a fine bell and a clock. The bell was presented by Mr. Thomas H. Smith, long known as one of our wealthiest and most liberal citizens. The interior of the Church presents a much more beautiful appearance 70 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH than the exterior, being handsomely finished with lofty columns, having carved capitals of the Corinthian order. The ground floor is divided into three aisles, and on each side of the Church, supi^orted by columns, is a commodious gallery. At the west end, connecting the main galleries, is another, in the centre of which is the choir, containing a handsome organ set in a mahogany case and surmounted by a lyre. Immediately above this gallery are two smaller ones, intended for the accommodation of the Sunday scholars. The ceiling is painted light stone, in representation of panel-work. From the centre depend tliree large and splendid glass chandeliers. These chandeliers nov^ hang in St. Paul's Clmreh, Oxford, New York, having been given to that church in 1868 (when old St. George's was dismantled) at the request of the daughters of Gerrit H. Van Wagenen, the first warden and treasurer of the parish. The new church had now been consecrated and worship re- sumed therein, but the mention of some details arranged for by the Vestry may not be without interest. The font was ordered to " be removed and placed in front of the reading-desk where the clerk now sits," and " a suitable pillar to sustain the same " was directed to be made. " Branches for candles " were ordered and *' a sufficient number of fire buckets and fixtures for lights in the belfry in case of fire." Cushions and carpets for the rector's pew were ordered and " a carpet to be placed on Communion Sundays in front of the Altar." The sexton received orders to have the church ' ' swept out at least once a week and to cause all the mould- ings of the galleries and those in the pew doors and inside the pews to be also carefully dusted and brushed with a dry dust-brush at least once a week." It was made the duty of the sexton " to have Lanthorns placed in the steeple and candles put in them, in readiness to be lighted in case of fire, one for each story," and, further, " in case of an alarm of fire, to repair immediately to the church with the keys, and if it should appear that the church is in danger to light the candles in the belfry and procure such as- sistance for conveying water on the roof as may be necessary." Special plates for the collections taken at the evening services to be made of pewter were ordered. A committee was charged to pro- cure two additional stoves for the church, " and if Trinity Church would not pay for the same " to have them paid for out of the funds of the Corporation. In order to assure quiet during Divine Service, the sexton was ordered " to procure a chain to put across the street opposite the church, with a lock to fasten the same." The thanks of the Corporation were communicated November 11th to the Vestry of the St. Esprit Church for their generosity ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 71 to the congregation of St. George's " at a period of great calamity when fire had destroyed their ancient place of worship," and a committee was appointed " to cause the Church of St. Esprit to be put in the same state in which it was on the second Sunday of January a.d. 1814, on which day it was made use of as a place of worship by the congregation of St. George's Church." A committee was authorized, January 11, 1816, to purchase the two lots on Cliff Street, formerly belonging to the African Free School (which purchase, however, was not effected) and also the one-third of the lot, of which the Church then owned two-thirds, on Cliff Street, which was bought the previous year for the purpose of enlarging the churchyard. Early in 1816 a request had been re- ceived from Lewis Hartman to place the organ belonging to Zion Church in St. George's, to which request the Vestry agreed. In the following year this organ was offered for sale, but the Vestry declined to purchase and returned its thanks for the use of the organ. The subject of vaults in the churchyard was at various times con- sidered by the Vestry and the best method of appropriating the un- occupied area. The price per front foot for land on which to build vaults was fixed at six dollars, with the usual allowance of depth. The sexton was forbidden to permit any vault in the churchyard to be opened except by order of the parties recognized by the Rector or wardens as proprietors of the vault so directed to be opened. There is a record on the minutes under date December 3, 1818, that deeds for vaults had been issued to the following persons, the same being on the northerly side of the churchyard. The names may be of interest: Thomas H. Smith, Oliver H. Hicks, David Dunham, Burtus and Bloodgood, Isaac Carow, Thomas Lawrance, George Tredwell and Joseph Kissam, Robert and W. A. Bartow, Peter Griffin. There now occurred events which seriously affected the harmony of the parish. The assistant minister, who for a number of years had wrought so faithfully and acceptably, dissolved his connection with the Church; no less than five members of the Vestry gave place to others, and the episode ended with the resignation of the Rector. On February 1st the Rev. John Brady addressed to the Vestry the following communication : Gentlemen In the fear that my usefulness in the congregation of St. George's Churcb is considerably injured, I wish to inform you that I am ready, 72 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH when it may appear to you expedient, to agree in a dissolution of my con- nection with them as Assistant Minister. ... It is not my wish that you decide on tlais subject immediately, unless j^ou conclude that such a decision is necessary for the interests of the Church; for allow me to say, that a charge of precipitancy in this matter, either in respect of yourselves or me, should be prevented. With sentiments of Respect & Esteem I am yours &c John Brady. A communication was also received from the Bishop of New York as follows : Gentlemen: — I deem it necessary to state to you, that the Rev. John Brad}', the Assistant Minister of St. George's Church, has confessed to me that he has been guilty of certain indiscretions & improi^rieties for which I considered it my duty to admonish him and to require from him, a humble acknowledgement which he has accordingly made. In justice to him I also deem it my duty to state, that all the circum- stances of his case, as we believe, having come to the knowledge of your Rector & myself, there does appear evidence of those indiscretions & improprieties which he has acknowledged, but not of those criminal acts which public rumour ascribes to him. I deem it my further duty explicitly to state that I do not design by this communication to prevent any measures on your part or on the part of others which may prevent a canonical investigation which I now express and have uniformly expressed my readiness to institute, when the present- ment which the Canons in such case recjuire, shall be made to me. I am Gent'n Your veiy obe't friend & servant John Henry Hobart. Feb. 1, 1816. To the Vestry of St. George's Church, New York. After these two communications had been read and the un- fortunate affair had received much consideration, they were re- ferred to a committee, who, at a subsequent meeting, February .5th, reported " that they had seriously deliberated and given the sub- ject of expediency all the consideration that the shortness of the time allowed them would permit of, and that from all the informa- tion they had been enabled to obtain are of the opinion that how- ever the conduct of the Rev. Mr. Brady may have abridged his use- fulness as a minister of this Church and thereby rendered the said dissolution advisable or desirable, yet from a regard for the future welfare and usefulness of the accused and from Christian principles of forbearance, and in order to avoid the appearance of precipitancy, they recommend that the final decision on the expediency of the said dissolution be deferred until the next regular meeting of the Vestry," Mr. Brady was evidently anxious to have the dissolution of his connection with the parish brought about at an early date, for he requested the Rector to call a special meeting to receive and act ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 73 upon his absolute resignation. The meeting was accordingly called, February 15th, the matter was fully and deliberately discussed, and it was resolved " that it is with extreme and lively feelings of regret and sorrow that any circumstances should have arisen to render the dissolution of the connection necessary, and we do unanimously agree that the said resignation of the Rev. John Brady be accepted." The wardens were instructed to apprise Mr. Brady and the Bishop of the Diocese of this action. The Vestry also re- solved, '' Considering the beneficial labors of the Rev. Mr. Brady in this congregation and as a testimony of the regret of the Vestry at the dissolution of their connection, that the sum of five hundred dollars be presented to him accompanied by a copy of this resolu- tion signed by the wardens." The Rev. Mr. Brady, with a view to undertaking clerical work in the Diocese of Virginia, applied to Bishop Hobart for canonical transfer, which the Bishop apparently was reluctant to grant. In a letter found in the Hobart MSS. he strongly urged upon the Bishop the importance to him of the issuance of the usual Letter Dimissory which Bishop Moore of Virginia, who had been made acquainted with all the facts in the case, had expressed himself as willing to accept. In the New York Diocesan Journal of 1816, Bishop Hobart records '* the Rev. John Brady, formerly assistant minister in St. George's Church, has re- moved to another diocese. ' ' The resignation of the assistant minister was very soon followed by that of the Rector. At the Vestry meeting, April 1, 1816, there was presented and read a communication from Doctor Kewley tendering his resignation, but in view of the present peculiar situa- tion of the Church it was deemed expedient to postpone decision upon a question of so much importance until the next meeting of the Vestry. Meanwhile the annual election was held, April 16, 1816, and a considerable change was effected in the personnel of the Vestry. The two wardens were re-elected, but of the eight vestry- men three only retained their positions. At the first meeting of the new Vestry, April 22d, a communica- tion of that date was received from Doctor Kewley in which he renewed his resignation conformably to his former communications, which, for, the completeness of the record, were then ordered to be inserted on the minutes and which are here reproduced for the same purpose in chronological order and that the painful situation at that time, from his point of view, may be thoroughly understood. They are each addressed to the church wardens and vestrymen of St. George's Church. 74 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH City of New York, 25th March, 1816. Gentlemen When I determined to return to the United States, I designed, if my health and other circumstances permitted, to have remained, at the least, two years, in hopes that during that time I might have the satisfaction of seeing the Church over wliich you had called me to preside as Rector settled in harmony and peace. Circumstances have, however, occurred since my re- turn, arising from events, I by no means could have anticipated, which, united to a certain state of my own feelings, incline me to wish a dissolution of my connection with St. George's Church, to take place much earlier than I had contemplated. My intention to resign shortly has been known to you and the congrega- tion for some weeks past in an informal manner, and the information I have received of the constructions put upon that intention has not con- tributed to soften down those feelings of which I complain, but rather to increase them, so that I find mj'self unable to go through the duties of my office, either Avith conscious satisfaction to myself, or with a prospect of giving satisfaction to the congregation. Be pleased, therefore, to accept this communication as a tender of my resignation — to be carried into effect on as early a day as may be judged by you compatible with the interests of the Church. Still it is my wish that the dissolution may take effect on or before the first day of May next. In making this communication I can assure you. Gentlemen, and through you the congregation, that a sincere desire to remove every obstacle to a permanent settlement of the Church, and a duty I owe to myself in con- sequence of feelings which cannot be described by words, induces me to this step, and not any differences in opinion which may have arisen among the members of the congregation respecting late circumstances. I am not in- sensible to the urbanity with which I have been treated, nor to the welcome reception I met with on my return from Europe. I shall not cease to wish you, collectively and individually, the continued and increasing enjoyment of true happiness both in this world and the next. May the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls provide you with a pastor whose labours among you shall be attended with his blessing, and be crowned with full success in the establishment of peace, harmony and true religion. I remain Gentlemen Yours Respectfully John Kewley. City of New York, 28th March, 1816. Gentlemen Being informed you meet this day to take into consideration the com- mimieation from me to your board dated 25th inst., I have the request to make that any communication you may have to make to me in reply may be done in writing, inasmuch as mj- own sensations on this occasion prompt me to decline all personal interAnews and verbal arrangements on the subject I have deemed it my duty to lay before you. Your candor will, I trust, acquit me from all charge of disrespect in making this request, since I sincerely assure you. I Remain yours Respectfully, John KIewley. ORGANIZATION AND KEWLEY RECTORSHIP 75 New York, 1st April, 1816. Gentlemen I received your communication dated Thursday last, but the business in hand makes so deej) an impression on my mind that I wish to avoid any personal appearance. That as little impediment as possible may be thrown, in the way, I beg leave to suggest the propriety of your forming, after deliberation among yourselves, some conclusion which may be transmitted to me, after which 1 can call a meeting to receive whatever sanction of mine may be then thought necessary, or if my express consent to be con- sidered as i^resent, or as delegating the right of the Rector to one or the other of the wardens may be deemed sufficient I now give it. You will I trust do me the justice to believe I am influenced in the course I pursue, by a desire to preserve my own peace of mind; this I find I cannot do in the midst of the prevailing collisions. If an immediate dissolution of the connection is determmed. I am ready to give my concun-ence. If it be determined to take place the first of May next, I shall be equally satisfied. And if, even then, a clergyman is not provided, and my services should be deemed acceptable for a few weeks longer, I should do all in my power to prevent inconvenience. Still I must not be considered as taking any part whatever in respect of the approaching election. That the disagreeable appearances Avhieh at present cause uneasiness to the Church may soon be removed and be succeeded b}' real happiness and prosperity is the sincere prayer of yours Respectfully, John Kewley. City of New York, 22nd April, 1816. Gentlemen So great a change having taken place in the Corporation of St. George's Church, my former communications may not, jierhaps, in all points require discussion. Still it is my wish you would take the principal point, viz, my resignation of the office of Rector into consideration as soon as pos- sibly can be done, consistently in your judgment with the interest of the Church. Since the departure of the late Assistant Minister, I have pro- cured the sen'ices of that office to be supplied, if not in the most acceptable to the congTegation, yet in the best manner I was able. The difficulty I have experienced in tliis respect, convinces me I cannot expect to procure any assistance much longer. Though my general health is, I think, much better than it was before my voyage to Europe, still I find from experience that I am utterly unable to celebrate the required services, especially in the forenoon. If I shall ever be relieved from the indisposition which occasions this inability, that relief, I am con\anced, can only be procured through an abstinence for some length of time from the public performances of min- isterial duties. For a short time after my arrival from England, I had great reason to think I had in a great measure obtained the relief I wished. But experience now convinces me I was in an error. However great, there- fore, the sacrifice, and however limited in prospect my future means of subsistence, still I feel obliged by the dictates of conscience & by a duty I owe to the Church to relinquish an office, the obligations of which I am unable to fulfill, with jDrospeets of giving satisfaction and promoting the real welfare of those committed to my charge. These observations will, 1 hope, convince you that my perseverance in the 76 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH resolution to resign the Rectory is founded in necessity. You Gentlemen were I doubt not chosen to your present station iinder the impression that it would soon become your duty to elect a Rector. It is my wish you should enter upon that service. To the person of your choice, I declare myself ready to yield the otfiee and all its appendages as soon as he may arrive in New York to take charge of the same. My design to return to Europe and my desire to take a summer passage will, I trust, be an inducement to you to enter upon such measures im- mediately, as in your wisdom you may deem promotive of the future happy and prosperous establishment of St. George's Church. With earnest prayer that you may be directed by the spirit of divine wisdom in the work before you I Remain Gentlemen Yours most respectfully John Kewlet. In view of the foregoing letters, there was no alternative but to accept the Rector's resignation, and the following communication enclosing a copy of the resolution of acceptance was sent to him signed by the members of the Vestry : St. George's Church, 25th April, 1816. To the Rev'd John Kewley. The wardens and vestrymen of St. George's Church have considered your resignation of the Rectoiy with the respectful attention due to so inter- esting a subject, and now present you in the enclosed resolution the result of their deliberations. They regret the circiunstances of your health and of your feelings, that have determined you to resign your charge, and they sincerely hope you will realize all the benefits expected from a change of climate. On this occasion it is due to the sentiments of respect they have invari- ably entertained for your character, and to the interest they take in your future welfare, that you should be assured, to whatever destination it may be the will of the all-wise Disposer of Events to call you, j^ou will carry with you their most friendly regards and their fervent praj^ers for your happiness here and forever. Notice of Doctor Kewley 's resignation was officially forwarded to the Right Rev. Doctor Hobart and his salary ordered to be con- tinued until August 1st. CHAPTER IV THE MILNOR PERIOD (1816-1830) On the 2d of May, while still officiating in the church, Doctor Kewley was requested to write to the Eev. Mr. Milnor of Phila- delphia and inform him of the vacancy in the rectorship, and that the Vestry were desirous of having him " perform Divine Service and preach," and that he " would afford any facility in his power for effecting that object at as early a period as it can be accom- plished." Doctor Kewley promptly complied with the wish of the Vestry, and the following was in part Mr. Milnor 's reply : Philadelphia, May 7, 1816. Rev. and dear Sir — Your favor of the 4th inst. was duly received, and I have to thank the Vestry of St. George's Church for their friendly in- vitation, and you for the kind manner in which you have been good enough to make known to me their wishes. It is difificult for me to return an inamediate answer, because a compUance with the request to visit New York, thus officially made, would imply a willingness on my part to receive the situation, if it should be offered; and that is a point of too embarrassing a nature to be decided at once. I am attached to my present place of residence, and to the congregations in which I minister, by so many strong and endearing ties, that nothing but a sense of manifest duty could induce me to separate myself from either. If, however, the leadings of divine Providence appeared to demand a dif- ferent direction of my labors, I would submit to any sacrifice for the fur- therance of that precious cause, to which, by the help of God's grace, I purpose my remaining days shall be assiduously consecrated. I will, there- fore, ask permission to keep for a few days under consideration a request with which I could not comply without a pretty decided determination in my own mind to accede to ulterior measures, should the Vestry and congregation of St. George's judge favorably of my capacity to serv^e them, and propose my becoming their Rector. In a further communication on the 14th instant he declined the invitation. A deputation, however, consisting of Messrs. Van Wage- nen and Brackett of the Vestry and Messrs. Hicks and Tredwell of the congregation, was designated " to proceed to Philadelphia to 78 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH hear Mr. Milnor and to report their opinion." Upon their fa- vorable report the Vestry determined to call Mr. Milnor to the rectorship by adopting the following: The wardens and vestrymen of St. George's Church in the City of New York, having full confidence in the learning, zeal, and piety of the Rev'd James Milnor, and being earnestly desirous the congi-egation they represent should have the benefit of his usefull labors in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, resolved that the Rev'd James Milnor be, and he is hereby called to the Rectorship of St. George's Church, with a salai-y of two thousand dollars per annum, payable quarterly, together with the use of the parsonage house belonging to this Church, and that there is expected from him two sei^vdces & seraions on each Sunday, the customary sendees & sermons on fasts and festivals, and the ordinary parochial duties of a faithful minister of the great Head of the Church. Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolution, signed by the wardens with the seal of this Corporation aflixed thereto and countersigned by the clerk, be transmitted to the Rev'd James Milnor in a suitable enclosure. The following letter was adopted to cover the call now to be sent to the Rev. James Milnor and was ordered to be signed by the wardens : St. George's Church, New York, 6th June, 1816. Rev'd James Milnor, Rev'd Sir, — It is with feelings of great satisfaction that we present you the resolution enclosed, which seems to need no other explanation than that the Rector's house is rented until the 1st May next at one thousand dollars per annum, and that the rent which will be paid to the Rector is considered as equivalent to the use of the house. Convinced we can oifer you no motive for accepting this call, but the prospect of more extended usefullness in the cause to which you have so disinterestedly dedicated your future life, permit us to obser\^e that our congregation now large is capable, under the blessing of God, of being very greatly increased, and considering the anxiety prevailing among us to hear the tidings of salvation, we cherish a confident hope that, mider your ministrations, our Zion may be brought to rejoice in the strength of her Lord. We believe the harvest may be great, but the labourers are wanting & we trust you will not decline what we hope you and all of us may be led by the spirit of God to consider as the summons of the Lord of the Harvest. We are not conscious that any circumstance can exist to induce a doubt in your mind of this being a call of duty, but anxious to omit no proper means of securing to our congi-egation your useful labours, if an^^ such should exist, we trust you will give us an opportunity to ex- plain, which we doubt not can be done on all points in a manner entirely satisfactory. Requesting your communications may be addressed to either of the under- signed, we remain with sentiments of great respect. Rev'd^ Sir Your Friends Gerrit H. Van Wagenen. Harry Peters. .,^,.«^^ ^^==^2^^!^ ^ ^-^/^...^r^. THE MILNOR PERIOD 79 The following was Mr. Milnor's first reply: Philadelphia^ June 10, 1816. Gentlemen — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 6th inst., and to return you my thanks for the friendly and obliging terms in which you have been good enough to communicate the call of the wardens and vestrymen of St. George's, to the rectorship of that Church. Flattering as I consider an invitation to that resiDectable charge, I trust that on a subject so interesting as that of a permanent removal from the place of my birth, to which so many attachments, relative, social, and religious, bind my affections, you will not be surprised at any hesitation which has been manifested on my part, in encouraging the measiu'e, or that may now be evinced in regard to a compliance with your offer. Of one thing 1 assure you, gentlemen, that if, after proiDer consideration, duty ajjpears to require of me the surrender of personal convenience, it shall be made; and that, should di\'ine Providence direct my course to New York, as a measure of respect towards the congregation of St. George's, and with a view to a better determination of a point of so much importance both to them and to myself, I propose to visit New York the latter part of the present week, and if it be agreeable, jDreaeh in jour Church on the ensuing Sunday. In the mean time, the subject will be deeply reflected on by me; and I trust I shall have your prayers associated with my own, imploring such a result as shall be for the glory of God, and the promotion of the kingdom of His Son. I am, with sentiments of great respect. Your obedient servant, James Milnor. Gerrit H. Van Wagenen, \ ^^^^ ,tc. Harry Peters. > The proposed visit to New York materialized as intimated, and on the following Sunday Mr. Milnor officiated at both services in St. George's, to the evident and universal satisfaction of the con- gregation. His first sermon was that which he had preached di- rectly after his ordination from the text, '' I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." His duty to accept the call became more clear to him as he looked over the field and listened to the senti- ments of the people. After spending another Sunday in St. George's he returned to Philadelphia to meet the trial involved in dissolution of the varied and close ties which bound him to his native city. Meanwhile an effort was being made to retain his services there by an offer of the Rectorship of St. Paul's Church, but the effort was regretfully abandoned, as it became more evident that he was feeling strongly inclined to accept the New York charge. Both to Mrs. Milnor and to the Bishop of Pennsylvania he had in- timated his probable decision, and the following letter from that 80 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH venerated prelate was received by liim before Mr. Milnor's return home: Philadelphia, June 20, 1816. Rev, and dear Sir — I have received yours of yesterday, not without sensibility at the prospect of the dissolution of a connection begun with my approbation, continued to my entire satisfaction, and expected by me to be as lastinc: as the remainder of my life. Being aware, however, how incomijetent we are to determine on the comj^arative probabilities of use- fulness in different fields of labor, I do not permit myself to sit in judg- ment on the question of the wisdom of the measure adopted by you, but most sincerely wish that it may be for the benefit of the Church, and to the comfort of yourself and of the amiable lady who is equally interested in the issue. Had my feelings been ever hurt by anything which has passed during our connection, I should have made the allowance, intimated in your letter, of its being unintentional; but there has been no cause of such an allow- ance. I will flatter myself that there has been as little appearance of offence on my part; since, othei'wise, you would not have declared so friend- ly regret for the ceasing of the relation in which we have stood to one another. I wrote the above, intending to send it by Mr. Bowen; but after his leav- ing me, there ensued some inteiTuptions, which continued beyond the hour of his expected departure from the city. I remain, your affectionate brother, Wm. White. It had been Mr. Milnor's intention to place the call in the hands of the Vestry, to be renewed or not at their option after his Sunday ministrations in St. George 's ; but the evidence of unanimous desire on the part of Vestry and people that he should accept, was so convincing that he laid aside the communication he had written and sent instead the following : New York, June 20, 1816. Gentlemen Having suspended my decision upon your obliging call to the Rectorship of St. George's until I had an opportunity of -visiting the congregation and they of hearing me perform Divine Service and preach, the imanimity which I am since assured prevails both in your body and amongst the people leaves no doubt in my mind of its being my duty to comply with their wishes. I accordingly accept the call, and implore the great Head of the Church to accompany with his blessing the connection thus formed between us. Some time will be requisite for procuring the dissolution of my present engagement in Philadelphia & for settling my concerns there. Any ac- commodation, therefore, in regard to the time of commencing my functions that may be found convenient to you will be acceptable. I remain, Gentlemen, with gratitude & respect, Your ob't seivant, James Milnor. THE MILNOR PERIOD 81 The Vestry at once ordered that the new Rector should be con- sidered as taking charge of the parish July 10th, at which date his Philadelphia engagement was understood to terminate; that his salary and use of the parsonage house should then begin, with the effect that during the life of the existing lease of the parsonage the rent thereof should be paid over to him; that the leave of absence for the settlement of his affairs be granted: that a committee take charge of obtaining for him a house and afford him facilities for the removal of himself and family; that the expense of such removal to New York should be defrayed by the Corporation and that the Bishop of New York should be notified of his election. At the same meeting of the Vestry the following letter was re- ceived from the late Rector : New York, 20th June, 1816. Gentlemen With great satisfaction I view the choice you have made of a clergyman to succeed me in the Rectory of St. George's Church and sincerely con- gratulate you on the occasion. I have no doubt but that he will be the happy instrument of establish- ing that peace and harmony so much to be desired in every society, but especially in one which has the concerns of eternity for its object. My connection with you as a Rector in a legal sense as defined in the Act of Incorporation has been dissolved since the time of your acceptance of my resignation. The painfull etiquette of a formal and personal farewell will, I trust, be dispensed with. The omission of it will not, I trust, be construed mto any want of respect or affection towards you and the congregation you represent. It proceeds from a consciousness that I should be inadequate to the task. I do not leave you without expressing to you my sincere wishes and prayers for your happiness individually and collectively both as respects this life and that which is to come. Our separation will, I hope, be of last- ing benefit to the congregation, for though the sacrifice was great which I had to make I was fully convinced I could not perform the requisite duties with satisfaction and benefit to the people or to my own conscience. Though we are about to part, most probably forever on this side of eternity, let us hope that the Lord of all will so take us under His guidance and ijrotection and so dis]iose us by His grace that we may at last be found meet to reign together with Christ as members of His Church triumphant in His eternal kingdom of blessedness of peace of harmony and love. Your late affectionate Rector, John Kjewley. Doctor Kewley left the country in July, but before his departure he penned the following remarkable letter to the Bishop of the Diocese, which is transcribed from the Hobart MSS., remarkable for its revelation of his long-time disposition to return to the Church 6 82 HISTORY OB^ ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of Rome, for its attribution of delay in taking the step to his anxiety for the welfare of St. George's congregation, for his clear intima- tion that others besides himself were about to take a similar step, and for his plea for a fair weighing of the arguments on the part of what he calls " the Catholic Church ": New York, 14 July, 1816. Right Rev'd and d'r Sir, Being on (he point of my departure from the United States with the design of spending the remainder of my days in Europe and considering our late connection with each other, I deem it my duty to inform you, and through you, my brethren of the Protestant Episcopal Church who have engaged in the ministry, of the revolution which has taken ]ilace in my mind respecting religion, deprecating at the same time all controvei-sy on the subject. This revolution has compelled me to lay aside the exercise of ecclesiastical functions and to retire to private life. The ease is as follows: I was born and baptized in the Church of England, but from the age of seventeen to that of twenty-three or thereabouts I was a student in the English Secular College of Douay; from thence I went to the universities of Louvain, Edinburgh, and Glasgow successively; at the last of these I received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. During this period of my life I was a professor and, as I believe, a sincere i^rofessor of the Roman Catholic religion. My sentiments in its favour were strong and continued so till a more free intercourse with the world gradually led me into a state of apathy respecting religion. In this state I remained till about two years before I received Deacon's Orders from Bishop (^laggett, which by reading, &c., I had persuaded myself I could conscientiously receive in a communion, which I esteemed the same with that in which I had received baptism. My conduct in the exercise of the orders I received is Avell known. One forcible reason which hath had much influence on my mind is the very question- able shape in which you received Episcopal consecration. This led me to an examination on the subject and excited doubts, which the arguments adduced in support of its validity could neither satisfy nor overcome. In the course of this examination other doubts were excited respecting the orders of the English Church. My former sentiments began to re\'ive and these became more strong during my late visit to Europe. I resolved, however, not to be hasty in a matter of such importance. Knowing the disagreeable state into which the congregation of St. George's Church would be thrown by a vacancy at that time taking place in the Rectoiy, I determined to return and, if possible, make my mind easy in a discharge of the duties of the office, at the least till the congregation was settled and the election of a successor could be entered on with safety to the peace of the congregation. Late circumstances, I speak in allusion to Mr. B 's case, have hastened and accomplished that event ; I rejoice that a fair pros- pect of peace and harmony to that congregation opens to view, and I also rejoice that the time is arrived and matters so disposed that I need no longer fight against convictions I find it impossible to overcome. It may be painful to you to read what I have said respecting myself, but I have reason to believe mine you will find will not be a solitary case. Time will, however, develop my meaning. In leaving you I do not. according to your own principles, leave the communion of the Church of Christ. Neither do I lose in the least that respect, esteem, & affection I have always entertained THE MILNOR PERIOD 83 for my clerical brethren with whom I have had the pleasure of an acquain- tance, and I think I may venture to assert that the fault shall not be mine if a friendly correspondence is not still kejDt up between you, me, and some others. If I have not latterly had frequent intercourse with some of them, it was not from any disrespect, but to avoid conferences which might have given pain and could be productive of no good effect. Let me be believed when I assure them my friendship and affection for them is not abated. In thus taking farewell of you and my brethren I must add a wish, that in speaking, writing, or j^reaching respecting the Catholic Church each one would form his opinions and found his arguments on what she confessedly teaches in her creeds and authorized books of doctrine and not on vulgar and false statements which prejudice, civil policy, ignorance, and party spirit have fabricated. When we read the attacks of her adversaries let us next read her defences. A course like this would, I believe, produce a conviction that the points of difference are neither so very numerous nor of so great magnitude as is generallj"- supposed. The collision at least would not be so violent as is the case when misreprestation rules and man- ages the combat. If men would take as much pains towards a reconcilia- tion as is taken towards effecting and perpetuating separation a reunion is an event I should not consider as impossible. 1 bid you and my brethren a most affectionate farewell and may Al- mighty God for Christ's sake take us all into the arms of His favour and mercy and so dispose us by His grace that we may hereafter meet at His right hand, where is fulness of jo}^ and pleasure forevermore. Yours most respectfully and affectionately, John Kewley. The mingled feelings of surprise and indignation with which the Vestry and people of St. George's learned that their late Rector had barely reached the other side when he formally renewed his allegiance to the Church of Rome may better be imagined than described. Few, if any of them, knew aught of his earlier life, which is briefly outlined in the biographical sketch given of him as of the other Rectors in Part Second of this history. The journal kept by Doctor Milnor on his visit to England in 1830 contains this allusion to Doctor Kewley. The gentlemen mentioned were presbyters of the Church of England and the date was April 17th: Mr. March and Mr. Mayer were of our little dinner-party at the high- bailiff's. The afternoon was spent in edifying conversation on various subjects connected with religion and the Church. In the course of our conversation, a curious fact was developed in relation to Doctor Kewley. my predecessor in St. George's. Mr. Mayer said that he had seen him in Italy, and was well acquainted with him. He passes there by the name of ' Father Kewley ' ; but Mr. Mayer says he knows his true name to be Lawson, and that he has a brother of the latter name, now living in Liverpool, with whom also he is acquainted. He has no doubt that Doctor Kewley was a Jesuit during the whole time of his i-esidence in America. 84 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH A more charitable judgment would be that Doctor Kewley was a man of marked instability of conviction. To this rather than to a *' moral baseness or deliberate hypocrisy " must be attributed the unrest of his somewhat checkered career. Rev. Mr. Milnor's resignation of the position of assistant minister of the united churches, of which Bishop White was rector — Christ Church, St. Peter's, and St. James' — and in which his associate as- sistants were the Rev. James Abercrombie and the Rev. Jackson Kemper, occasioned the following resolution, June 28, 1816, of the Vestry of those churches : Resolved, That the said resignation be entered on the minutes, with an expression of the respect and esteem of the Vestry for the Rev. Mr. Mihior, their regret for the dissoh;tion of a connection which had so hapi^ily sub- sisted, and their best wishes for his usefulness and happiness in the portion of the Lord's Vineyard to wliieh his labors are to be transferred. His last remittance for balance of salary from the Accounting Warden in Philadelphia was accompanied by the kindly sentiment that, though his New York wardens might hand him " bigger checks, they could not give him better love." His canonical letter of transfer from the Bishop of Pennsylvania was submitted to the Vestry by the Bishop of New -York, together with an accompanying communication accepting and approving the same: Philadelphia, 23d June, 1816. I certify that the late connection of the Rev'd James Mihior with the united churches of Christ's Church, St. Peter's, & St. James' in this city has been regularly dissolved. Having been assisted by him in the parochial duties of the said churches, I see him removed from us with regret and with recollections of the harmony which has subsisted between us during our united ministiy. I also respectfully recommend him to the friendly reception of the Right Rev'd the Bishop and of the other clergj^ of the diocese to which his labours are to be transferred. Wm. White. Bishop of ye Pro't Ep'l Church in the Comm'th of Pennsylvania. New York, July 2, 1816. Gent'm, I hereby inform you that I have received with respect to the Rev'd James Milnor the testimonials required by the thirty-first canon of the General Convention of our Church, which are perfectly satisfactory to me & honor- able to that gentleman. I submit them to your perusal with a request that they be returned to me. I remain Y'r very obied't friend & ser\-'t J. H. HOBART. THE MILNOR PERIOD 85 The Rev. Ralph Williston, Rector of Zion Church, had for some time past assisted the late Rector in the work of the parish, with the understanding that the engagement was to terminate with the arrival of a new Rector. A committee was appointed to wait on Mr. Williston and tender to him the sum of two hundred dollars for his past services and request him to supply the Church in the ab- sence of the Rector-elect *' as far as his other duties would allow," which Mr. Williston expressed his willingness to do. The Rector himself, however, officiated July 21st and 28th and August 18th and 25th, on the last of which occasions he administered the Holy Communion to one hundred and thirty-five communicants. Prior to September 22d his family's removal to New York had been effected and he officiated thereafter regularly in his new church. Bishop Hobart having signified his readiness to institute the Rev. Mr. Milnor as Rector of St. George's on Monday, September 30th, the service was held in the morning of that day, the clergy assisting therein being the Rev. Cyrus Stebbins, of Schenectady, and the Rev. Nathaniel Bowen, D.D., of New York. The original letter of in- stitution is in the possession of his grandson, the Rev. Charles E. Milnor, of Philadelphia, through whose courtesy it is reproduced. LETTER OF INSTITUTION AS RECTOR OF ST. GEORGE 's CH., N. YORK, SEPT. 30, 1816 To our well-heloved in Christ, The Bev'd James Milnor, Presbyter, Greeting. We do by these presents give & grant unto you, Seal in whose learning, diligence, sound doctrine, and •J, H. H. prudence we do fully confide our license and au- John Henrv Hobart, thority to perfonn the office of a Priest in St. Bishop of the Protes't George's Church in the City of New York, And also Episcopal Church in hereby institute you into said Church possessed of the State of New York, full power to perform every act of sacerdotal func- tion among the people of the same; you continuing in communion with us, & complying with the rubrics & canons of the Church & with such lawful directions as you shall at any time receive from us. And as a canonically instituted Priest into the office of Rector of St, George's Church, you are faithfully to feed that portion of the flock of Christ which is now entrusted to you ; not as a man pleaser, but as con- tinually bearing in mind, that you are accountable to us here & to the chief Bishop & sovereign Judge of all hereafter. And in case of any difference between you & your congregation, as to a separation & dissolution of all sacerdotal connection between you and them, we, your Bishop, with the advice of our Presbyters are to be the ultimate arbiter & Judge. In witness whereof we have hereunto affixed our Episcopal seal & sig- 8G HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH nature at New lork this 30tli day of September a.d. 1816 & in the ninth year of our consecration. "With the Rectorship of the Rev. Doctor Milnor begins the char- acteristic life of St. George's parish. His successor, the Rev. Doctor Tyng, wrote in appreciative retrospect of it what may assist in bet- ter understanding of the incidents and action unfolded in these annals of his ministry: This happy event decided the character and history of St. George's Church from the date of its occurrence. His edifying and faithful ministiy was a gracious gift from God and the Church flourished under his labors. St. George's became a leading cliurch in the United States. It was the standard for guidance to other congregations and the authority and pro- tection of younger and more secluded ministers in their efforts to establish and maintain the Evangelical i^rinciples which so truly distinguish the char- acter of the Episcopal Church in its standards and worship. St. George's maintained this influence and authority during the whole life of its venerated Rector. It yielded none of the guiding principles which had been adopted, and gathered a large and influential congregation. All who were connected with it were united in love and reverence for him, in perfect sentiment with him, and active and earnest in carrying fonvard these discriminating testimonies through all congregations which came imder their influence or could be moved by their example. This was an unbroken history through the whole of Doctor Milnor's life. His biographer, the Rev. Dr. John S. Stone, in describing his position in the Church, looldng back over his completed career, says, with special reference to the Evangelical clergy of his time: He was, by common consent, not the most highly gifted man in all their ranks — for in learning and mental endowments, some were possibly his superiors — but, from various causes, the most widely known and the most largely influential. He stood most in the eyes of the world. For thirty years he was at the very i^oint of convergence and radiation of all our great influences and movements. He was at the centre of conflict between the Evangelical and the anti-Evangelical portions of our Church; nay, for years he was, in his own pei-son, the one point against which the most strenuous assaults of the latter were directed; and had he fallen, many others would have been unable to stand. From sympathy, as well as from respect and veneration, there was a rallying around him, as a sort of Evangelical centre. He touched a greater number than others could touch of religious and theological minds in theii' forming state. He touched more of the causes which, under God, generate Evangelical results. In a word, through the early training of liis mind, the practical character of his pursuits, the finished amenity of his man- ners, the peculiar post of labor assigned him, and above all, the eminently intelligent and elevated character of his piety, the ]n'ovidence of God gave him a position which, during liis life, was on the whole, more commanding than that of any other Evangelical clergyman of our Church. THE MILNOR PERIOD 87 The new Rector, with characteristic energy, addressed himself to the work before him. His first parochial report to the Diocesan Convention in the month following his institution contains this statement : The present Rector of St. George's Church, New York, from the in- sufficiency of the documents left by his predecessor and his assistant, is unable to make a return of the number of marriages, baptisms, and burials in the congi'egation of that Church during the past year. The number of communicants, as far as it has been practicable to ascertain them, no list of their names having been left by the late Rector, is about one hundi-ed and thirty. So thoroughly did his ministry commend itself to his parishioners that in the following spring the Vestry adopted this resolution: " That the treasurer be authorized and required out of the funds, as they may come into the treasury, to pay the Rector the sum of one thousand dollars over and above his stated salary as a testimonial of the high sense this Vestry entertain for his services and in con- sideration of the great expense of living at the present season." The adoption of this resolution established a precedent which was annually followed and one thousand dollars per year was regularly added to the Rector's salary. The Rector's Thanksgiving Day sermon of this year (1817) was so approved that a copy of the same was requested by the Vestry for publication, and it was issued by the publisher at his own charges and risk. The opening of the newly erected building in the rear of the Church for Sunday-school and lecture-room purposes on Sunday, November 9th, marked an epoch in the history of the parish. Its extensive and eminently successful Sunday-school work has been from this beginning one of its most clearly marked characteristics, its most effective instrument of spiritual good, its crowning claim to honorable distinction. Its three distinguished Rectors — Doctors MiLnor, Tyng, and Rainsford — were markedly pre-eminent in laying stress upon it and guiding it to most beneficent results. The people of St. George's have from the very first accorded to the Sunday- schools a generous support, and, what is more important, have freely given personal and consecrated service to this so vital agency in the upbuilding of the Redeemer's Kingdom. It, therefore, may be well to note at this point the successive steps which led to the erection of this building in the first year of the Mil nor Rectorship and how the Sunday-school work fared in his administration. The inception of the work was due to laymen. " The New York 88 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Sunday-School Union " having been formed in February, 1816, one of the members of the parish called on the Rector, Doctor Kewley, and asked if it would not be well to start a Sunday-school in St. George's parish. His reply was, " I shall have nothing to do with it; you can do as you please." So without pastoral encouragement this young man, Jeremiah H. Taylor, who later became a member of the Vestry, enlisted the co-operation of George P. Shipman, Robert C. Barfe, and Frederick W. Porter. A room was rented in Gold Street, the neighborhood visited, and a Sunday-school forth- with commenced. In a few weeks they had enlisted a number of teachers and gathered in sixty children. More room was soon needed for the prayer-meeting which had been inaugurated in connection with the Sunday-school, and through Mr. Taylor another room was secured in the warehouse of his employers and furnished by the men of St. George 's. A wealthy acquaintance of his came along one day, who inquired what M'as going on in the building and was told that every Friday evening a party was held to which he was in- vited. On the following Friday he came dressed for a party and found a prayer-meeting. At the close he said, " You have caught me with guile," but acknowledged that he had been much edified and asked that he might come again. This man became a vestryman of St. George's (1827-1829), subsequently studied for the sacred ministry, and was sent as one of our first missionaries to Greece, where he did remarkable work not only as a missionary, but also as a teacher. His name was John H. Hill. Some of the ladies of the Church also were desirous of engaging in Sunday-school work, and in a school-room in John Street, April, 1816, eight of them met to appoint officers and outline the work. The neighborhood was visited, the school increased in numbers and interest, and it soon became necessary to remove it into the church. Thus there were established by lay effort two Sunday-schools and two weekly prayer-meetings in connection with them during the time of a Rector who would ' ' have nothing to do with it. ' ' Mean- while the male Sunday-school had so increased that a larger room had to be procured. Such a room was found in Cherry Street near the site of what was called " the old sink of iniquity " at Banker Street and Neilson Alley. It was an undesirable neighborhood, but children abounded there. The increasing need of accommodation for this school, and the inconvenience to which the ladies were sub- jected in holding a female Sunday-school in the church building, led the new Rector in the spring, after entering upon his duties, to present the case to the Vestry, which promptly appointed a com- THE MILNOR PERIOD 89 mittee to consider the subject of " a building for the better ac- commodation of the Sunday-schools and for congregational pur- poses." The committee reported favorably, and the Vestry au- thorized the committee to proceed at once in the erection of a proper building in the rear of the church " twenty-two and one-half feet front by fifty feet deep or of such other dimensions as the com- mittee may deem more convenient." The work progressed during the summer of 1817 and by October the building was completed and ready for use. The upper room was appropriated to the use of the female Sunday-school and such congregational purposes as were authorized by the Rector, and the lower room was designated for the use of the male Sunday-school. " In these rooms some of Doctor Milnor's best labors were performed and many of his best fruits gathered." i The formal opening took place on Sunday, November 19, 1817. At the hour appointed the Vestry of the parish, the officers of the New York Sunday-school Union, the superintendents, teachers, and children of the parochial schools, and a number of interested visitors assembled in the upper room, where after appropriate prayers a short address was delivered by the Rector and a suitable hymn sung by the children. They then proceeded to the church, where a large congregation were in waiting, and where, after a suitable service conducted by the Rector, he delivered an interesting aad impressive address. A hymn was sung responsively by the congregation and the children, and the benediction concluded this memorable in- auguration of facilities for the Sunday - school and lecture - room work which proved abundantly fruitful in spiritual blessing to the people of all ages. These schools of St. George's had been organized as No. 6 and No. 10 in connection with the New York Sunday-school Union, a society composed of Christians of various names. When the New York Protestant Episcopal Sunday-school Society came into being, the laymen in charge of St. George's Sunday-schools were urged to disconnect themselves with the earlier organization and join the distinctively Episcopal Society. The answer given was, " We em- barked on board the Union Ship, and unless she is shipwrecked we shall continue to sail under her flag." This continued relation of St. George's Sunday-schools to the Union Society was extremely distasteful to that growing high church party which, under the leadership of Bishop Hobart, was yearly becoming more aggressive and assertive; and a critical vigilance to detect any ground of censure in the proceedings of the Rector of St. George's was un- 90 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH pleasantly apparent. It was widely rumored that he had been guilty of some gross irregularity on the occasion above described, to which a Philadelphia friend makes reference in a letter thus: *' I must by the way just let you know that the hints and insinua- tions and innuendoes, which passed pretty freely among certain individuals, and those not a few, relative to your omission of the Church service on the occasion of your late Sunday-school meeting, when you delivered your address, have all recoiled on their own heads; and it has been pretty satisfactorily proven, to the regret, I fear, of some, that you are yet a regular man." Another Sunday-school, known as No. 34, was organized by laymen of St. George 's in this same month for the instruction of colored men, which shortly numbered nine teachers, five assistants, and seventy- four scholars. Circumstances having required the removal of this school from its first location, the Society of Friends, which took a special interest in work among the colored people, granted the free use of their large rooms in Rose Street. It is noted in the records of the school, which were carefully kept : The Rev. Doctor Milnor visited the school this afternoon with several gentlemen and distributed Bibles, testaments, and hymn-books as rewards for committing Scriptures to memory. He then delivered an affecting address. Oh, that ministers would follow his example! Surely our hearts ought to rejoice that he takes such an interest in Sunday-schools. The Lord gTant that his exhortations may be sanctified to the salvation of many souls. After having experienced another removal this school, about 1824, after the erection of the public school in Duane Street, was granted the use of several rooms therein; and with an enlarged scope, ex- cluding no age, sect, or color and welcoming Christian workers of any name, continued for many years a career of signal usefulness. In one memorable year ninety persons connected with it made public confession of their faith in Christ. Another school was organized for white adults, so that in January, 1820, four schools were reported with sixty teachers and four hun- dred and seventy-four scholars. Others were organized later, in- cluding one for colored women and girls and one for colored boys, both of which in 1824 were merged into the Duane Street school. It was the custom for the superintendents and Sunday-school workers to hold a weekly meeting for prayer and instruction in the Sunday- school lessons. When the superintendent examined the school pub- licly at the close of the session on Sunday, it was the rule that if the scholars could not answer the questions the teachers should do so. The parochial schools had two sessions on Sunday, from half past eight to ten and from one to two-thirty. There were prayer- THE MTLNOR PERIOD 91 meetings statedly held in private houses and later in the lecture- room carried on by the zealous lay-workers, at which, however, the Rector was sometimes present and which proved to be an effective instrumentality in awakening religious interest and in building up the spiritual life of the parish. But he nevertheless withheld his approbation from some of the methods of the revival system which certain of his earnest parishioners were intent to employ, although regretfully loath to discourage efforts which the Holy Spirit was apparently blessing to the conversion of souls. Taking more per- sonal direction of the work, it gradually assumed the form of a lecture on Tuesday evenings, opened with forms from the Prayer- Book and usually closed with extemporaneous prayer. This was in addition to the one accustomed to be held by the Rector on Friday evenings. The hearts of the people were with him and the divine blessing made his ample labors fruitful, and no small part of the spiritual results of his efficient ministry were directly traceable to his inspiring and helpful utterances in the lecture-room of old St. George's. The organ which was then in use in St. George's and had been placed there at the request of its owner was purchased by the Vestry in December, 1817, for two hundred and sixty-five dollars, and at the same time steps were taken looking to the procurement of a new and larger instrument. But nothing was actually accomplished until in the summer of 1820 the Rector undertook the work of raising funds for the purpose. In June, 1818, the Vestry was in- formed by one of its members that Thomas H. Smith had com- municated to him his intention to import and present to the Church a bell on condition that the Vestry would place a clock in the steeple. Mr. Smith's munificent offer was gratefully accepted, and the thanks of the Vestry expressed to him, and a committee desig- nated to take immediate steps to procure a clock. The congregation was rapidly growing under the leadership of the Rev. Doctor Milnor. His duties- were many both in and out of the parish. People called upon him constantly for advice and help. While always ready to be of service, he found that the very inconvenient situation of his study, on the third floor of the rectory, involved considerable loss of time and strength in receiving his numerous callers. He therefore laid the following communication before the Vestry at its meeting, July 13, 1818 : Gentlemen The necessity I am under of oceui^ying a room in the third storj^ of the parsonage for my study subjects me to very great inconvenience. The 92 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH numerous calls made upon me at those hours, which, when I am not com- pelled to be abroad, are devoted to theological pursuits and the preparation of discourses, oblige me so frequently to come down into the parlour as to cause much interruption to my studies and unnecessary consumption of time. At the same time I am aware that in the present state of the funds of the Church I ought not to ask of the Vestry any i>rocedure for my accommodation that will either call for the present expenditure of money or subject them to the charge of interest. The plan I have to propose will do neither. I ask of you gentlemen the privilege of putting up a con- venient one-story brick building adjacent to the parsonage (say, 25X20 feet in size) to communicate with it by a door out of the hall, economy to be consulted in its erection, but at the same time to be made a valuable and commodious improvement of the property. The interest of the sum to be expended will be to me no other than a reasonable rent, and therefore all I request is the agreement of the Vesti'y that at my death or whenever the connection between them and me may be otherwise dissolved the prin- cipal sum expended should be refunded. If the proposed measure, however, be not jDcrfectly agreeable I beg leave to be considered as relinquishing on my part any wish for its adoption. If it meet your approbation I would be glad to enter speedilj^ on its execution under any restrictions as to expense & conduct which you may deem expedient. I am, Gentlemen, with very gTeat respect. Your oblig'd Pastor & Obe't Serv't, June 27th, 1818. James Milnor. The Vestry cordially agreed to the Rector's proposal to build the addition to the parsonage on the terms specified in his letter, except that when ' the principal sum expended ' is refunded to him interest on the same be allowed, and that if the debt of the Corporation be reduced to a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars before the dissolution of the connection with the Rector, then the said ' principal sum expended ' & the interest on the same be refunded without dela5^ Mr. Carow and Mr. Walton were thereupon appointed a committee to give the Rector any aid he may require in relation to the pro- posed building. In the matter of the new bell the committee on that subject reported at the Vestry meeting, September 19, 1818, that they had obtained all the information in their power and drawn upon an English correspondent the enclosed order for a bell, which they desired to submit to Mr. Smith for his approbation before forward- ing the same. New York, 7 Sept., 1818. Sir, As a committee of the Vestry of St. George's Church we have been requested by Tho's H. Smith, Esq., of this city to import a bell, which it is his intention to present to the Church. We accordingly request you will ship to our address, under full insurance by an American vessel for tliis port, a church bell in eveiy respect of the best quality, with necessary THE BELL PRESENTED BY THO:*iAS H. SMITH KN IS is THE MILNOR PERIOD 93 apparatus for hanging and using it. In strength and size it is desired it may be suited to a church (such as St. Stephen's, Walbrook, or St. Clement's in the Strand) ; the weight, it is supposed, will be from eighteen to twenty- two cwt. Considering we already have an inferior bell & that many bad sounding ones are made, we are extremely solicitous to have satis- faction given in this particular, and that the sound be clear, full and sonorous. As a proper mark of respect to the munificent donor this beli must be cast with the following words and figures on the outside : PRESENTED BY THOMAS H. SMITH, ESQ'R, TO THE CORPORATION" OF ST. GEORGE's CHURCH, NEW YORK, 1818. We are led to believe that the most approved bells are made by Joseph Mears of White Chapel, and in the material points of somid and strength the best we have seen and heard are of his make. It may be useful to mention that the sound of the largest bell of a ring of eight made by him for Trinit}' Church in this city is approved & we shall be satisfied if we succeed in obtaining one good in other respects and of a sound equally grand and sonorous. Having described the article we want in a manner as we hope the maker will clearly underetand, we have no doubt we may rely upon you for even more care and attention to this matter than is called for in an ordinary' affair of business. Inclosed j'Ou have a bill of exchange dated New York, 4th Sept., 1818, drawn by J. & C. Betton at sixty days' sight in favor of Tho's H. Smith, by whom it is endorsed, on Joseph Hilberson & Co., of Liverpool, for two hundred and fifty pounds sterling, payable in London. Respectfully, &e., Isaac Carow, Edmund Morewood, Committee. The bell thus presented by Mr. Smith, which in due time ar- rived, hung for many years in the old church in Beekman Street and afterward in the chapel on Fourteenth Street. It was removed to its present site in front of the rectory on Sixteenth Street in 1905. The following action of the Vestry, May 27, 1819, ordered to be communicated to the sexton by the clerk has obvious point in this connection : It having been represented that the old bell had been cracked by im- proper management in the ringing, and that the person employed to ring the bell had permitted and encouraged others, being unskilful, to do im- perfectly what was his duty to do perfectly, resolved that the sexton be and is thereby directed to see that the bell be not rung or sounded by any but the person employed and paid for performing that sen-ice. The committee for procuring a clock for the tower of the church reported, March 23, 1820, that the clock was completely set up and presented a certificate from local clock-makers which read as follows ; 94 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH We have examined the contract entered into between the Rector, wardens, and vestrj'men of St. George's Church in tliis city and S. Willard, of Roxbury, for a good turret clock. We have examined the same with at- tention and beg leave to say that the clock is complete in every j)articular and that it is well and solidly made and in the best manner and of the best materials and workmanship and is in eveiy respect in conformity with his contract and explanation. Thomas Richards, New York, March 1, '20. James Ladd. The treasurer was thereupon directed to pay nine hundred dol lars for the clock and one hundred dollars for extra work. In writing the following letter the Rector evinced his practical concern for the accommodation of the children in the church, but at the same time to do away with the annoyance which their behavior at times had evidently occasioned to the congregation : Parsonage St. George's, 13 April, 1820. Church Wardens & Vestrymen of St. George's Church. Gentlemen Understanding that it is the design of the Corporation to have the church cleaned and painted during the ensuing summer, I beg leave to suggest to you the propriety of erecting, at tlie west end of the church, two galleries, one on each side of the organ loft, for the accommoda- tion of the Sunday-school children, such as have been erected in St. Paul's. I have understood from the gentlemen who had the supei'intendence of the repairs, &c., of St. Paul's that the galleries referred to cost some- thing over four hundred dollars. With a view to an object which I consider of importance, both as it respects the children of the Sunday-schools & their interference with the worship of the Church, I beg leave to relinquish five hundred dollars of my donation & salary for the present year to be applied to the object just mentioned and other improvements connected therewith. I am veiy resi)ectfully Your affee Pastor & oblig'd serv't James Milnor. The Vestry accepted the Rector's liberal offer and contracted for the erection of the Sunday-school galleries at an outlay of three hundred and twenty-five dollars. The Rector made a verbal communication, stating that some of the congregation friendly to the late Rev. James Wallis Eastburn contemplated the erection of a monument to his memory and re- quested permission of the Vestry to have the same placed in the Church. The request was granted, the location to be designated by the committee on pews and repairs. Mr. Eastburn had been a mem- ber of St. George's Church and enrolled as a communicant at Christ- THE MILNOR PERIOD 95 mas, 1816. He was a worker in the Sunday-schools and in the prayer-meetings and later studied for the sacred ministry. Al- most immediately after his ordination by Bishop Hobart, October 20, 1818, he became Rector of St. George's Church, Accomack, Vir- ginia ; but after a very brief period in which he profitably exercised " his fine talents and attainments " he died of consumption, De- cember 2, 1819. His Diocesan, Bishop Meade of Virginia, speaks of him as a " most interesting and talented young man." At the age of eighteen he composed the beautiful Trinity hymn No. 77 in the Prayer-Book collection, ' ' Oh, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord ! ' ' which is retained as No. 137 in our present hymnal. At several meetings of the Vestry the matter of having a com- plete schedule prepared of the real estate of the Corporation, of seeing that all deeds had been recorded and of having the property surveyed and maps made for the use and information of the Vestry, was considered. It was also brought to the attention of the Vestry that the deed for a portion of the property assigned to St. George's by Trinity Church had not yet been delivered, which, however, was reported, November 18, 1820, to have been received and deposited with the treasurer. A list of the real estate showing the annual revenue of the Corporation and when payable is given in the fol- lowing statement prepared by the treasurer and dated June 7, 1820. The total income for the year is also given. As against this in- come the annual expenses were as follows: Rector's salary and donation, .$3,000; clerk, $250; organist, $160; sexton, $150; bell- ringer, $30; bellows-blower, $25. — Total salaries, $3,615. Fire in- surance. Church and Rector's house, $106.25; taxes on Rector's house and schoolhouse, $66.36 ; Mrs. Wiley washing surplices, $17.50 ; sexton's account for candles, fuel, etc., estimated, $400. Interest on the following bonds: To Mrs. Armour on $1,933.34 (principal), $135.33; to Nicholas Anderson on $2,000 (principal), $140; to Joshua Jones on $1,500 (principal), $105; to Rev. James Milnor on $3,680.44 (principal), $257.63, making the total expenditure $4,843.07. Amount of surplus for one year if rents should all be collected, $1,498.42. At the Vestry meeting of July 13, 1820, the Rector presented the following communication : To the Corporation of St. George's Church. Gentlemen With a view of ascertaining how far the congTegation of St. George's might be disposed to contribute towards the purchase of an organ, I opened on the 28th of the last month, a subscription for that purpose, and made pei'sonal application to as many as I presumed were of com- 96 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH o o iz; I— I P ;^ <: H <: H pq O H < H .-H c c f^ ^ Pi fe d fo it-.M;-.Ot-.t^i^oou.ot->>Hi-. ^ S' (8 be o E 3 a o rman kman nerinj by rook o c« - C! s JiSS.isPQ > >> " S te ^CQ3iWc () fl C . o . 0) s u o n p. Zi Hars Jaco Rich H. T < s ^ Oi Q : OC 00 00 »o o 6* 1/1 o ooSoo S - 00 S ooS" ' ooS- 6 ►s.s ffi •H Cj C o i- J3 O Pi O 00 -t N VO O fD 00 o. t>.oo o> 98 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH petent means, and as my leisure allowed me to call on. With veiy few exceptions, the persons to whom the object was jjresented promptly & cheerfully contributed what they could con\eniently spare. I have now the pleasure to inform you that the sums subscribed up to the present time by eighty-five individuals amount to $1,846, of which $1,551 dollars have been j^aid into my hands — of tliis latter amount so much as was paid anterior to Saturday the 8th inst., viz., the sum of $1,163 has been de- posited in the savings-bank of this city, stating it to be " on account of contributions collected for the purchase of an organ for St. George's Church in New York." The sums collected since the last deposit with such as may be hereafter i-eceived will be deposited m the same place of security and the whole remain subject to your disposal. As some gentle- men are at jDresent absent from the city who will probably contribute, others have promised but not yet determined the amount they intend to subscribe, and several have not yet been ap])lied to, who it is believed are able and willing to give, my present calculation is that the subscription before it is finally closed will amount to two thousand dollars. Any measures, therefore, that the Vestry may think proper to take in relation to the procuring of an organ may, I tliink, include a dej^end- enee on the last-mentioned sum as the result of my endeavors in the solicitation of individual co-operation in tliis attempt to add to the beauty of the Church and the solemnity of public worsliip. As this successful appeal to the liberality of the congregation conclusive- ly evinces the fact, which I have long known, that by far the greater part of the attendants at our Church are favorable to the object it con- templates, I have little doubt that by semi-annual collections in Church, the balance of what is requisite for the purpose may in a few years be raised, and in this way any entrenchment on the regular resources of the Corporation be avoided. I am, Gentlemen, very respectfully & truly Your faithful & obe'd serv't, James Milnor. Parsonage St. George's, July IS, 1820. The foregoing letter was favorably received, and the Rector, Mr. Carow and Doctor Cooper, were appointed a committee to procure an organ. At the next meeting, August 10, 1820, the Rector re- ported that having made further collections, the amount applicable to the purchase of an organ up to this time was $1,906. The com- mittee was thereupon authorized to contract with Thomas Hall, organ-builder, to construct an organ for St. George's Church at a price not exceeding $3,000 and to dispose of the old organ. The committee reported, October 12, 1820, that the organ fund now amounted to $1,991 and that they had contracted with Mr. Hall to construct an organ of the best materials containing twenty-one stops and three sets of keys particularly described in the contract; the case of mahogany fourteen feet wide, eight feet deej), and twenty-four feet high, with the front pipes gilt; to be finished in an improved manner and THE MILNOR PERIOD 99 put lip in the Church fit for use within nine months from the 24th of August last, when he is to receive for the same three thousand dollars. The new organ, however, was not completed as promptly as had been promised by the contractor, and it was not until February, 1822, that it was reported as having been completed, A certificate from Messrs, George Geib and H, Westervelt, organists, highly commendatory of the new organ was presented to the Vestry ; where- upon the treasurer was directed to pay to Mr. Hall the amount of his contract. The superseded organ was sold for $250 to Trinity Church, Utica, Doctor Milnor's labors in the pulpit, since he became Rector of St. George's, had been unceasing and arduous, save that from August 27th to September 17, 1820, four Sundays, he was con- fined to his house by a painful disease described as an abscess. He had built up a large and enthusiastic congregation, had increased the seating capacity of the church by the addition of two galleries and two large pews on the ground floor, had erected a commodious Sunday-school building in the rear of the church for the better ac- commodation of that rapidly growing work and other purposes, had secured an addition to the parsonage house, had caused a turret clock to be placed in the cupola of the church in accordance with the conditions of Mr. Smith's munificent gift of a bell, and had now provided for an adequate and handsome organ. Doctor Milnor's own view of the situation appears in a letter to his friend. Rev. C. P. Mellvaine, under date April 9, 1821 : Since last fall I have had two lectures in the week, besides my services on Sundaj'; catechetical exercises; superintendence of five Smiday-schools; various agencies in public institutions; and from my i^^culiar situation here, a greater amount of jiarochial and extra duty than usually falls to the lot of a single presbyter. I do not mention these things boastingly. Alas! I am afflictingly sensible how little I do for Him who has done so much for me, A better qualified man would, no doubt, with much greater facility get through such a course of duty as that in which I am engaged. But for me. the situation which I fill is an arduous one, and requires my unremitted and laborious attention to go thi'ough its exactions with any tolerable satisfaction to my own mind. I wish I could give you more favorable accounts than I honestly can of the state of spiritual thing-s amongst us. Lukewarmness and formality, error in doctrine and latitudinarianism in practice, deform, in a gi'eater or less degree, all our churches. In all of them are to be found a few who have not bowed the knee to Baal; but I am afraid our city, large as it is^ would not, out of the Episcopal churches, furnish the pro]ihet's number. In St. George's we continue to have a goodly number of devoted, praying 100 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH people; our Sunday-scliools are flourishing; and every season of Com- munion exhibits some addition to tlie number of Christ's true disciples. The cong-regation have now, for near five years, been proof against every attempt to sow dissension among them; and those who have not experi- mentally felt its power are still willing to hear the truth. But what cause of grief is it to any minister, whose heart's desire and prayer is the salva- tion of his peofde, to see so many, young and old, still strangers to a crucified Saviour; still living to the world; still unmindful of the interests of their never-dying souls. It is a gi'ound of unspeakable gratitude that any should, through the divine blessing on our labors, be plucked as brands from the, burning; but when we are filled with a sense of the value of the souls committed to our charge, how feelingly alive should we be to the consideration of the immense danger to ourselves, if one be lost through our negligence or remissness ! God grant, my endeared fellow-laborer, that neither you nor I may be the subject of this awful guilt. The same letter incidentally alludes to him who was destined to be his successor : I am happy now to have it in my power to reciprocate your kindness in making known to me your friend, Mr. R , by presenting to you one of mine, the Rev. Mi'. Tyng, a recent pupil of Bishop Griswold, who is anxious to be employed without delay in the work of an evangelist. He is a young gentleman of good talents and acquirements; of personal piety and agreeable manners; of decidedly evangelical views; a moderate church- man, who loves his own communion, but does not exclude from his af- fections any who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and a pleasing speaker. I am persuaded that Mr. Tyng's heart is so much in the work as to promise great success to his exertions. Within his parish the stream of Doctor Milnor's ministerial life ran equably and smoothly. The hearts of his people were with him from the first, and the sincerity and assiduity of his labors among them commended him more and more as the years rolled on to their esteem and affection. But outside of the parish his course was viewed by many with suspicion and disapproval. The two special points of criticism were his clearly defined attitude as to co-operation with other Christians in support of the American Bible Society and the American Tract Society and his use of extemporane- ous prayer after his weekly lectures and his countenancing prayer- meetings among his parishioners. The Rector did not alwaj^s attend these meetings, and on one occasion while in his study Bishop Hobart called and asked him to go over to the meeting then in session and dismiss those in attendance. It is reported that the Rector's answer was substantially, " Bishop, I dare not prevent my parishioners from meeting for prayer, but if you are willing to take the responsibility of dismissing them you have my permission." THE MILNOR PERIOD 101 There was, however, no Episcopal intrusion and the extemporary prayers went on. Mildly but firmly Doctor Milnor adhered to what he felt was right for him to do, reflecting upon none who chose a different course ; but satisfied that his own sense of duty must guide his conduct, he felt constrained to allow neither reproaches nor ostracism to swerve him from his course. His inflexible position in these matters he voiced in a letter to a friend in which, after re- ferring to the bitterness and opposition which were being manifested toward him, he says : But if much mofe senous consequences than I have occasion to appre- hend were to follow my adherence to that ministerial course, which the finger of God marked out for me at its beginning, and to which, by divine grace, I have been enabled hitherto to keep, I trust nothing would terrify or allure me from it; unless, which maj' God prevent, I should merit the withdrawing of those influences from above, which alone can enable any of us to persevere to the end. At a meeting of the Vestry, September 13, 1821, the clerk re- ported that the trunk containing the book of records, various docu- ments, including the revised code of by-laws and the seal of the Cor- poration, were stolen from his house on the 2d ult. ; that he for- tunately had recovered the book of records and most of the documents and papers of value, but regretted to state that the trunk had been destroj^ed, the seal lost, and such injury done to the book of records as to make rebinding necessary. The clerk was directed to pro- cure a new seal to exactly correspond with the one that had been lost. As an indication of the readiness of St. George's to respond to appeals for worthy outside objects, it may be noted that in March, 1821, a collection for the benefit of the poor of the city had been made in St. George's amounting to $190.19, but later it was re- turned to the treasurer of the parish in compliance with a resolu- tion of the committee of citizens: " That the moneys be returned to the several churches in consequence of the favorable change of weather which rendered it inexpedient to appropriate the same as was contemplated when the request from his Honor the Mayor was made." The sum was handed over to the Rector for the charity fund. In 1825, $123.34 was given by the parish for the sufferers by a fire in Spring Street; and at a later date, March 15, 1838, the Rector presented a letter from the Mayor, as chairman of the central committee for the relief of the poor in the city, acknowledging the receipt of $121.88 as a contribution of the parish for this purpose. A project for widening Cliff Street having been brought before 102 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH the Vestry in March, 1822, a committee was appointed " to memo- rialize the Honorable the Corporation of the City in opposition to any application that may he offered to that Body for that purpose." Two years later the project was renewed with the further intent of extending Cliff Street to Frankfort Street ; whereupon the Vestry memorialized the Corporation " that if they shall think proper to sanction the application for widening Cliff' Street they will do it with an express declaration that no part of the Church property shall he infringed upon," assurances having been given by the proponents of the measure that the needed land should be taken from the opposite or easterly side of the street. In the following year, March, 1825, the Vestry having become satisfied that the pending proposition as framed would be injurious to the property of the Church, appointed a committee who appeared to have made successful opposition thereto. But again, in 1833, the Vestry found itself obliged to take a stand against a new attempt to widen Cliff Street in a way " which would lead to the destruction of the lecture-room and a considerable number of vaults and to the dis- turbance of the remains of many old members of this Church." They felt themselves " bound to oppose the execution of the plan by every legal means in their power," and their committee, con- sisting of Messrs. Van Wagenen, Bloodgood, Stearns, and "Woolley, made such vigorous remonstrance, with the co-operation of a large proportion of the property-owners interested, that they had the pleasure of reporting to the Vestry that " this second attempt to disturb the quiet possession of this Vestry in their vaults and grounds has been so triumphantly defeated that your committee think that there need be no apprehension of its being soon repeated. ' ' Twenty-three years later Cliff Street was widened from Beekman Street to Ferry Street. During the summer months of 1822 the Rector made out a list of communicants in a book still in existence in good preservation and carefully written. The entries are prefaced by the following statement : Parson- AGE of St. George's Church, August 6, 1822. No offieial list of the communicants of St. George's Church having been kept by the Rev. Doctor Kewley, my predecessor, there may be some omissions of those who were communicants jn-evions to the 10th of July, 1816, when I took cliarg-e of the Church, and in most instances I have no knowledge of the date of their admission as such of those whose names I have obtained. Since the commencement of my duties as Rector, a regular account has been ke])t of tlie ])ersons admitted to the Communion, and I have noted and shall continue to note with as much accuracv as mv in- THE MILNOR PERIOD 103 formation may enable me the time and manner as well of their union, respectively, with the Church as of the cessation of such union either by death or otherwise, that a cori'ect report may be annually made, according to canon, to the State Convention. James Milnor, Rector of St. George's Church. The Rector communicated to the Vestry, January 11, 1823, a proposal that he should visit England as a delegate from the Ameri- can Bible Society to the British and Foreign Bible Society and asked the advice and concurrence of the Vestry. They unanimously consented to the proposed absence, provided he could arrange to secure an approved and regular supply for the services of the Church until his return. At a subsequent meeting he informed the Vestry that he had found himself unable to do so and had abandoned the project. The plan, however, was renewed and executed in May, 1830. There appears, however, to have been a temporary absence of the Rector during July and part of August of this year during which the Rev. Mr. Carter officiated in the Church whose services were recompensed by the sum of one hundred dollars. As indicating the interest of the Vestry in the humbler members of the congregation, it may be noted that in January, 1823, " the committee on pews was requested to report the number and cir- cumstances of the occupants of the pews set apart by the Church for the accommodation of its indigent communicants." At a special meeting, July 3, 1824, the property committee was requested to obtain plans and estimates ' ' with all convenient speed ' ' for necessary improvement of the chancel, for building a vestry- room, and carpeting the female Sunday-school gallery. The con- tracts were given to Andrew "Woodruff and Martin E. Thompson, and the work was begun toward the end of July. To meet the expense incurred, the property committee was authorized to bor- row temporarily three thousand dollars at a rate of interest not exceeding five per cent. While this work was going forward a petition was received from St. Mary's Church, Manhattanville, for a donation of the old pulpit, canopy, and reading-desk of St. George's, which were cheerfully placed at their disposal, and the gift was by them gratefully acknowledged. On the 3d of January, 1825, Doctor Milnor was suddenly seized in the street with an attack of gout in the chest. Upon being con- veyed home his difficulty of breathing increased, his symptoms were of the most alarming character, and his agony was intense; and despite the unintermittiiig and skillful medical attention which t 104 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH was lovingly lavished upon him, it seemed to all about him on the Sunday following the attack that his end was imminent. It proved, however, that his work on earth was not yet done, for while the prayers of his loving parishioners were unitedly and importunately ascending to the Throne of Grace intervals of relief from the vio- lent paroxyms of pain were accorded him, as the disease shifted from one organ to another, until the crisis was passed and his slow recovery begun. It was, indeed, reported through the city that his decease had actually occurred; and though this afflictive intel- ligence was soon contradicted, the peril through which he had passed served to manifest in a most convincing way " the depth and strength of the hold which he had obtained upon the respect, the love, the veneration of his fellow-citizens." Of his bearing during his awful trial his physician. Dr. John Stearns, who had attended him in previous suffering with the gout, which had, how- ever, before only attacked his feet, bears this striking testimony : — So violent were the paroxysms, and so short the intervals, that, upon every succeeding attack, it seemed impossible for him to survive. Con- scious that every breath might be his last, he improved every interval of relief in expressing his resignation and his reliance upon divine grace. Never did I hear such impressive words from a dying man. The solemnity of the scene, the anguish of his countenance, now and then yielding to smiles, an index to the peace within, like the occasional brilliancy of the sun shining through a dark cloud, his great efforts to speak, and his deep- toned utterances, made impressions never to be effaced, melted every heart, suffused every eye, and palsied every tongue. The solemn silence was never broken, save when he spoke. Often and impressively did he bear witness to the great truths which he had preached, and often and fervently did he repeat his love for his congregation. Addressing me, he said: 'Tell them how I love them; and that, if God spare my life, I will improve it in doing more good than I have done. Tell them, also, to call a successor who will preach the same evangelical doctrines which I have preached, and not a formalist.' And then he exclaimed : ' my precious Jesus. How I love my God. How I love the Son of His love. How I love the Holy Comforter.' (\ On the Sunday when his death was momentarily expected it was proposed to stop the ringing of his church bell, but he murmured: ' ' No, no ; let it ring on. To me there is no sweeter sound on earth. I shall soon be listening to the harmonies of Heaven." In a letter which he wrote during his convalescence to his friend, the Rev. Charles P. Mcllvaine, afterward Bishop of Ohio, he continued, after referring to his physical condition on that critical Sunday : On the day just mentioned, the impression of all around me was, that a few moments must terminate my existence. Such was my own per- THE MILNOR PERIOD 105 suasion; and, blessed be God, the prospect was unaccompanied by the least alarm. There was given me not only a spirit of calm submission and quiet resignation to the divine will, but a hope full of immortality. O how precious was the Saviour to my rejoicing soul in that never-to-be- forgotten hoiu-. With what an unshaken faith, as a helpless, hell-deserving sinner, was I enabled to rest my assurance of pardon and expectations of approaching glory on His righteousness and blood. Although drenched with medicines, which, under other circumstances, would not only have taken away my reason, but been destructive of life itself, yet my under- standing was unimpaired, and my speech articulate and clear; so that I was permitted to bear testimony before my suiTounding friends to the unspeakable consolations of the Holy Spirit, to the unfailing faithfulness of God, and to the abundant love of the Redeemer, of all which I had the joyful experience. . . . But God was pleased to answer the prayers of his believing people and to spare me, perhaps, for some further use- fulness in the Church. A long life of the utmost devotion to his service, if allowed me, will very inadequately repay the manifestations of his loving-kindness, with which, during tliis providential visitation, I have been favored. \^ So twenty years of usefulness were added to their valued pastor's life, for indeed his work was not yet done. In sympathetic con- sideration for his recent and severe illness, and in view of its at- tendant expense, the Vestry directed that a gift of two hundred and fifty dollars be handed to the rector. The treasurer was also di- rected to pay fifty dollars to the P. E. City Mission Society in order to constitute the rector a member thereof for life. As throwing light upon the depth and sincerity of Doctor Milnor's realization of his pastoral responsibility a few brief extracts from successive letters to clerical friends at this period of his ministry- may be of interest. In June, 1826, he wrote : Last Sunday, hot as it was, 1 preached three times, besides preaching the previous evening. I am looking as anxiously for the descent of the dews of divine grace on my thu-sty spiritual vineyard, as the husband- man is now desiring that of the rain upon his parched fields. The Lord gratify the expectations and desires of both. Again in February, 1827 : It will give you pleasure to hear, that Christians in St. George's have become more alive to the necessity of combined prayer and effort in behalf of the unconverted. Though a few only of encouraging indications have appeared among the latter, yet there is evidently more intense interest manifested both in the services of the Church and in my weekly lecture, which latter I continue to find profitable to myself and to those who hear me. How stand matters with you? Will your people bear the truth? I am sure you will preach it wliether they will hear or whether they will forbear. The Lord bless and prosper you in all things. And again in April, 1828 : Our increase of eommimicants in St. George's has not, of late, been very rapid; and yet my Sunday and week-day services were never better at- 106 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH tended, nor the prayer-meetings more regularly held and fervently eon- diieted, nor the six Sunday-schools of my Church better supplied with teadiers and pupils. Nor does God leave Himself without witness among us in tlie ingathering of souls. Since the last Convention I have received to communion about twenty. We have now some earnest inquii'ers; but still I mourn the coldness of my own heart, the feebleness of my labors, and their inadequate results, and would hail with unspeakable gratitude such an evidence of the divine favor as has been afforded to many congxegations in our land, to whatever odium it might subject me in the minds of many around me. The Vestry received a communication from the city Fire Depart- ment, March 9, 1826, requesting information respecting the ringing of the bell in case of fire ; in reply to which attention was called to the ninth by-law of the Church directing the sexton " to have the bell rung at all alarms of fire." At the same meeting the rector and wardens were appointed a committee to procure for the use of the Church the engraved por- traits of the three Bishops of New York — Bishop Provoost, Bishop Moore, and Bishop Hobart. The tradition is that these portraits were obtained and that they were lost in the burning of St. George 's in 1865. The rector was at the same time requested to sit for his portrait, to be taken for the use of the Church, which likeness of the rector was completed in about two years and was ordered to remain at the rector's house subject to the order of the Vestry. A request from Mr. Ingham for permission to have an engraving made of the same was granted. For several j'ears Doctor JMilnor owned a farm and summer residence at Flushing, Long Island, and in the early part of July, 1827, he accidentally fell from a Flushing stage, his head striking the curbstone with such violence that the ultimate consequence was at- tended with uncertainty. By the 21st of the following month, how- ever, he was able once more to resume his seat at his desk. The lamented decease of De Witt Clinton in February, 1828, demanded that wide-spread recognition of his talents and achieve- ments which the citizens of New York were only too ready to ac- cord. He had been Mayor of the city, Senator of the United States, and Governor of the State, and to him more than to any other man was due the completion of the Erie Canal, which in its earlier stages had been contemptuously nicknamed " Clinton's Ditch." To do him honor the Common Council adopted the following resolu- tion, which by its clerk was communicated to the clergy of all names : Resolved, That the Reverend the Clergy of this City be respectfully requested in the name of the Common Council to notice in an appropriate THE MILNOR PERIOD 107 and solemn manner in their respective churches to-morrow, the deep be- reavement sustained bj^ our common country by the death of our Chief Magistrate and fellow Citizen, De Witt Clinton. The clergy generally acted in accordance with this request, and the sermon of the Rector of St. George 's met with such cordial com- mendation that the entire Vestry united in a letter to him in these words: " Desirous of extending the benefits of this valuable pro- duction to those who had not the privilege of being present at its delivery, and convinced that it would be to them a most acceptable favor, we are induced as members of the Vestry to request a copy of the same for publication." The request was acceded to and seven hundred and fifty copies were printed for distribution. The Rector of Trinity Church, however, Bishop Hobart, seeing some invasion of the sacred principle of total separation of Church and State if he should act at the suggestion of the civil authority, declined to preach upon the subject. He was thereupon subjected to much criticism within as well as without his parish, but the reasons for his refusal he embodied in the following letter to the Mayor : Sir, I have this day received from the Clerk of the Corporation of the City a copy of a resolution of the Common Council, in which ' the Reverend the Clergy of the City are respectfully requested to notice, in an appro- priate and solemn manner, in their respective churches to-moii-ow, the deep bereavement sustained by our common country, by the death of oiu' chief magistrate and fellow citizen, De Witt Clinton. As I feel myself under the necessity' of declining to comply with this request in Trinity Church and at St. Paul's and St. John's Chai^els, of which I have the parocliial charge, I hope you will pei-mit me in order to prevent misconception to state the reasons which have influenced me in this determination. The prostitution of religion to the purposes of secular policy has pro- duced the gTeatest mischiefs; and I conceive that the studious separation of the Church from the State, which characterizes our republican con- stitution, is designed to pre\'ent religion and its ministers from being made subservient to the ^dews of those who from time to time may ad- minister public affairs. But if the civil or municipal authority may desire tlie clergy ' to notice, in an appropriate and solemn manner,' the death of the chief magistrate of a State, the request may be extended to every distinguished citizen who has lilled a public office; and thus the min- istrations of the clergy may be made to advance the influence of political men and political measures — an evil from which, m the old world, the most unhapi^y effects have resulted, and against -nhich in this countiy we should most sedulously guard. The character of the individual, too, whose memory is to receive these high religious honours may not render him worth}" of this sacred distinc- tion ; or in seasons of great political excitement he may be as obnoxious 108 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH to one portion of the community as he is the idol of another; and thus the clergy, who should be devoted to the exercise of their spiritual func- tions, may be drawn into the ranks of party, and suffer in its rude con- flicts. In almost every case from the varying opinions of the relative merits of public men, the ministers of religion, in the capacity of eulogists, may as much fall short of the ardent expectations of some, as they may exceed the more sober estimate of others. There is no view of this matter which does not in my judgment present serious objections to a compliance with the i-equest of the Corporation. As far as my private feelings are concerned, it would be most grateful to me to bear my public testimony to the eminent talents, the civil services, and the private virtues of the lamented chief magistrate of the State — and, most certainly, great deference is due to a request of the fimctionaries of the City, in which I am a minister; but paramount considerations of duty will prevent my compliance with their request which, in the principle that it involves and in the precedent which it will establish, appears to me of a dangerous tendency, in regard to the spirit of our free institutions, and to the interests of Religion, and the character and influence of its ministers. I have the honour to be With gxeat respect Your most obedient servant J. H. HOBART. Saturday, Feb. 16, 1828. In the Christian Journal, etc., of April, 1828, a review of Doctor Milnor's sermon appeared, of which these are the opening passages: In our last, our readers will recollect, we expressed a decidedly favor- able opinion respecting the course pursued by Bishop Hobart, as the Rector of Trinity Church in this city, in declining to notice in the pulpit the death of the late Governor Clinton as recommended by the city corporation. The Rector of St. George's Church, as he had an undoubted right, thought differently and complied with the request. The result was the interesting and well-written discourse now before us. The Bishop's letter to the Mayor of the city, containing his reasons for non-compliance with the recommendation of the Common Council, having been published, was a fair subject of public comment. The same may be said of Doctor Milnor's discourse. We proceed, therefore, to say of it in the first jilace that it is far from furnisiiing any reason for changing the views expressed in our last. We object first to the principle even of that grade of union between Church and State, which consists in recommendations by the a-uthorities of one to be acceded to by those of the other. In our humble opinion, the two should pursue their respective depart- ments entirely distinctly, &c., &e. As an evidence of their high appreciation of Doctor Milnor's pulpit efforts the Vestry, March 13, 1828, ordered that three copies of all the published discourses of the Rector be procured and hound in sets, one to be presented to the Rector, another to the parish THE MILNOR PERIOD 109 library, and the third to be deposited among the archives of the Corporation. A communication was presented to the Vestry, July 10, 1828, from the Rev. John Sandford enclosing a drawing of the ruins of St. George's Church after the fire, which he offered to present to the Corporation. This valuable contemporary sketch was accepted with thanks. Information of a bequest of four thousand dollars was com- municated to the Vestry by the Rector, July 11, 1828. Nicholas Anderson, who died earlier in the month, had been sexton of the Church since 1816 and for some time also collector of pew rents. By his last will and testament he bequeathed to the Corporation of St. George's four thousand dollars in trust to apply the profits arising out of their investments of the same to the use of Susannah James, his housekeeper, during her life, and, after her death, to pay over the income to the Rector of the Church " to be applied by him in such proportions and in such manner as he may think proper for the support of the Sunday-schools of said Church, the increase of the library connected with the same, or any other charitable or pious use to which the canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church au- thorize the communion collections to be applied." Messrs. Blood- good and Wardell were appointed a committee to attend to this business, receive the legacy, give the necessary discharge for the same, and invest the four thousand dollars in bond and mortgage on city real estate adequately secured at an interest of not less than six per cent. At a later meeting the property committee was di- rected to procure a suitable head-stone for Mr. Anderson's grave. The income of the fund was annually paid to the treasurer of the Sunday - schools and proved to be a valuable help in their support. One of the most trying experiences through which the Rector of St. George's was called to pass in his whole ministerial career arose from the part which he took in the organization and dissolu- tion of " The Protestant Episcopal Clerical Association of New York," which had for its object " the promotion of the personal piety and the official usefulness of its members, by devotional ex- ercises and by conversation on missionary and such other religious subjects as might conduce to mutual edification." It was in the summer of 1828 that a few of the clergy, under the leadership of the Rev. Doctors Wainwright and Milnor, felt that an association to promote the object above stated would be 110 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH mutually helpful and beneficial to the Church, Bishop Ilobart was consulted on the subject, and while expressing approval of the contemplated object he yet found " various objections to the pro- posed plan of accomplishing it." At the diocesan convention in October, however, it was decided to proceed with the organization. The association was composed of clergymen of various shades of opinion in the Church; its membership was open to any clergyman of the diocese who might signify to the secretary his approval of the nature and object of the association and his desire to connect himself with it, and any member was at liberty to invite any non- resident brother clergyman to attend the meetings. Moreover, the common topics of theological and ecclesiastical controversy were excluded from discussion. There was some delay, after the regular meetings had been begun, in getting the constitution and forms of devotion accurately printed; but when a copy thereof reached the Bishop he at once issued, under date February 21, 1829, '' a Pastoral Letter " to the diocese, which astounded the members of the asso- ciation, provoked much newspaper and pamphlet controversy, and forced the members to consider the alternative of dissolving the association or of continuing it in face of the officially expressed disapproval of their Bishop. The denouement was hastened by the withdrawal of the clergyman who was chiefly associated with Doctor Milnor in the inception of the enterprise; and as its perpetuation would, under all the circumstances, have been made to bear a partisan aspect the brief-lived Protestant Episcopal Clerical Asso- ciation of New York passed into history. It is somewhat difficult, in these days of the Churchman's Association, the Clericus, and divers clerical clubs, to appreciate the odium which was made to attach to Doctor Milnor and his associates in their well-meant design of meeting statedly for mutual edification. The subject of music was not unattended with its usual vexations in the experience of St. George's. Organists and clerks and singers succeeded one another in the hope and promise of improvement in the music, which sooner or later issued in the usual disappoint- ment. As illustrative of the constant efforts of the Vestry to im- prove the music and make it more satisfactory to the congregation let it suffice to note a few sample items from the records, as when it was resolved, December 11, 1823, that a committee consisting of the Rector and wardens be appointed " to take into consideration the psalmody of the Church and to report what measures may be adopted for the improvement thereof." The resignation of the THE MILNOR PERIOD 111 organist promptly followed and Mr. James H. Swindell, a former occupant of the position, was appointed in his place at a salary of three hundred dollars. The Eector was " authorized and requested to procure for the use of the choir twelve copies of Dyer's anthems, twelve of Dyer's psalm and hymn books, and twelve blank-books to write in music." These books were supplemented or supplanted four years later by " as many books of psalmody prepared by Doctors Wainwright and Muhlenberg as may be required for the choir in the organ gallery." In April, 1826, the organist went to England and his duties were discharged bj^ " supplies " until October, when the Vestry took measures to supply the vacant place. A new parish clerk was also appointed " to conduct the singing- school, etc., with a view to the improvement of the music in the Church." Again in October, 1829, a committee was appointed " with power to take measures to improve the music of the Church," which made the following report : That they have engaged John Smith to take a part in the choir at the rate of twenty-five dollars per anniina during his continuance to sing there with the consent of the Vestry. After endeavoring in vain to establish a school in the vestiy-room for instruction in sacred music under the superuitendence of the present clerk, the committee found it necessaiy to employ some person better qualified to act as mstructor; they accord- ingly made an engagement with Mr. E. W. Morse, under whose super- intendence a school has been opened, and they have the satisfaction of being enabled to state that it is well attended and promises advantageous results far surpassing their previous expectations. The committee be- lieve that nothing is wanting to sustain this part of divine worship in the Church, but a clerk and organist with the requisite qualifications, which, they feel constrained to add, the present incumbents in their opinion do not possess ; wliich opinion is stren.gthened by the dissatisfaction which many of the congregation have expressed in reference to both, though more particularly as to the clerk, as well as by their own observation for a long time past. Thej' feel persuaded that the want of a competent clerk and organist form at the present time the principal impediments to ob- taining a good and sufficient choir from the eongregation, and therefore recommend the adoption of the followmg resolution : Resolved, That a committee be appointed with power to engage a suitable clerk and organist with the approbation and consent of the Rector to succeed the present in- cumbents when their terms of service expire or as soon as the places of either may become vacated. This resolution having been adopted, the committee, February 11, 1830, further reported that they had engaged Mr. William Yucho as organist at a salary of three hundred dollars per annum to commence at Easter, for which he had engaged in addition to the ordinaiy duties, to assist in practising for the instruction of the choir two evenings in each week if required. They further reported that Mr. E. W. Morse had made application for the 112 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH position as parish clerk and had expressed his willin^iess * to perform all the duties appertaining to the station and also to instruct a clioir & teach a singing-school.' The api)lieation Avas approved and Mr. Morse engaged at a salary of four hundred dollars per annum beginning with Easter, 1830. The Rev. Mr. Mason, however, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Cedar Street, called upon Doctor Milnor and stated that the course pursued by Mr. Morse, in offering himself as a candidate for the office of parish clerk, had been the result of misunderstand- ing and mistake and that his congregation were very desirous that Mr. Morse should be released from his contract with St. George's and permitted to remain with them. The Rector communicated this statement to the Vestry, who, after considerable discussion, decided that as the offer to become their parish clerk was made to them by Mr. Morse without solicitation, and no intimation having been received from him of a wish on his part to have the agreement canceled, it would not be expedient or justifiable in them to comply with Mr. Mason's suggestion. The congregation in Cedar Street, however, were not satisfied to have Mr. IVIorse employed in St. George's, and the Vestry finally consented to release him from his duties as parish clerk in about two months. The next incumbent of the office was William A. Jones, who proposed " to perform the duties of parish clerk and chorister, teach the singing-school six months in the year, and attend to such other duties as may be deemed requisite for the improvement of the choir." He was engaged at a salary of three hundred dollars per annum. i\Ir. Jones, however, was on duty only for a short period, for it was resolved, March 10, 1831, " that in view of the aid now rendered by members of the congregation in sustaining the sacred music of the Church, it is expedient on and after the first day of May next to make the ex- periment of doing without a clerk." This experiment appears to have worked satisfactorily for about three years, for no ap- pointment of a parish clerk was made until April 18, 1834, when Solomon Warriner accepted the position at two hundred dollars per year and began an extended term of honorable service. The organ- ist appointed in the following year, May, 1835, as successor to Mr. Yucho was William Henry Milnor, M.D., the Rector's son, at three hundred dollars per year, whose services proved most acceptable, and peace reigned in musical affairs for nearly seven years. The wisdom, however, of securing " a competent musical instructor who shall teach sacred music to such of the congregation as choose to attend " having commended itself to the Vestrj-, the music com- mittee reported, January 13, 1842, " that they had engaged the THE MILNOR PERIOD U3 services of ]\Ir. Hastings as instructor one evening each week, for the term of three months, for the sum of one hundred dollars ' ' ; and it may be hoped that the results justified the expenditure of what for those times, for thirteen instructions, was rather high compensation. CHAPTER V THE MILNOR PERIOD (1830-1836) The mission of Doctor Milnor to England as a representative of the American Bible Society and other religious organizations was a signal and productive experience in his honorable career. The " May Anniversaries " in London were the occasion of the annual assembling of enthusiastic thousands of the supporters of the Brit- ish and Foreign Bible Society, the Church Missionary Society, and other beneficent organizations, and the idea long entertained of sending Doctor Milnor to attend these anniversaries as the repre- sentative of kindred societies seemed now possible of realization. At a special meeting of the Vestry, February 20, 1830, " the Rector stated that since his application, several years ago, for leave of absence for the purpose of visiting England, when the Vestry were kind enough to grant permission for that purpose, although circumstances prevented his availing himself of it, he has been fre- quently and much importuned by his religious friends to fulfil what was then expected of him on behalf of the American Bible Society and other institutions of our country, with which he has been long officially connected; that at this time, in consequence of renewed applications of the same nature, urged upon his attention by many powerful considerations, his mind has become impressed with the persuasion of its being his duty, if practicable, to attend the en- suing anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Church Missionary, the Prayer-Book and Homily, the Tract, and other religious societies in London, in the month of May next; and while in England to avail himself of whatever means may be pre- sented for furthering the interests of institutions of a similar kind in the United States ; and that, adding to these views a humble hope, with the help of God's grace, of improving by the same means his own mind, and increasing his own zeal in the discharge of his duties to his beloved congregation on his return, he was induced to solicit of the Vestry leave of absence for the space of about six months.'* THE MILNOR PERIOD 115 The Vestry thereupon unanimously Besolved, That although the Vestry cannot, without deep concern, look foi-ward to so long a separation between their pastor and his congregation, to whom he is so faithful, and by whom he is so much respected and be- loved, vet — convinced that the proposed mission, by leading to a more friendly and intimate intercourse between the eminent and useful asso- ciations in this and our parent countiy, which have for their object the extension of religious knowledge, and by collecting much useful mforma- tion as to the state of religion" abroad, and the means of propagating the knowledge and influence of the Gospel, as well as in various other ways, may promote the interests and advancement of the institutions formed here for such purposes, and of the common cause of our holy religion — this Vestiy approves of the design, and consents to the absence of the Rector for the requisite time; expressing their satisfaction at being thus permitted, in their endeavors to promote such interesting objects, to eon- tribute, as they tiaist, to his personal gratification, by adding to the means of extending his own usefulness. And they affectionately commend him_ to the care of the great Head of the Church, and pray that he may enjoy a speedy and j^leasant voyage, and a safe return. At the Vestry's request that the Rector recommend a suitable person to conduct the services of the Church and discharge other parochial duties during his absence he proposed the name of Mat- thew H. Henderson, a student in the General Theological Seminary, who was expecting to be shortly ordained. The nomination was approved by the Vestry and five hundred dollars allowed in com- pensation for his services. As illustrating the spirit in which Doctor ]\Iilnor undertook this mission to England, the following letter of the same date as the Vestry meeting just referred to addressed to the Rev. John S. Stone will be of interest: New York, Feb. 20, 1830. Rev. axd dear Brother — You will be surprised to learn, that I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you as you pass through New York, and still more so when you know the cause. I have yielded to the importunity of my friends, and with the unanimous consent of my Vestry, have agreed to sail for England on the 16tli of the ensuing month. Perhaps it might, by some, be considered affectation in me to say, that I have acceded to this measure with reluctance, and that nothing but a sense of duty would have led me to consent to so long an absence from my family and flock. But I am sure you will believe me when I say, that with advanced age, much of the curiosity that would have made such a proposal delightful in my earlier years, has subsided, and that, besides other feelings of repugnance to crossing the ocean, a conviction of my incompetency for many duties which will probably be consequent on my arrival in England, has op- pressively increased* it. I shall, if God permit, attend the principal an- niversaries in London, and perhaps may be called to take some part in their pi-oceedings ; and much as I have sj^oken in public in my own land, 116 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH I do shrink at the thought of doing so before such assemblages as those occasions bring together. But if God enable me to become an instrument in opening a more effectual communication, and of exciting a more feeling interest between the evangelical clergy of England and those of this coun- try, and between the great benevolent institutions there and here, it will l>e no embittering reflection, during the residue of my brief term of ex- istence, that T have been so honored, and to God shall be all the gloiy and the praise. Let me ask of you your earnest supplications in my behalf, for divine preservation and support in the enterprise to which His provi- dence appears to direct me. Your faithful and sincere brother in Christ, James Milnor. As soon as it became generally known that Doctor Milnor was going abroad suggestions and advice and commissions of various kinds began pouring in upon him. Had he not been a man of ' ' un- common quickness and skill in reducing matters of business to system " he would certainly have failed to meet some of the ex- pectations of his friends. But he utilized his time on shipboard in examining in detail his memoranda of things to be done and so prepared himself for their execution by well-digested plans. As indicating the wide range of matters intrusted to him, it may suf- fice to state that commissions and instructions more or less formal were issued by The American Bible Society, The American Tract Society, The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church, The American Sunday-school Union, The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, The American Education Society, The American Temperance Society, The American Seamen's Friend Society, The Prison Discipline So- ciety, and The General Union for Promoting the Observance of the Christian Sabbath. He was also charged with important business commissions, for the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, for Bishop Chase and Kenyon College, and for many individual friends; while the Rev. Doctor Hawks, later the Historiographer of the Church, charged him to procure transcripts of valuable documents touching the early history of the Church in this country, to be found in the archives of the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Thus abundantly accredited by public and private " epistles of commendation," he set sail, March 16, 1830, on the packet ship Florida, Captain Tinkham, amid the affectionate farewells of pa- rishioners and other Christian friends, some of whom " accompanied him to the ship." Before the pilot had left the vessel he had begun that valuable journal which affords a daily chronicle of his experi- THE MILNOR PERIOD 117 ence. The barest outline of the facts, however, is all that can be given here. On arrival in Liverpool, April 14th, he met the kindest reception by friends old and new, who vied with one another in tendering most cordial hospitalities. His first Sunday was spent in Birmingham, where he attended four services, being himself debarred from preach- ing, by that statutory enactment (not repealed until 1848) which excluded the clergy of the American Church from officiating in any of the churches of the Establishment. On the following day he reached London and on the next morning plunged into the work of his mission, naturally beginning with the Bible Society's head- quarters in Blackfriars. The pressure of engagements, both in meeting officials of the various societies and attending meetings and services of all sorts, proved exacting indeed; but Doctor Milnor was thus brought into personal association with the leaders of Brit- ish benevolence and Christian activity. The details as recorded in his journal are of surpassing interest. The first of the anniversaries occurred on Monday, May 3d. It was that of the Wesleyan Missionary Society. That of the Church Missionary Society followed on Tuesday. Wednesday was devoted to the British and Foreign Bible Society. On Thursday he attended the Religious Tract Society's anniversary and that of the Prayer- Book and Homily Society. At each of these Doctor Milnor delivered an address, which was most appreciatively received. Friday was devoted to the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews and on Saturday the Blackheath Branch Bible Society claimed his attendance and an address. During the second week he attended the following anniversaries : that of The Port of London and Bethel Union Society on Monday ; The Sunday-school Union on Tuesday, at both of which he spoke; The Naval and Military Bible Society on Wednesday, at which he put forward to speak in his place his friend, the Rev. Charles P. McDvaine, who had held a professorship and the chaplaincy in the West Point Military Academy; The London Missionary Society on Thursday; The So- ciety for Promoting the Principles of the Reformation on Friday^ at both of which he made addresses ; and on Saturday The Anti- Slavery Society with Mr. Wilberforce, the veteran champion of the oppressed African, in the chair. The great anniversaries being now over, Doctor Milnor was at liberty to devote his attention to the subordinate matters of business with which he had been charged. Prominent among these was that of securing a teacher of the Deaf and Dumb for the New York 118 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Institution. Several institutions for these " children of silence " in which articulation was taught were visited, but no teacher was pro- curable in England. His quest for one in Paris was attended with more success. Among the many more private meetings which from time to time he attended were one of the committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, at which he communicated the wish of the American Bible Society "to be advised in relation to the most eligible translation of the New Testament into modern Greek ' ' ; and one of the committee of the Church Missionary Society, at which he had opportunity to fully express the views of the directors of The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of our Church as to intercourse with the English Society. On June 2d he visited the Houses of Parliament and on the next day attended in St. Paul's Cathedral the anniversary meeting of the children of the Charity School, of whom about six thousand were ranged in seats of gradu- ated elevation within the circumference of the great dome. A seat was assigned him in the pew set apart for the Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge, admission to which necessitated his ap- pearance in gown and bands. '' Few circumstances," he writes, " I should have regretted more than absence on this occasion." A serious accident occurred to Doctor Milnor on the 12th of June by his falling from a stage-coach in attempting to mount to an outside seat, thereby terribly straining his back and chest. For several days he suffered considerably, but then felt able to venture on the journey to Paris which had been delayed by the accident. Embarking at London for Calais, June 17th, another accident at once occurred through a collision between the bowsprit of a collier in the narrow channel of the Thames and the aft mast of the steamer on which Doctor Mihior and his companions, the Kev. Messrs. Mcllvaine and Smith, were traveling. The mast was wrenched out of its palace so that it fell across the deck within a foot or two of the spot where they were standing, and while they providentially escaped, one man was killed and several injured. Calais, however, was safely reached that evening, and Paris the next day. The engagement of a competent teacher for the New York Deaf and Dumb Asylum, which was his chief object in coming to Paris, now occupied his attention. Through the kind offices of the Di- rector of the Royal Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb he was enabled, after some delay, to conclude an engagement with Mr. L. Vaysse to accept the New Y'ork position. Neither he nor his companions in travel cared to linger on French soil, where, however, they received many social courtesies in response to their THE MILNOR PERIOD 119 letters of introduction. On their return trip they reached Brighton July 10th and passed at once to the Isle of Wight, where at Ryde they spent a delightful Sunday under congenial preaching. His journal reads : This was a delightful day to myself and my friends. What a contrast to the business, and bustle, and noise of Pai'is, the quiet of this pleasant town and peaceful isle; to the defiling superstitions of popery, the chaste worshi23 of our Church; and to the senseless pomp and pageantry of their corrupt and miserable forms, the pure Gospel as preached by a gifted minister of God! As an officer of the American Tract Society, Doctor Milnor was desirous of verifying, if possible, the descriptive part of what in those days was esteemed as an " incomparably useful tract," The Dairyman's Daughter by Leigh Richmond; as one of the publica- tion principles of the American Tract Society was to issue no nar- rative tract which is not descriptively accurate. They traced the scenes portrayed by the sainted author of The Dairyman's Daugh- ter, The Young Cottager, and The African Servant, with intensest interest rejoicing in the fidelity to nature of the delightful de- scriptions. And when they reached Newport for the night they could talk on none but things connected with the scenes, and incidents, and reflections of the day; imiting in the sentiment that Paris, with all its palaces, and gardens, and paintings, and statues, had afforded no such gratification to our eyes as the glorious works of God, on which they had dwelt in this enclianting island; and none of its multiplied attractions, such an inward feast as the religious associations of this day's travel had supplied. Doctor ]\Iilnor was privileged to visit other parts of England during the next two months and to accomplish brief tours in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. That he derived abundant pleasure and real profit from these journeyings is abundantly evidenced on the pages of his journal. But his paramount quest was acquaintance with religious institutions and the leaders of religious thought, and his opportunities in these directions were zealously availed of. The impression which he left everywhere behind him was well voiced in the action of the committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society on the eve of his departure : The Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society desire to record the gTeat satisfaction which they liave experienced in receiving the Rev. Doctor Milnor, secretary for foreign correspondence to the American Bible Society, as the representative of that institution at the late annual meet- ing. They would also express their conviction, that all the supporters of the Society present upon that occasion, shared largely in their own delight, as they listened to the interesting statements delivered by Doctor Milnor, relative to the i^resent proceedings and prospects of the American 120 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Bible Society; and they would add their persuasion, tliat the circulation of those statements in the printed report of Doctor Milnor's speech, in the montlily extracts for May last, has produced a similar feeling among the friends and sujiporters of the auxiliary societies, branches, and asso- ciations throughout the kingdom. The Committee; therefore, in the name of the Society, request Doctor Milnor to convey to the Board of Managers of the American Bible Society an exi^ression of the unfeigned delight with which their labors are regarded in this countiy, accompanied by their earnest prayers, that those labors may, from year to year, become still more extended, and that wisdom and strength, and all the necessary means of usefulness, may be vouchsafed to them. The Committee cannot but take the present opportunity of solemnly recording their deej? conviction, as they regard the aspect of the present times, of the necessity and importance of giving the widest possible cir- culation to the inspired volume, as the only infallible rule of truth, of devotion, and practice: and the encouragement they experience in wit- nessing the existence of a similar feeling on the part of their brethren in America; while they would unite with them in ascribing all glory to Him who has put it into their hearts to make the efforts in which they are mutually engaged, and who has crowned those efforts with such manifest tokens of his favor. The Committee desire, further, to express towards Doctor Milnor per- sonally, their unfeigned feelings of brotherly affection, and to commend him to the protection of his heavenly Father, that he may return in safety and comfort to the bosom of his family, and be permitted to resume his important duties, both as minister of St. George's Church, and secretary for foreign correspondence to the American Bible Society. Teignmouth, President. Bexley, Vice-President. Doctor Milnor embarked from Liverpool on his return voyage September 27th and reached New York on the 30th of October. The pleasure and profit which he had derived from his journey ings, and the delightful intercourse he had enjoyed with leaders of religious thought abroad, were blessings for which he was profoundly grateful and which added largely to his personal equipment for future use- fulness. Nor did he fail to leave a blessing behind him, in the abiding impressions produced by his elevated Christian character and purpose, as well as by his facile and practical presentation of facts and truth. His mission was the pioneer in opening up chan- nels of free sympathy and intercourse between those noble institu- tions of our motherland and cognate organizations in our own, which have exerted such a boundless influence throughout the world in the dissemination of religious truth and light. In the long series of reciprocal delegations and international official intercourse the Kector of St. George's has the honorable distinction of having led the way. THE MILNOR PERIOD 121 The societies which, he had represented in England received from him on his return appropriate reports and gave expression to him of their heartiest thanks. The formal action of the one which took the initiative in asking him to go may serve to indicate the spirit of them all. At a meeting of the managers of the American Bible Society, November 4, 1830, it was Resolved unanimously, Tliat while this Board are deeply penetrated with a sense of gi-atitude to Almighty God, for His pi'otectiug care over the Rev. Doctor Milnor during his absence; for the favorable reception which he met with among the friends of the Bible in England and France; and for his safe return to his familj' and flock, and to his important duties as Foreign Secretary of the American Bible Society; this Board is fuUy sensible of the very important seiTices which the Rev. Doctor Milnor has rendered to the Society, by the able and acceptable manner in which he has performed, gratuitously, the duties of a delegate to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and for wliich they desire to express to him their sincere thanks, and request of Doctor Milnor a correct copy of his report, with a view to publication. John Pintard, Recording Secretary. It will be recalled with what ready cordiality the Vestry con- sented to the Rector's absence in view of the importance of his mission. Their generous spirit found further expression in these resolutions, adopted November 11, 1830 : Resolved imanimously. That tliis Vestry acknowledge, with humble thanks, the merciful providence of Almighty God, in the preservation of our cherished Rector during his late absence, and in liis happy return to his congregation. Resolved unanimously. That as evidence of our respect and attachment, and in consideration of his voyage having been undertaken, and success- fully prosecuted, chiefly with a view to benefit the religious and charitable institutions of the community, the Rector be requested to allow us a par- ticipation in the extra expenses incident to his mission, and that the Treas- urer is hereby directed to pay him twelve hundred and fifty dollars out of the first unappropriated money which may be received. Resolved, That it is the desire of this Vestry that the very appropriate and instructive sermon delivered by the Rector of this Church last Sunday morning on the occasion of his return from abroad be printed and pub- lished, and resolved, further, that Mr. Van Wagenen and Mr. Mulligaa be a committee to request from him a copy for that purpose and to super- intend the printing and distribution, and the Treasurer is hereby authorized to pay the expenses. The Rector at the same meeting communicated to the Vestry that the Rev. Mr. Henderson had received and accepted a call to the Church at Newark, whereupon the following resolution was adopted and ordered to be communicated to Mr. Henderson : Resolved unanimously, That in parting with our young friend, who has so satisfactorily ministered to the congregation during the absence of the 122 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Rector, we take pleasure in acknowledging and testifying the talent, zeal, piety, and discretion uniformly manifested by him in the discliarge of the duties of this i)arish, in which testimony it is believed the entire con- gi'egation would cordially unite. He carries with liim our sincere prayers that his future service may be eminently useful to the Church of Christ, and that he may personally enjoy comfort and happiness here and here- after and receive the approbatory salutation, ' Well done thou good & faithful seiTant.' At a meeting in the preceding June the treasurer had been di- rected to pay to the American Bible Society one hundred dollars for the purpose of making the Rev. M. H. Henderson a life member as a testimonial of regard, which mark of appreciation and honor Mr. Henderson gratefully accepted. Before the Rector's return the lamented death of Bishop Hobart occurred, September 12, 1830, and the Vestry, with a view of mani- festing in a small degree their regard for his memory, voted to clothe the pulpit, desk, etc., in mourning and to attend his funeral. That the closing months of Bishop Hobart 's life should have been marred and clouded by a most unhappy controversy with the Rector of St. George's is occasion for the most profound regret. It would never have occurred had the Bishop been more mindful of the ac- cepted truth that, while a man should be held strictly responsible for his public utterances, he is not responsible for the perversions or distortions of them which a reporter, through carelessness or in- capacity, may publish in his name. The difficulty arose from an in- correct report of what Doctor Milnor actually said in his London address before the Prayer-Book and Homily Society. The news- paper report on reaching New York was viewed by Bishop Hobart and his friends as reflecting upon him as the advocate of a pro- posal, before the General Convention, to permit occasional shorten- ing of the morning and evening prayer. The ferment in New Y'"ork was great on the appearance of a letter from the Bishop published in the Commercial Advertiser, dated June 23d and addressed to Doctor Milnor. But there was no occasion to protest against the saying of what had not been said. Of the commotion in New York Doctor Milnor was meanwhile in utter ignorance. When he reached London on his way home, letters and papers awaiting him gave the first painful intimation of conditions there. A controversy had sprung up in the columns of the same local paper between anony- mous writers, well understood to be the Rev. Dr. G. T. Bedell and Bishop Hobart himself. The former pointed out that the report of Doctor Milnor 's London address was in all probability not only THE MILNOR PERIOD 123 imperfect, but also incorrect, and the latter not only justifying the Bishop's published letter, but placing the conduct of the absent Eector of St. George's in a yet more opprobrious light. A few paragraphs from Doctor Milnor's journal at this time may suffice to evidence his hurt and indignant feelings: That I had no intention to reflect, in the most distant manner, on the character of Bishop Hobart, is as certain as that I exist. When I made the observations which had reference to him, I had as friendly feelings towards him as I ever entertained; nay, I felt under obUgations to him for his kindness in giving me letters of introduction, and other e\ddences of friendship, on the eve of my departure from New York. I had spoken gi'atefully of his attentions; and instead of intending to be his calumniator, had had frequent occasions to be his apologist in relation to the sermon which he preached on his return from England, and which has given offence to people of all opinions in the English Church. I well remember having seen the incorrect report in The Record, soon after it appeared, and to have been grieved at its unfaithfulness; but as all the speeches were miserably reported, correction would have been an endless and an impossible task. In resi^eet to this one, had I anticipated the hasty sensitiveness of Bishop Hobart, I might have made the attempt; but I thought of no such thing. From the time when I received the Commercial Advertiser, containing Bishop Hobart's letter, I inquired, in every city and town through which I passed, where I supposed it likely to be procured, for ' the Christian Register,' the official reporter of the societies, but was unable to obtain a copy until the last day of my visit in Edinburgh. My subsequent move- ments were too rapid to allow me to sit down and i^rej^are a reply, until I reached Sheffield. That the report of his address was grossly incorrect and that, further, no unfavorable impression of Bishop Hobart had been pro- duced by it in England is attested by the following letter from the secretary of the Prayer-Book and Homily Society: Rev. and deae Sir — I regret much that some things which you said at our annual meeting, as stated in The Record, seem to have been mis- understood. In reference to the report made in The Record, I have only to state that it was so full of the most palpable blunders — blunders which had the effect of total misrepresentation of that which was read as well as spoken — that, after seeing a copy of the paper, I jDersonally sent to the editors a refusal, on the part of this society, to purchase any copies for circulation by us. Over the general circulation of that paper, I of course had no control; but this is not the first instance in which a mistaken report of that which passed at our general meetings has caused us un- easiness. What you actually did say was correctly reported by the short-hand writer whom the society employed, and was some time smce published by us, from his notes, in an occasional paper, of which I have sent you copies. I do not know whether my personal testimony, in addition to our official report, wiU be of any use in this matter; but I can most truly saj', that 124 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH your statement, when I heard you make it, did not produce the slightest suspicion in my mind, that you intended in any way to censure, or to rellect u})on the bishop, whoever he might be — for his name was not mentioned, nor anything said which might lead the audience to conjecture what prelate was intended — on the contrary, 1 was led to think that the proposition made by that bishop originated in the best possible intentions and motives; and all that your statement was calculated to show, appeared to be this one fact, namely, that the Book of Common Prayer, as it is, without any alteration whatever, is held in the highest estimation by Epis- copalians, whether clergymen or laymen, in the United States. I did not hear of the objections which had been made to your speech, till August 23d. I shall be truly glad, if the statement now made shall be of the least use on this occasion. My many engagements have pre- vented my addressing you earlier, as I intended. Believe me, dear sir. Yours, with sincere respect, Bev. Doctor Milnor. C. R. Pritchett, Secretai-y. In a letter to his warden, Mr. Van Wagenen, under date London, September 6, 1830, Doctor Milnor writes : ' How great a matter a little tire kindleth !' Guiltless as I was of any intention to wound the feelings of Bishop Hobart, and remote as my remarks were from any tendency injiu'iously to alfect his character or feelings, nothing could have more surprised me than his public letter. From my inability, while travelling, to obtain a more correct published account of my speech, and unwilling to let my defence rest on any mere statement of my own, I was unable to prepare my answer mitil just before the sailing of the last packet. It was sent from Sheffield, and I hope will be esteemed by the public, if not by the bishop, entii'ely satisfactory. The following is the reply referred to : Sheffield, England, August 27, 1830. Rt. Rev. and dear Sir — I have but recently seen, in the Commercial Advertiser of the 25th of June last, the letter which I exceedingly regret you felt yourself under the necessity of addressing to me in so unusual a way. If the topic to which it refers could have been made a matter of personal explanation, or its notice been delayed until it was ascertained whether the report of my address before the Prayer-Book and Homily Society of England, at its late anniversary, which you have used as the basis of your animadversions, was correct, I think you would have been satisfied that I neither intended you the slightest injui-y or disrespect, nor made any remarks, on the occasion referred to, having a tendency to pro- duce such an effect. To arraign your attacliment to the liturgy, would be to assail you in a point where you are invulnerable; and the folly of such an 'act would, in the present instance, only have been exceeded, if done by me, by its ingratitude; for I have no hesitation to acknowledge, in this public manner, what I have done repeatedly in private since my arrival in England, the singular acts of kindness on your part, which distinguished our last hours of intercourse in New York. I confess, I consider myself as having reason to complain that the miserable report of my address from which you have cjuoted, with such THE MILNOR PERIOD 125 manifest evidences of incon-ectness as are apparent on its face, should have been so far credited as to be made the foundation of yoiu- letter, or to have occasioned you a moment's uneasiness. One would have thought, were there no disposition to put a harsh construction on my conduct, and this I am unwilling to suppose, that, without giving me any credit either for the possession of vei-y accurate information in church affairs, or a desire to report truly in relation to them, it would not have been believed that I could have forgotten tlie name of our highest ecclesiastical legis- lature, or the character of the proposed alterations in the liturgy, so as to have expressed myself in tlie bungling manner attributed to me by the reporter. In the remarks actually made by me, I am perfectly confident, not a word dropped from me that was either intended or calculated to make any unfavorable impression in regard to your attachment to the Church and its liturgy, of which neither I nor any other person ever entertained a doubt. My single object, in referring to the subject of the projoosed alterations at all, was, to do honor to the American Episcopal Church, in the matter of its attachment to the Book of Common Prayer, by exhibiting the unanimity of the disinclination of its bishops, ministers, and people, to any change in the order of the public services which it prescribes. In doing this, I am persuaded I did not impress an mdividual present with the idea that you formed an exception, in this respect, to the whole body; and much less could any one have supposed me to intend the disrespect and vulgarity, as well as the obvious falsehood and injustice of representing you as a ' daring innovator,' who would ' with a rude hand have marred the beauty of the liturgy,' or of arrogating to myself any agency whatever in the prevention of such an attempt. I thank you for acknowledging your unwillingness to believe that it was my ' deliberate desig-n to produce these impressions.' I add to this con- cession the assurance, on my part, that it was as little my design at the moment. It is to be regretted, that the haste with which the newspaper reports of the addresses delivered at the religious anniversaries in London are published, should render them such imperfect representations of what is actually said. I have, however, no more reason to complain of this than others; for scarcely an address, heard by me, was reported with any meas- ure of fidelity. In part, undoubtedly, this arises from the necessity of condensation, but more frequently' from the incapacity or inattention of the editorial reporters, or the hurry with which they are obliged to write out their notes for the press, I have, I believe, a pretty exact recollection of the terms in which I expressed myself; but I wish not to incur even the suspicion of making a too favorable report of them by any statement of my own, I therefore subjoin an extract from The Christian Register, a miscellany which gives a more correct, though very condensed report of the addresses made at the principal anniversaries. This report of my address is defective in its want of fulness. My remarks were still more guarded against the pos- sibility of conveying such an impression as I regret to find has been produced on your mind. I copy, verbatim., all that the Register reports me to have said in relation to the subject of your letter. ' The Rev. Doctor Milnor of New York, after some preliminaiy remarks, observed that the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, of which he was a minister, was sincerely attached to the liturgy 126 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH and services which they derived from the Church of England, and in which they had made few alterations, except such as were requisite to adapt them to the varied circumstances in which they were placed. An evidence of the attachment of both clergy and laity to their Book of Com- mon Prayer had recently occurred. At a General Convention, held four years ago, it was proposed to allow certain discretionary powers to the elergj^, in the abridgment of particular parts of the service. The proposi- tion was laid over for consideration at the next triennial Convention, wliich was held in August last. But so general was the disapprobation of any intrenchment on our venerable forms of devotion, that the proposition was withdrawn by the highly respectable prelate who was its author. The proposition had, no doubt, been made from the i^urest motives, and from an imjiression, arising out of certain differences of opinion, that it was desired by a part of the clergy. But even those for whose accommodation the measure was supposed to be intended, were averse to any change, and the American Prayer-Book remains as it was established a few years after the declaration of independence.' With this extract, I leave the matter before you and the public, with an earnest hope of standing acquitted both by them and you, as I do by my own conscience, of having said anything in the speech referred to, designed or calculated to offend. With respect to ray own attachment to the liturgy, I repeat what, in substance, I said before the Prayer-Book and Homily Society in London, that a persuasion of its excellence had no little influence in leading me to unite myself with the Episcopal Church; and that, in my own estima- tion, no part of my subsequent conduct has been inconsistent with this profession : but at no time has my regard to the prescribed public service led me to suppose the use of extemporaneous prayer to be either unlawful or inexi^edient, on many occasions when a liturgical form is not enjoined; and I made this express qualifleation of my eulogy in the address referred to. It [extemporaneous prayer] is used by many clergymen of great re- spectability and piety, both in England and America, even after their sermons in church. This is not my practice. ' In what is called my lecture- room,' I do use a prayer of this description, not before, as would be in- ferred to be the fact from the statement given in your letter, but after lecture ; a practice in which I do not differ from a large body of those whom I esteem as among the most devoted and useful ministers of the Church". Neither am I more singular in the use of a selection from the liturgy before lecture, on the occasion just mentioned, instead of reading the whole evening sein-ice; a practice in which I have had the example of many of tlie brethren of my own order in the ministry, and some of yours, but which they and T will, no doubt, be willing to discontinue, whenever we are convinced that it is inconsistent with a rational attach- ment to the Book of Common Prayer, or to our duty and obligations as ministers of the Church. In conclusion, Right Rev. and dear Sir, I have only to repeat my gi'eat regret that the incorrect report of my remarks should, in your view, have made it necessary to bring me in so painful a manner before the public; and it will be much increased if your unfavorable impressions are not removed by the explanation now given. For your kind expressions towards me personally, I return you my unaffected acknowledgTnents, and smcerely reciprocate them. However we may differ in matters of policy — I would THE MILNOR PERIOD 127 hope not of principle — I retain a pleasing recollection of our early friendship, and a lively sense of the evidences which you gave me of its continuance when I was about leaving home. If I cannot, with sincerity, express my coincidence with all your views, I can admire the talents which have raised you to your present elevated station ; and if a witness were wanting to jour consistent and undeviating attachment to the Church and her Liturgy, my testimony in your favor would be jDrompt and unqualified. I remain, Right Rev. and dear Sir, With great resj^ect and regard. Your faithful i^resbyter, and obed't sei'v't, James Milnor. As on the 29th of August, only two days after the date of this letter, Bishop Hobart was in the western part of his diocese in- stituting the Rev. Henry J. "Whitehouse as Rector of St. Luke's Church, Rochester, his memorable sermon on which occasion being his last public utterance, he passed from the scene of his abundant and priceless labors for the Church of his love without knowledge of these statements and assurances of his distinguished presbyter. His lamented death occurred at Auburn within two weeks. As an inter- esting witness to the friendly personal relations between these men of such differing views and characters a letter of Doctor Milnor to an unnamed correspondent, on the occasion of Bishop Hobart 's return from a European trip in October, 1825, is here recorded: My dear Friend — Before this reaches you, you will probably have heard of the return of Bishop Hobart. The clerg}' attended him yesterday at St. John's, to return thanks for the goodness of Almighty God in restor- ing him to his diocese and family. I never saw him when he looked better, though he says lie is still subject to attacks of dyspepsy. He made a very feeling address to us in the vestry-room; in which he declared that he came home with the liveliest feelings of affection towards all his brethren; that he was sensible of his infirmities, and besought for them the in- dulgence of his friends; that he would at all times be ready to receive counsel from them; and that, whatever might have been, or might still be, his errors, he trusted those who most differed fi'om him would not impute to him other than pure and disinterested motives. Nothing could be more conciliatory or affectionate than hi? demeanor towards myself; nor could congratulations be warmer than those which he expressed on my merciful preservation last winter. I am to dine with him on Monday next, and he with me on the following Thursday. I mention these things as a source of gratification, because indicative of an enlargement of views on the part of Bishop Hobart, which he has acquired by his general intercourse during the last two years, and wliich, if maintained, will greatly contribute to his own peace of mind and the prosperity of the Church. I have ever entertained a warm personal friend- ship for the bishop, with whom I have been intimate for at least five- and-thirty years; but I have ever regi-etted his intolerant views, and de- termined, at all hazards, to maintain my own convictions upon religion and 128 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH church politics, until convinced of their error. I do trust in God, he will see the necessity of allowing to others a liberty which he so largely claims for himself; and then, with a very considerable diversity of opinion, harmony and Christian love may be maintained. I am persuaded that firmness, united with moderation and meekness, on the part of those who wish to see our Church not only advancing in outward prosperity, but growing in evangelical purity and attachment to the distinguishing doc- trines of Christianity, will, in the end, be blessed of God; and that, when our opponents shall be convinced that we have no personal objects in view, and are under the influence neither of fanaticism nor of party spirit, they will feel more charitably disposed towards us, and aj^proximate more nearly that course of sentiment and of action wliich the providence of God is now so manifestly forwarding within the limits of our Church. The sympathy and co-operation shown by St. George's, and its Rectors toward the so-called Union Societies, was a standing rock of offense to the growing party in the Church which would keep clear and distinct the lines of division between it and other Christian bodies. It is hard to realize in our happier time the hostility and obloquy which in those days of bitter partisanship were visited upon those who maintained their privilege and right to affiliate with Christians of other names in such practical work as the circulation of the Holy Scriptures and of non-sectarian tracts. But in those troublous times, covered by the Rectorships of Doctor Milnor and Doctor Tyng, who were recognized leaders of the Evangelical Party, their attitude in advocacy of the Union Societies with the cordial, moral, and financial support of St. George's congregation, was the occasion of no small part of the disfavor and animosity with which they were regarded by the High Church party. The American Bible Society was organized in New York, May 11, 1816, in order to unite the unrelated Bible societies already existing in the leading cities of the country into one grand agency for the dissemination of the Word of God without note or comment throughout the world. Doctor Milnor had been connected with the Philadelphia Bible Society, and upon his removal to New York naturally identified himself at once with the central society just completing its organization. He filled successively the offices of Domestic and of Foreign Secretary, and it was in this latter capacity that he represented the Society in London at the great anniversary of May, 1830. For many years he was chairman of the Committee on Versions, whose duty was " to examine and certify the correct- ness of all the Scriptures published and circulated in various lan- guages at home and abroad ' ' ; and in the last ten years of his life he was chairman of the Committee of Arrangements for Anni- THE MILNOR PERIOD 129 versaries, both positions involving grave responsibility and arduous work. In the latter chairmanship he was succeeded by his suc- cessor in St. George's, as Doctor Tyng was appointed to the posi- tion in 1846. The plan for the organization of the American Tract Society was submitted to Doctor Milnor in his sick-room in 1825, as he was convalescing from a dangerous illness, by the Rev. William A. Hallock, who became its efficient and honored secretary. It was founded upon the principle of publishing and circulating only those truths which all Evangelical Christians unite in regarding as vital, that is essential to salvation. Delegates from various tract societies throughout the United States met in New York, May 10, 1825, with the Rector of St. George's as chairman, and on the fol- lowing day a large public meeting adopted the proposed constitu- tion and elected officers, and the corner-stone of the Society's pub- lishing-house was immediately laid, toward whose erection twenty- five thousand dollars had been subscribed. Doctor Milnor was made chairman of the Executive Committee and also of the Publishing Committee and discharged the duties of both positions with dis- tinguished ability and efficiency until his death. But though stanch in maintenance of the union principle as em- bodied in these two societies, the Rector and people of St. George's were not unmindful of their diocesan obligations. Year after year the published records show that liberal contributions were made to the Episcopal and Diocesan Funds, to the New York Missionary and Education Society, to the New York Bible and Common Prayer- Book Society, to the Protestant Episcopal Sunday-school Union, and the Protestant Episcopal Tract Society, so that it cannot be truly said that St. George's parish ever failed to accord support to diocesan or general Church institutions while standing for liberty to contribute to such other general and local objects as appealed to their sympathy and approval. As indicating the disposition of St. George's to co-operate in furthering diocesan interests, it may be noted that the third annual report of the New York Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society (the original organization for the sup- port of missionaries within the diocese) presented at the anniversary meeting, held in Trinity Church, December 7, 1819, includes this statement : The Board therefore deemed it expedient to appoint a committee to make arrangements for having a sermon and collection for the benefit of the Society, both as it respected the augmentation of its funds and its more particular introduction to the favorable notice of their fellow Episco- palians. Accordingly, with the consent of the Rector of St. George's 130 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Church, in this city, a sermon to be preached by him and a collection for the benefit of the Society, were appointed in that Churcli on Sunday evening, the 20th of December last. To excite a higher degree of interest, and thus to insure a crowded audience, they addressed and distributed nearly five hundred printed invitations to respected families. The sermon was preached by Doctor Milnor and its effectiveness attested by a collection for the Society amounting to five hundred and five dollars. At tlie annual meeting of the same Society in 1826, it was reported that " the Vestry of St. George's Church had given the sum of fifty dollars for the purpose of making their Rector, the Rev. Doctor Milnor, a director for life ' ' ; and the treasurer in January, 1828, reported a collection from St. George's of $101.37. When a project for the relief of the disabled clergy came up in the diocesan convention of 1829, it was resolved to es- tablish a " Clerical Annuity Society," and a committee of which the Rector of St. George's was a member was appointed with power to organize such a society. When the Onderdonk reprint of certain diocesan journals was ordered, St. George's subscribed for five copies at five dollars each. It was not long after his return from Europe that the Rector of St. George's was able to rejoice over improved spiritual condi- tions in his parish and was permitted to gather in some satisfying fruits of his labors. To a clerical friend he wrote, April 8, 1831 : ■ You have, of course, heard of the encouraging state of religious affairs in New York. A time of deeper solemnity, in many congregations, has never been known. Among Presbyterians, Methodists, Reformed Dutch, and Baptists, conversions have been vei-y numerous, and new eases are every day oceuiTing; the greater part from among the youth, but many from the ranks of aged and apparently incorrigible sinners. In Doctor Lyell's congregation there is more attention than usual. In Mr. Mcllvaine's, Brooklyn, much interest prevails; and he has the prospect of a large addition to the number of his communicants. To my own list, thirty-five were added on Easter Sunday; and the whole number who communicated on that delightful day exceeded four hundred — the largest number to whom I have ever been permitted to administer the symbols of a dying^ Saviour's love. The interest still continues; and I am looking, alas, with too small a measure of faith, for its increase. The increased blessing came, for in the following fall he was able to report to the Diocesan Convention an addition of seventy-seven to his list of communicants, while the number of baptisms reported for that year, including very many adults, was one hundred and three. As a witness to the character of Doctor Milnor 's spiritual teaching the Rev. Doctor William Sparrow may be quoted. He was the first THE MILNOR PERIOD 131 incumbent of the Milnor Professorship at Gambier and resigned to begin what proved to be a very long and distinguished career as Divinity Professor in the Alexandria Seminary. In his letter of resignation, dated December 17, 1840, addressed to Doctor Milnor, he wrote : This, however, I think I may say to you, that during eleven years' duty in this station, T have never seen occasion to depart in the least from the spirit of those instructions which, when a lonely student in New York, I used to seek in the lecture-room of St. George's on week-day evening's. May they as certainly carry me, through infinite grace and mercy, to the inheritance which I seek above, as I have endeavored to inculcate them on the minds committed to my care. The City Mission Society was organized, September 29, 1831, in the basement of Christ Church by representatives of the city par- ishes, being subsequently incorporated April, 1833, under the title " New York Protestant Episcopal City Mission Society." The Rector of St. George's and four laymen of that Church were in- cluded in the Board of Managers. It being desired to begin at once the work of Church extension, and a building in Vandewater Street between Pearl and Frankfort used as a Reformed Dutch place of worship being offered for sale on reasonable terms, it was proposed to solicit subscriptions at once and purchase it. Tlie Vestry of St. George 's, however, promptly adopted the following resolutions : Resolved unanimously, That the Rector and the managers of said city mission society, chosen out of this congregation, be requested respectfully to urge upon that body the inexpediency of the said measure. First, because it is deemed to be an unsuitable location for a mission church, it being situated in the immediate vicinity of St. George's Church, and in the midst of a large body of the stated attendents on that Church, and Secondly, because independently of its probable interference with St. George's Church, the obscure site of the building in Vandewater Street, the character of the population around and near it, and the far greater destitution of the means of giace in the more distant part of the eastern portion of the city, would, in the opinion of this Vestry, point to the vicinity of Pike Street, or some location thereabouts, as much more eligible for the operations of the city mission than the one proposed. Resolved, That in the event of the managers of the city mission selecting, instead of Vandewater Street, some such situation as that above suggested,, this Vestry, as an evidence of its sincere approval of the objects of that laudable institution, will in addition to any sums which may be contributed for the erection of a free church by the members of the congregation ap- propriate out of the funds of St. George's Church the sum of one thousand dollars to the same, to be paid in four annual instalments of two hundredl and fiftv dollars each. 132 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Notwithstanding this protest, however, and the generous offer of St. George's Vestry, the buikling was purchased and on November 19th was consecrated by the Bishop under the name of the Church of the Holy Evangelists. The summer of 1832 was a gloomy time for New York through the ravages of Asiatic cholera. This dreadful scourge was brought to Canada by a vessel filled with Irish emigrants bound for Quebec, many of whom died on the passage. From Quebec it spread with appalling rapidity to other Canadian cities and reached New York by way of the Hudson River, despite the strenuous efforts of the Board of Health to avert the threatened disaster. The first case developed on Cherry Street June 25th and more cases were daily reported. Large temporary hospitals were at once established and medical stations for free treatment were opened at convenient points. All who could leave the city promptly fled to the seaside or the mountains. ' Bishop Onderdonk, at the very outbreak of danger, had set forth special prayers for use in the diocese, with a pastoral " affectionately urging that improvement which Christian people should make of the impending judgment of God." The Common Council, in response to a memorial of three hundred leading citizens, designated August 3d " as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer," while the Mayor issued a proclamation recommending to all inhabitants of the city " a due observance of the day so desig- nated as a day of supplication to Almighty God that He will of His infinite mercy be pleased to remove from us this frightful sickness and speedily deliver our country from similar calamities." The day was generally observed and the Neiv York Spectator of August 6th records: " There was a manifest exhibition of sobriety and solemnity of demeanor in the people, and the churches were well attended, considering the number which are absent from the city, constituting a decided majority of the Church - going com- munity." In some of the churches, including St. George's, col- lections were made " for the benefit of those who are constrained to look for the support of existence at this juncture to the benevo- lence of their fellow-citizens." During all the horrors of that wasting scourge the Rector of St. George's remained at his post and continued his ministries among the living and the dead. Under date of August 6th, he wrote to his son in Philadelphia : Yesterday I ofTieiated twice in St. Georsfe's, and, with the advice of my Vestry, gave notice that the Church will be closed for the remainder of the month. Probably two-thirds or tlu-ee-fourths of the congi-esation are ab- THE MILNOR PERIOD 133 sent from the city; and as this is about the time of our annual cleaning, it was thought best to close for that purpose. I would now willingly give the family a little countiy air, but there is gTeat difficulty in knowing where to go with safety, and at the_ same time have a favorable reception. We must inquire and deterrnine, in the course of a few days, whether to remain or go. I must be principally at my post. After raging for ten weeks the epidemic gradually disappeared. Contemporary records show that there were reported 5,835 cases and 2,996 deaths. The operations of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society at Green Bay in Michigan Territory having become embarrassed, the board of directors appointed Doctor Milnor and Doctor Jackson Kemper to visit and report upon the condition of affairs. The choice could not have been happier than that which selected Doctor Milnor for a mission which demanded discriminating judgment, trained business capacity, and unfailing tact. The Vestry gave their cordial assent to his absence from the parish for this special work, and the Rev. Marshall Whiting officiated meanwhile in St. George 's. The westward journey was begun July 3, 1834. The carefully de- tailed report of the commissioners is on record in the archives of the Missionary Society. The honorable distinction of being a congregation imbued with the distinctive missionary spirit belongs to St. George's in a signal degree. Whether in its earliest ministries of going forth to gather in the children and adults, white and black, into its six Sunday- schools; or in its cordial and generous co-operation with others in city mission work and in support of diocesan missions ; or further in the intelligent sympathy and liberal gifts which it has always accorded to the great missionary work of the Church at home and abroad ; or in the superadded notable expression of its missionary zeal applied through modern methods and in changed conditions to the various needs of men, St. George's has ever stood in the front rank of advocates and exponents of the missionary principle in its practical applications. When it was happily discovered and announced at the memorable General Convention of 1835 that '* the Field is the World," a new departure was joyfully hailed by all the friends of missions, as it was declared that " the Church is the Missionary Society " of which every baptized person is a member. It is of interest to know that this idea was first broached by the Eector of St. George's. A committee to consider the question of the organization of the 134 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society had been appointed by the old Board of Directors, consisting of Bishops Doane and Mcllvaine, the Rev. Doctors Mibior, Henshaw, Beasley and Tyng, the Rev. Messrs. John S. Stone and J. W. James and Mr. Alexander C. Magruder. " Before the commitee met," we learn from Bishop Doane himself as stated in the Memoir of his life, " the first three named — Bishop Doane, Bishop Mcllvaine, and Doctor Milnor — came casually together. ' What would you think,' said Doctor Milnor, who had moved the resolution for the appointment of the com- mittee, addressing Bishop Doane — ' what would you think of report- ing that The Church is the Missionary Society and should carry on the work of missions by a board appointed by the General Con- vention ? ' ' Why, ' replied Bishop Doane, ' it is the very plan which 1 have long thought ought to be adopted and for the adoption of which I should thank God with my whole heart.' ' How very strange is this,' said Bishop Mcllvaine. ' I surely knew nothing of the mind of either of you and yet that is the very plan which I have introduced into the sermon which I am to preach before the society.' " When the committee met the other members cordially agreed on a unanimous report, and on Doctor Milnor 's motion the chairman was requested " to state the principles of the plan pro- posed by the committee and the reasons which had led to their adoption." The report was received and adopted with unanimity and enthusiasm, two missionary bishops were elected for the north- west and southwest, respectively, and an impulse given to missionary work which augured well for its future. The field was to be divided into two departments, the Foreign and the Domestic, each of which was to be in the care of a distinct Executive Committee, with a secretary and general agent and a treasurer for each. There had been little interest among those known as High Church- men for the work among the heathen, and in the division of the work into the two departments it came to be a tacit understand- ing that the foreign work should be substantially committed to its special friends the Low Churchmen, while the domestic field should be tilled by the High Church party. It was an egregious mistake, and on the part of the Low Churchmen an utterly fatuous policy, to turn over to the advocates of opposing views the whole machinery of sending out domestic missionaries, estal)lishing parishes, and building up dioceses, thus rapidly insuring that preponderance in the membership and councils of the Church which that party has ever since enjoyed. The inevitable result was that Evangelical Churchmen came to rankle under a sense of injustice in that, though THE MII.NOR PERIOD 135 their churches were the largest contributors, their representatives were allowed but scant influence in appointing missionaries and in direction of the work, while their gifts were utilized in the dis- semination of views to which they had been consistently and con- scientiously opposed; and the American Church Missionary Society came into being in 1859 as a distinctively Evangelical organization, of which due mention will come later in this history. When the new Board of Missions met in Philadelphia, September 1, 1835, the two committees were elected, one to be located in New York and the other in Philadelphia. Wlien at a later meeting the secretaries were chosen, the lot was found to have fallen on the Rev. Benjamin Dorr as secretary and general agent for the Domestic Committee and on the Rev. Doctor Milnor for the Foreign Com- mittee. The former action locating the Foreign Committee in Phila- delphia was therefore reconsidered and both committees were to have headquarters in New York. What now, in view of this election, was the duty of the Rector of St. George's? The choice was eminently fit, because not only was his heart aflame with missionary zeal, but his mental equip- ment and business capacity signally fitted him for the difficult and exacting role of planning and energizing such new methods as the adoption of a new system of administration would demand. The way in which the Rector and his Vestry met the crisis is best told in their own words : To the Vestry of St. George's Church. Gentlemen : You are aware that at the recent assemblage of the newly elected Board of Missions of our Chui'ch, I was elected Secretary and General Agent of the Committee for Foreign Missions. The desire of some of my brethren in high stations, and of distinguished character in the Church, that I should be appointed to and accept that office, had been previously intimated to me, and had uniformly received an answer unfavorable to the expectation of its being practical for me to comply with their wishes. Until im- mediately before the election, I had supposed that my reasons for de- clining the situation would have prevented my being put in nomination. At that time, however, it was mentioned to me, by a resj^ected brother, that it was the intention of some members of the Board to vote for me, and an earnest wish was expressed that I would not in that stage of the proceedings make any objection, but suiJer the election to proceed, even if I should take time aftei-wards to consider the question of my accept- ance. Several nominations were made by different members, but before the final ballot all were withdrawn exce])t my name and that of a reverend brother in Philadelphia. I was painfully circumstanced in being thus held up as a competitor for an office whicli I had not sought, and did not desire, and yet such considerations were urged upon me by my friends as seemed to make it a duty not to withdraw my name. The majority which at 136 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH length was declared in my favour was respectable, and several of the gentlemen who had not voted for me, afterwards signified to me their satisfaction with the result, and their wish that I should aecej^t the office, assigning reasons not necessary to be I'epeated for having pursued a course apparently inconsistent with their professions. Before the final adjournment of the Board I availed myself of an oppor- tunity of stating that I had not consented to be put in nomination, and though T had been restrained by the impoi'tunity of my friends from an actual withdrawal of my name, I must not be considered as now consent- ing to accept the appointment ; that the Board having transferred the Committee to New York, it was within the compass of possibility that some arrangement might be made for a modified engagement in the duties of the office; that no plan, however, would under any circumstances be acceded to by me that would involve a relinquishment of my parochial charge; and whether, with its retention, any arrangements could be made, would depend on my own further consideration of the subject, and the approval of my Vestry and congregation, as well as that of the Foreign Committee; that I would not delay my decision longer than was unavoid- able, and would submit the whole matter to my Vestry as soon as was practicable after my return from the Diocesan Convention at Utica. From that place I arrived on Thursday last, and this meeting is held in conse- quence of notices issued on the day of my arrival. You will thus per- ceive, Gentlemen, that I stand uncommitted, and the question of my ac- ceptance of the office will be decided by your views as to the expediency of an arrangement allowing of my engaging in its duties, while I at the same time retain my connection with St. George's Church. I will state the only plan which has suggested itself to my mind, as at all feasible, and yet I submit it with hesitation, and beg to be considered as by no means pressing it, if it be thought by you inconsistent with the spiritual interests of the beloved people of my charge or with the prosperity of our Church. Suppose it were proposed to the Foreign Committee to receive my accejitance of the office, with an understanding that I should be at liberty to relinquish it at the next annual meeting of the Board of Missions: that in the mean time, I decline all personal emoluments from the ofBce, but that to enable me to detach myself as much as my agency shoidd require from the duties of the parish, an assistant be appointed for one year, with an adequate salary (say, one thousand dollars), this sum to be paid out of the salary appropriated to the agent of the Foreign Committee. [The salary appropriated was twenty-three hundred dollars.] The residue of the annual stipend of the agent to be at the disposal of that committee. It is but fair and candid for me to apprise you, that in the event of your acceding to this arrang'ement the duties of my agency may be expected to be of a very absorbing nature. The office for the trans- acting of business must be an'anged; the minutes, proceeding's, and papers of the late committee be examined, assorted, and put in order; an ex- tensive correspondence be foi'thwith entered upon; plans be projected and executed for widening the sphere of missionary operation, and means be proposed for an increase of pecuniary resources proportioned to the noble views of the Church, in reference to the great work of which she has now assumed the charge. Added to these duties, frequent absences from the city on missionary business will be indispensable, and, when at home, personal attendance at the missionary rooms will be a daily duty. Under THE MILNOR PERIOD 137 these eireumstanees I wish you, Gentlemen, to consider seriously whether for one year, such a sacrifice to the interests of the cause can be submitted to by you, as the representatives, and in behalf of our congregation; and as I consider my obligations as your jDastor i3aramount to all others, I hope you will consider the question without any reference to my wishes or inclinations on the subject. If you should on full deliberation be of opinion that the interests of religion in our cong:regation will be injuriously affected by this arrangement, I liope you will without hesitation decline giving it your sanction, and I will continue my full duties as your pastor, only giving a portion of my time and services to the cause of missions as a member of the Foreign Committee, and leaving it to that Committee to conduct its business for one year, with as efficient a secretary as can be obtained, and such special temporary agencies as they may appoint, until the meeting of the Board of Missions next summer, when a per- manent agent will no doubt be elected. If you should, on the contrary, assent to my engagement in the duties of the agency in the way above suggested, though I feel a humble sense of my insufficiency for the work, I will enter upon it in reliance upon the help of God, and the assistance of my brethren, calculating upon a more laborious course of mental and bodily service than I have ever yet known, and earnestly hoping that the result may redound to the glory of God, and the extension of the Kingdom of the Redeemer. I now refer the whole subject to your decision, and with i^rayer for di\'ine g-uidance in your deliberations, will stand prepared to acquiesce in whatever course your better judgment may determine to be right. I am your obliged & affectionate Pastor James Milnor. St. George's, Oct. 10th, 1835. The Rector, having added some verbal explanations, withdrew from the meeting, and after full discussion the action of the Vestry took the form of adopting unanimously the following resolutions : Resolved, That the communication just read is viewed with the liveliest sensibility, and demands the most serious and deliberate consideration of the Vestiy. It presents the embarrassing alternative of relinquishing for a time the services of our esteemed pastor, in whom the congregation have so long been harmoniously united, or of impeding or discouraging in a degree not easily estimated a highly interesting and commendable enterprise in which our venerable Church has embarked with unparalleled unanimity and zeal, and from the active and judicious prosecution of which results may be augured of the deepest concern to multitudes of our fellow-men. Viewing the magnitude of this enterprise and the peculiar fitness of the selected agent to arrange and put in operation the wisest and most appropriate plans and system to insure its success on a scale commensurate with the expecta- tions and resoui'ces of tlie Church, and trusting that the interests of his permanent and paramount charge may not be materially prejudiced by a partial and temporary deprivation of his stated ser\'ices, it would seem to become the duty of the congregation to submit to the sacrifice involved in an acceptance of this office by their esteemed Rector. 138 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Resolved, That we cordially approve and applaud the disinterested ar- rangement suggested by the Rector in the event of his undertaking the arduous duties of agent in regard to the pecuniary compensation appro- priated by the Board of Missions. Resolved, That if a satisfactory assistant can be obtained on the terms intimated, the Vestiy hereby consent to, and advise the acceptance of the office which has been tendered to the Rector for the term of one year. The Rector having entered into correspondence with the Rev. James W. Cooke, of Lonsdale, Rhode Island, on the subject, re- ported to the Vestry, October 19, 1835, that he entertained hopes of his acceptance of the position, should he be duly called thereto. Whereupon the Vestry unanimously extended the call, which was accepted by Mr. Cooke by letter dated November 10, 1835, in which he wrote : If I must sunder the tie that binds me so strongly to those whom God has given me as the fruits of my ministry, I know of no Church or con- gregation, in the whole eountiy with which I should more earnestly desire to be associated and with whom I expect to experience more of spiritual enjoyment than with the Church and congregation of St. George's. I was confirmed in your Church, while a student, at the Seminary, and when in the city, have felt the atmosphere of St. George's Church to be most congenial with my views and feelings. The relation which I shall sustain to your beloved Rector will be as gratifying to myself as I trust it will prove profitable to my spiritual Avelfare. In most cases such a relation cannot be assumed without fears that it may j^rove in some respects un- pleasant, but in this instance, I feel happy in the belief that the sincere respect and affection which I have long cherished towards your pastor cannot fail to make this relation both delightful and profitable to myself during the period of its continuance, and would humbly hope, with the blessing of God, not entirely without profit to others. The example which is held up to other churches b,y the congregation of St. George's, in making this sacrifice for the Missionary Cause, should call forth our warmest gratitude to the great Head of the Church, and I would hope. Gentlemen, that the same spirit which has led you partially to dispense with the services of yoiu- long-tried and beloved pastor will lead you also to bear with his unworthy assistant, and to seek for him in faitliful prayer those gifts which will make his ministrations useful to tlie impenitent and edify- ing to the Church. The Committee for Foreign Missions, under date October 27, 1835, officially communicated to the Vestry the thanks of the com mittee for the Vestry's '' liberal and disinterested conduct in sur- rendering in part the services of their Rector for one year to act as Secretary and General Agent of this committee." It was a most laborious year to which the Rector of St. George's now addressed himself. Efficient help was rendered him by his congenial assistant, but there are duties of a rectorship which can^ THE MILNOR PERIOD 139 not be devolved on any one. The usual demands upon his time and energy, arising from responsibilities of office in the many organ- izations in which he held positions, were in no wise relaxed. Into the work of the Foreign Committee he plunged with characteristic zeal, imparting to the missionary management a system and efficiency not previously attained. His wise administration of affairs secured the Church's confidence, and the addresses which he made on mis- sionary journeys at diocesan and other gatherings diffused among the clergy and the people some measure of his own ardent missionary spirit. But it all told upon his health ; his nerves were overwrought, his strength was overtaxed, and it was clear that he must make a choice between his rectorship and his official work for missions. So thoroughly engrossed had he become in his absorbing secretarial duties that those associated with him had begun to indulge the thought that he might entertain what he had deemed at first a wholly inadmissible idea that he should sever his connection with St. George's and make the missionary agency the business of his after-life. In view of the necessity of some decision, the Rector laid the matter at some length before the Vestry for their * ' friendly counsel " in a communication in which, after rehearsing the steps by which with their consent he had accepted the secretarial duty, he expressed the conviction that neither his time of life nor strength of constitution would admit of his continuing to perform the duties of both offices. He then goes on to say: The conclusion to which my mind has decisively come is, that, if I con- tinue to serve as Secretary and General Agent, I must sunder the ties by which I have so long been united to my beloved j^eople. This, unless it were desired by them, I cannot consent to do. The providence of God directed me to this sphere of duty, my humble labours He has gi^aciously blessed. I love, tendei'ly love, the souls whom God has committed to my charge. To leave them would inflict a pang, the anguish of wliich nothing but death could relieve. I should enter on other duties with a painful conviction that I was doing so at the exj^ense of such as I ought to have considered to have higher claims upon the remaining years of my life. It is impossible for me to reconcile such a course with the clearest impressions of duty, as a minister of Christ, and the pastor of a con- gregation endeared to me by such a series of proofs of their respect and love as I feel I have not deserved, and am therefore the more bound to remember with heartfelt gTatitude, and requite by the best services of which the continued goodness of my Heavenly Father may make me capable. . . . The whole subject is now before 3^ou. . . . With a sincere desire that we may all be guided to right conclusions acting in their attainment with a single eye to God's glory and the best interests of the Church, I remain your affectionate pastor & obli'ged friend James Milnor. 140 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The Vestry, after full deliberation, June 16, 1836, unanimously resolved : That the communication from the Rector, just read, containing a candid statement of his embarrassing situation, as Rector of this Church and Secretai-y and General Agent of the Foreign Committee of the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and soHciting counsel and direction from the Vestry, presents a fair view of the circumstances under which he was led to consult, and the Vestry to consent and advise, in the month of October last, that he would yield to the wishes of the Church by undertaking the arduous duty of arranging, maturing, and reducing to practice, plans for the operations of foreign missions on the enlarged and spirited scale which had been recently pledged. In advising him to that course, the Vestry were influenced by the belief, that he might render essential services to the general interests of religion, without material interference with his paramount duties to the congregation, or prejudice to his own health, provided the new office was seasonably relinquished. In the judgment of the Vestry at that time, the extreme term for which it would be proper for the Rector to enter into these engagements, with a due regard to the considerations last named, was a single year; and be- yond that term they were then of opinion, and still entertain the belief, that their constituents would not be satisfied to make the sacrifices incident to the arrangement. It now appears, that the year for which the Rector is committed, and to which the Vestry consented, will not have been com- pleted at the annual meeting of the Board of Missions; but the Vestry fully concur with the Rector as to the propriety of his signifying to the board, at that meeting, his determination to decline a reappointment, that they may immediately provide a successor, unless they contemplate a special meeting at the expiration of his year. The Vestrj' think that every view Avhich can be taken of the subject demonstrates the propriety of a relinquishment of the office of Secretary and General Agent at the time specified. As to the altema\ive referred to by the Rector, they cannot, either for themselves or for the congTCgation, for a moment listen to a proposition of dissolving the ties which have so long and so affectionately and happily and usefully united them to- gether, that he might devote himself exclusively to the missionary cause. They believe with him that he has passed the period of life at which it would be practicable to continue, for a length of time, the laboi'ious efforts requisite for the discharge of both offices. They have lent him for a year, and have reason to rejoice in the belief, that their object in doing so has been fully realized : they believe, now, that the interests of the congregation require his speedy return to his pastoral duties; and they trust, under these circumstances, the Board of Missions will readily acquiesce in the opinion expressed by them. Thus relieved of the exacting duties of the secretaryship, the tension upon his health relaxed, and the duties of his rectorship and the claims of the benevolent and other organizations with which he was connected regained his undivided attention. As a token of respect to the venerable Bishop "White, the Presiding THE MILNOR PERIOD 141 Bishop of the Church whose lamented death occurred July 17, 1836, the Church was draped in mourning and the Vestry adopted a series of resolutions reciting their sincere sorrow and sense of loss, their gratitude that his useful life had heen so long spared, and their heartfelt sympathy with his bereaved family. CHAPTER VI THE MILNOR PERIOD (1836-1845) The Rector of St. George's was deeply interested in the cause of theological education and readily secured the cordial co-operation of the congregation in its behalf. As early as 1822 an Education Society was founded in the parish " to assist pious young men in obtaining a classical education and attending on the instruction of the Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, with a view to Holy Orders in the said Church or either of these objects." The General Theological Seminary had been established by the General Convention in 1817, under the leadership of the Bishop and delegates from South Carolina, to be located in the City of New York. But despite all the efforts of the friends of the movement little interest was awakened in its behalf among the leading churchmen of New York; and " even Bishop Hobart treated it with comparative indifference," apparently from his " fear of committing a power so vital to the Church as the con- trol of the education of its candidates to a body so fluctuating and ir- responsible as the General Convention, at least in its House of Dele- gates." No sufficient funds for its support were forthcoming, and the General Convention in May, 1820, determined to remove it to New Haven, where, it was said, ' ' the professors and students could have access to public libraries, enjoy the benefits resulting from literary society, and live comfortably at a moderate expense." Thereupon Bishop Hobart at once appealed to his diocese to es- tablish a theological seminary in New York, which was opened in May, 1821. But meanwhile by the death of Mr. Jacob Sherred, a vestryman of Trinity parish and who had been the architect of the second St. George's building in Beekman Street, a legacy of sixty thousand dollars was found to be available for " a seminary to be located in New York." The question at once arose which institu- tion was entitled to the legacy. To determine the matter a special THE MILNOR PERIOD 143 session of the General Convention was called to meet in October of the same year, the happy outcome of which was the removal of the General Seminary back to New York, its consolidation with the diocesan school, the securing of the Sherred legacy as part of its endowment, the adoption of a new constitution for it by this General Convention of 1821, and the reopening of the institution, February 13, 1822, in the rooms of the Trinity Church School with two pro- fessors and twenty-three students. The laying of the corner-stone of the new building took place July 28, 1825, on the present site of the seminary on Ninth Avenue between Twentieth and Twenty- first streets, sixty lots in Chelsea having been munificently given by Dr. Clement C. Moore. The Rector of St. George's was one of the first trustees and zealously labored for its interests throughout his life. In response to an appeal for funds for the Seminary members of the congregation of St. George's met at the church in December, 1824 and contributed so liberally that at the annual meeting of the Seminary trustees in the ensuing July seventeen hundred dollars was acknowledged as donated by St. George's Church besides " Doctor Milnor's second instalment of one hundred dollars." The Rector of St. George's was appointed at the diocesan convention, October, 1828, a member of the Theological Education Committee whose duty was, ' ' in conjunction with the Bishop, to devise, and as far as practicable to carry into effect, measures for procuring means for educating young men for the ministry. ' ' The project of endowing a scholarship in the Seminary to be known as " the Scholarship of St. George's Church in the City of New York ' ' was brought before the ' ' Association of St. George 's Church for the Promotion of Christianity " by the Rector in Janu- ary, 1835, and by it approved, and the Rector was requested to bring the matter before the congregation, which he did in the en- suing month. Two thousand dollars was promptly raised and paid in to the treasurer of the Church and by him remitted to the treas- urer of the Seminary for the endowment of a perpetual scholarship, the right of nomination to which should vest in the Rector of St. George's. A list of the incumbents of this scholarship will be found in the appendix. A further evidence of the interest of St. George 's in the Seminary was its response to a request of the trustees that an annual collection toward defraying the current expenses of the institution for the next five years be taken up in St. George's Church, which request ■was granted by the Vestry and its first contribution of $83.24 was Ii4 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH followed by another in the ensuing year of $116.16. The Rector was further authorized to obtain at the expense of the Church suit- able furniture and books to be placed in the room allotted to the person appointed to the St. George's Scholarship. A carpet was added later. Benjamin W. Stone was the first beneficiary nominated by the Rector. A pew in the Church was assigned by the Vestry, at the suggestion of the Rector, in 1840, for the use of such students in the Seminary as might care to occupy it. Doctor Milnor was constant in his attendance at the meetings of the trustees and mingled freely with the students. In a letter of July 1, 1833, he writes to the Rev. -John S. Stone: My acquaintance with most of the graduates and with many of the students, inspires me with a very pleasing hope of an increasing tendency, in that important institution of our Church, towards moderate Church views and evangelical doctrines. You will see, by The Recorder of last week, the delightful promise of the eolle^ate institution at Bristol, Pennsylvania : I verily believe no at- tempt in the Church, by those of our views, has ever been made, from which more good will result, provided the energies of the pious are prompt- ly I3ut forth in its establishment and support. Let us pray earnestly for our dear brother C and his associates, and for the complete success of this hallowed work. Upon the expressions of this letter Doctor Stone thus comments in his Memoir of Doctor Milnor: This letter, placed in the light of subsequent events, shows that Doctor Milnor was disappointed in two of his most pleasing anticipations: his hope, that the tendency of our General Seminary would be increasingly towards moderate Chui'ch views and evangelical doctrines; and his hope, that Bristol College would live to fulfil its first ' delightful promise,' of g'ood to the cause of Scriptural truth and godliness. The star of Bristol College has long since fallen from our ecclesiastical firmament, into the darkness of utter extinction ; while that of our General Seminary is suf- fering an occultation, which threatens to be gloomier than the darkness even of extinction itself. There is blessed light within it yet; but baleful shadows have fallen between it and our eyes, portending ' trouble and darkness,' and the ' dimness of anguish,' to those who look for the break- ing forth of the true brightness. In a letter under date of April 6, 1837, Doctor I\Iilnor gives some justifying reason for his retention of the office of trustee in the Seminary, while so utterly out of accord with the principles of Traetarianism which were beginning to make their appearance there: It is true, that from the beginning, I have acted as a trustee of the General Theological Seminary: aided, however, by other brethren, I am persuaded I have been able to exercise, not a controlling, but a restraining influence on many of its proceedings. By intercourse with the students, which would have been far less influential had I stood in the attitude either of opposition or of indifference to that institution, I have been able THE MILNOR PERIOD 145 to give much individual encouragement to their adoption of moderate Church principles and evangelical doctrines, and to the cultivation of habits of personal piet}^; and experience in this, as well as in some other depart- ments, has convinced me, that so far as we can. without a compromise of principle, it is best to act with our brethren of the other school. The effect has been, thus far, I believe, beneficial. The Oxford Tracts were republished in New York in 1839. Their principles had made great headway in England, and until the ap- pearance of Tract No. 90, which closed the series, there had been many of the clergy and laity on both sides of the Atlantic who welcomed the distinctive teaching of the Tracts, whose avowed ob- ject was " the practical revival of doctrines which, although held by the great divines of our Church, at present have become obsolete with the majority of her members and are withdrawn from public view even by the more learned and orthodox few who still adhere to them." But with the issue of Tract No. 90 Bishop Perry says in his History : The whole ecclesiastical atmosphere was at fever-heat; bishops and clergy, pastors and people, were marshaled against each other in hostile array; the newspapers were filled with the angiy controversy and scarce a week elapsed without one or more bitter recriminating pamphlets being issued from the press. A graduate of the General Theological Seminary, Arthur Carey, a young man of unblemished character and marked ability who had adopted the Tractarian opinions, was ordained by Bishop Onder- donk in July, 1843, despite the public protest of the Rev. Doctors Hugh Smith and Henry Anthon. The agitation became intense throughout the Church. The perversion to Rome of Newman and many others in England, together with that of Bishop Ives of North Carolina and divers of our priests and laymen, was pointed out as the legitimate result of the Tractarian teachings. Among the op- ponents of the Oxford Movement none was more staunch than the Rector of St. George's, and as he had given careful study to the whole series of Tracts he was an intelligent opposer of what he re- garded as a '* dangerous system " and " novelties which disturb our peace." The congregation of St. George's were thoroughly in accord with their Rector. The interest of St. George's and its Rector in the cause of theo- logical education was further signally evidenced by their connec- tion with the founding of the college and seminary at Gambler, Ohio. Bishop Philander Chase of that diocese, profoundly impressed 10 146 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH with the necessity of establishing an institution of secular and theo- logical learning in that new land and failing to secure either ade- quate sympathy or material help from his brethren in the East, sailed for Europe in October, 1823, to solicit funds from members of the Church of England. So persuasively did he present his cause that he secured upward of thirty thousand dollars, which he applied primarily to the purchase of eight thousand acres of wild land in Knox County, near the center of the State, and wdth unflagging energy and amid appalling discouragements set about laying founda- tions for the new institutions. The immediate location he named Gambler in honor of Lord Gambler, an English patron of the enter- prise. The college was named Kenyon after Lord Kenyon. The chapel was called Ross Chapel, in honor of Lady Ross, and sub- sequently the divinity hall when erected was named Bexley, in recognition of the interest of Lord Bexley therein. Among those who rallied to the Bishop's support the necessity of endowments was promptly recognized, and among the efforts made to secure permanent support for Kenyon and Gambler was that which resulted in the establishment of " the Milnor Professorship of Divinity." It was purposed to raise an endowment fund of ten thousand dollars, to which Doctor Milnor himself and members of St. George's liberally contributed. Bishop Chase and his brother, members of St. Luke's Church, Rochester, New York, and others also contributing, the sum collected reached seven thousand dollars and was subsequently increased to $7,720.60. It was understood and agreed that the nomination of the incumbent of the professorship should vest in Doctor Milnor during his life subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees of the institution, and in the event of no nomination being made by Doctor Milnor or his successors the board should itself appoint the professor. The fund was to be placed in the care of trustees chosen by the subscribers, who should properly invest the same and apply the income to the support of the professor. It was the desire of the trustees of the institution that the Cor- poration of St. George's Church should act as trustees of the fund and a legal instrument authorizing them to do so was duly executed. But the Vestry, deeming itself legally incapable of assuming the trust, at a meeting held April 21, 1831, devolved the responsibility upon its " individual members to act in their private capacity as temporary trustees of the fund subscribed to endow the professor- ship aforesaid according to the terms of the instrument above men- tioned." As a final disposition of the matter in June, 1848, the Corporation of St. George's executed its bond for seven thousand THE MILNOR PERIOD 147 dollars, the interest on which at six per cent, was to be paid semi- annually. This interest was regularly paid up to 1873, the amount having been meanwhile increased to $231.62, owing to the fact that various additional contributions had been made to the fund. The right of nomination to the Milnor professorship, which had been vested for the period of ten years after the death of Doctor Milnor in the Vestry of St. George's, expired in April, 1855. The Vestry thereupon offered, in case the trustees of Kenyon College agreed to continue this right of nomination, to make the annual payment seven hundred dollars for a second ten years. This offer was accepted by the trustees and at the expiration of the period the arrangement was renewed. During the years, however, from 1873 to 1878 there was no Milnor professor and no interest was paid or demanded, the Vestry having been advised that nothing was legally payable on the bond during the vacancy. In 1877 a special com- mittee, consisting of Charles Tracy and H. P. Marshall, was ap- pointed " to inquire into the relation of this corporation to the Milnor Professorship of Theology in Kenyon College." This com- mittee's labors extended through nearly four years, and a scrap-book containing correspondence, resolutions, and propositions from both parties interested, together with the final agreement, was prepared by the committee in order to preserve the history of the matter in permanent and intelligible form ; and this voluminous scrap-book is now in the archives of the Church. The settlement was dated Janu- ary 6, 1881, and is a formal instrument whereby all questions re- specting the fund were adjusted, the signatory parties thereto being the wardens and treasurer of St. George's Church, the Theological Seminary of the Diocese of Ohio by Gregory T. Bedell, Bishop and President of the Board of Trustees, and Cyrus S. Bates, at that time the incumbent of the Milnor professorship, for himself and his successors in office. St. George's Corporation bound itself by this instrument to ' ' the payment of two hundred and fifty dollars on the first day of June and December in each year for the use and sup- port of the Milnor professor." The endowment was increased in 1867 by nine thousand dollars, the gift of Mrs. Sarah Lewis, of Cincinnati, since which date it has been known as the Milnor and Lewis Professorship. The following named divines have been the successive incumbents of the professorship : William Sparrow, 1830- 41; Samuel Fuller, 1843-45; Thomas M. Smith, 1845-63; Henry Tullidge, 1863-65 ; John J. McElhirmey, 1865-70 ; Cyrus S. Bates, 1875-85; Fleming James, 1885-89; Theodore C. Seibt, 1889-95; D. F. Davies, 1895-. 148 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The relation to the parish of the Rev. James W. Cooke, the as- sistant minister, was brought before the Vestry in a communication dated July 25, 1836, in which he stated that among other invita- tions from various sources to change his field of labor he had re- ceived a call to the Rectorship of Trinity Church, Philadelphia, but had not felt at liberty to give any encouragement to its acceptance, as the year of his engagement at St. George's had not expired. The matter was duly considered by the Vestry, and, as Mr. Cooke's services had proved eminently acceptable to the congregation, a proposition was introduced to continue his relation to the parish as assistant minister, so long as Doctor Milnor should remain its Rector, if this arrangement would be acceptable to Mr. Cooke. Having been duly apprised of the proposition and having become satisfied of the unanimity of the desire, on the part of Vestry and people, that he should continue his services in St. George's, he signified his willingness to be guided in the matter by their judgment. He was accordingly elected, July 30th, assistant minister, to serve during the Rectorship of Doctor Milnor at a salary increased to one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. A " suitable organ " for the lecture-room at an expense not ex- ceeding four hundred and fifty dollars had been ordered in March, but not proving satisfactory the Rector was authorized, December 8, 1836, to exchange it " for one of a softer tone," the difference in expense to be paid by the treasurer. The belfry clock being faulted for its irregular striking, owing to carelessness on the part of successive custodians, the committee on property ultimately found a permanent cure for the Vestry's re- sponsibility in the matter by arranging with the city authorities, after six months of negotiation, that the superintendent of public clocks should take charge of the one in St. George's Church. Mr. Gerrit H. Van Wagenen, a former warden of the Church, devised and bequeathed to the Corporation of St. George's a certain tract of land in trust, directing its conversion into money to be invested and the income to be applied for the support of a mis- sionary in the County of Chenango, State of New York. The ex- tract from his will embodying this devise and bequest was laid before the Vestry in February, 1838, and referred to a committee. Final action was not taken till October, 1840, when, the Bishop of Western New York having inquired as to the status of the legacy, it was " resolved that inasmuch as this Vestry entertains very great doubt of its legal ability to accept of and hold in trust said bequest THE MILNOR PERIOD 149 of the late G. H. Van Wagenen, Esq., for the purpose named in the will, they therefore respectfully decline the same." The Rector announced to the Vestry in October, 1838, that, under the plan of Trinity School, " St George's Church is entitled to two free scholarships in the classical department of said School "; and on February 14, 1839, reported that John James MacLaren had been presented by him in behalf of this Vestry to one of its scholar- ships in Trinity School and that he had been examined and was accepted and was now at that institution. A communication was received from the Protestant Episcopal Mission Society enclosing Article III. of the Constitution and in- viting the Vestry to send a delegate as a manager of that Society. The request was acceded to and Mr. William Shatzel was elected. Mr. Thatcher Tucker succeeded him in the following year, 1839. The Rector, December 13, 1838, presented a communication from a committee of the Vestry of Trinity Church requesting the appoint- ment of a committee " to confer with committees of other vestries upon the subject of a general cemetery for the use of the various congregations of Episcopalians in our city." The subject was re- ferred to Dr. John Stearns, William Whitlock, Jr., and B. L. Woolley, who duly conferred with the committees from the other vestries and reported the terms upon which the trustees of the new Greenwood Cemetery proposed to convey an aggregate of one thousand lots to the several churches. After ample consideration the Vestry, on the recommendation of its committee, agreed to " take one hundred lots on said terms, provided there be a concurrence on the part of other churches so as to secure the success of the undertaking. ' ' But such concurrence failed and as its final action the Vestry voted, October 13, 1842, '' that it is inexpedient to subscribe for lots in the Greenwood Cemetery." The Corporation of Trinity had mean- while passed a similar resolution of inexpediency and purchased from Richard F. Carman the site of the present Trinity Cemetery. It having been proposed that the Church should unite with other owners of property in Beekman Street to have the said street paved with blocks of wood, the matter was referred to the committee on property and repairs with power. By this time, 1840, the population of New York had become 312,852. A sad premonitory symptom of the trend of population up-town, which was already sapping the strength of St. George's, is found in this item from the records, April 8, 1841 : ' ' Mr. James; I. Hoyt and Mr. Stewart Brown stated that, owing to the great distance from the church of their present residences, they were 150 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH reluctantly compelled to decline being candidates for a seat in the Vestry at the ensuing election." A portrait of the Rt. Rev. Charles Inglis, D.D., first Bishop of Nova Scotia, was received by the Vestry, March 16, 1843 ; being a gift of his son, the Rt. Rev. John Inglis, D.D., third Bishop of Nova Scotia, and transmitted through the Bishop of this diocese, to be placed in the vestry-room of this Church in memory of his Rector- ship of Trinity Church in this city previous to the Revolutionary War, St. George's being at that time one of the chapels of that parish. The Foreign Committee of the Missionary Society of the Church, which had acquired the habit of looking to St. George's in emer- gencies, elected in December, 1842, its assistant minister as their Secretary and General Agent until the meeting of the Board of Missions in the following June. This fact having been communicated to the Vestry, and the Rector having expressed his willingness to take upon himself the extra parochial duty in order to enable Mr. Cooke to accept the appointment, the Vestry gave its consent. In the following May, however, Mr. Cooke having favorably con- sidered a call to St. Michael's Church, Bristol, Rhode Island, re- quested the Vestry, in view of his relation to the parish established in 1836, to place him at liberty to decide upon the question of his personal duty in this matter. Permission to resign was thereupon accorded him, and with the assurance of the Vestry's " high sense of his talents and piety " he removed to Bristol. With the resignation of the Rev. Mr. Cooke the office of assistant minister in St. George's lapsed and such assistance as the Rector required thereafter, till the close of his life, was furnished chiefly by the Rev. Pierre P. Irving (sometime Secretary and General Agent of the Foreign Committee) to whom, as indeed to his former associate, the Rev. J. W. Cooke, the Rector felt sincere attachment. His intercourse with them was ever cordial and their auxiliary labors most acceptable to the congregation. The following note from Mr. Irving to the Rector bears pleasing witness to the character of their relations : MissiONART-RooMS, Monday, Dec. 4, 1843. Rev. and dear Sir — I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your very kind note of this morning, with the aecom]:)an3dng check. It is very gratifying to me to learn that my services are at all accept- able; and I can say with all truth, that even were there no emolument derived from them, I should render tlie same services with the greatest readiness and ]ileasure. My employment at St. George's has given me a delightful spiritual home, and relieved me from the chief source of con- THE MILNOR PERIOD 151 cem, arising out of my separation from pastoral duty. I consider it not the least among the many marks of the divine goodness towards me, that I have been thus brought into tliis frequent intercourse with yourself and your flock. I am, most faithfully and affectionately, yours, Pierre P. Irving. Notice was received by the Vestry, January 9, 1845, from Philip Embury, James A. Burtus, and Augusta Embury, executors of Mrs. Anna Waldron, that a legacy of five hundred dollars had been be- queathed by her ''to be applied to the aid and support of the Sunday-schools of St. George's Church." The Rector was requested to receive the same, give a proper acquittance therefor, and pay it over to the treasurer for investment, " the income arising there- from to be paid over to the Rector to be expended by him in the support of the Sunday-schools of this Church." A recurrence of the disease which in 1825 had brought him to the verge of the grave, again, at the opening of 1844, threatened the Rector's life. As before, the issue wavered in uncertainty and as before " prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him " and again prevailed to the prolongation of his useful life. Such letters as the following from Bishop Eastburn of Massa- chusetts and Bishop Mcllvaine of Ohio, addressed to him soon after his recovery, expressed the general feeling of relief and thank- fulness : Boston, March 6, 1844. My dear Friend — An intention, long cherished, to address a few lines to you from this my new home and field of labor, is now quickened by the desire which I feel to congratulate you on your recent recovery from severe and dangerous illness. I am filled, as I humbly trust, with gTatitude to God that He has spared you for yet further services to His Church, at this period of her searching trials. Little can we afford to lose at such a time, if ever, those of God's ministering servants who are true to the grand essentials of the Gospel, and to those standards of our Church which so unequivocally set forth the Gospel, May you live, my dear friend, to see the present cloud passing away, and to witness the triumph of our scriptural communion over principles which, if generally prevalent, would reduce us to a condition little different from that of the dark ages: to a body without a soul, a shell without the kernel. Gambier, June 20, 1844. My dear Doctor — I have often intended writing to you to express my joy at your recoveiy from your dangerous illness; but almost constant absence from home on visitations, for three months, has prevented. For a long while I could not hear how you were; and only judged you were better, because not hearing that you were worse. I have no doubt you experienced the same sweet support and peace in your danger as when, many 152 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH years ago, you lay expecting to depart. The Lord has raised you up to wit' ness and share still more of the trials of His Chureh. How we are beset on all sides ! Our heresies within ; the universal crusade against us from without : and tlien, the fuel to the zeal of that crusade, which is given by sucli ti'ibulations as tliat in Philadelphia, and the less public but quite understood case of greater evil in New York. These are trials ! This allusion to the * ' case of greater evil ' ' was to that of the Bishop of New York in whose unhappy trial the Rector of St. George's was to be called to take part as a witness. During the Rector's illness and in the absence of Mr. Irving on missionary duty, the services in St. George's were supplied by that devoted and amiable young clergyman '' whose years were all too few," the Rev. William H. "Walter. His reply to the Rector's letter of appreciation is of interest : 15 University Place, April 17, 1844. Rev. axd deae Sir — In the evening I received your note with its ac- companiments. I desire to acknowledge your promjat and liberal remunera- tion of the services which it has been my privilege to render you during your illness. With still greater pleasure do I accept the token of your personal esteem with which you have favored me. Most beautiful and valuable in itself, the gift has a still higher value in my eyes, as the ex- pression, which you have made it, of the Chi^istian regard and affection towards me, entertained by one so much my senior in years, and so justly honored and venerated in the Church. In return, sir, I can only reciprocate from my heart the sentiments of attachment which you have expressed, and renew to you the assurance that my temporary connection with your- self and your cure has been productive to me of the most unqualified satisfaction. That our gracious Lord may continue you yet many years in happy and active ministration to your flock, is the fervent prayer, Dearest sir, of your sincere and respectful Friend and brother, Wm. Henry Walter. Rev. Doctor Milnor. Doctor Milnor's recovery was characterized by renewed devotion to his parochial duties and an increasing disinclination to the con- troversial ' ' strife of tongues ' ' whose bitterness and intensity marked those troublous times. But the peaceful quietude he sought for his declining years was rudely invaded by the necessity laid upon him to discharge a most painful duty to testify at the trial of his Diocesan. Bishop Onderdonk was presented for trial on grave charges after the adjournment of the General Convention in 1844 and was suspended from office by the judgment of his Episcopal peers January 3, 1845. The Rector of St. George's bore his testi- mony with unfeigned reluctance, but with candor and directness and with a deep sense of his responsibility in a matter so seriously THE MILNOR PERIOD 153 involving the welfare of the Church. Unkind reflections on his motives and his course were not lacking in some quarters and every eifort was made to discredit his evidence. But Bishop Smith of Kentucky, in a letter relating to the impression made upon him by the " singular wisdom, kindliness, and firmness " of Doctor Milnor during this memorable trial, wrote : I thought I ah-eady knew him thoroughly, and that I duly appreciated that singular statesman-like combination of boldness and firmness of prin- ciple with a just and tender regard for the rights and feelings of others, and a most seiiipulous care to preserve his character and influence intact and unimijaired. But his whole course during our General Convention, pending the question of presentment and trial, and during his own long and vexatious cross-examination, gave me so much higher an idea than I had ever before entertained of his wisdom and worth that I could not but devoutly give thanks for the gi'ace of God which is in him. The agitation and dissensions consequent upon this trial and verdict throughout the Church, and especially in the diocese of New York, were wide-spread and long-continued. But the Rector of St. George's, deploring the evils of the times, sought to withdraw himself from the prevailing contention, as " years were creeping upon him, the fire of youth was abated and the holy calm of eternity was settling on his spirit. ' ' Beyond his exacting round of parochial duties, and the claims upon his time of the many religious and benevolent organizations in which he still held official position, a new subject of solicitude and interest was forcing itself upon his mind. It was the now familiar problem of ' ' the down - town Church." The increasing demands of business were supplanting the residences of rich and poor alike by warehouses and factories and stores, and the movement was proceeding with accelerating force. Already many of St. George's families had moved up-town; and although not a few of these had at great inconvenience, for it was not a day of easy transportation, through loyalty to the old Church, about which clustered so many happy spiritual memories and through their personal attachment to the saintly man who had long ministered to them in spiritual things, continued to attend, still members had diminished and the income of the Church de- creased. Deeply concerned as were the Rector and the Vestry at the con- dition of affairs, no thought was entertained of the abandonment of the old Church. But the solution of the problem was sought in a proposal to erect up-town a chapel with free sittings which would ac- commodate as many of the old parishioners as could be reached and 154 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH others in the neighborhood of the new site. The wisdom of this plan for Church extension was intensified by the sad fact that the growth of the Church in the city had in no degree been keeping pace with the growth of the population, and the statistics of the day show that the Church was far behind other religious bodies in the ratio of its growth. A contemporary sermon by the Rector of St. Marks speaks of this as " a melancholy and reproachful picture. What can be done to meet this pressing emergency?" Neither the Rector nor the Vestry of St, George's were disposed to ignore this pressing question of responsibility for the unchurched. But to maintain the old church and erect a new would involve the assumption of a greater responsibility and expenditure than would be prudent for St. George's unaided to undertake. The matter was brought before the Vestry at a meeting held April 2, 1845. The Rector stated that his influence and co-operation had been solicited to insure the erection of a free chapel of St. George's Church in the upper part of the city, where the ricli and poor might worship together, according to the spirit of the Gosi^el and ancient usage. A former member of this parish had generoush' offered a subscription of five thousand dol- lars, and to use his eiforts in canning fonvard the design to completion. The Rector stated his unwillmgness to embark in this enterj^rise until he had the consent and concuiTence of his Vestry ; and he felt the more flelicacy after the remark of a member of the Vestry, who, in stating the wishes and designs of those who ui'ged it, said, that in addition to other and weighty motives, they also designed it as a lasting memento of the piety, faithfuhiess, and extended usefulness of the present Rector of St. George's Clmrch. He hoped that the subject would be thorougiily investi- gated by the Vestry through a committee, to report at a future meeting. The Vestry thereupon appointed a committee of the five senior members — Doctor Stearns and Messrs. Burtus, Woolley, Whitlock, and Winston, with the addition of the Rector as chairman — which committee, upon the adjournment of the Vestry, remained to con- sider the subject and came to the conclusion with entire unanimity to report in favor of the undertaking, provided Trinity Church would contribute twenty-five thousand dollars toward it; there be- ing reason to believe that a similar amount would be contributed by individuals friendly to the undertaking, the Rector himself offer- ing a personal contribution of five thousand dollars. It being left with the chairman of the committee to draft a suitable memorial to Trinity Church, he addressed himself with characteristic prompt- ness and energy to its preparation, and early the next morning sent it to a member of the committee with a request that he would hand it to the other members for examination. THK MILNOR PEEIOD 155 On the following Sunday he preached, with his accustomed energy and earnestness, on the subject of " A charitable judgment of the opinions and conduct of others " and in the afternoon to the in- mates of the " Asylum for Respectable Aged and Indigent Fe- males." On the ensuing Tuesday, April 8th, a member of the committee called upon him to return the draft of the memorial on the subject of the proposed chapel and conversed with him some time upon it, the Doctor proposing some slight verbal changes and retaining the document for their incorporation therein. In the evening he presided at a meeting of the Directors of the Deaf and Dumb Institution in his study; at the close of which, in reply to a congratulation upon his appearance of good health, he laid his hand upon his breast and said, impressively, " I have some- thing here, sir, which warns me to expect death at any moment." "Within five hours his body lay — a lifeless form. The good man rested from his labors. He had gone to his reward. The shock, however, of his unexpected death created a profound impression. The Rev. Doctor Stone thus testifies : It may be said with truth, that seldom, if ever, have simaltaneous and wide-spread expressions of public grief testified more loudly or more tonehingly to the worth of a departed man of God, than th.ose which were poured foi'th upon the announcement of Doctor Milnor's sudden demise. He had not been living in his closet alone, nor in his study chiefly, perusing or producing those volumes which elicit the world's loud pnjses or louder strictures, to soothe or to torture the living author's ear. ' Fruitur sua fama ' could indeed be said of him, if not as a living scholar, at least as a living actor, moving among the multitudes whom his beneficent life had blessed, and enjo\ang the secret consciousness of a well-earned fame. Still, it was not during life that even as an actor in its busy scenes, his worth was fully proclaimed, and his praises fully uttered. Towards the living philanthropist, the living man of beneficent activity, the world often be- haves not only with something of fitting modesty, lest its praises should seem like flatteiy, but also with something of apparent indifference, be- cause not fully conscious of the blessings which it is receiving. In such cases, it is only when the instrument of those blessings is removed, that men awake to a true sense of their indebtedness, or give free vent to the emotions which had been silently growing into strength within them. It was so in the present case. Although he was a well-read divine, yet he was most emphatically a man of action. In this character, too, the Chris- tian world knew him Avidely, and widely appreciated the gTeat value of his services; yet it was not till he was gone, that it was prepared fully to express its appreciation, or even fully to realize the value of what it appreciated. But when death came, and he no longer walked among living men, then his true worth was felt in the distressful void produced : grief burst forth on every hand; and deep acknowledg-ments to God were made for the I'are blessing so long enjoyed, so late removed. The religious press, 156 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of every Christian denomination, and in every part of the country, spoke forth the streng-th and fei"\'or of the common sentiment; nor was even the secular press either less prompt or less emphatic in its utterances. The various societies, greater and smaller, of which he had been a member, met and mourned, and gave published expressions of their sorrows and their sense of loss. The clergy of his own Church, of all orders and of all opinions, united in heartfelt tributes to his memory and his worth. The great anniversaries in New York, w^hich occurred soon after liis death, spread throughout Protestant Christendom the loud wail of sorrow for the dead, and the equally loud note of gratitude to God that the dead had lived. The pulpit, especially of the E]:)iscopal Chui'ch, gave voice in cities and in villages to the universal feeling; and in many of the religious periodicals of the countiy, obituaries of various length swelled the testi- mony of the daj' to the truth, that a greatly good and a greatly useful Christian had gone to his rest. And finally, private letters and official communications, from individuals and from societies, poured into the bosom of the bereaved household, in unstinted measure, the healing balms of sym- pathy and of a just appreciation of the character and sei'S'ices of its departed head. The Vestry met informally at once, with all the members present in the rectory, to make arrangements for the funeral. Doctor Stearns, Mr. Winston, and Mr. WooUey were designated to prepare appropriate resolutions. The funeral was appointed for Friday at 4 P.M. The remains were to be temporarily deposited in the vault of ]\Ir. Burtus in the churchyard until a vault could be constructed beneath the chancel of the Church. The Church was to be draped in mourning; the Vestry were to wear the usual badge as an ex- pression of their grief. All expenses of the funeral would be de- frayed from the treasury. The following clergymen of the city were to be invited to officiate : the Rev. G. T. Bedell to read the sentences, the Rev. L. P. W. Balch to read the lessons, the Rev. Doctor Whitehouse to read the prayers. The pall-bearers were to be the Rev. Doctors Lyell, Berrian, "Wilson, Turner, Wainwright, Anthon, Taylor, and Cutler. The Rev. Dr. S. H. Tyng, of Phila- delphia, was to be requested to deliver an address at the funeral and the Rev. Dr. John S. Stone, of Brooklyn, to deliver a funeral sermon to the congregation on Sunday morning, April the 13th. The funeral was a solemn and affecting occasion. So intense, says one of the published notices of the event, was the desire on the part of the public to pay the last tribute of respect to his memory, that the galleries of St. George's Church were filled some hours before the time announced for the interment; and so soon as the doors were opened, and the coiTin was carried into the Church, the spacious building was filled to overflowing. Among those present, were clergymen of nearly every denomination, including most of those belonging to the Episcopal Church, the respective Boards of the American and New York Bible So- THE MILNOR PERIOD 157 eieties. the Tract Society, the Deaf and Dumb Institution, and all the pupils. The Church was" apparelled in deep mourning, and the chandeliers were veiled in black crape. The choir sung the anthem, ' Vital Spark of Heavenly Flame'; and the Rev. Doctor Tyng delivered the funeral address; often laboring under deep emotion, only repressed with gi'eat eft'ort; and many of both sexes wept nearly the whole time of its delivery. Such were the public obsequies which testified to the respect and honor in w^hich the lamented Rector was held in the community. On the following Sunday morning the bereaved flock gathered to hear the sympathetic and discriminating utterances of their late Rector's friend, the Rev. Doctor Stone; all deeply sorrowing that they should see his face no more, but grateful to recall the tender memories which clustered around his spiritual ministries within those hallowed walls. His body had been placed in a lead cofSn enclosed in one of ma- hogany covered with black velvet, on which was an inscribed silver plate, and was temporarily deposited in a vault of one of the wardens in the churchyard. But on the completion of the vault beneath the chancel the members of the Vestry met by appointment on Saturday morning, July 12th, for the purpose of witnessing the removal of the remains of their late revered Rector to the vault which had been constructed for their reception, the entrance to the vault being through the pavement of the middle aisle in front of the chancel steps. Here they reposed for many years until, the sale and de- struction of the Church requiring their removal, they were finally interred in the family plot in Greenwood Cemetery. The action of the Vestry at their first meeting after the funeral here follows in full : The following preamble and resolutions were presented by the committee, and on motion unanimously adopted and directed to be entered at lengtE on the minutes of the Vestry: It having pleased tlie great Head of the Church to remove most sud- denly by death on Tuesday night, the eighth of April a.d. 1845, the Rev. James Milnor, D.D., in the seventy-third year of his age and the twenty- ninth of his Rectorship of this parish, this Vestiy being desirous of placing on record an expression of their profound grief at this bereavement and the irreparable loss sustained therein by the congregation, direct the fol- lo^^^ng resolutions to be entered upon their minutes : Besolved. That while we deeply grieve under this chastisement of Al- mighty God in the removal of His distingaiished sen-ant our pastor from his stewardship among us, we bow in humble submission to His sovereign will, and would say ' the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.' Resolved. That while we sorrow with the Chiu-ch at large that ' a great man has fallen in our Israel,' whose talents, learning, wisdom, moderation, 158 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH benevolence, ijurity, and fervent piety caused his influence to be widely felt in all the great designs for promoting the temporal and eternal welfare of mankind, yet as individuals and a congregation, we feel the liveliest grief for the loss of a spiritual father, a faithful pastor, an eloquent and scriptui'al preacher of the gospel who divided to each of us his portion in due season, a wise counsellor, a tender and considerate friend who shared and symjjathized in our sorrows and our joys, and who by his spotless integrity. Christian courtesy and purity of life, not less than by Ins public instructions, taught us alike our duty to God and our fellow-men. Resolved, That we tenderly sympathize with his bereaved and afflicted family, so suddenly smitten while providentially separated, and fei-vently pray that the ' Father of the fatherless and the widow's God ' may console them with the blessings of His providence and grace, assuage their sorrows by the consciousness that their loss is his unspeakable gain, and unite them a family in lieaven, whitlier their revered parent and head has so suddenly been called to precede them. Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be presented to the famil}' of our deceased Rector, and published in the religious paj^ers. It was also on motion resolved, that the thanks of the Vestry be expressed to the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., of the Church of the Epiphany, Phila- delphia, for the ajjpropriate address delivered by him at our request, at the funeral of the Rev. James Mihior, D.D., our late Rector, and that we respectfully solicit a copy of the same for publication. Resolved, That the thanks of the Vestry be expressed to the Rev. John S. Stone, iD.D., of Christ Church, Brooklyn, for the apj^ropriate funeral discourse delivered by him the 13th of April in this Church at our request, and soliciting a copy of the same for publication. Resolved, That this Vestry respectfully solicit from the family of our late Rector a copy of the last sermon delivered by him to the congregation of St. George's Church, on Sunday morning, Aj^ril 6th, 1845, on the sub- ject of Christian Unity, that the same may be published and widely cir- culated as containing the last testimony of our late Rector on this interest- ing subject. Resolved, That if the above request for the sermon on ' Christian Unity ' be granted, that an edition of not less than six thousand copies be pub- lished, that the Rev. Pierre P. Irving be requested to superintend the same, and that a copy be gratuitously sent to every clergyman of our Church throughout the country. Resolved, That the clei'k and Mi*. Woolley be a committee with power from the Vestry, to take, order, and make arrangements for the publica- tions of the address and sermons authorized above. Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to wait upon the Rev. Pierre P. Irving to request from him such services as may be required by the congregation, until the election of a successor to our late Rector, with power to make such aiTangements with him as may be expedient and neces- sary; whereupon tlie clerk. Doctor Stearns and Mr. Woolley were ap- pointed said committee. Resolved, That in accordance with an arrangement w-ith our late Rector at the request of the Episcopal committee of the New York Bible Society, this Church be opened on Sunday evening next, A]n-il 20th, for a sermon to be delivered by the Rev. Doctor Stone of Brooklyn, and that a collection be made in aid of the funds of said societv. THE MILNOR PERIOD 159 The committee on a chapel of this Church in the upper part of the city reported an unfinished draft of a memorial to Trinity- Church from the pen of the late Rector, who had given to this subject some of the latest hours of his life and in which he felt a deep and lively interest. The memorial was referred back to the same committee to complete and to be reported to the Vestry for action at its next meeting. Testimonials to the character and services of the late Rector were received from a meeting of the clergy of New York and Brooklyn, from the Executive Committee of the American Tract Society, from the Foreign Committee of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, and from the University of the City of New York and ordered to be entered in full upon the minutes. These will be found with other tributes to his character and services in connection with the sketch of his life in Part II. of this history. The committee appointed to wait upon the Rev. Mr. Irving and request him to perform such service as may be required until a Rector shall be chosen and enter upon his duties reported at the next Vestry meeting that they had waited upon Mr. Irving and that he had kindly consented to perform such service as could be rendered by him without interfering with his official duties as the secretary and general agent of the Foreign Committee, leaving the compensation for the same to the Vestry. The draft of the proposed memorial to Trinity Church, whicK had remained unfinished on the rector's desk at the time of his decease, having been recommitted to the same committee for com- pletion, was duly presented at the meeting of April 24th, was unanimously adopted in the following .form, and the committee charged to communicate it to the Corporation of Trinity Church : To the Rector, Church-wardens, and Vesti-ymen of Trinity Church, New York; the memorial of the Rector, Church-wardens, and Vestrymen of St. George's Church, New York, respectfully showeth. That it has been represented to your memorialists, that an addition to the accommodations ati'orded for the public worship of Almighty God, ac- cording to the usages of our venerable church, in the ui3per part of the city, is extremely desirable, and will soon, from the rapid increase of build- ings in that quarter, become absolutely necessarj^; and that there is a dis- position on the part of many individuals, to contribute towards the erection of a free church, in a location in the upper part of the city, sufficiently remote from other Episcopal churches, provided the purchase of ground and the erection of such a building should be undertaken by your memo- rialists, and be connected, as a chapel, with St. George's Church. That your memorialists, believing that the increase in the number of Episcopal churches in this city, for the last thirty years, has not borne a 160 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH just jiroportion to the increase of the population during that time; and that a commodious edifice on the plan jiroposed, of leaving the sittings free, and the current expenses to be defrayed by the voluntary contribu- tions of tlie worshi2:)pers, would be peculiarly acceptable to many of our members, and tend much to the enlargement of their numbers; believing also, that the accomplishment of such an undertaking is practicable on the part of your memorialists, at an estimated cost of from sixty-five to seventy thousand dollars, provided they can obtain from your body a sum adequate to meet the expense of purchasing suitable lots for the erection of such edifice thereon, respectfully request your body to make them a grant of twentj'-five thousand dollars in money, or lots of groimd which may be estimated to be Avorth that sum, towards carrying the proposed object into execution ; and your memorialists believe that the erection of such edifice, without interfering with the interests of existing establishments, will most essentially contribute to the promotion of religion, and the growth and prosperity of our church— objects which they doubt not, your honorable body as well as your memorialists are anxious to promote. ]n the event of your concurrence in tliese views, and a grant being made from j'our funds of the sum required, your memorialists purpose to embax'k in the undertaking, and to pledge themselves, with the blessing of God, for its accomplishment upon a scale commensurate with the increasing wants of the church, and unincumbered with debt. Your memorialists therefore respectfully and urgently request, that you will take the subject into consideration, and by a compliance with the re- quest now made, enable your memorialists to proceed at once, with all reasonable exiDedition, to the commencement and accomplishment of a de- sign which they tnist will conduce to the glory of God, the welfare of the eommunity, and the honor and advantage of the Church. Accompanying the memorial was a statement " that the original draft of this document was among the last acts of our deceased rector, who felt a deep and lively interest in its success, expressing the determination to subscribe from his own limited means a sum equal to one-fifth of that now solicited from your respected Cor- poration. ' ' No official reply to this memorial was ever received by St. George's Vestry, but after some four months' delay, on September 15, 1845, the Vestry of Trinity Church voted " that it was inex- pedient to grant the application." On the 29th of May, 1845, the Vestry, having under consideration the erection in the church of a suitable monument to the memory of the late rector, appointed a committee to make inquiries and secure designs for such a monument. In the following December, the committee presented two drafts for a monument designed by Eobert E. Launitz, " either to be constructed of the finest material and the bust to be executed in a most artist-like manner, at a cost of one thousand dollars." The proposal of Mr. Launitz was accepted, THE MILNOR PERIOD 161 the money appropriated, and the choice of design delegated to the committee. This monument was removed to the new church upon its erection in Stuyvesant Square, and though it was destroyed in the fire of 1865 the vestry replaced it by another, which graces the chancel of St, George's, a continual memorial of Dr. Milnor's dis- tinguished services and revered personality. CHAPTER VII THE TYNG PERIOD (1845-1851) The importance of prompt action to secure a suitable successor to the Rev. Dr. Milnor, to maintain the principles for which he had so steadfastly contended, and to prosecute the plans which he had outlined for the extension of St. George's influence and work, was felt by every one. Nor was it difficult to make a choice, as in the minds of both the vestry and the congregation the thought of Dr. Tyng was uppermost. The vestry on the 24th of April, after a full mutual expression of views, commissioned three. of its members " to proceed to Philadelphia and consult with the Rev. S. H. Tyng, D.D., as to the probability of his acceptance of the rectorate, should it be tendered him." In the execution of their mission, the committee laid before him the condition of the parish, its outlook for the future, the importance of the sphere of usefulness which it presented, and their readiness to make ample provision for his support. On the report of the two gentlemen who visited Phila- delphia, Mr. William Whitlock, Jr., and Mr. F. S. Winston, the Rev. Dr. Tyng was on May 1st unanimously elected rector at a salary of three thousand dollars and the use of the rectory, and a certified copy of this action was inclosed to him with the following- letter of Mr. Winston as clerk of the vestry : It gives me great pleasure to add that the foregoing resolution was not only passed with entire unanimity, but with great cordiality, and with the earnest wish and expectation that you may consider it your duty to occupy the important position left vacant by your friend, our late venerated rector. The vestry were fully informed of the convei'sation which took place between yourself and the committee on the subject of an increased appropriation for your support, should it become necessary, and concurred in the views and pledges made you by the latter. We think, therefore, that you may dismiss all anxiety in reference to your pecuniary affairs, other than a wise and judicious regulation of them, should you accede to our wishes. You will meet an affectionate congregation, who wiU welcome ^?dl. ■^^.C^^^c/i^, X. THE TYNG PERIOD 163 you with Tvarm hearts, and appreciate, and, I trust, profit by your min- istrations among them. In his interview with the committee, Dr. Tyng had evinced considerable reluctance to sever the happy associations of sixteen years in Philadelphia and especially the close ties which bound him to his beloved people in the Church of the Epiphany. He felt, moreover, hesitant to undertake to fill the place of his revered friend whose ability and personality he had long held in high esteem. But the consideration of duty outweighed every other, and he sent the following letter of acceptance under date May 23, 1845 : To The Wardens and Vestry of St. George's Church. By the gnidance of divine Providence I have been led to the determination to accept the rectorship of St. George's Church, to which 1 was called by your resolution. I shall hope to enter upon the immediate discharge of the duties con- nected therewith, and shall expect under the Lord's blessing to oceujDy the pulpit on a week from next Sunday. I trust it may be the will of God to bless me in this position with His abundant gi'ace, and to enable me to ean'y forward a ministry in its principles and character such as that to which the congregation of St. George's Church has been long accustomed. I thank you for your kind jiromises made in your resolution, for the residence and support of my familj^, and I have no doubt that whatever will be found necessary for me, you will be found as ready and willing to supply. I earnestly pray for God's blessing upon you as a Church, and upon yourselves and families individually. May the gi'acious presence of our Saviour and Redeemer be with j'ou. I am respectfully and affectionately your friend and servant, Stephen H. Tyng. On the Sunday named he began his ministry preaching on the text, *' They said the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha," II. Kings 2:15. After fit reference to the historical incident he said: The application which I purpose to make of this testimony will be very manifest. My ^-enerated friend, whose successor I have been appointed (though most unworthy), was the advocate and teacher of a very specific system, both of Christian truth and of Christian duty, a system in all its principles and points easily perceived and easily defined. Of this system, he was long one of the most important and influential representatives in our Church. And I mean it to be most distinctly understood, that there is a perfect identity, so far as I know, of sentiment, and pui'pose, and principle, in the ministry which God has been pleased to appoint to succeed him. So that, however there may be diversity of method, and inferiority in wisdom and power and respect in the succession to his work, yet in doctrine and design and effort, if God shall please to bless us, ' the spirit of Elijah shall rest on Elisha.' We have no wish to conceal or to qualify 164 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH the fact, that we have been the teachers of doctrines, and have contended for principles and rights in our Church, which our opposers have been fond to represent as a troubling of Israel. With him, through the whole course of my ministry, I have set my face as a flint, for the maintenance and defense of great and imperishable prin- ciples of truth, which have been continually at stake. With a mind un- wavering. I have borne in other places of duty, a testimony unchanged. With a mind unwavering still, I am sent to bear in this place a testimony equally unalterable and irrevocable in the cause of Christ and His gospel. To attempt to cover the fact that our Church has been exceedingly divided in sentiment on many important points, both of doctrine and practice, would be absurd. To depreciate the importance of the principles which have been constituted the points of this division, would be to make the division itself, wicked and reprehensible in a high degree. But in this whole history and warfare, we have been uniformly acting on the defensive, against the oppression of unauthorized power, and the imposition of un- scriptural doctrines. Standing on the platform of the established standards, and within the laws of our Church, desiring to impose nothing upon others, but resolved, by the help of God, to maintain and defend our liberty of action, and our system of instruction, just as the Lord has delivered them, and as the Church has received the same and committed them to us ; upon the platform of Protestant Episcopal Christianity, in doctrine, discipline, and worsliip, we mean, by God's help, still to stand, giving place by subjection, no, not for an hour, to any who may come in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they may bring us into bondage. We shall seek, as we have uniformly sought, the things which make for peace, willing to make any concessions which truth will warrant, for its attainment; but never ready to make shipwreck of faith, and of a good conscience, to secure it merely in a false and painted image. It may be well asked, and it is often asked, what are the things for which we have contended? It is too likely — amidst the bcAvildering' and mazy theology of the current day, our children will forget them, and lose sight of them entirely. The stream of Evangelical tnith flows more widely perhaps, but, I fear, far less deeply than it used to do. Our more youthful agents are exposed to much confusion, and to much error in the confusion which their undiscrimating minds will be vmable to detect and evolve. And it becomes us therefore, to state plainly what are the jDrinciples which we have held absolutely sacred, and which we have never felt at liberty to compromise for an hour. What are the instructions which have marked the spirit of Elijah? What are the instructions which Elisha is to per- petuate? They may be regarded as principles of doctrine, of worshiiD, and of Christian and ministerial conduct and character. A clear, distinctive ringing enunciation of the Evangelical Prin- ciples for which St. George's has stood under the distinguished and able leadership of Dr. Milnor was then evolved, and he continued: This has been the spirit of Elijah's testimony. This is the spirit of Elisha's determined testimony also. For many years past in the beloved city and the dear church which I have left (I believe under God's own THE TYNG PEHIOD 165 call) for you, I have maintained, and, by the blessing of God, not without success, tliis unchanging and decided stand. I have no new course to pursue here. I come bound in the spirit for the work of the Lord. It has cost me the breaking of the strongest ties that can ever entwine my heart, the forsaking in presence (I can never do it in heart) of the most united and affectionate flock that was ever gathered under a pastor's care, the separation of me and mine from scenes and connections which in every possible aspect were most dear to us. I cannot hope in any degi'ee to be personally benefited by the change. You can never honor and love me more than I have been loved and honored there; you can never provide for me more tenderly and affectionately than they have provided for me there; and since the step has been taken my heart has often misgiven me whether I can ever be more useful here than I have been there. But I have come under a solemn consciousness of duty to God and His Church; and I hope in Him that my comiiig unto you will not be in vain. You have the reputa- tion of an affectionate and zealous people. I trust that I shall find you so. I can bear labor and toil without concern, if I am sustained and lo\ed; I can endure outward contests without fear, if I have a flock maited and attentive; ready to second and uphold me in my work at home. That I sliall ever remove from here, but to the house appointed for all the living, is not at my age to be supposed. I trust that I shall be allowed to inherit with the place of my venerable friend the affection Avhich has cherished him in life, and the reverence which has honored his grave in death. And that you will endeavor to make up to me the kindness and tenderness and care Which I have sacrificed in others, not without a painful struggle, for your sakes. Thus shall the great work Avhich we have here to do prosper in our hands, and God, our great God and Saviour, be with us and give us His blessing. The Rev. Pierre P. Irving, who had rendered such faithful and acceptable services as were compatible with his duties in the posi- tion of Secretary of the Foreign Committee, pending the call and settlement of the new rector, now relinquished his responsibility, and the vestry voted him an honorarium of five hundred dollars in cordial recognition of his interest in the parish and its work. During the month of June the rector effected the removal of his family to New York, but being unwilling to disturb that of the late rector in their occupancy of the rectory, he found agree- able summer accommodations on Staten Island and later in a board- ing-house in Vesey Street, until November found him comfortably located in the Beekman Street rectorj^ the family of the late rector having removed to Brooklyn. The vestry meanwhile had made necessary alterations and repairs, had defrayed the expenses of the rector's removal from Philadelphia, and had voted him two hundred and fifty dollars as rent of the rectory for the six months prior to his occupancy of it. The cordial expressions of affectionate welcome and of grateful acceptance of his ministry by all classes in the con- 166 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH gregation, were most encouraging and gratifying, and deepened in him the conviction that although he had severed his former relations and associations with much reluctance, he had acted wisely in ac- cepting the call to New York. At the first meeting of the vestrj^ with the new rector presiding, July 12, 1845, the senior warden presented the acceptance by the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Diocese of New York of the " Let- ters Dimissory of the Rev. Dr. Tyng of the Diocese of Pennsyl- vania. ' ' The need of a brick building for a lecture-room with more suit- table and ample accommodation for the Sunday-school, Bible, and infant classes being fully recognized, the erection of such a structure on the ground in the rear of the churchyard was authorized at a cost not to exceed four thousand dollars. The committee to which the matter was delegated reported in October that the estimates for the work exceeded that sum, and as the season was so far advanced further consideration of the matter was postponed until the following spring. By that time, however, the question of a chapel or new church in the upper part of the city had become so imperative and engrossing that the subject of increased facilities for work on the old site was entirely overshadowed and allowed to lapse. This question of the future of St. George's was a vital one, and much diversity of view developed. The original idea of the late rector, embodied in the futile application which had been made to Trinity Church for the provision by that Corporation of an up-town site, was that St. George's would erect thereon and make provision to maintain a chapel with free seats. By circumstances and the guiding hand of the new rector, this chapel plan evolved into a more ambitious scheme of a costlier edifice with sold and rented pews, in which to minister to those parishioners who had already moved up-town and others in the new environment; the culmination of which evolution was to result in making the new church St. George 's and the old edifice in Beekman Street the chapel. It was inevitable that opposition should arise to carrying out this scheme. Attachment to the old church building with its personal associations, and persuasion of the unwisdom of the plan proposed, induced in some of the parishioners an attitude of pronounced and persistent antagonism. Events, however, quite amply vindicated the prescience of the advocates for progress, but the results were not achieved without much difficulty, strife, self-sacrifice, and strenu- ous effort. THE TYNG PERIOD 167 The original resolution which inaugurated the up-town movement was introduced in the vestry meeting of February 26, 1846, and was in these few words : ' ' That it is incumbent upon this Corpora- tion to erect a chapel in the upper part of the city to be under the charge of the Rector of this Church and connected with it." That so important a matter, however, might be decided without undue haste, consideration of it was postponed until March 7th, at which date a " full and protracted discussion was held." Three members of the vestry were opposed to the project and fought for delay, but the resolution was adopted and a committee consisting of William Whitlock, Jr., John Stearns, M.D., and Fred S. Winston was ap- pointed to select a suitable site, the same gentlemen being sub- sequently appointed the building committee for the new church. On the 16th of the same month, the committee submitted for con- sideration several eligible sites without distinctly recommending either, leaving the vestry to decide upon their respective advantages. Those most favorably considered were the lots on Fourteenth Street and Irving Place, where the Academy of Music now stands, and the northwest corner of Seventeenth Street and Fourth Avenue, where until a few years ago the Everett House was located, but which was then " an old and neglected garden." The latter site was earnestly urged by the rector, who objected to the ground on Fourteenth Street " as being evidently upon a future thorough- fare for active business, " for which imagination," he writes, " I was ridiculed by some who doubted any such further growth of the city." Of the site he favored he writes: *' The ground on Seven- teenth Street I earnestly selected as facing Union Square and in its relation manifestly secure as well as attractive. As I look at it now facing south on that beautiful square with all its connections, I can never lose the impression of its admirable adaptation to our purpose and prosperity, but I was overruled by gentlemen of busi- ness habits and long experience. ' ' The vestry decided in favor of the Fourteenth Street site, and the committee was authorized to offer thirty-five thousand dollars to David S. Jones for the same and to procure plans and specifica- tions with a view to building thereon. Two members of the vestry who voted in the negative, Brittain L. Woolley and James A. Burtus, then presented a paper reciting their objections; which at their request was entered upon the records. Within three days, however, a new aspect was given to the situa- tion by the receipt of a proposition from Peter G. Stuj^v^esant, offering to give a plot of land 104 feet on Rutherford Place by 175 168 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH feet on Sixteenth Street, as a site for the proposed chapel. The vestry was convened in special meeting, March 19th, to receive the report of the Committee on Site embodying this generous offer, and gratefully accepted Mr. Stuyvesant's munificent gift to the Cor- poration, tendering to him the " assurance of their determination to commence immediately the erection of a church building of a style of architecture and an extent of accommodation for those who desire a place of worship in that vicinity, such as shall prove a permanent and appropriate record of his liberality and a great and lasting blessing to our Church." It was also resolved that a suitable pew be set apart in the new church for the family of Mr. Stuyvesant to be forever free from tax or ground rent, and the committee was further instructed to negotiate with Mr. Stuy- vesant for the purchase of the lot on Eutherford Place adjoining that on which the church was to be placed. The building committee in April presented drawings from vari- ous architects for the proposed church, expressing their preference for the one drawn by Blesch and Eidlitz in the Byzantine or Early Christian style of architecture. After due examination of the pro- posed plans the vestry unanimously adopted that of Blesch and Eidlitz, and the work was at once undertaken and diligently prose- cuted. The corner-stone of the new church was laid on Tuesday after- noon, the 23d of June, 1846, at five o'clock, by the Rt. Rev. William Meade, D.D., Bishop of Virginia, The Rt. Rev. Charles P. Mcllvaine, D.D., Bishop of Ohio, the Rt. Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., Bishop of Delaware, the Rt. Rev. Carlton Chase, D.D., Bishop of New Hampshire, and the Rt. Rev. Alonzo Potter, D.D., Bishop of Pennsylvania, together with a large number of the clergy of New York and of other Dioceses, were also present. The procession was formed at the house of Dr. William H. Milnor in Eighteenth Street near Third Avenue ; an address by the rector was delivered to the very large assembly present, and the entire function was conducted in such a way as to leave a deep impression of the im- portance of the work thus happily inaugurated. The vestry at its next meeting duly expressed their thanks to Bishop Meade for his services and made provision for his expenses in attending the laying of the corner-stone. The property of the church upon the sale of which the Corpora- tion relied to defray the cost of the new building, as well as that upon which the old church stood in Beekman Street and the new edifice on Stuyvesant Square, is herewith described in a schedule THE TYNG PERIOD 169 presented to the vestry in June, 1846, by a special committee ap- pointed to examine the title deeds and leases : SCHEDULE OF THE PROPERTY BELONGING TO THE CORPORATION OP ST. GEORGE 3 CHURCH IN THE CITY OP NEW YORK ON THE IST MAY, 1846 Corporation of Trinity Church To Corporation of St. George' Church The Same to the Same The Same to the Same Cornelius J. Bogert To Corporation of St. George's Church Thomas Burling To Corporation of St. George's Church Corporation of Grace Church To Corporation of St. George's Church Peter G. Stujrvesant To Corporation of St. George's Church Deed dated 4th August, 1812, for Church and two parcels of Ground 11?;- £r[ by 134.9 in depth. Deed dated 13th Mav, 1812, for 24 Lots of Ground Nos. 112-236-237-238-325-342-390 -423-426-433-436-450-481-548-550-577- 612-613-*665-*668-19-20-21-25. * Sold to the city. Dated 1st April, 1814, for 8 Lots of Ground Nos. 341-347-425-461-491-571-572-573. Dated 1st March, 1813, for House and Lot on CUff Street Rear* [ 23.3 by 100 feet. Lecture Room, &c. Dated 13th July, 1814, for Lot on Beekman St., 53.3 F. front, 283 F. to Ferry St., 10 F. on Ferry St., thence S.W. 114 F., thence N.W. 56 F., thence S.W. 168 F. Subject to right of alley. Deeds of exchange for Lots on Chambers Street dated 1st May, 1817. Deed dated April 1st., 1846, for Lot of Ground on Rutherford Place and 16th Street 104 F. by 175 F. The prospect of increasing duties in connection with the gathering of a congregation in the new field induced the vestry to appoint the rector's son, the Rev. Dudley Atkins Tyng, who had just gradu- ated from the Alexandria Seminary and been ordained by the Bishop of Virginia, as his assistant from August 1st. The relation thus established, however, was terminated in the following February by the resignation of the Rev. Mr. Tyng to accept a rectorship in Columbus, Ohio. The rector meanwhile had undertaken, in addition to his morn- ing and afternoon services in Beekman Street, a Sunday-evening service in the Presbyterian Church on Eighth Street at its junction with Astor Place, which had been secured by the vestry for the 170 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH RECAPITULATION AND PARTICULARS OF PRODUCTIVE PROPERTY CB. ST. TIME THAT PRESENT 2ND p'y'ble PAYABLE NOS. NOS. SITUATION LEASE HOLDERS LEASE EXPIRES RENTS PERIOD MARCH NOV. 112 38 S. Side Barclay J. W. Tompkins 2 5 March, '52 $150 an. No Ren'l $iSo 342 19 N. •■ Murray John H. Coster 'S3 17s " I7S 423 62 S. " Chambers Tho's Mather ' 'S2 ISO " ISO 426 68 • ' *' * ' Estate Joel Post ' 'S3 ISO " ISO 433 82 •* •* ** Rob't Benson ' '52 150 ISO 436 88 E. " Church Ph. Hone 44 4 ' '52 ISO " ISO 4SO 40 N. " Warren Dan'l Stanton 44 4 ' 'S3 ISO " 150 481 42 E. Stevens' Sons 41 4 ' 'S2 ISO " ISO 236 8 S . " Murray E. Parmly • I May, 's3 ISO " ISO 237 10 « 4 11 « « ' ' • 4 4 4 S3 ISO " 150 338 12 ' 'S3 ISO ' ISO May SSO 69 N. " Chambers Est. G. Bradish i_M_ iy, "52 ISO " $150 |3S los E. " Greenwich Est. Wm. Merrill 'S3 ISO " ISO 341 19 N. ' ' Murray S. S. Gray ' 'S4 I7S " 17s 347 9 ** * * " Rutson Suckley ' 'S4 17s " 17s 42s 80 S. " Chambers Isaac Sayrs ' 'S4 ISO " ISO 461 118 ' * * ' * ' Est. W. C. Mulligan ' 'S4 ISO " ISO 491 146 ' * • ' " F. A. Everard ' '54 ISO " ISO 325 9 " " Warren Dr. E. Delafield ' '52 325 s. a. to be app'd 162 .So $162 .SO 548 91 N . " Chambers Isaac Moses, Jr. ' 'so 2SO " no ren'l 125 125 S77 91 S. " Reade John A. Underwood ' 'S3 ISO " to be app'd 75 75 612 137 4 t 14 4 4 Jas. Maurell ' '53 ISO " 75 75 613 139 " " " Henry Buttle ' 'S3 ISO " 7S 75 19 117 E. " Greenwich Bowman & Johnson 'S4 ISO " no ren'l 75 75 20 115 44 44 44 ' * ' 'S4 ISO " 44 44 75 75 31 113 44 14 (« H. W. Titus ' 'S4 150 " 44 14 75 75 571 78 N. " Reade John Skinner ' "ss I7S " to be app'd 87 .SO 87.50 S72 80 44 14 44 Rich'd Ten Eyck ' 'ss 27s " 44 44 4 1 137.50 137 .SO 573 99 E. " Church Jane Raymond ' 'ss 80 " " " " 40 40 390 ,73 S. " Warren Dr. E. N. Bibby 4 Nov. , i86s ISO no ren'l ISO Vmegi irY'di n rear of the Church Jas. Meinell 100 " 50 SO CeUar jnClif [ Street C. R. Degen 75 " 37 -SO 37. SO 23 Leases, no renewal 7 " to be appraised 30 Lots Payable May Payable March $2,190.00 $1,240.00 2,190.00 1,675.00 Total $5,105.00 •Rent payable March 25. Note: — Two of the original lots, Nos. 665 and 668, had been taken by the city in widening of Reade St» purpose of thus accommodating the nucleus of the congregation which was to occupy St. George's Church, Stuj^esant Square. The popularity of the rector as a preacher sufficed to fill this edi- fice night after night to its fullest capacity, and the fruits of his ministry in this place in no small degree contributed to the rapidly increasing constituency of the new church, and came to be both in character and influence one of its most valuable elements. The exhausting labors of the rector, who had continued to officiate in the old church as well as on Sunday evenings as stated, together with the ceaseless cares and anxieties connected with the erection of the new structure, superadded to his unremitting pastoral work, proved to be such a strain upon his strength as to indicate the necessity of a respite from duty. The vestry consented to his tem- porary absence and made generous pecuniary provision for a Euro- pean trip. He gratefully accepted the prof erred kindness, and on THE TYNG PERIOD 171 the 16th of April took passage on the packet ship Argo for Havre, as the guest of its owner, Mr. Whitlock, his senior warden and devoted friend. His journeyings were confined to France, Italy, and England, and he reached home safely on the 30th of July. Meanwhile the vestry, having failed to secure the fuller and further use of the building on Eighth Street, engaged for the worship of the up-town congregation the large chapel of the Uni- versity of New York, located on Washington Square, at a rent of one thousand dollars for the year beginning October 1, 1847. In the preceding February, in order that suitable accommodations might be provided for the future Sunday-school and other work of the parish, the building committee had been authorized to procure suitable ground and erect a proper building thereon. It was not, however, until September 14th in the following year that the com- mittee reported that having been presented with a strip of land 15X104 feet in the rear of the church lot in addition to Mr. Stuy- vesant's original gift, they had now purchased from his heirs an adjoining plot of ground 90X92 feet, and submitted a plan for the proposed building, which plan was approved and immediate erection ordered at a cost not exceeding seven thousand dollars. The contract was subsequently let to C. C. Jacobus for six thousand nine hundred and ninety dollars. That the interests of the congregation in Beekman Street might not suffer from the increasing demands of the new enterprise upon the rector's time and strength, the vestry determined to secure a permanent assistant minister for the parish, with special reference to duty in the old church. The Rev. Thomas M. Clark, then assist- ant minister in Trinity Church, Boston (who later became the sec- ond Bishop of Ehode Island), was chosen by the vestry September 15, 1847. The salary offered was three thousand dollars, with the use of the rectory No. 82 Beekman Street at a charge of six hun- dred dollars, a house for the rector having been rented in Sixteenth Street near the new church. Unhappily, however, the election was declined, and the rector was authorized to employ such temporary assistance as might be required. It was not to be expected that the expediency and wisdom of the plans of the rector and vestry in the erection of the elegant edifice on Stuyvesant Square would go unchallenged by some of the peo- ple, especially those whose personal attachment to the old church intensified their reluctance to the transfer of emphasis to the new up-town enterprise. There was dissatisfaction, which at length cul- minated in various forms of persistent opposition, and even after 172 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH the congregation had fully discussed the matter, and it was brought to a clear issue and decided, at the vestry election in April, 1848, by the elimination of the three members who had constituted the opposing minoritj'^ and the choice of a vestry in thorough accord with the policy of the rector, — still, the agitation was kept up and various efforts made to thwart the will of the rector and united vestry and the majority of the people, even to the point of " urgent- ly requesting the Corporation of Trinity Church to withhold the release now sought by the vestry of St. George's Church until such release can be made to preserve the preservation of ' St. George's Church in the city of New York ' in its primitive edifice and sta- tion." In other words, they sought to make it impossible for the vestry to pay for the new church until the wishes of the malcontents in the old one had been complied with. It would be wearisome to dwell upon the details of this unfortunate episode in St. George's history, which interrupted the long-time peace of the congregation with bickering and bitterness, and which incidentally occasioned the only exercise of ecclesiastical discipline which Dr. Tyng was called to make during his long ministry. But some review of the salient points at issue is necessary to an understanding of the period of transition from Beekman Street to Stuj^esant Square. There had been at no time a disposition on any one's part to discontinue services in old St. George's. But as members of the old congregation in increasing numbers were moving up-town, and the new edifice was nearing completion and the new congregation gathered in the Chapel of the University was rapidly growing, the wisdom of the rector's plan, cordially concurred in by the vestry, to make the new building the parish church, retaining the old as a free chapel, became more and more apparent. This was indeed a modification of the original idea entertained at the close of Dr. Milnor's ministry, which was to build a free chapel in an up-town quarter. But conditions had rapidly changed with the inroads of business and shifting of population incident to the de- velopment of the fast-growing city. And it was failure to recog- nize this fact, coupled with personal attachment to the old building in Beekman Street, which had led those represented by a minority in the vestry, first, to deprecate and try to limit the expenditure on the new site, and second, to propose to set off the new congre- gation when gathered in the new church as an independent organiza- tion, while retaining the name and prestige of St. George's for the Beekman Street church. The rector's plan was embodied in the following resolutions which he presented to the vestry March 9, THE TYNG PERIOD 173 1848, with the request that they lie on the table for future con- sideration : Resolved, That it is the intention of this vestry that the church edifice which they are now building on Stuyvesant Square and which was originally proposed as a free chapel in connection with St. George's Church, shall be considered and used after its completion for public worship as the Parish Church of the parish of * St. George's Church in the City of New York ' and shall be known by the title of ' St. George's Church, New York.' Resolved, That it is the intention of this vestry that the church edifice in Beekman Street heretofore known as the parish church of * St. George's Church in the City of New York,' shall be maintained as a chapel in connection with St. George's Church, under the sole and entii-e control of the ' rector, church wardens, and vestrymen of St. George's Church ' to be known by the title of ' St. George's Chapel/ the seats of which shall at some suitable time hereafter be made free from all ground rent charge to be paid to St. George's Church. Resolved, That it is not the wish or intention of this vestry under any circumstances hereafter to sell or alienate the said chapel, and ground on which it stands in Beekman Street, but for the purpose of purchasing or building another chapel, in some more convenient location in the lower part of the City of New York, if hereafter such a course shall be considered most expedient for the interests of the congregation who shall assemble in said chapel and best calculated to promote the religious and temporal welfare of the parish. Resolved, That it is the purpose of this vestry to elect a permanent assistant minister of St. George's Church at some suitable period here- after, whose services, duties and responsibilities in connection with the worship and pastoral duties of the whole parish, including the church and the chapel, shall be regulated by the direction of the rector. When these resolutions were brought up for consideration, April 13, 1848, another series embodying the views of the opposition were presented by Hiram Ketchum and both propositions were laid on the table pending the congregational meeting for the annual elec- tion — and so the issue was joined. To what extent the congregation might sympathize with the views of the minority in the vestry was about to be determined, and the result was awaited with no little anxiety. In order that there might be no misunderstanding as to the issues involved, the rector had prepared a full statement of the case, which he read to the con- gregation on Sunday, April 16th, in giving notice of the election to be held on Easter Tuesday. In this carefully prepared paper he explained the qualifications of voters and urged every member of the congregation entitled to vote to exercise that right intelligently and conscientiously. He sketched the progress of the movement for the erection of a new church in the upper part of the city, and stated that " the very important prospect of religious usefulness 174 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH which was offered in this proposed enterprise was one of the con- siderations presented to him by the committee which visited him in Philadelphia to induce his acceptance of the rectorship, and that the exhibition of this prospect was the main inducement which led me to believe it my duty to accept. ' ' His own view from the outset was that it would be a better plan to erect the new church proposed, which was to be in the midst of a rising, flourishing, and prominent part of the city, for the parish church of St. George's Chiu'ch, and to constitute the old church a free chapel as proposed, to be connected with it. This view I have invariably presented on all occasions since, as my conviction of duty and interest in the case. I have embodied it in a series of resolutions which I presented to the vestry Mai-ch 9, 1848, as distinctly exi^ressing my judgment in the case. And this one fact constitutes the only change pro- posed by me, from the original plan proposed by my venerated predecessor, whose views in this enterprise it has been my solemn desire fully to carry out, a change which I have much reason to believe he would have approved and adopted, had his life been spared. In j)reseutuig these resolutions I have carried out the original plan jiroposed in the first midertaking of this enterprise, with the single change of constituting the new edifice the parish church, and the old one the free ehaiDel. This is the plan with which I have gone on from the beginning in this undertaking, some of my own views of which, and reasons for which, I propose to present to the con- gregation. It seemed to me unwise to attempt to maintain St. George's parish ia a location which Avas every day failing to collect a j^ermanent congregation, and to ex])end the funds of the Cori^oration for the erection of an edifice, which should be considered a chapel merely, in a portion of the city certain to be permanent as the residence of private and settled families. It ap- peared to me unnecessarj' and wrong to erect a building for free worship in the veiy midst of a community perfectly able to sustain the worship and ordinances of the gospel for themselves, and to continue an imposed tax upon a building where the worshippers were to a much larger extent in limited circumstances, and necessarily transitory in their conneciion with the church. I have, therefore, constantly urged that we should build a church for the parish in the new location, and maintain a chaj^el for the public in the old one. Such a church the vestry are now erecting, and on my part, and on the part of the majority of the vestry, with such designs. The vestry now to be elected would finally decide between the opposing series of pending resolutions then lying upon the table, and the congregation in their choice of a vestry had now an oppor- tunity of giving a practical declaration of their judgment in the matters involved. One member of the vestry on leaving the church declared that the assertions of the rector's public statement were false, and the same person, B. L. Woolley, at several informal meet- ings which were held within the next few days, reiterated this charge. I THE TYNG PERIOD 175 The eventful election was held on Easter Tuesday, 1848. There were one hundred and fifty-nine ballots cast, with the result that B. L. WooUey, Felix A. Huntington, and Hiram Ketchum were dropped from the vestry ; William Whitlock, Jr., was re - elected warden and Fred S. Winston was promoted to be warden in place of Dr. Stearns, deceased; the remaining members of the old vestry, Thomas L. Callender, Samuel M. Cornell, Adolphus Lane, and Henry Anstice, were re-elected, and the vacancies filled by the choice of Joseph Lawrence, Jacob Leroy, Peter G. Arcularius, and Samuel Hopkins. Thus after a period of considerable excitement and much bitterness, on the part of a few, the policy of the rector and vestry was amply sustained by the vote of three-fifths of the members of the Corporation present and voting. Mr. WooUey, however, did not cease both publicly and privately to defame the rector. Two letters containing various charges against his personal character which had failed to elicit a reply he caused to be printed in The Commercial Advertiser of July 19th, with an introductory note addressed to the congregation of St. George's con- taining another charge of " wilful and deliberate falsehood," and on November 30th, in the Courier and E^iquirer, he published a charge against the rector " of gross and fraudulent conduct in the conducting of the late election of the vestry." On the day follow- ing the publication of the earlier letters, the vestry met, without the presence of the rector, and adopted the following, which was ordered to be published in The Commercial Advertiser, and which on the next day, July 21st, duly appeared in that paper : A letter addressed to the congregation of St. George's Church, N. Y., and two letters addressed to the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., rector of the same, by B. L. Woolley, published in the Commercial Advertiser of last evening having been laid before the church wardens and vestrymen of said Church at a meeting held this afternoon, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted: Resolved, That the imputations on Dr. Tyng of false statements and unworthy motives and conduct in the discharge of his duty as rector of this parish and in his connection with the erection of the church on Stuy- vesant Square are utterly unfounded and untrue and meet our unqualified reprobation, as we believe they will also of every respectable member of our Church and congregation. Resolved, That in view of the recent action of a large majority of the congregation fully justifying the rector and vestry in the erection of the church on Stuwesant Square, and of the evident spirit dictating said letters it is expedient and unnecessary that either the rector or vestry- should make any specific reply to the unfounded and indecorous charges they contain. Resolved, That the fervent piety, unwearied zeal, single hearted devotion 176 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of eminent gifts to the duties of his sacred calling and incessant labor in every good word and work tending to promote the spiritual and temporal happiness of mankind, ought to shield the character and reputation of our rector from the assaults of enemies and at all times to render the shafts of malignity impotent and powerless. This Woolley incident was the most painful episode in Dr. Tyng's life. As Mr. Woolley had published " a grossly false and malicious libel," the rector served upon him the " advertisement ''' provided in the rubric of the Holy Communion Office and notified the Standing Committee of the Diocese. A commission was instituted consisting of the Rev. Henry J. Wliitehouse, D.D., the Rev. William H. Lewis, the Hon. Luther Bradish, and Stephen Cambreling, Esq., who held their first meeting on the 22d of January, 1849. In sub- mitting the case to them Dr. Tyng said : I present this whole matter to the consideration of the Board of Com- missioners, desiring nothing but a thorough examination of the facts in the ease. The board will see the ^^tal importance of this examination to my- self. Charges of wicked and immoral conduct have been made against me, which, if in the opinion of this board are sustained by facts, and the truth of which are proved to their satisfaction, involve the consequent necessity of my own personal trial before the proper ecclesiastical tribunal. He has done the utmost in his power to injure and destroy me. He has publicly and repeatedly accused me of wilful falsehood, arbitrary and violent conduct, a creating of divisions in the congregation committed to me, and pecuniary fraud. To the utmost extent of the influence of his name and character he has attempted to destroy my character, to break up my livelihood, to annihilate my ministry, and to bring reproach upon my family. He has had all the advantage in doing this, of his secret and uninterrupted personal representations, of his long residence in the com- munity, of his occupation of many responsible offices of public trust, of his long connection with St. George's Church, of my position as a stranger in this community, brought here by his action and consent, and therefore" supposed to be personally known to him. Had not God raised me up friends in this city, from among strangers, and protected me from the effect of his assaults upon me, his efforts would probably have accom- plished their purpose, and he would have triumphed over the destruction of me and my family. I have borne these assaults without reply or vindi- cation of myself. He has repeatedly represented my silence to be from a consciousness of my guilt, and the impossibility of denying the charges which he has made. I have taken no steps in any way to avenge the bitter wrongs which I have received through his means. For more than nine montlas past, he has persevered in a system of secret persecutions and misrepresentations of me, which have alienated many persons from me. destroyed my happiness, created distrust in reference to my ministry, and exceedingly undermined my health. No earthly consideration could have induced me to undergo all that I have been thus requii'ed to bear. This whole important subject is now brought, as I have much desired to have it brought, before a legal and THE TYNG PERIOD 177 honorable tribunal. I respectfully ask a full examination of the facts involved. I have called the charges ' grossly false.' I am ready to be held responsible for the truth of tliis. I resi^ectfully ask that he may be re- quired thoroughly to prove their truth. I have called them ' malicious.' They have had no conceivable object or tendency but to destroy my char- acter, and to hold me up to public reprobation and reproach,— there being no single point or end which they even profess to accomplish, but to state what he declares to be facts in reference to myself. For the first time in near thirty years' ministiy, am I to answer for the exercise of pastoral discipline. I regret to trouble your honorable board with such a subject in connection with myself. I am conscious of having endeavored to do my duty in the fear of God, and to Him and to your Board under His direction, I humbly and reverently entrust my cause. After a lengthy and thorough examination into the matter, the committee on July 5, 1849, in an exhaustive review of the testimony in the case, completely vindicated the character of the rector and sustained and justified his action. But a yet ampler vindication was afforded in a supplementary report made to the Standing Committee by the Rev. Dr. Whitehouse, Chairman of the Com- mission, in which through correspondence and conversation with Mr. "Woolley he stated that he had learned of his repentance for what he had done and his desire to secure restoration; but his sud- den decease on August 20th prevented the completion of his ex- pressed desire. The lamented death of John Stearns, M.D., who had been for thirteen years the highly respected and valued senior warden of the Church, had occurred March 18th, while the controversy was pending which the election was to decide. A special meeting of the vestry was called on the day of his decease to take action thereon, and the three oldest members of the vestry were appointed to co- operate with the family in arranging the funeral and to prepare an appreciative minute to be entered upon the records. It was voted that the vestry wear the usual badge of mourning, and the rector was requested to deliver an address at the funeral service. The vacant place on the building committee was tilled by the appoint- ment of Jacob Leroy, and at a later date Peter G. Arcularius was added thereto. The following minute was adopted by the vestry: It having pleased a wise Providence to remove by death John Stearns, M.D., a venerable and distinguished ]5hysician of this city, and for many years the senior warden of this parish, this vestry directs the following record to be placed on their minutes, and a copy thereof to be sent to the family of the deceased: Resolved, That in the purity of life, elevation of character, fidelity in dutv, and fervent charity exhibited during a long professional and religious 12 178 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH life by our late associate and friend, this vestry recognizes the power and influence of that religion he professed and loved. Resolved, That while we moui'ii the loss of a zealous and devoted associate who for many years has taken a deep interest in all the temporal and spiritual concerns of this parish, and that the Church at large has also lost in him a man of enlarged benevolence and catholic spirit, yet we are comforted with the hope that our loss is his great gain, and trust that his bright and consistent Christian example will animate us to do with all diligence the duties entrusted to us, that we may be enabled with like precious faith and joyful hope to look forward to that ' rest that remaineth for the people of God.' In October, 1848, the new church was sufficiently completed to justify arrangements for the near transference thereto of the con- gregation which had been worshiping in the Chapel of the Uni- versity. Services had been regularly conducted therein, as well as at the Beekman Street church, by the rector and his assistant, Rev. William Y. Rooker. The last vestry meeting in the old vestry- room in Beekman Street was held October 14, 1848, and adjourned to meet one week thereafter in the vestry - room of the new St. George's Church. This action marked the transition of the govern- ment of the parish from Beekman Street to Stuj^esant Square. By unanimous action, the vestry resolved November 9th " that the church erected by this vestry on Stuyvesant Square be the parish church of this Corporation, and that it be styled and known as ' St. George's Church in the City of New York ' on Stuyvesant Square; that the meetings of the vestry of this parish be henceforth held and the records and minutes of the same be kept in this church, and that suitable provision be made therefor ; that the above church be opened for Divine Service on Sunday, November 19th inst., and that it be statedly held thereafter at such times as this Corporation may appoint ; that it is the sense of this vestry that it will be ex- pedient for the interests of this parish that the rector devote his personal services mostly to the Parish Church." Henry Greatorex was appointed organist and leader of the music, and the choir was to consist of Misses Hitchcock and Dresler, and Messrs. Lander and Bell, their services being required three times on Sunday, one evening during the week, and on the usual Holy Days of the Church, their compensation being three hundred dollars for the organist, two hundred dollars for the bass, and one hundred and fifty dollars each for the other parts. John Mulvany was appointed assistant sexton, Thomas Dugan, the sexton, remaining for the present in the old church. The Committee on Pews of the University Chapel, Samuel M. Cornell and Henry Anstice, were continued as the pew . THE TYNG PERIOD 179 committee of the new church, and arrangements for selling the pews were authorized to be made for November 20th, the day after the opening service. The unsold pews were to be offered for rent, and the rector was authorized in connection with the pew committee " to rent pews at such reductions from the established rates as should be deemed expedient," in order that no one might feel debarred from the possession of a pew through inability to pay even the moderate rents indicated on the pew diagram. There were two hundred pews on the ground floor, valued at $94,650, and ninety- three in the gallery, valued at $21,200. The prices ranged from $100 to $700 each, and the ground rent was fixed at eight per cent, on the valuation. The rental price on unsold pews was seven per cent, additional — that is, fifteen per cent, on the assessed valuation. As the ground rent therefore was $8 per year on the least desirable pews, and only $56 on the most expensive, the corresponding rentals being respectively $15 and $105 per year, no one could complain that the cost of church attendance was excessive. These details having been settled, the vestry ordered a series of resolutions placed upon the records, in which they tender their thanks to Almighty God in prospering them thus far toward the completion of this House of God, to be devoted to His worshijo and service and the preaching of Christ's Gospel; to the gentlemen of the Building Committee, who have given their time and watchful attention to the carrying out of the plans; to the treasurer of this Corporation, William Whitlock, Jr., Esq., in furnishing them with the pecuniary means of thus far completing this House of Prayer; and to their beloved Pastor for this watchful and unremitted attention to the rise and progress of this sanctuary, praying as they most devoutly would, that his life and health may be precious in the sight of God, and that he may long live to go in and out among them breaking the Bread of Life, and may the blessing of God the Sa^'iour be upon him, never leaving him to his own wisdom or strength, but ever leading him to rely on the wisdom and strength of Jehovah Jesus, the Lord Iiis Righteousness, and when his work is finished in the sanctuai-y below, may he have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God above. Services were inaugurated in the new church on the 19th of No- vember, but it was with a chastened rejoicing. Although what had seemed almost impossible had been achieved, there yet remained to be reckoned with the dissatisfaction lingering in the Beekman Street congregation, the apparent unfriendliness of the Corpora- tion of Trinity Church, and the consequent difficulties yet to be surmounted in turning the property of the Corporation into cash, wherewith to liquidate the cost of the erection of the new church. The rector's sermon at the opening service, however, made no refer- 180 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH enee to the situation, but was upon the topic *' The Duties of the Gospel Ministry," from the text, " Who is sufficient for these things." A letter written a few days later to his son, the Rev. Dudley A. Tyng, contained this allusion to his state of mind : ' ' We opened our Church on Sunday with an immense crowd. How it will succeed I am not sure. God can carry us through, be it His sacred will. I am very much hurried and very much har- assed. ' ' At this time the expenditure upon the new church had amounted to $192,510, the whole of which had been advanced by William Whitlock, Jr., a warden and the treasurer of the Corporation. It was a tremendous responsibility for one man to assume, at the risk of endangering his own commercial credit, but it attested in a signal way his fidelity and devotion to the church of his choice and his love, and of which he was for so many years an ornament and sup- port. At one time when the vestry had become discouraged, feeling that nothing but Mr. Whitlock 's credit stood between the Corpora- tion and disaster, he said to them: " Gentlemen, do you think that I can build that church? I pledge you my word I will build it even if I have to mortgage my house." In reviewing the history of this period at a later date, the rector thus bore witness to the inestimable value of his service, " God gave to one faithful friend of the Church the ability and the will to meet the whole responsi- bility, and it must never be forgotten that to his energy and noble conception of Christian duty this Church is wholly indebted for the edifice in which we now worship." It is of interest to note that the first clergyman invited by the rector to preach in the new church was the Rev. Dr. William Berrian, rector of Trinity Church. In his letter of invitation Doctor Tyng courteously wrote : " It has always been my purpose and desire that you should be the first clergyman invited to preach in our new church, both from my personal regard for yourself and my high respect for that ancient Mother of Churches, over which you pre- side, and from which St. George's has received so much." Doctor Berrian accepted the invitation, and preached on Sunday evening, January 7th. The new church was thus occupied for worship, but it had neither bell nor adequate organ, no fence surrounded it, the spires were not yet built, the parish building was unfinished, and the rectory not yet begun. The future was uncertain, because as yet no settlement with Trinity Church had been effected as to the restrictions which ST. George's church, stuyvesant square THE TYNG PERIOD 181 that Corporation had put upon the lots which it had ceded to St. George's at the time it was made independent; and until these restrictions were removed, advantageous sales of its property were impracticable ; and it was upon such sales that St. George's depended to meet the cost of the past and prospective improvements upon its property in Sixteenth Street. Some statement therefore of this whole tedious, trying business is essential to the completeness of this history. The original conveyances of the chapel property in Beekman Street, and of the lots of land, which were part of the church farm and deeded to St. George's, as its portion upon its entrance into independent life, contained conditions, which it was now found seriously impaired the value of the property, as no title could be given which would be unquestionable and absolute. To secure the consent of Trinity Church to the removal of these conditions was therefore imperative if St. George's was to remain a solvent cor- poration. For without the release of the conditions, the proceeds of a sale of the whole endowment might not be sufficient to pay the existing indebtedness ; and as no possible advantage could accrue to Trinity Church by their retention, it seemed only reasonable and just that the consent of Trinity should be freely given. But con- sent was refused, and for nearly a year of anxious suspense as to the outcome of the complicated situation, the vestry of St. George's struggled on under the increasing load of debt and interest obliga- tions, until conferences were renewed, and the terms demanded by Trinity, as the price of releasing the conditions, were made some- what less onerous, and a compromise agreement finally effected November 30, 1850. The initial action in the matter was taken in vestry meeting, December 15, 1848, by the appointment of a committee to make application to Trinity Church for a legal release of the property from the conditions contained in the deeds. This application in its perfected form, together with a memorial drawn up by the same committee, which was authorized to act as a committee of confer- ence, and a memorial numerously signed by " pew-owners, com- municants, and corporators in St. George's Church," requesting the Corporation of Trinity to grant the petition of the vestry of St. George's, were duly presented to the vestry of Trinity in January, 1849. The memorial of the vestry represented that the church in Beekman Street had become for years past less and less desirable as a place for public worship owing to the rapid displacement of dwelling-houses by warehouses, shops, and manufactories; that it 182 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH was the duty of the vestry to provide suitable church accommoda- tions for its members who had moved to the upper part of the city; that they had commenced the erection of a large, substantial, and elegant church edifice on Sixteenth Street, to accommodate the rapidly increasing population in that portion of the city; and the release of the restrictions on the property of the Corporation re- ceived from Trinity was respectfully requested : ' ' That whenever the time may come and it shall be found expedient to do so, they may have the power to alienate their property by mortgage or sale and apply the proceeds in discharge of the debt incurred in the erection of their new parish church "; and they proposed that the church edifice on Sixteenth Street be subjected to the same condi- tions and restrictions which they asked to have removed from that in Beekman Street, to secure the use of the same " for the purpose of Divine Service according to the rites and ceremonies of the Protestant Episcopal Church," The first conference between the committees of the two vestries was held February 19, 1849, and was fruitless of results, as the vestry of Trinity refused to grant the request of St. George's and remove the restrictions upon the property. Meanwhile a serious complication arose, through the determined and persistent efforts of a portion of the congregation of old St. George's to force the vestry to abandon the policy they had de- liberately adopted, and which had been approved by the corporators in the vestry election of the preceding year. This policy was, that the new edifice on Stuyvesant Square should be the parish church of St. George's; that the old church in Beekman Street should be maintained as a chapel whose seats should be made free ; and that the said St. George's Chapel should not be sold or alienated " but for the purpose of purchasing or building another chapel in some more convenient location in the lower part of the city of New York. ' ' The opponents of this policy held a meeting January 17, 1849, and appointed a committee of nine, of which James H. Titus, the prime mover in this opposition, was chairman, to present a memorial to the vestry expressive of their views and wishes, to be signed by those present and others whose signatures might be obtained thereto. On the following day the vestry granted the request of the Memo- rialists to appoint a coramittte to confer with them, and a series of conferences were had without any definite result. The Memorialists recited the strong attachment of the signers to the old church, and their earnest desire to preserve the same as " St. George's Church in the City of New York ' ' ; deprecated the hypothecating of the THE TYNG PERIOD 183 credit and property of the Corporation in the erection of the new church on Stuyvesant Square; protested against the conversion of the Beekman Street church into a chapel of the new St. George's; and proposing that such measures should be taken as would " es- tablish the new edifice and congregation on Stuyvesant Square as a new and independent church, with an endowment of such separate portion of the corporate property of St. George's Church as may seem prudent and equitable." At the second conference the com- mittee of the Memorialists presented a specific proposition, to the effect that the church and congregation in Beekman Street retain the original corporate title and rights, all the property in Beekman and Cliff streets, one-half of the thirty lots in the first and third wards, and pay the old debt estimated not to exceed thirty thousand dollars; that the church and congregation on Stuyvesant Square be established as a new and independent corporation, and receive a conveyance from the Corporation of St. George's Church of the real estate on Stuyvesant Square and one-half of the thirty lots belonging to the Corporation, the new corporation to assume the payment of all the existing debts of the old corporation, except the thirty thousand dollars above referred to. This proposition being declined, a modification of it was proposed at the third and last meeting of the two committees, which proved equally unacceptable to the committee of the vestry. Thereupon the committee of the Memorialists drew up an address to the vestry, being a statement in detail of what had taken place, and embodying a financial plan less liable to some objections urged against the former proposition, but still adhering to the point that the old church and congrega- tion should be still " St. George's Church in the City of New York." This point, however, could not be conceded, as it would have in- volved reversal of the deliberate judgment of the rector and vestry as to the wisest and best policy to be pursued, the confirmation or rejection of which policy had been definitely made the issue upon which the election of a year before had turned. Disappointed at not being able to swerve the vestry from their course, the Com- mittee of Remonstrants addressed to the Corporation of Trinity Church under date March 27, 1849, a lengthy recital of " the cir- cumstances connected with the dissensions existing in the parish of St. George 's " ; regretting " to be obliged to appear before you in the character of dissentients and of opponents to the legal authority of our Church ' ' ; and urgently requesting the Corporation of Trinity Church " to withhold the release now sought by the vestry of St. George's Church, until such release can be made to subserve the 184 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH preservation of ' St. George's Church in the City of New York ' in its primitive edifice and station." The annual election occurred April 10, 1849, and although it was held in the old church in Beekman Street, the dissentients refrained from taking part therein, and eighty-nine votes were cast, all being for the members of the old vestry. At the first meeting of the re- elected vestry, four days later, action was taken on the memorial of Mr. Titus and his colleagues, to the effect " that the circum- stances of this Corporation do not justify it in granting the re- quest of the Memorialists," but proposing that they should organize as a Protestant Episcopal Church according to law, assume half of the debts of the Corporation, and receive a conveyance of the entire Beekman Street property and one-half of the thirty lots of ground belonging to the Corporation. This generous proposition was de- clined by the dissentients, and a counter proposition made which, while varying the terms of financial adjustment, pertinaciously ad- hered to the unconcedable point, that the old name and Corpora- tion should remain in Beekman Street. The vestry expressed their disappointment April 23d that their " liberal offer of fully one- half of the property (in value) of this Corporation has not been accepted by the committee ' ' ; and the negotiations ended. The committee, however, embodied a statement of these later proceedings in another communication to Trinity Church, in which they re- quested " that they should have an opportunity to appear before you in reply to any future communications which may be received from the vestry of St. George's, before your final determination relative to the application of that body now pending before you." Meanwhile the vestry were meeting their obligations, as best they might, by temporary loans pending the completion of the negotiations with Trinity Church, in the matter of securing the releases necessary before the lots received from that Corporation could be sold to advantage. In regard to this enforced delay. Dr. Tyng in a retrospective sermon said : One of the most remarkable of all the features of the history was the Providence by which internal dissensions in the congregation and outward hostility from others, in whose hands there was power to annoy, were made to arrest the premature sale of the property of the Corporation, and to tie it up until such a change in its value had taken place as should fully relieve our obligations. The opposition was meant for evil; God was pleased to overrule it for remarkable good. The new Sunday-school building and lecture-room on Sixteenth Street was completed and ready for occupancy in October, 1849, THE TYNG PERIOD 185 and the Sunday-school, which had been using temporary quarters, was soon installed therein. The Rev. James H. Tyng, a brother of the rector, secured the use on week-days of the largest room on the ground floor for a select classical school, in which the writer of this history, the rector's sons, and other young members of the congregation were duly and well taught. The monument and bust of the former rector, the Rev. Dr. Milnor, was directed by the vestry November 15th to be removed from the church in Beekman Street to the chancel of the new church in Stuyvesant Square. It being desirable to secure the consecration of the new church, and the Episcopate of the Diocese of New York being still vacant through the suspension of Bishop Onderdonk, the Rt. Rev. Carlton Chase, D.D., Bishop of New Hampshire, who at the request of the Standing Committee was performing Episcopal services in the Diocese of New York, was invited to perform the ceremony of con- secration. On the 4th of December, 1849, the new edifice was ac- cordingly consecrated by Bishop Chase in the presence of about fifty of the neighboring clergy and an immense congregation. Morning Prayer was read by the Rev. Gregory T. Bedell, D.D., Rector of the Church of the Ascension; the Lessons by the Rev. Benjamin I. Haight, D.D., Professor of Pastoral Theology in the General Theo- logical Seminary; the deed of donation by the Rev. Lewis P. W. Balch, D.D., Rector of St. Bartholomew's Church; the Sentence of Consecration by the Rev. Jonathan M. Wainwright, D.D., Assistant Minister of Trinity Church; the Epistle by the Rev. William Ber- rian, D.D., Rector of Trinity Church, and the Gospel by the Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D.D., Rector of the Church of the Mediator. The sermon was preached by the rector of St. George's Church from the Song of Solomon, sixth chapter and ninth verse, ' ' My dove, my unde- filed is but one." After the religious services were concluded the Bishop, clergy, and other invited guests partook together of a col- lation provided in the school-room in the chapel by the vestry. The whole arrangements for the day had proved ' ' satisfactory and agree- able to all who were engaged in them." Among the guests in at- tendance at the consecration were the rector of Trinity Church, who took part in the service, and its wardens and vestrymen, who had been specially invited to honor the occasion with their presence. More than a year had now elapsed since the application had been made to Trinity Church for the release of the conditions on the property of St. George's, and nothing had been heard from that 186 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Corporation since their refusal of the application early in 1849. The matter, however, had not lapsed from consideration, for the Standing Committee of the Corporation of Trinity presented on February 2, 1850, an elaborate report to the vestry " upon the several applications of St. George's Church for releases of the conditions in the conveyances to that Corporation, so that it may dispose of its property to the greatest advantage for the purpose of paying its debt." This report, after reciting the early history of St. George's and its present financial condition and various con- siderations presented by the committee of St. George's in con- ference, goes on to say : Under these circumstances, it appears to your committee, that a sale of the greater part at least of the real estate of St. George's Church is inevitable. The only question is whether this church will concur in a sale of a portion of it, and thus retain the remahader as an endowment producing an annual income, and likewise secure the new edifice and land in like manner to the Protestant Episcopal Church; or, by refusing to concur, suffer the whole estate to be sold at reduced prices. ... It is evident that a great risk must be run in going to a sale of the property of St. George's Church with- out a release of the conditions; the result might involve a sale of the whole without accomplishing the object intended; and the only purpose this Vestry could have in retaining the condition, viz : that of securing a permanent endowment, would be entirely defeated; for so long as St. George's main- tains a Protestant Episcopal Church in the city, this Corporation cannot re-enter upon the property or exercise the least control over it. . . . Your committee consider the difference between the proceeds of the property upon a forced sale of it, without the acquiescence of this Corporation, and the actual value to be obtained by gi'V'ing a clear or perfectly unem- barrassed title, as a direct loss of church property. This reasoning of the committee would seem conclusive in favor of granting the petition of St. George's Church, and they recom- mended a plan which involved a partial compliance with the request. The vestry of Trinity, however, at its meeting, February 11, 1850, simply resolved that the church edifice in Beekman Street ought, if possible, to be preserved for public worship in that part of the city, and referred back to its Standing Committee the resolutions reported by them, with instructions to confer with the vestry of St. George's or its committee, in order to ascertain if an arrange- ment can be made by which in consideration of the release of all conditions the vestry of St. George 's will convey the Beekman Street church " to such religious corporation now existing or hereafter to be created, as the Corporation of Trinity Church may direct, and upon such conditions and covenants as the said Corporation may prescribe." The St. George's committee, refusing to consider this THE TYXG PERIOD 187 proposition to give away property valued at sixty tliousand dollars for the releases, which ought equitably to have been freely accorded, the vestry of Trinity presented a new proposition. In inclosing a copy of this action to Mr. Winston of the St. George's committee, Mr. Harison, the comptroller of Trinity and chairman of the com- mittee whose resolutions had been referred back to it, wrote under date February 19, 1850: " You will perceive the vestry showed their disappointment by taking all manner of liberties with our original proposition. They released the whole property upon re- ceiving a round sum of twenty-five thousand dollars." The Rev. Doctor Tyng in referring to this proposition wrote : This munificent Corporation, knowing all the ijeeuuiaiy difficulties and ob- ligations with which St. George's was actually contending, demanded from that struggling Corporation a payment in money of twenty-five thousand dollars, for the simple consent to the removal of a restriction from their property, which the merest justice required and which cost them nothing. And even this offer was to be connected with a transfer of the same re- strictions to all the new property which St. George's had acquired on Stuy\-esant Square and the church edifice which they had built thereon. The counter proposition of St. George's Vestry, March 21, 1850, contained three alternatives : 1. That this Corporation will pay to Trinity Church twenty-five thousand dollars for the removal of all restrictions on their propertj' received from that Corporation; or 2. That this vestry will place the same restrictions, on their property obtained from Peter G. Stuyvesant on Sixteenth Street, as now exist on the church in Beekman Street, provided the Corporation of Trinity Church will remove all restrictions from the propertj' received by them; or 3. That this Corporation will sell to Trinity Church, or to any corpora- tion it may direct and whose obUgations for payment it will guarantee, the church and ground on the corner of Beekman and Cliff sti-eets, originally obtained from Trinity Church, for the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, provided the Corporation of Trinity Church will release the property now possessed by St. George's Church and received from Trinity Church, from all restrictions placed on it in their deeds of gift. The vestry further resolved " that it would be inexpedient and wrong for this Corporation to embarrass themselves by compljdng with the resolutions passed by the vestry of Trinity Church, re- quiring a payment of twenty-five thousand dollars and a transfer of the restrictions to the church in Stuyvesant Square, while the debts of the Corporation to any considerable amount remain un- paid." These propositions of St. George's the vestry of Trinity promptly tabled April 8, 1850. On the 2d of May, the committee of con- 188 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH ference was instructed by St. George's Yestry to present a memorial to Trinity Church, requesting their definite action upon the third alternative proposition. A memorial was accordingly drawn up as follows, under date May 8, 1850 : The undersigned respectfully represent, that they have learned with great disappointment and regret that the vestry of Trinity Church, at its late meeting laid the resolutions of our vestry upon the table without any decision or action thereon. They desire with perfect respect to remind your venerable body that the requests contained in said communications and resolutions, involving matters so vital to the interests of our Corporation, have been before you for action for nearly one year and a half, during Avhich time we have been put to much additional cost and embarrassment, from the accumulation of a large amount of interest on our imliquidated debt, while anxiously waiting from month to month your favorable action, which from various precedents, as well as from the entire reasonableness of our requests, we have good grounds for confidently anticii^ating. This vestry are constrained by their necessities to declare that they can- not longer postpone definite action in reference to the sale of their property consistently with their obligations to this Corporation and its creditors, and that they must proceed, without further delay, to a final disposition of their real estate, to pay their debt, whether the restrictions are removed by your action or not. 'Having earnestly and patiently sought by all proper means to obtain from your Corporation the removal of these restrictions, valueless to you, but highly oppressive and embarrassing to us, we trust and believe that you will not subject us to the pain and mortification of witnessing the need- less sacrifice of a portion of that property which was given ' for pious uses,' which must be forever lost to the Church and enrich those who have no sympathy with its communion and worship, by declining our proposi- tion } but that you will, by prompt and favorable action in our behalf place us in such circumstances as you would desire, were our position your own. The vestry of Trinity, on the 10th of June, finally adopted propositions, which were acceded to June 27th by the vestry of St. George's, and final " articles of agreement" were dated and executed November 30, 1850. On December 19th the committee accordingly reported that the negotiations were concluded, and sub- mitted to the vestry a synopsis of the articles of agreement, together with the documents in full pertaining to the settlement, which are entered at length in the records of St. George's vestry. The chief features of the agreement were : 1. To insure that the new church and grounds on Stuyvesant Square should forever continue as a Protestant Episcopal Church, St. George's agi-ees to execute a mortgage to Trinity Church, conditioned upon the fulfillment of the covenant that it should be used in no other manner or way than for the services of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and liquidating the damages upon a breach of this condition at fifty thousand dollars. 2. Trinity Church agrees to buy the church on the comer of Beekman and Chff streets, subject to the rights of vault and pew owners, and to THE TYNG PERIOD 189 issue her bond for twenty-five thousand dollars therefor, and to forever keep it as a Protestant Episcopal Church, and not to use it in any other manner or way without the written consent of St. George's. On its part, St. George's agrees to execute and deliver a good and sufficient conveyance of the old cluu'ch to such person or corporation as Trinity Church may desigiaate, whenever requested to do so, subject to the original conditions in the deed of gift to St. George's. 3. Trinity Church agrees and contracts to release all the other property formerly conveyed to St. George's, from all conditions whatsoever, and to execute and deliver to St. George's Corporation, or to whomsoever it may designate, deeds of release, whenever and in so many and such separate deeds as the CoriDorafion of St. George's may require. In respect to this happy termination of the long, tedious, and com- plicated negotiations, the committee expressed their gratitude at be- ing able to say that they had ' ' yielded no principle of independence or rights, and that the settlement of the question at issue has been made upon a basis of mutual acknowledged prerogative and obliga- tion." The situation in which St. George's now found itself is such a turning-point in its history, and the record of sales of prop- erty, with purchasers and prices, is of such interest as to justify the insertion here of the concluding portion of the committee's report: During these negotiations with Trinity Church, your committee have felt the anxiety, so often expressed by the vestry, to sell the propertj^ of this Corporation for the purpose of reducing its large debt ; but they judged it would be better to wait, at some inconvenience until the obstacles existing in the restrictions in the deeds from Trinity Church should be removed. The committee lost no time in bringing this property into the market after the restrictions were removed, and they report the following sales, for which they hold agreements from the parties purchasing. The deeds are mostly deliverable January 15, 1851, and the parties are to pay cash, of one-third cash and two-thirds on bond and mortgage for two years at six per cent, interest or for five years at seven per cent, uiterest payable semi- annually. Thev have sold to: D. D. Howard, 76 Chambers Street (lease expires 1852) for.... $16,000.00 John J. Phelps, 80 Chambers Street (lease expires 1854) for 14,000.00 Jolm J. Phelps, 82 Chambers Street (lease expii'es 1853) for 13,000.00 Isaac Moses, 91 Chambers Street (lease expires 1850) for 12,000.00 D. D. Howard, 96 Chambers Street (lease expires 1852) for. . . . 11,000.00 L. H. Holmes, 118 Chambers Street (lease expires 1854) for. . . . 11,500.00 H. D. Aldrich, 102 Chambers Street (lease expu-es 1852) for. . . . 13,000.00 H. D. Aldrich, 19 Murray Street (lease expires 1854) for 12,500.00 H. D. Aldrich, 21 I^IuiTay Street (lease expires 1853) for 12,500.00 Dan'l Stanton, 40 Warren Street (retaining the restriction on this lot, lease expires 1853) for 10,000.00 Andi-ew Thompson, Esq., for others, 78 Reade Street (lease expires 1855), 80 Reade Street (lease expires 1855), 99 Claurch Street (lease expires 1855) for." 15,400.00 190 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Brought forward $140,900.00 Phelps, Dodge, & Co., lectui-e-room in Cliff Street, the Meinell lot, and rear of parsonaee lot for 17,000.00 Tatham Brothers, 82 and 84 Beekman Street for 28,000.00 Trinity Church: the church in Beekman Street to be kejat up by them as a Protestant Episcopal Church perpetually, for 25,000.00 Total of contracts for sale, leaving eight lots of gToimd unsold. .$210,900.00 The indebtedness of this Corporation as this day given in by the treasurer is $183,163.22 Prom this deduct due Milnor Professorship $7,000 and $4,500 to the Sundav-school fund, which as trust funds cannot be jiaid by us " 11,500.00 Leaves our debt to be cancelled $171,663.22 Should the contracts for lots all be complied with and the amounts realized, we should have a balance of $39,236.78 in bonds and mortgages or money, with the eight lots of gi'ound unsold as productive property, aside from our chm-ch, chapel and grounds on Stuyvesant Square. For the lots on Beade, Chambers, Warren, and Murray streets just sold we have obtained an advance of seventy-five per cent, above the valuation of 1846 at which price we were authorized to dispose of them,. We have thus the gi-atification to announce to the vestry the completion of these arrangements so vitally im])ortant to the interest and prosperity of this parish, removing as they do every obstacle of an outward character to its advancement and increase. We secure to the inhabitants of old Montgomerie Ward and to those of our friends who feel so deej) interest in sustaining the old church in Beekman Street with its vaults for the dead, its perpetuity by the bond of Trinity Church to us, while those of us who love the church on Stujn'esant Square for its unrivaled appropriateness and beauty, from its associations as well as what it has cost us in sacrifice, labor, and treasure, will rejoice to know that its perpetuity in our own Communion is secured by our bond to Trinity Chxirch and that thus it must ever remain in its present connection and position. We gladly ac- knowledge that ' hitherto the Lord hath hel2:)ed us ' and by His wisdom and strength alone we have been prospered. Respectfully submitted, Fred'k S. Winston e 1 XT Committee. Sam l Hopkins New York, December 19, 1850. Upon the receipt of this report the vestry resolved: That in the sucessful consummation of the arrangements between this Corporation and the Corporation of Trinity Church, and in the very ad- vantageous sales of the various portions of the property of this Corporation sufficient for the liquidation of the whole debt of this Corporation, which have been above re]iorted to this vestry by the committee on property and repairs, this vestry perceive and desire to acknowledge the very special and gracious protection and blessing of Divine Providence over the interests THE TYNG PERIOD 191 of this Corporation, demanding the expression of affectionate gratitude to Him in Whose hands has been the control of the minds and hearts, of all who have been engaged in these comjilicated and long protracted negotia- tions. That this vestry entertain a very high sense of the zeal, patience, fidelity, and intelligence, which have distinguished the course and labours of their committee on pi'operty and repairs in the very protracted and comijlicated negotiations, both with the representatives of the Corporation of Trinity Church and Avith the many other parties who have been also involved in these negotiations — and which have resulted so prosperously for this Cor- poration, and desire to express to the members of the said committee their affectionate and respectful gratitude, for their performance with so much labor, of the arduous duties, which they have so successfully discharged. In view of the present independence and prosperous condition of St. George's, and of its duties to the coming as well as the present generation, the vestry appointed Messrs. Winston, Whitlock, Hop- kins, and Lawrence a special committee to take into consideration the temporalities of the Corporation, and " report such a plan as in their judgment should govern this vestry in the management of these trusts confided to them." The vestry also gratefully recognized the very important and valuable services rendered during the last five years by William Whitlock, Jr., as treasurer and as a member of the Building Committee, and Frederick S. Winston as a member of the Building Committee and of the committee on property, " services which have been gratuitously and cheerfully given at a great sacrifice both of pecuniary interest and personal convenience, ' ' by assigning to each of them as their property a pew free from all taxation or ground rent. The special committee on the temporalities of the church reported March 13, 1851, that : The value of the real estate belonging to this Corporation in the Third Ward, together with the Bonds and Mortgages remaining in the hands of the Treasurer after cancelling all our indebtedness, will be about one hundred thousand dollars. Your committee recommend in view of the source and purpose of the endowments as originally made to this Corporation, and of the circumstances of necessity which may arise hereafter in so large and expensive a church establishment as ours, that no portion of the principal of our present property be expended, or used, for pur2Doses of building, improvements, or cuiTent expenses. They also earnestly recommend to the present vestry and to their suc- cessors in office, not to use or pledge any greater portion of the surplus revenue of the church than will accrue in five years from the time any appropriation shall be made. Should the finances of this Corporation be wisely administered, the net income from property, and the rents from the Pews will probabh' exceed 192 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH our necessary expenditures, four thousand to six thousand dollars per annum, to which may be added a considerable sum from the sale of pews ever\' year, from the large number still unsold. This will be ample in a few years to pay for a rectory, complete the spires, purchase an organ, and afterwards to build and sustain a chapel among the poor, in a destitute part of the city. As this Corporation owns a suitable lot on Sixteenth Street adjoining the church and chapel for a rectory and as they have a sufficient quantity of stone already purchased for the building required, the committee recom- mend, that a plain, substantial, and comfortable building, comporting with the character and calling of those for whom it is intended in coming gen- erations, be erected as soon as i^roper preparations can be made for this purpose. The committee are not prepared to recommend the immediate erection of the spires, provided the vestry resolve to build a rectory during the pres- ent year. In concluding, your committee recommend the passage of the following resolutions, Resolved, That the vestry adopt the foregoing report and that the prin- ciples and recommendations contained therein be carried out by this vestry and be recommended to their sucessors in office. This resoluton was adopted, formally committing the Corporation to a definite policy as to the preservation of the endowment and the limitation of use of surplus revenue. At this time the actual yearly revenue of the Corporation from ground rent and pew rentals was reported by Henry Anstice, chair- man of the Pew Committee, as being $10,720. Meanwhile the vestry of Trinity Church had formally called upon the vestry of St. George's, April 14, 1851, in accordance with the articles of agreement between the two corporations, to convey St. George's Chapel in Beekman Street to the Church of the Holy Evangelists. This church was located in Vandewater Street, having been established there in Dr. Milnor's time by the City Mission Society, against the protest of the vestry of St. George's as already stated in this history. That parish being in embarrassed circum- stances and finding prosperity impossible in its undesirable location, gladly availed itself of the proffer by Trinity Church, its long-time benefactor, of the old St. George's Chapel. The conditions imposed by Trinity were : That a bond and mortgage to Trinity Church for fifty thousand dollars, the purchase money, should be executed by the Corporation of the Holy Evangelists; tliat the Vandewater Street property should be abandoned to Trinit}' Church to pay the mortgages upon it; that no person should be called to officiate as Rector or Minister in St. George's Chapel without the approval of the Vestry of Trinity ; that the name ' St. George's Chapel ' or ' Old St. George's Chapel ' should be maintained always, and that Trinity THE TYNG PERIOD 193 should be allowed to place a marble slab in front of the tower, inscribed with that name, and bearing the dates of its erection, destruction by fire, and rebuilding. On the acceptance of these conditions by the rector and vestry of the Church of the Holy Evangelists, the conveyance of the prop- erty was made to that Corporation by St. George's Church, July 21, 1851, in pursuance of the stipulations contained in the Articles of Agreement between it and Trinity Church of November 30, 1850, together with all the furniture, clock, bell, and organ. 13 CHAPTER VIII THE TYNG PERIOD (1851-1865) Turning now from the temporalities to the spiritual affairs of the Church, the rector was authorized, March 13, 1851, to " employ a clergyman as missionary for the Sunday-schools of St. George's and to lal3or in the district of the city assigned to this church." The Eev. Calvin C. Wolcott was appointed such missionary at a salary of eight hundred dollars, the lirst in a long line of successful workers who made, under the rector's guidance, the missionary work con- nected with St. George's Sunday-schools, such a continuing and signal influence for good, not only in the community, but in the spiritual development of self-consecration in the willing workers of the congregation. The personal labors of the rector had gradually assumed, under the new conditions and in the new surroundings, a distinctive and systematic character, which with little variation marked the whole course of his more active ministry. He was seldom absent from his pulpit. His afternoon discourses were especially adapted to the instruction of the young, though the elder members of the con- gregation heard them with the utmost interest and profit. Series of Gospel sermons, largely on Old Testament themes, such as Ruth or the Rich Kinsman, Esther the Captive Princess, the Religious Instruction of Animal Instinct, the Botany of Scripture, the Moun- tains of Scripture, held the attention in successive weeks and years of large and deeply interested congregations, the spiritual side of every Bible incident being invariably emphasized. Two week-day evening lectures were regularly maintained, that on "Wednesday being of a general religious character, while that on Friday evening was devoted to the special edification of the Sunday-school teachers and others interested, the subject always being the lesson for the following Sunday. A lecture preparatory to the monthly celebra- tion of the Holy Communion was also given on the Saturday evening^ THE TYNG PERIOD 195 preceding. During the Lenten season additional courses of instruc- tion accompanied the multiplied services. The rector's record of his work shows an average of sixty sermons and lectures in suc- cessive Lents and about two hundred in each recurring year. His personal attention to the Sunday-schools was a marked characteristic of his ministry. Each Sunday found him going through each one of the departments with kindly words and helpful smiles, which attached the children and young people to him, despite a certain austerity of demeanor which in his case did not repel. His habit was to conduct the closing exercises in the main department of the school, and his earnest, loving words were always listened to with interest and respect, and under God's blessing have left a deep abiding impression upon many lives. In the regular visitation of the families of the parish he was systematic and unremitting. His sympathetic ministries to the sick and afflicted were specially ac- ceptable and fruitful, and bound the hearts of his parishioners to him in that devoted attachment which was characteristic of St. George's congregation, while his personal influence for good ex- tended far beyond it, as people from a distance sought his counsel and his sympathy. The Rev. Dr. Dyer, who in these days saw much of Dr. Tyng, writes in his Records of an Active Life: The new St. George's had but recently been opened, and he was intensely engaged in building ujj a comparatively new congTegation. It was easy to see many of the sources of his wonderful power. Besides his remarkable gift as a preacher, he was very accessible, full of sympathy, and ready every- where, and on all occasions, to lend a helping hand. These and other traits endeared him to his people, both to the young and the old. The children were amazingly fond of him, and in ministeriug among the sick and sorrow- ing he had feAv equals. In a ministry which made such incessant demands upon the strength of the rector there was urgent necessity for periodic respite from duty and care. The five years which had intervened since his last trip to Europe had been a period of exceptional toil and anxiety, and in the spring of 1853 the vestry, " having learned that the rector is unusually debilitated by his multiplied labors and that temporary relief from his duties and a voyage to Europe would be agreeable to him," tendered him release from duty for four months and one thousand dollars to defray his expenses. He accordingly arranged to be present in London at the Anniversary Meetings in May, and after a subsequent brief visit to the Continent, in com- pany with the Rev. Drs. Butler, Vinton, and Vermilye, and a short trip to the west of Ireland, he returned home much refreshed andi reinvigorated. 196 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH On the completion of the new church a temporary organ was provided and Mr. Henry Greatorex appointed organist. On his resignation in May, 1850, Henry Dibble was appointed in his place. In April, 1852, the vestry, deeming that the time had come for the installation of a suitable organ in the church, directed the music committee, consisting of Henry Anstice and Adolphus Lane, to obtain specifications and proposals from competent organ- builders, and Frederick S. Winston was added to the music com- mittee, to constitute a special Committee on Organ. At the next monthly meeting the committee submitted a plan and proposal for an organ to be built by Henry Erben, for the sum of $6,000, and the committee was directed to close the contract with him and to cause a case for the organ to be erected in harmony with the archi- tecture of the church. An additional thirty-two-foot stop of twenty- seven metal pipes was subsequently authorized at an additional ex- pense of $750. The new organ was completed early in 1853, and the following appointments m.ade by the music committee were approved by the vestry : organist, John Zundel, at a salary of $500 ; soprano, Mrs. Stewart, $400; contralto, Miss Griswold, $200; tenor, Mr. Hopkins, $200 ; bass, Mr. Scott, $200. Mr. Zundel had been employed to superintend the construction of the organ and in his report he says : The superior qualities of the organ are such as to give satisfaction to any unprejudiced player or hearer. The entire work is throughout masterly executed, and the material of the best quality, the woi'kmanship skilful and careful, showing everywhere an experienced hand. The pipe work shows the same evidence in regard to make. The voicing of it was, accord- ing to the express wish of the committee, to be of a soft character, affording consequently not as much brilliancy, or noise, as might be partly expected, but gives a more dignified church-like effect with sufficient power of tone for our present church music. The variety of the different stops imitating almost every instrument of an orchestra surpasses anything yet made in this country. The choir appointments for 1854 included the name of Miss Ann Stone, soprano, at a rise of salary of $300 over her predecessor, the other stipends remaining at the old figures. At least one re- hearsal a week was stipulated for and attendance at all public services in the church, and also at funerals when desired, for which latter service they should be entitled to receive five dollars each. Mr. Zundel resigned as organist in October of the same year, and George F. Bristow was appointed in his place. Tn April, 1855, Miss Stone's salary was increased by $300 more, to $1,000, and she was designated as director of the music. In April, 1857, Mrs. Anna THE TYNG PERIOD 197 Elliot succeeded her at the same salary. In December, 1858, the vestry determined to discontinue after the ensuing May the present organization of the choir and to appoint a chorister to lead the music. The reorganization in the spring included Miss Cornelia A. Dingley, at $500, as soprano, Miss Sarah Bagley as alto, Joseph W. Mather as tenor, and John Harbett as bass, at $200 each, the organ- ist, Mr. Bristow, being retained and appointed conductor. It was, however, resolved that the music committee be authorized to es- tablish congregational rehearsals at which the choir should rehearse weekly for the services of the following Sunday, and the members of the congregation be invited to attend and participate. A new organist was employed in the spring of 1860, William A. King, the soprano, alto, and bass singers being retained. In the following spring Mr. King, Mr. Harbett, and Miss Bagley resigned, and the vestry appointed Harry W. A. Scale as organist, and decided, pending inquiry into the practicability of engaging a precentor to conduct the music in so large a church, that the two vacancies be filled for only six months, so that the change, if later determined upon, could be made with greater economy. It was thought possible, moreover, that a precentor could be found who could sustain the bass part and also train some boys for the choir. The musical affairs of the church, however, do not appear to have gone very smoothly. An auxiliary choir was authorized in 1864, at a cost not to exceed $500, and in 1865 the annual expense for music had increased to $2,100 per annum. The Kev. Dr. Heman Dyer became assistant to the rector at a salary of five hundred dollars from May 1, 1854, prior to which time the Rev. N. "W. Camp had assisted him in the public services. It had been the custom of the vestry, since the beginning of Dr. Miluor's ministry, to make an annual addition to the rector's salary of one thousand dollars. The rector's regular salary was now in- creased, February 9, 1854, to four thousand dollars, to which addi- tions were made each year in increasing amounts until the annual income of the rector from his generous church reached ten thousand dollars per year. Dr. Tyng had not been in the habit of making an annual report to the Diocesan Convention ; he had made only one since coming to New York, which was in 1858. In place of the report in 1855, he, however, furnished an abstract from his tenth anniversary dis- course, which so well epitomizes the work of the period which it covers, that it is here reproduced in substance from the Diocesan Journal : 198 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH When I became rector of St. George's, I found 220 communicants in actual connection with the Church, of whom but 41 are now stated mem- bers of the congregation. To them have been added 690 in the ten years of my ministry, 197 coming from other churches and 493 being received by me in their first communion. From this \\'hole number of 919, 77 have been removed either by death or by transfer. Our present number is 833. Our habitual attendance of communicants does not vary much from 700. Baptisms administered by me have been 407, 81 adults and 326 infants. The confirmations have been 445, the marriages 228. One of the most interesting j^arts of our whole work, and the one in which my own mmd and heart are always perhaps more deejoly interested than in any other, is our Sunday-schools. We commenced our Sunday- schools in connection with this Church in November, 1847, with 35 chil- dren and 9 teachers. At our first public anniversary at Easter, 1850, there were 42 teachers and 445 scholars; at our second, 49 teachers and 660 scholars; at our third, 57 teachers and 945 scholars; at the fourth, 61 teachers and 1,014 scholars; at our fifth, 60 teachers and 1,090 scholars; and at our sixth, 60 teachers and 1,163 scholars. Within the last year a mission Sunday-school has been opened in connection with this Church on Avenue A and Nineteenth Street, which reports to me at its first an- niversary 33 teachers and 423 scholars, making in all in our Sunday-school department 93 teachers and 1,586 scholars, a total of 1,679. Four years ago, by permission of the vestry, I employed the Rev. Calvin C. Wolcott as a domestic missionary in connection with this Church to aid me in my large field of parochial duty. I have much reason to be satisfied with the fidelity and success of his work. My pei'sonal labors have included an average of more than 200 sermons and lectures and over 1,000 pastoral visits in each year. Of these I have nothing more to say than that my public labors have always been received by my people with a grateful resjject and estimation far beyond any claim they may have possessed; and my private intercourse with them has been welcomed and rewarded by an affectionate tenderness and unrelaxing and reverential confidence Avhich has left me nothing to ask. I conclude this survey of the past ten years with a review of our benevo- lent statistics for the same period. The whole public collections in the congTegation are recorded as thej' have passed through my hands, excluding all those contributions which have been made without my connection or particular reports to me. The collections have been, omitting fractions of a dollar: for the years ending Easter, 1846, $2,800; 1847, $3,502; 1848, $4,761; 1849, $4,703; 1850, $4,942; 1851. $5,215; 1852, $10,036; 1853, .$12,441; 1854, $12,646; 1855, $16,039; total for ten years, $77,995. The objects for which collections have been made are: American Bible Society, $13,313; Foreign Missions, $13,918; Domestic Missions, $6,471; Diocesan Missions, $2,778; American Tract Society, $11,354; Sunday- schools of St. George's Church, $2,992; American Sunday-school Union, $1,.353; Evangelical Knowledge Society, $2,587; Colonization Society, $1,722; Seamen and Seamen's Childi-en, $1,807; Education for the Min- istry, $2,092; Aged and Infirm Clergymen, $992; Temperance Society, $495; Praver-Book Society. $244; Communion and General Collections, $14,977. The Dorcas Society has made and distributed during the past six years 5,942 garments among the poor children of the Sunday-schools, at the THE TYNG PERIOD 199 cost in money of $1,795 besides the donations received in materials for the work. The ladies have also maintained a sewing-school for the instruc- tion of the poor children, and a daily j^arish school has also been sui^i^orted for the last four years. The consideration of the wants of others and our own obligations require perhaps as much of ' the spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind,' as any other department of our work. There must be first, this combination of firmness, tenderness, and discrimination to avoid, on the one side, the pretenses of impostors, and on the other, the impatience which the increasing annoyances of solicitations are adapted to produce. The more experience we have in the work the more will this necessity be pereeived. Some claims must be refused ; not to refuse wi'ongly and to distribute rightly and gladly, according to our means, demand im- portant gifts. The emphasis which Dr. Tyng placed in the beginning of the fore- going report on his Sunday-school work and its significant position in his whole ministerial career suggests the introduction of a mono- graph respecting it. When Dr. Tyng assumed the rectorship of St. George's, the Sun- day-school numbered thirty teachers and two hundred scholars. In the brief time intervening before the inauguration of the new enter- prise up-town he had little opportunity to do more than to per- petuate as well as might be, under the declining conditions of the situation, the admirable work which his predecessor had built up. But the establishment of the Sunday-schools in the new St. George's afforded amplest opportunity for the exercise of that splendid talent for organization and effective management which was characteristic of Dr. Tyng, and in its application to Sunday-school work entitled him to a unique and foremost place. His previous five years' ex- perience in St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, prepared him for the founding of the Church of the Epiphany in that same city, of which he wrote : ' ' We founded this church with the distinct understand- ing and plan that the Sunday-school should be the main and promi- nent object of regard, and its convenience and successful operation thoroughly provided for; and we carried out this principle com- pletely." His scheme and methods were continued and elaborated by his successor. Dr. Eichard Newton, so effectively that Dr. New- ton's name is fitly linked with his among the princely leaders in Sunday-school endeavor. Into his New York field of labor, therefore, Dr. Tyng brought plans and methods which had been amply tested by experience and in whose execution he found intensest joy and satisfaction. For he loved children and drew out their confidence and love. And what he wrought in this field is so noteworthy a part of the parochial history of St. George's as to entitle it to some particularized review. 200 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The nucleus of the future Sunday-school of the up-town St. George's was gathered where the forming congregation met, in the Chapel of the University of New York, on Washington Square, with about thirty children in November, 1847. Another nucleus was gath- ered in a house on Sixteenth Street, where it continued growing until the fall of 1848, when the Sunday-school work was concentrated and accommodated in the galleries of the new church, pending the completion of the Sunday-school building. For at the outset Dr. Tyng had urged upon his congregation the erection of this building as a paramount duty of the church. " The obligation to provide a decent and appropriate house for their own worship is no more imperative," he said, " than the obligation to make similar just and ample provision for the care and convenience of their Sunday- school. The duty of supporting the preaching of the Gospel to adults, and of maintaining the pastoral office for the purpose, is not more obligatory or needful than the duty of full and adequate provision for preaching the Gospel to the children in the appropriate arrangements of the Sunday-school. ' ' From the establishment of the Sunday-school in this building, commonly called the chapel, on its completion in October, 1849, the school grew with marvelous rapidity. At the first anniversary, on the Sunday after Easter, 1850, forty-two teachers and 445 scholars were reported, and the growth in the ensuing years was strikingly wonderful. At the sixth anniversary, in 1855, there was an aggre- gate of sixty teachers and 1,163 scholars in the various departments. Meanwhile a mission school had been established in Nineteenth Street, and at the next anniversary, in 1856, it was present in the church with its thirty-three teachers and 423 scholars, making a total for both schools of 1,679. As other missions were established, the total membership of the schools of the parish naturally increased, until for the six years, from 1861 to 1866, the aggregate was over two thousand. The church was deeply interested in its Sunday-schools and lib- erally supported them. Few of its families were unrepresented in the schools themselves, and it was not uncommon for both parents and children of the same family to be regular attendants as workers or learners. Many who began in the infant school passed through the several grades to become well-equipped and faithful teachers, owing their knowledge of the Book of Books and the nurture of their spiritual life to the inspiration of their beloved rector and the effective methods which he organized and personally directed in his well-ordered schools. Many such still vividly remember his THE TYNG PERIOD 201 dignified yet kindly and paternal bearing as in his unremitting superintendence of the schools he passed from room to room and from class to class each Sunday, with his alert eye everywhere, extending greetings, answering questions, saying an apt word, and making every scholar feel that their beloved pastor had loving personal relations with each one of them. They knew he cared for them, took pleasure in their growth in knowledge of the Bible and in spiritual life, and warm attachment to him was the natural re- sult. The plans which he devised for their instruction, and at times amusement, were keenly well appreciated. Many can well recall those memorable Thanksgiving afternoons, when he gave magic- lantern exhibitions in the chapel, of which it would be difficult to say. who most enjoyed them, the children or the rector, who, perched on a high platform, manipulated slides portraying Scripture scenes and other views of interest and ending with those comic moving pictures which were always greeted with rapturous delight. One who vividly remembers that wonderful magic-lantern writes : It was the magic of Di*. Tyng's jaersonality and the magic of his de- scriptions which made those i:)ietures real. The devotion of children to him was marvelous. I can remember now the thrill of delight and excitement when he came to call on mother. We little guis would drop our toys and rush for the drawing-room to get a place nest to him on the sofa. As there were three of us,, one of course was always left out. One of my sisters on one occasion had been washing her doll's clothes; she brought each article to the doctor, held it up for his inspection, much to my mother's consternation, and received the heartiest praise and interest from liim for her work. And as we grew older, we realized what the spiritual influence of St. George's great preacher, gi-eat evangelist, I should say, meant to us. The personal labor involved in the details of superintendence and oversight was cheerfully undertaken because he felt such a keen sense of the importance of the work and the pastoral advantage derivable from the cultivation and maintenance of those closer ties between himself and the younger members of his flock, which this relation secured and which vastlj^ enhanced his influence over them for good. It was in pursuance of the same idea of special attention to the interests of the young committed to his care that he devoted the afternoon services of every Sunday to topics made intelligible to them and specially adapted to rivet their attention ; which ser- mons proved both edifying and instructive to all classes of his hearers. The subject of the lesson for the ensuing Sunday was regu- larly treated at the Friday evening lectures, not only to impress upon the congregation present the truth deducible from any portion 202 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of God's Holy Word, but to assist the teachers in grasping and developing that truth so as themselves to impart it more effectively to the young souls for whom they were in part responsible. For Dr. Tyng's conception of the teacher's office was to labor for the conversion of the members of the class, by which he meant " the real spiritual turning of the heart to God, and its renewal for His service by the Holy Spirit," and the instrument of conversion, with children as with adults, he held to be " the Word of truth, the simple message of redeeming love." The text-book of his Sunday- schools was therefore the Bible. He expounded the Church Cate- chism himself in the main school once each month. But he stressed plain Biblical teaching out of The Book itself. Every scholar com- mitted to memory a portion of it each week, and during the session had the Bible in his hand to look up references and familiarize him with its order and its contents. He did not undervalue the teach- ing of the Prayer Book, but with him. it was " the Prayer Book illustrated by Scripture "; and himself prepared three manuals for Sunday-school instruction based on this idea, on the Collects, the Epistles and Gospels, and the Catechism and Confirmation Office. But the emphasis he placed upon the Bible itself. He felt that children should grow up that, like St. Timothy, it might be said of them " from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." His views upon the matter he thus expressed in his little work entitled Forty Years' Experience in Sunday Schools: This wonderful book is always interesting, attractive, and instructive. No children in our schools are too young to delight in its stories, or to eomijrebend the history and tlie love of that great Saviour in whom all its instructions meet. It never wearies their attention or fails to awaken their conversation and their thoughts. Its language is the most intelligible, its narrations are the most simple and natural, its principles and tniths are the most dear and easily comprehended which can be given to the young. And the time expended in its study and its exposition in a well-ordered Sunday- school is always found too short and too rapid for the gxeat jjurpose for which it is devoted. The book for the Sunday-school is the Bible. Once in addressing a meeting of Sunday-school teachers he aptly illustrated his position by an incident at the death-bed of Sir Walter Scott : Turning one day to his son-in-law, Mr. Lockhart, he asked him to read to him, and when his son-in-law replied by asking him, ' What book shall I read?' 'What book?' exclaimed that eminent man, 'what book? There is but one book, Lockhart; read the Bible.' THE TYNG PERIOD 203 The Sunday-schools of St. George's were, therefore, distinctly and pre-eminently Bible Schools, that the scholars therein might become, through the knowledge of divine truth wise unto salvation and be led to a public confession of the Saviour. Dr. Tyng once told a visitor, as his eyes swept over the busy throng at work in the main school: " Every teacher in this room started under my eye as a scholar in the infant class. I have trained them all my- self, and I know them all and they know me; they are my chil- dren in the faith." And he further said that he " knew of more than fifty ministers of Christ who had been under his oversight as scholars in that infant class. ' ' That he regarded his work among the children as the most important and promising field of pastoral duty is attested by this utterance in a public address: " For years, if the choice before me in my work as a pastor has been between one child and two adults, I have always been ready to take the child." And again, in a lighter vein, at a convention of Sunday- school teachers in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, he said : T can see the Devil looking in at that door and sajdng to the minister on this platform, ' Now you just stand there and fire away at the old folks and I will go around and steal away the little ones — as the Indians steal ducks, swimming under them, catching them by the leg and pulling them under,' One of the most strikingly marked features of the administration of St. George's Sunday-schools was the stated anniversary on the first Sunday after Easter. Dr. Tyng accounted a well-conducted anniversary occasion as of great value to the school, attracting at- tention to it, enlarging its usefulness by increasing its membership, emphasizing its place and importance in the parochial scheme of work, and giving pleasurable satisfaction to both teachers and scholars engaged in it. On each of these occasions the rector was accustomed to present a book to every scholar, not as a reward, but as a token of interest and remembrance on the part of the congrega- tion, and in many families long connected with the school these care- fully treasured volumes were a unique little library. None who ever attended these anniversaries could fail to remember the impression produced by the animated scene. The seating capacity of the floor of the church was taxed to the utmost by the teachers and scholars of the church and the mission schools ; the galleries were crowded with members of the congregation and interested friends ; the chancel was filled with plants and flowers and the piled-up books for dis- tribution arranged in packages for every class; and in the pulpit Dr. Tyng, his face beaming with happiness, received the floral or 204 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH other emblems appropriately descriptive of the names of the several classes accompanying their offerings, depositing these about him " till there was no place " ; and the sermon was always in the rector's happiest vein. The anniversaries always attracted wide and merited attention and were an object-lesson of great value. The offerings thus presented were announced as each one was received at the hands of a member of the class designated to take it to the rector, none knowing until then what any other class had done by way of contributions ; and the grand total was made known before the exercises closed. Before this method was adopted money for missions was gathered in the schools weekly or monthly. But with the adoption of the plan of making every class a missionary body, with some self - chosen name most always taken from the Scriptures, collecting its own fund each week with its own treasurer, the contributions mounted up from a few hundred dollars to an annual aggregate of thousands. At the seventh anniversary the total was $3,280.50, increasing yearly, till at the eleventh it had mounted to $5,409.92. The inculcation of benevolence went hand in hand with Scripture- teaching in St. George's Sunday-schools. The rector every year addressed an earnest letter to the schools to do their best for missions. The first work undertaken was to complete a stone church in Mon- rovia, Africa, which was to cost seven thousand dollars. The chil- dren were encouraged to solicit aid from others in their missionary work, but contributions of this sort were to be handed in as separate from and in addition to gifts of their own ; and that the children might be sensible of his deep sympathy and interest in their work, the rector cheerfull}^ co - operated through the proceeds of some lecture or the sale and profit from one of his books or through gifts solicited from friends. On the approach of the ninth anniversary his letter to the school proposed a new departure while they were still contributing to the completion of the Monrovian church : My Deae Friekds and Children : — Our Ninth Anniversary is approach- ing. The 18th of April will be the day, if the Lord will. We must try to get up our Missionaiy -work as far and as full as we can. We have contributed over six thousand dollars to build a church in Africa; we have given over three thousand dollars to build churches in the western part of our own countiy. Now I propose to you that we shall unite to build a Free Mission Chapel for the poor in our own city. There is in this city as much need of mission- ary work as in any part of our country. There are thousands of j^eople for whom no church has been provided, and who have no means or opi^or- THE TYNG PERIOD 205 tunity for the public worship of our gi-acious God and Saviour. To build a Missionary Chapel ourselves, by the efforts of the Sunday-schools alone, will be a noble effort. In two or three years' collections, we can easily do it. Let us undertake it now. Thus was begun St. George's Mission Chapel in Nineteenth Street. Scarcely was it completed, in 1861, when a German chapel in Four- teenth Street was projected. This having been completed in 1863, the Sunday-school collections were applied to furnishing the chancel of the church after the disastrous fire of 1865. The necessity for more accommodation for the German congrega- tion in Fourteenth Street and the Mission of the Bread of Life, which had been occupying utterly inadequate and rented quarters, resulted in the erection of a new building on the Fourteenth Street site, enlarged by the purchase of an adjoining lot, and so arranged that both missions were well accommodated therein. It was com- pleted in the fall of 1872, at a cost of forty thousand dollars, of which the Sunday-schools provided the most part. During the twenty- seven years covered by the last report which Dr. Tyng himself pre- pared in 1876, the total contributions of the schools for missionary and other objects aggregated the magnificent sum of $84,869.07, in itself a monument to the generosity and devotion of the teachers and scholars and to the energetic, indefatigable, and inspiring leader- ship of Dr. Tyng. The question of completing the church edifice, by the erection of the spires, having been for some time under consideration, the committee which had carefully examined the property, income, and expenditures presented a detailed report of the same, February 8, 1855, recommending the erection of the towers and steeples, pro- vided a sinking fund of $3,500 per annum out of the surplus income should be created, to be used in replacing such loans as might be made from the capital fund of .$100,000 in erecting the towers and steeples now proposed to be built; and that the annual expenses of the church be limited meanwhile to figures sul)sequently fixed by the vestry at $12,500. The work was speedily undertaken, and in November, 1856, was completed at a cost of $45,700. As a mark of appreciation of the skill and fidelity of the architect, Mr. Eidlitz, a special appropriation of $1,000 was made to him. A clock was ordered for the spires at a cost of $1,800. A bell was subsequently ordered at an expense of $1,250. As the grand and beautiful edifice was now entirely complete, two marble tablets were directed to be placed between the piers inside the church, with the following inscriptions, which should be 206 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH preserved in this History, as the tablets themselves perished in the fire of 1865 : First Tablet. ST. George's church new york. Comer Stone of this Church laid June 23d 1846. Church opened for Public Worship November 19th 1848. Consecrated December 4th 1849. Spires completed November 1856. Building Committee John Stearns, M.D. William Whitloek Jun'r. Frederick S. Winston. Jacob Le Roy. Peter G. Arcularius. Samuel Hopkins. Architects Otto Bleseh. Leopold Eidlitz. Second Tablet. corporation of ST. George's church by whom this Edifice was erected. Rev'd Stephen H. Tyng, D.D. Rector. Church Wardens. John Stearns M.D. William Whitloek Jun'r. Frederick S. Winston. Adolphus Lane. Vestrymen Thomas L. Callender. Samuel M. Cornell. Henry Anstice. Joseph Lawrence. Jacob Le Roy. Peter G. Arcularius. Samuel Hopkins. William K. Strong. Ross W. Wood. Charles Tracy. Horace Webster. THE TYNG PERIOD 207 The church edifice being thus completed, it may be well to call attention to two distinctive crowning features of it, which, unhappily, are no longer parts of the structure as it now stands. The general outline of the noble architecture, as originally designed, it was possible to preserve and perpetuate after the disastrous fire, but the beautiful and graceful spires are no more, and the unique arrangement of the galleries without supporting pillars to obstruct the view had to be sacrificed. The architects were a young firm composed of a Bavarian, Otto Blesch, and a Bohemian, Leopold Eidlitz, who collaborated on the plans, the exterior being mainly the work of the former and the interior of the latter. The senior partner soon, however, falling ill, the execution of the work of building devolved entirely upon the junior, whose genius and ability were so signally manifested as the work progressed that, 3'oung as he was, having been born in Prague March 29, 1823, his reputation was assured. The edifice was an example of the South German phase of the Gothic, or, more properly, the Eomanesque style. The Gothic spires were an elegant expression of tracery in stone, at a time when a spire of any kind in solid masonry was rare in New York, if, indeed, there were any other than the slender crocketed cone of Trinity. A marked feature of the interior, as striking in its way as the open-work spires, was the wide galleries extending on both sides and the rear end of the great church without a column to uphold them. This unique achievement of the architect was effected by anchoring brackets of great strength through the walls into the exterior buttresses, and the resulting freedom from obstruction of the whole floor area added materially to the church's beauty and impressiveness. The successful realiza- tion of these plans gave Mr. Eidlitz at once an enviable position among his fellow-craftsmen, and he lived to enjoy a distinguished architectural career. In the spring of 1857 the vestry, believing that relaxation from his arduous duties would be of benefit to the rector, tendered him a leave of absence till October 1st and fifteen hundred dollars to defray his expenses. He had long cherished a desire to visit the Holy Land, but had been unable to leave his work in a season of the year favorable to journeying in that country. It was indeed already late in the season, but he lost no time and reached Jaffa and Jerusalem in June. His homeward journey was by way of Constantinople, Athens, and Marseilles, and after a short trip through Switzerland and Germany and a few weeks in England, he sailed for New York about the middle of September. An appro- 208 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH priation of five hundred dollars was made to the Rev. Dr. Dyer for extra service during the absence of the rector. On the 18th of March, 1858, occurred the lamented death of Peter G. Arcularius, who had for many years been a faithful and efficient member of the vestry, and to whose usefulness and fidelity and Christian character the records of the vestry bear abundant witness : When we recall his usefulness and fidelity, in all the relations which he filled in his connection with St. George's Church, for many years past, his imexpeeted departure is to us as a vestry, and as individuals, a cause of sincere grief, making an important vacancy in our number, which few can fill with equal usefulness and acceptance. While we mourn his departure, we bear our gi'ateful testimonj' to the purity and simplicity of his Christian character, as he has gone in and out among us, always proving himself a steadfast and faithful friend, a man of peace and kindness, and an example of conscientious fidelity in duty, and of candour and gentleness in his judgments and feelings towards those who were connected with him, a lover of the truth and the spirit of the Gospel, and a consistent professor of its principles and commands. Within a month after the decease of Mr. Arcularius, who had been a loyal and devoted friend to the rector, and whose loss he keenly felt, Dr. Tyng was called to bear the overwhelming sorrow of the untimely death of his first-born, the singularly gifted and eloquent Dudley Atkins Tyng, who had been his father's first assistant in St. George's and who, at the time of his lamented death, was rector of the Church of the Covenant in Philadelphia. His love, his pride, his hope, were largely centered in that son. The circumstances of his taking off, as the result of a distressing accident, were deeply afflicting. But from his death-bed came that rallying cry of Gospel faith, " Stand up for Jesus," ere that young consecrated life, so full of promise for the Master's cause, passed to the higher sphere. The father's grief was agonizing, but through grace he acquiesced in the afflictive dispensation of God's will. Letters of touching sympathy poured in upon him. He had arranged to spend that very Sunday with his son, April 28th, in which he was now called to speak commemorative words of him to the bereaved flock of the church in Philadelphia and mingle his grief with theirs. The Rev. Dr. Heman Dyer, who since 1854 had served as Dr. Tyng's assistant, felt obliged by the accumulating pressure of other duties to sever that relation in February, 1859. The vestry accepted his resignation with most sincere regret and with " the highest opinion of the integrity, purity, and holiness of character which have distinguished Dr. Dyer in all his personal and official rela- tions." The intimacy he sustained with Dr. Tyng until the latter 's THE TYNG PERIOD 209 death, together with his signal astuteness in judging character, make valuable indeed these reminiscences of him which he embodies in his own Records of an Active Life: For five years I was the assistant at St. George's, During six or seven months of one of these years Dr. Tyng was absent in Europe, when I was alone in charge of the church. I take great pleasure in saying that my connection with St. George's, and my relations to Dr. Tyng, to the vestry, and the congregation were of the pleasantest character. I found the Doctor always considerate, obliging, and accommodating. He was rigidly exact and methodical, as well as prompt and energetic, in the administration of affairs. His cares and re- sponsibilities were immense. The great church, accommodating two thousand people and more, was crowded. The Sunday-schools and Bible classes numbered between one and two thousand. And yet to all this work he gave a personal super- vision. He knew every teacher, and could call nearly every child by name. His administrative abilities were simply marvellous. But in all this work, he was never in a burrj'. From his Sunday-schools and Bible classes he would come into the vestry room, robe himself, and prepare for the services with the utmost deliberation. He could not tolerate a fidgety or fussy person. The sexton knew his place and kept it. He was never obsequious, never obtrusive; but simply respectful, attentive, and on time. He knew better than to volunteer to do things, but followed with exactness the prescribed rules. Upon the instant, he opened the door for the officiating clergy to pass into the church, and this was a signal for many of the gentlemen to take out their watches to see if they were right. They well knew that if there was correct time to be found anywhere in the city, it would be at St. George's. The church was crowded to excess. It came to be a common thing to have all the spaces around the chancel completely filled every Sunday, and not unfrequently many had to stand during the entire service. Of course many of these were strangers, so that each Sunday, beside his own congregation proper, the Doctor preached to hundreds of strangers from all parts of the country. It was indeed one of the things for a visitor to do, on coming to the city, to attend St. George's and hear Dr. Tyng preach. The more I was with Dr. Tyng, the more could I understand the devotion of his people, and particularly that of the teachers and cliildren of his Sunday-schools to him. They almost idolized him; and well there might be this devotion, for he never wearied in his devotion to them. In sick- ness and in trouble, he was promj^tly with them, and untiring in his min- istrations for their good. The Anniversaries of his Sunday-schools and the offerings there made by the various classes, and all the services connected with them, became a matter of public interest, and drew immense crowds. During this period, the offerings of the Sunday-schools, and of the congregation generally, for benevolent and Christian objects, were much larger than those of any other Episcopal church in the country, so that the influence of Dr. Tyng, and of St. George's, throughout the country was very great, and was freely admitted by all fair-minded people, though there were some who never liked to speak kindly or peaceably of him. 14 210 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH On one occasion, a clergyman from another diocese was in one of our book-stores, the proprietor of which was an old-fashioned High Church- man, when something in the conversation led the bookseller to mention the name of Dr. Tyng. Instantly this clergyman commenced a tirade against him, and after blowing out for a while, he closed by saying that he ' wished he would leave the Church; he was no Chiu'chman, and he did the Church nothing but harm.' My old friend, who was usually very calm and very courteous, was thoroughly annoyed by this onslaught and responded : ' That may be your opinion ; but I tell you it is not my opinion, nor the opinion of those who know Dr. Tyng. If you take the whole of ,' here naming the clergy- man's diocese, ' all its clergy, and all its congregations, and put them to- gether, you could not begin to make one St. George's.' On another occasion. Bishop Whittingham was dining at the house of a friend of mine, and there were present two or three young clergymen, who thought, perhaps, they might gain a little favor with the old bishop by making some disparaging remarks about Dr. Tyng; and so they expressed the opinion that he, and all such men, did much harm, and that it would be better for the Church if they would leave it. The bishop kept silent till they were through, and then quietly remarked: 'Young gentlemen, you are much mistaken. I have known Dr. Tyng long and well. I do not agree with him in many things: but I do not hesitate to say that he has done a great work, and brought more people into our Church than any clergy- man in it.' After this, the yoimg men had nothing more to say. One day I was walking with Bishop Wainwright, and as we came into Second Avenue near Sixteenth Street, we turned around, and there stood St. George's in all its gi-andeur. The bishop stood for a minute, and said nothing; and then lifting up both hands he said, in the most solemn manner: ' I bless God for St. George's ! It is doing a wonderful work. I wish we had twenty such churches.' It is not probably generally known, that during his last days. Bishop Onderdonk of New York, attended the services at St. George's and the ministrations of Dr. Tyng. In the popular mind Dr. Tyng was always re- garded as a Low Churchman, and so in the popular sense, he was, but he was a very decided Churchman, as his father. Judge Tyng, was before him. Few know, perhaps, that his father was, while on the bench, asked to receive orders, that he might be made Bishop of Massachusetts. I heard Bishop Mcllvaine remark once, that Dr. Tyng said but little about his ehurchmanship, though he had a good deal of it. "When the Church was attacked, he was like a thermometer plunged in boiling water^ shooting at once up to the highest point. So he was, in all his connections, tastes, and habits, a thorough Churchman. "When I was with him, it was liis custom, upon the occasion of the bishop visiting his church for confirmation, always to say to the bishop when he arrived : * I hand the church over to you as the chief pastor for this occasion. Please arrange the services as you wish to have them.' But no man was ever quicker to oppose any unlawful assumptions of power, or any infractions of the rights of tlie clergy by the bishop, than he was. Another characterization of Dr. Tyng which Dr. Dyer gives in his Preachers and Preaching in America may well be added here: THE TYNG PERIOD 211 As a preacher, Dr. Tyng stands among the foremost in America. He speaks without notes; has a wonderful memory, and an almost unlimited command of language and illustration. His views of gospel truth are clear and distinct, and in the pulpit he is always solemn, earnest, and impressive. He confines himself strictly to preaching the gospel, never allowing himself to be diverted by outside influences from this one great object. His in- structions are sought by multitudes who do not belong to his Church, and his own people place them above all price. No man is more beloved than Dr. Tyng is by his own flock. The children and the youth almost idolize him. As a platform speaker Dr. Tyng is unrivalled. The less prepared, the more wonderful apparently he is. Some of his impromptu addresses reach the highest style of elocjuence. They seem like inspiration. He is grand, severe, argiimentative, and playful, as occasion may recjuire. His form is slight, his presence commanding, his actions graceful, and his voice clear and penetrating. Everybody hears him, and everybody understands him. He is never so great as when his indignation is kindled. Then the lightnings flash and the thunderbolts are hurled in every direction, and woe to the man who gets in the way. But he is never so happy as when, in gentle mood, he tells of Jesus and His great salvation. As age draws on, he seems more and more inclined to withdraw from everything else and devote himself to his own people. Among them he is perfectly known and understood, and with them he is happy. Such is Dr. Tyng. Upon the retirement of Dr. Dyer, the rector was empowered to procure such assistance as he might require in the services of the church, and the policy was inaugurated of taking young clergy- men as assistants who preferably had been educated for the sacred ministry under the guidance of the rector of St. George's. The first of these was the Rev. Wilbur F. Paddock, who formerly had been a member of the choir, who entered on his duties July 1, 1859, and continued to serve until April 22, 1860, when he became rector of St. Paul's, Cleveland. The Rev. James E. Homans was his successor from July 1, 1860, remaining in that relation until May 1, 1861. The Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., succeeded him until May, 1862, when he resigned to become rector of the Church of the Mediator in New York. Information having been received that old St. George 's Church in Beekman Street was about to be permanently closed, a special meet- ing of the vestry was called for July 5, 1860, to consider the matter. It will be remembered that by the Articles of Agreement entered into between Trinity Church and St. George's in November, 1850, the old church in Beekman Street was conveyed to the Church of the Holy Evangelists, to be maintained as a Protestant Episcopal Church under the guarantee of Trinity that it should not be used in any other way without the written consent of St. George's Cor- 212 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH poration. Services had accordingly been maintained therein for some ten years by the liberal assistance of Trinity Church. But now the vestry of the Holy Evangelists, in January, 1860, requested Trinity Church " to consider the expediency and practicability of selling St. George's Chapel and using the proceeds for church pur- poses elsewhere." Trinity Church having refused to entertain this idea, the vestry of the Holy Evangelists, although receiving regu- larly from Trinity an annual allowance of $2,500, demanded that this should be increased to $6,000, and declared that " unless an arrangement satisfactory to them were made for the support of this parish, they were contemplating a discontinuance of Divine Service in St. George's." A committee of Trinity Church gave the whole subject of their relations to the corporation, which was now using St. George's Chapel, a careful consideration, and on June 4, 1860, presented a full report, detailing the unreasonableness of their demands, the incompetence of their rector for the duties of his position, and their violation of the agreement between the Churches in his election, and suggesting that the limit had been reached in what could be done to assist the corporation of the Holy Evangelists. It was this situation which incited St. George's vestry to the action above referred to, and a committee was empowered to take such cognizance of the situation as might be demanded and act ac- cordingly. The vestry of Trinity, however, made new and adequate provision for the maintenance of the services in old St. George's. Having found that further arrangements with the corporation of the Holy Evangelists were impracticable, that corporation was al- lowed to go out of existence, and a Board of Trustees was constituted to carry on the work after December 1, 1860, under the name of the Free Church of St. George's Chapel. The major part of the parishioners and communicants of the Holy Evangelists identified themselves with the new organization, under the pastoral care of the Eev. Sylvanus Reed, whose support was provided chiefly by Trinity Church. The final disposition of the old building may well be noted here. The vestry of St. George's Church in February, 1863, received a communication from Edward M. Young, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Free Church of St. George's Chapel, asking the appointment of a committee to confer with them, in regard to its present condition and future prospects, with a view to the removal of the mission to some other quarter of the city. In response to this communication, the vestry of St. George's expressed its readiness to THE TYNG PERIOD 213 receive and consider any distinct proposition which the trustees might desire to offer. The trustees accordingly, April 22d, trans- mitted to the vestry of Trinity Church the expression of their full conviction that the maintenance of services and parish organization for the Free Church of St. George's Chapel in its present location does and must con- tinue to involve an expense entirely out of all proportion to the amount of good that can be accomplished, and the trustees believing that by dispos- ing of the ground and using the proceeds for the establishment of one or more missions on the east side of the city further up-town, much more satisfactory results may be produced. The Corporation of Trinity Church is therefore most respectfully requested to appoint a committee who shall have power in conjunction with the board of trustees to arrange with the vesti-y of St. George's Church for the removal of any restrictions that may now exist which prevent a sale of the jDroperty. The vestry of Trinity at once transmitted this communication to St. George's Church, with a request that the requisite committee be appointed; to which request St. George's promptly acceded, and empowered Messrs. Lawrence, Tracy, Pyne, Haines, and Jenkins to make a final settlement of all the questions connected with the alienation of the property of old St. George's in Beekman Street. Among the directions given from time to time to its committee was one charging them to take due order and care for the proper re- moval of the remains of the Rev. Dr. Milnor from the vault beneath the chancel in which they had been interred by the direction of the vestry. The negotiations which ensued were complex and prolonged, but the final result was embodied in the report made by its committee to the vestry, May 14, 1868. The settlement was in pursuance of an agreement with the Corporation of Trinity, by which the prop- erty should be sold, and one-fourth of the net proceeds be paid to St. George's and three-fourths to be at the disposition of Trinity; the mortgage held by Trinity on the property of St. George's Stuy- vesant Square to be cancelled and a deed of release to be executed, extinguishing all claims of the Corporation of Trinity Church against St. George's, as well under the mortgage as under the Arti- cles of Agreement executed at the time of the earlier settlement on November 30, 1850. To carry out this agreement, title to the property was secured under a foreclosure of the mortgage upon it executed by the Church of the Holy Evangelists to Trinity Church, when St. George's conveyed it to that Corporation under the original agreement of 1850. The title now vested in three trustees, Samuel / T. Skidmore and John J. Cisco representing Trinity, and Percy 214 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH R. Pyne representing St. George's. By them it was conveyed to the firm 'of Phelps, Dodge, & Company for $145,000, St. George's re- ceived $30,618.67, with a contingent interest of twenty-five per cent. in a reserved fund of $5,000, which was to be held for five years by the purchaser as indemnity against possible claims of vault-owners. The organ and the bell were also delivered to St. George's, and the other movable property was conceded to other parties; and the passing of the venerable structure, which had nobly served its pur- pose, but outlived its usefulness, was an accomplished fact. In this final settlement the relations involving property questions, which had so long continued between Trinity Church and St. George's, were happily and forever closed. The period of Dr. Tyng's ministry covers that part of the his- tory of the American Church when party feeling was intensest, uncharitable judgment of opponents was the bitterest, and polemic strife most acrimonious. The development of evangelical principles, which had helped to overcome the spiritual indifference and laxity which was too char- acteristic of the Church in the Colonial and Revolutionary times, had been both rapid and widespread. The " doctrines of grace," as they were called, involving a profound sense of personal sin, the necessity of a Divine Saviour and the experience of conversion by the Divine Spirit, were powerfully preached and largely accepted. With the proclamation of this simple gospel came adherence to the voluntary principle in worship and in giving, which meant the liberty of extemporaneous prayer as supplemental to the prescribed and regular use of the Prayer Book and of giving to such objects and through such channels as commended themselves to the giver. But there were others who laid special stress upon the Apostolic Order of the Church and her objective Sacraments, and who con- demned the prayer-meetings and the practice of co-operation with other Christians in the support of union societies. And so it came to be that party lines were sharply drawn and troublous times began. It was the birth year of St. George's Church in which two repre- sentatives of these divergent schools of thought were consecrated bishops at the same time and place, Alexander Viets Griswold and John Henry Hobart, Llay 29, 1811, in Trinity Church, New York. The former was a man of saintly character, of self-denying and abundant labors, who stood for evangelical religion in the New England Diocese, as Richard Channing Moore, whose consecration THE TYNG PERIOD 215 dated three years later, stood for them in Virginia. But Bishop Hobart was a man of greater intellectual force and marked ag- gressiveness in the maintenance of his views. He sturdily main- tained with no uncertain sound and an untiring industry, distinctive teaching as to Church and Sacraments; and no man made a larger contribution to the education of the Church, or to the crystallization within it of views now generally accepted, or did more in his time to awaken in the Church a self-consciousness of her mission in this land and an aggressive spirit to assert lierself for Christ. The Church was at this period in the throes of evolution. The Evangelical and the High-churchman had each something of greatest value to contribute to this process, but the result was not evolved without much controversial strife. The controversies of that day with all their bitterness have long since passed away, and from them has emerged the recognition of the right to differ and yet live in loving unity as brethren in the one Household of the Faith. The dawn of the great change in tone and temper began to be apparent at Baltimore in 1871. As Bishop Perry writes: " The keynote of a loving unity was sounded from the lips of the aged Bishop of Virginia at the opening of the memorable Convention of 1871, and his message of love was echoed by the presence and noble words of the Apostolic Selwyn, whose presence in a day of controversy was a benediction of peace." The word ^' regenerate " had been defined by the bishops in council as " not so used as to determine that a moral change in the subject of baptism is wrought by the sacra- ment ' ' ; and quieting action was had as to the ritual question, which had come to be crucial. But it was several years before asperities were really softened and partisanship subordinated in the united progress of the Church. Dr. Tyng's entrance upon the rectorship of St. George's was at -a time when controversy in the Church at large was raging, and the Diocese of New York was rent by rival factions. In his Phila- delphia environment he had been an acknowledged leader among the Evangelicals, and in his first sermon in St. George 's he ringingly enunciated the principles for which he and his party stood. The congregation had always loyally supported his predecessor. Dr. Milnor, in his pronounced and able maintenance of the evangelical position. So from the very first up to the close of Dr. Tyng's min- istry, St. George's vestry and people steadfastly upheld their rector by their sympathy and generous confidence. He shaped and clari- fied their views of truth, and they in turn, by the prestige and in- fluence of their united prosperous parish, afforded him a powerful 216 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH backing in the controversial attitude which he from time to time felt forced to adopt. The memorable Convention of the New York Diocese in 1845 was that in which as rector of St. George's Dr. Tyng first appeared. There was intense partisan feeling and much excitement and dis- order. The Bishop of New York had been suspended in the pre- ceding January after trial by his peers, and the burning question was whether the diocese was vacant and the way open for a new episcopal election. The friends of the suspended bishop insisted that his restoration was possible and should be canonically provided for, while Dr. Tyng maintained with earnestness and force that the action of the bishops in decreeing his indefinite suspension had vacated the position. Discussions of the subject in and out of the Convention were attended with much bitterness, and though the present outcome was postponement of action till the following year, the Diocese was rent by partisan commotion. It was not until 1852, alter the action of the General Convention had made it possible, that a Provisional Bishop of New York was elected in the person of Dr. Jonathan M. Wainwright — a choice which proved as gen- erally acceptable as could have been expected. In the Convention of 1885, the necessity of an increase of the Episcopal Fund assumed a large importance. Bishop Wainwright had died in September, 1854, and Dr. Horatio Potter had been consecrated Provisional Bishop in his place in November of the same year. The suspended Bishop Onderdonk, however, was still in receipt of income from the Fund. The vestry of Trinity Church proposed to give its bond for $20,000 on condition that the other parishes of the diocese should raise $50,000 within a specified time. Of this offer there was abundant criticism, in which the rector of St. George's prominently shared, on the part of those who maintained that the large property of Trinity Corporation was a trust whose income should be applied more largely for the Church's benefit outside the parish. The rector of Trinity issued in defense of the Corporation a pamphlet entitled " Facts against Fancy," to which the Hon. William Jay emphatically re- plied in a " Letter to the Rev. Wm. Berrian, D.D., on the Re- sources, Present Position and Duty of Trinity Church, occasioned by his late Pamphlet." The rector of St. George's made a further answer in a series of letters first issued in The Protestant Church- man and subsequently published in a pamphlet entitled " The Rector Rectified." In the final letter of this series he retorts upon the rector of Trinity on the point of the comparison which the latter THE TYNG PERIOD 217 had instituted between the beneficence of Trinity Church and that of St. Mark's, St. George's, and Grace Church, which represented a different style of Churchmanship and whose rectors had been promi- nent in criticism of the policy of Trinity. Dr. Berrian had alluded to this difference, as he claimed for Trinity as her peculiar char- acteristic and one great cause of all the obloquy she suffered, " the entertainment of sound Church principles and the manful mainte- nance of them at all times through good and evil report." The rector of St. George's met the challenge by simply quoting figures from the diocesan journals for a period of eleven years, showing that Trinity with her two chapels, St. Paul's and St. John's, had given during that time $28,728, while the benevolent contributions of St. Mark's for the same period had been about equal to those of the three congregations of Trinity parish, $28,500, and those o£ St. George's had amounted to $58,666, or more than twice as much. He further, from the reports of the Board of Missions, showed that the contributions to missions for a similar period of eleven years, from Trinity parish had been $4,551.95, from St. Mark's a little more, $4,803.26, and from St. George's $19,455.36, or more than four times as much. Continuing the comparison between St. George's and Trinity, to show to what extent each had become " a boon, a blessing, a relief to others," employing the expression Dr. Berrian had used as not applicable to St. George's use of her revenues, Dr. Tyng from statistics in the Journal of the preceding year contrasts St. George 's with one congregation, one minister, 833 communicants, 93 teachers, and 1,586 scholars in its Sunday-schools, and Trinity, with three congregations, 9 ministers, 800 communicants, and no Sunday-schools reported. St. George's benevolent contributions from the one congregation were $16,039 for the one year, while Trinity's benevolent contributions from its three congregations was $6,311.55. And he goes on to say: These results are a fair estimate of the relative usefulness of the two establishments as they stand, and may be received as a fair practical demon- stration of the ' sound Church principles,' which are assumed to distinguish the one, and of the ' Evangelical principles ' which are known to char- acterize the other. "With the three Evangelical Societies, so called, St. George's was closely identified from the time of their organization. The first of these was the ' ' Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowl- edge," which was established in 1847, to counteract the influence of the Oxford Tracts and allied literature. Its object, as declared 218 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH by its constitution, was " to maintain and set forth the principles and doctrines of the Gospel embodied in the articles, liturgy, and homilies of the Protestant Episcopal Church, by the publication of tracts, Sunday-school and other books." Bishop Meade, of Vir- ginia, was its first president and Dr. John S. Stone, of Brooklyn, its first general secretary. During the General Convention of October, 1853, the second triennial meeting of the Society was held in St. George's Church, on which occasion Dr. Tyng preached an eloquent and impressive sermon to a crowded congregation. In 1858, an edition of the Prayer Book was issued and sold at ten cents each, of which within four years 105,982 were distributed. A handsome octavo edition and one of medium size were also published, so that within ten years many times more copies of the Service Book of the Church were put in circulation than by all the Prayer Book societies in the country, thus demonstrating the loyalty of the supporters of the Society to the doctrine and worship of the Book of Common Prayer. The American Church Missionary Society was organized in 1859, in the Church of the Ascension, New York. There had been grow- ing dissatisfaction with the management of the Board of Missions, by which the evangelical parishes which contributed the larger share of the missionary money were compelled to see their contributions used in support of missionaries who were spreading throughout the field of the great "West doctrines and practices to which they were strenuously and conscientiously opposed. Many of the leading Evaneglicals were extremely reluctant to organize a separate so- ciety and the matter was earnestly debated for four or five years, until the partisanship of the dominant element in the General Convention of 1859 divided the remaining missionary field of the West between two newly elected bishops of the same class of Church views, — and the organization of the American Church Missionary Society was resolved upon. The rector of St. George's was elected a member of the executive committee. At the first annual meeting, which was held in St. George's Church, October 24, 1860, Dr. Tyng presented the report of that committee, some of whose closing paragraphs will be of interest as vindicating and explaining the purpose of the Society : This is a society founded upon distinct and distinctl_y adopted principles. The two rival schemes of mere Ritualism and of Evangelical truth, the one leading to a satisfaction with the form and the letter, and the other leading to a spiritual and intelligent embracing and maintenance of the gospel in the spirit, as these two schemes are seen contending in the Episcopal THE TYXG PERIOD 219 Church, are wholly inconsistent with each other. The necessity of the defence of the gospel in our Church, led, thirteen years ago, to the forma- tion of the Evangelical Knowledge Society, to maintain its all-important truths by the press. Well would it have been for us, if, instead of delay- ing, under the solicitation of respected and beloved individual brethren, we had consummated at the same time, as many desired to do, a society for the maintenance of these gi-eat principles by living missionaries. At last, after all the experiments of delay and concession have i^roved un- availing, our brethren and the friends of Evangelical truth have been constrained to assume a stand, which, if taken thirteen years ago, would have saved large sums of money, expended in opposition to these verj* truths, and occupied large tracts of ground with a faithful Evangelical ministry. To send out such a ministry, and such a ministiy only, is the purpose of this society, not a ministry merely fortified with ecclesiastical certificates, but a ministry' known and certified in Evangelical personal character. This distinguishing puri:)ose must be openly avowed, and thor- oughly understood. We desire to find Evangelical, spiritual men, whose hearts are really engaged in the preaching of a crucified Saviour, and in saving the souls of their fellow-men, who do not employ themselves in the mere preaching of the Church and the Sacraments, but truly proclaim the riches of pardoning gi'ace in the blood of Jesus to penitent sinners; who are not occui:)ied in the maintenance of a mere sectarian warfare, in ciying, * The Temple of the Lord are we,' but desire grace, and exercise love tow- ards all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ; who are not satisfied in the mere adding to the numbers of an outward flock, in Baptism, Confirmation, and the Lord's Supper, but labor that sinners may be converted in heart, born again of the Spirit, and made new creatures in Christ Jesus; who do not direct sinners to a Saviour to be found in ordinances and outward foims, but to a Saviour to be received in the heart by faith, and embraced in the soul by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the assurance of a lively and blessed hope; who do not jiroclaim the sinner's justification by himian works, or ordinances of man's observance, but by the glorious righteousness of Christ, made by faith in Him, the robe and clothing of the soul. For this great work of spreading the Saviour's gospel, in its purity and power, by a faithful Evangelical ministiy, over a large, open, and unoc- cupied field, we are here united. We thus plainly, and without qualification, declare our principles and our purposed work. And convinced that we are truly on tlie Lord's side, and in the Ijord's service, we look up to Him for His prospering blessing, and to our friends and brethren around, for their liberal persevering and earnest co-operation. The Society was bitterly denounced by a portion of the Church press, but it gained many liberal and devoted friends, among whom St. George's stood pre-eminent both in the interest of its individual parishioners and in the amount O'f its contributions to the Society's support. The third of the Evangelical Societies was organized in Phila- delphia, with Jay Cooke as its president, in 1862. It owed its origin to a strong feeling that the Society for the Increase of the Ministry 220 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH was unduly promoting the increase of one ecclesiastical type of clergyman, and that other provision must be made to insure the education of evangelical men. The Evangelical Education Society was accordingly organized and entered upon its career of useful- ness. It might be noted as bearing on this matter of theological education that the General Seminary was at this time completely dominated by the High- Church influence, the Alexandria Seminary had been broken up by the war, and the Philadelphia Divinity School came logically into being to meet a pressing need under the tactful, wise, and efficient administration of Bishop Alonzo Potter. At the present time, the Evangelical Knowledge Society no longer publishes, but uses the income of its endowment to provide approved theological books for the younger clergy. The American Church Missionary Society became an Auxiliary to the Board of Missions as the result of an agreement arrived at by committees representing the two organizations in October, 1877, the writer of this history being privileged to act as one of the conferees on the part of the Board of Missions. The Evangelical Education Society still aids young men in preparation for the ministry, and in recent years has engaged in distributing evangelical literature. In closing these references to controversial matters, it may be well to recall that it was as the result of the Oxford Movement that party lines came to be closely drawn and polemic bitterness became intensest. The supporters of the Tractarian doctrines claimed that these were nothing more than a revival of the old - time teaching of the High - Church Anglican divines on such topics as the Apostolical Succession, the potency and obli- gation of the Sacraments, the Real Presence in the Lord's Sup- per, the value of priestly absolution, and the like, and therefore that these doctrines were legitimately to be held and taught within the Anglican Communion. On the other hand, this whole doctrinal scheme was vigorously denounced as tending directly to un-Protestantize the Church and lead to Rome ; and when John Henry Newman, the leader of the movement, became a Romanist in 1845, and Bishop Ives, of North Carolina, and divers of the clergy in this country followed him, there seemed to be some basis for the fear expressed. There was no question yet of ritual observ- ance, — the worship of the Church was practically uniform. But while both parties claimed to be loyal to the standards of the Prayer Book and the Church, the point of view of each was different; and so they warred in factious strife, contending earnestly for what indeed was in the main essential truth, but failing to appreciate THE TYNG PERIOD 221 the vital value of those aspects of the truth stressed by their brethren of opposing views. The Evangelical contended for the absolute im- portance of spiritual experience, the individual reception of grace, and preaching " Jesus only "; the High Churchman's watchword v^as, ' ' Hear the Church, ' ' exalting its authority, but from the stand- point that the church is verily Christ's Body in which His Spirit dwells and through whose sacraments grace is communicated. The one accused the other of a lack of vital piety, and the High Church- man met this charge with the retort of lack of loyal Churchmanship. But neither had monopoly of either vital piety or love and loyalty to the true Church. And now that strife on the old lines has long since died away it is quite possible to realize the inestimable value of the contributions which each of the old parties of those times made to the Church's life, which parties were indeed but the ex- ponents of the never-absent subjective and objective points of view which influence human thought. Both builded better than they knew. In April, 1861, the vestry *' in accordance with the wishes of the congregation ' ' recommended to the rector a voyage of travel abroad for the benefit of his health, and tendered to him a leave of absence until October, and appropriated $1,500 to his use for that pur- pose. Within a week Fort Sumter was fired on, and the awful cloud of civil war darkened the land. On the Sunday following the startling intelligence, the rector of St. George's referred to the crisis which had arisen in our nation and government, the in- tense feeling it would create, the temptation which would present itself to the clergy to bring the strifes of the hour into the pulpit, but announced his determination to reserve the sacred place and time for the exercise of his paramount duty, to preach the King- dom of God, fortifying his position by the example of Archbishop Leighton, who, amid the convulsions of his day in Scotland, said when reproached for holding aloof from the controversy, " While all are preaching for time, let one poor priest preach for eternity." And yet his loyalty was of the staunchest, and his influence in- flexibly exerted in support of the national authority and the in- violability of the Union. The appointed days of National Fast and Thanksgiving afforded him ample opportunity for the public ex- pression of his views, and his patriotic eloquence gave no uncertain sound. On the first of these national days appointed by President Lincoln, September 26, 1861, he preached a striking sermon at- tributing the struggle which had been forced upon the North square- 222 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH ly to the slavery question. In the work of the Christian Commission, and in the other provision for the care and comfort of the men at the front, he took the deepest interest, while his loyal congregation of St. George's, largely representative of the wealth and influence of the city, were foremost among the generous contributors to this benevolent and Christian work. The claims of the destitute and suffering negroes especially appealed to him, and when General Sherman in a general order issued February 6, 1862, called public attention to their helpless condition, a public meeting at the Cooper Union was held February 20th, and steps taken to organize the " National Freedmen's Eelief Association," of which Dr. Tyng was elected president, and to the arduous duties of which office he gave assiduous and laborious attention. His views upon the future rights and relations of the Freedmen were trenchantly expressed in com- munications to The Independent during 1863. The uncompromising stand assumed by Dr. Tyng attracted wide attention, and invita- tions to speak came to him from various quarters. One from Chi- cago, dated November 11, 1862, signed by many of its most promi- nent citizens, voiced this desire to hear him thus : ' ' The undersigned citizens of Chicago, having observed with admiration and gratitude the noble position that you have taken in defense of the nation in her struggles against a fierce and powerful foe, are desirous of hearing your eloquent voice in the great Northwest on the vital questions of the day." Such invitations, however, he felt impelled uniformly to decline. His Sunday preaching and his parish work engrossed his energy and effort, to the exclusion of such other speak- ing as was not connected with some of the institutions or benevo- lences with which he was identified. In the dark days of 1863 a spirit of disloyalty seemed to gain headway in the North. The President appointed April 30th as a Day of Humiliation and Prayer. The rector of St. George's preached an eloquent discourse on Christian Loyalty from the ap- propriate opening verses of the one hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm. But the seditious spirit w^hich voiced denunciation of the government for its alleged illegal acts bore fruit in the draft riots in the fall of 1863, which terrified the people of New York and found in helpless negroes many victims of mob violence. But the end came. The Union was maintained. The great emancipator was re-elected, the struggle closed at Appomattox April 9th, the Presi- dent appointed April 20th as the day of national thanksgiving ; but on the 14th he was martyred, and joy was turned to mourning every- where throughout the land. On Easter Sunday, two days later, the THE TYNG PERIOD 223 pulpit, font, and reading-desk in St. George's were draped in mourn- ing intertwined with the triumphant emblematic flag in whose de- fense so much inestimably precious blood and treasure had been freely given. But reserving the lessons which the drapery suggested for the Thursday following, the rector preached his Easter sermon. On the day named, however, he delivered that memorable discourse on " Victory and Reunion " from II. Kings 6:21-22 in which, from the story of the text, he deduced " four separate facts, very re- markable and to our present purpose most appropriate : I. The war- fare was really against the God of Israel. II. The power which prevailed was the providence of God. III. The victory attained was the gift of God. lY. The resulting treatment of the captives was the example of God." It was a wonderful conclusion of a series of utterances on public days, which in their delivery and the subsequent publication of some, were a valuable contribution to the cause of human liberty and the nation's life. The attitude of St. George's parish toward the government in those trying times was evidenced by their successive investment of funds in government securities, beginning at a time when it took patriotic spirit and faith in the future to make such investments. For as far back as April, 1862, there is a record of $20,000 in United States seven and three-tenths Treasury Notes. This investment was followed by another of $14,000 in United States six-per-cent. Cer- tificates. As funds came in for reinvestment, the preference was given to government securities, until the annual statement of 1866 shows $26,000 of the endowment fund so invested and $105,000 of the building fund. ■J One of the most fruitful methods by which the influence of the rector of St. George's was intensified and perpetuated was through his Lectures on Preaching, delivered to students and young clergy- men at various times and places, so that through many a voice in succeeding years he " being dead yet speaketh." In the fall of 1861, in accordance with the request of some young clergymen who wished to know more of the secret of his pulpit power, he began the delivery of a course of lectures on preaching, extending through the winter, to some twenty-five young men in Orders in the chapel of St. George's Church. Scarcely was it concluded when some stu- dents of the General Theological Seminary requested repetition of this course of lectures for their benefit. Accordingly during the month of May, 1862, he repeated the substance of these lectures, 224 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH rearranged for better adaptation to this class of hearers, in the chapel of his own church. Then the Alumni Association and stu- dents of the Theological Seminary at Gambier, Ohio, asked the privilege of hearing him upon this theme, upon which he spoke so helpfully; and so in June he went to Gambier and there lectured to the students and Alumi gathered for the annual commencement. As a special mark of the grateful appreciation of his hearers, a Tyng Scholarship in the Institution was at once established and provision made for its maintenance. The Philadelphia Divinity School was organized in 1862, the Alexandria Seminary having been closed on account of the war and its buildings used for military purposes. Dr. Tyng was requested by the Bishop of Pennsylvania to deliver, as part of the instruction in the new Divinity School, such lectures on preaching as he had delivered elsewhere, A large number of the Philadelphia clergy, upon learning of this invitation of Bishop Potter, united in urging its acceptance, desiring themselves to hear the speaker. The op- portunity being thus afforded for a fuller elaboration of the theme, Dr. Tyng evolved the original seventeen lectures into three distinct series of fourteen each, under the general title " The Office and Work of the Ministry." The topics of the several courses were: I. Preaching in itself — the thing to be done. II. Preachers in their qualifications — the persons to do it. III. Preaching in its actual ex- ercise — the proper way of doing it. The first of the series was delivered during April, 1863, in St. Andrew's Church, Philadelphia. The interest and pleasure with which the lectures had been heard by the clergy in attendance was attested in these expressions of a letter wiiich they united in addressing to the Eev. Dr. Tyng: We are your debtors for an extraordinary measure of instruction in your happy mode of distingiiishing wliat the gospel is and what it is to preach it, and of illustrating 3'our topics from varied and large experience and observation. Not only have the candidates and the young in the ministry found in your words needful and fit instruction and counsel, but the elder class of j'our hearers have received light and strength and spirit for their work, which they thank God for making you the instrument of imparting. To resume consideration of the details of St. George's life, we note that Rev. Dr. Heman Dyer again became assistant to the rector from September 1, 1862, and continued in that relation until June 1, 1863. His successor was the Rev. William T. Sabine, who re- signed to accept a church in Cincinnati in October, 1863. In Janu- ary, 1864, the vestry thought the rector should have leisure for traveling abroad to recruit his health, and voted him leave of ab- THE TYNG PERIOD 225 sence and $1,500 for expenses. The Eev. Tapping R. Chipman was appointed assistant from February 1, 1864, at a salary of $2,000 and continued in that relation until the following November. The Rev. William T. Sabine was then elected " assistant minister of this church " at a salary of $2,500, but he declined to accept. The Rev. Uriah T. Tracy was appointed assistant to the rector from Febru- ary 1st to August, 1865, at $2,000 per year. In March, 1865, $1,000 additional to his salary was voted to the rector " in con- sideration of the present increased rate of living," and the following November $3,000 more was added to the rector's salary for the past year. The Rev. Brockholst Morgan was appointed assistant for one year from August 1, 1865, at $1,000 per year, but he con- tinued to serve only until January, 1866. The Rev. C. W. Bolton, who had rendered such efficient and acceptable service at the chapel in Nineteenth Street, resigned, to take effect July 31, 1865, in order to accept a parish on Staten Island ; and the Rev. C. S. Stephenson was appointed his successor. The City Mission work supported by St. George's parish is so essentially a part of its history as to demand a monograph describ- ing it. There are two kinds of mission chapel work. The one contem- plates its probable development into a church organization, more or less self-supporting; the other is content to achieve a present spiritual good without ulterior organized results, — to provide free worship with its attendant spiritual privileges for those unable to provide these for themselves. In this latter kind of mission work in New York St. George's was a pioneer. In none of its chapels were collections made for current expenses; whatever offerings the people might contribute were devoted to specified outside benevolent objects. In the spring of 1851, the East Side mission work was begun by the appointment of the Rev. Calvin C. Wolcott to labor among the poor. A large number of children, without provision of any kind for their religious instruction, in the district between Seventeenth and Twentieth streets and First Avenue and the river, prompted the establishment, in 1854, of a Sunday-school at Avenue A and Nine- teenth Street in a rented room. So immediately successful was this enterprise that within a year 33 teachers and 423 scholars had been gathered in, the missionary conducting service and preach- ing every Sunday morning. The rapid growth of the work neces- sitated a permanent home, and lots were purchased on Nineteenth 15 226 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Street east of Avenue A by the vestry, the Sunday-school under- taking to erect the building; and in the fall of 1859, the chapel, with tower, bell, and organ, was completed and consecrated by Bishop Horatio Potter on the 18th of September. The cost of St. George's Mission Chapel was $24,800, of which all but about $7,000, the cost of the land, was paid by the Sunday-school and through the personal efforts of the rector. The name was subsequently changed to the Chapel of Free Grace as other chapels of the parish came into being. For the government and care of this chapel, and with a view to other similar work in the near future, a compre- hensive plan was devised by the rector and approved by the vestry, providing for a board of ten trustees to be annually appointed by the vestry, who, together with the rector, should manage and control the chapels, — should make their own bj^-laws, provide for the sal-- aries of the ministers, out of the funds to be contributed specifically for the support of the work, and report annually to the vestry. The selection and engagement of the ministers was reserved to the Cor- poration, as they were to be regarded as part of the regular ministry of the parish. This organization worked so well that it was con- tinued throughout Dr. Tyng's rectorship. The gentlemen who ac- cepted membership in the board cheerfully devoted time and energy and personal service to the duties of the position, while the rector unflaggingly gave personal oversight to the entire work. To provide means for carrying it on, a collection was annually made in the church on the second Sunday after Easter, and the generous con- gregation responded the first year with $3,500, which provision grew to double that sum in after years, as occasion required. The Rev. Mr. Wolcott, who had labored so faithfully for eight years in the pioneer work, and had enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing ample provision made for its establishment on a permanent basis, was compelled by failing health to resign his charge, and the Rev. C. W. Bolton was appointed in March, 1859, as minister of St. George's Chapel and the Rev. Charles Schramm, D.D., as min- ister in charge of the German department. The chapel proper seated about 800 people, the English congregation worshiping in the morning and evening and the German congregation in the after- noon. Both Sunday-schools met in the morning in their respective rooms, the one numbering 380 attendants and the other 140. There was also maintained a daily English school of 130 children. A reading-room for men and boys was open every evening. There was a lecture Tuesday evening for the English congregation and a Prayer- meeting Thursday evening. The German congregation had a lecture THE TYNG PERIOD 227 every Friday evening, and a sewing-school for both the English and the German girls was efficiently at work. The second was the Chapel of the Bread of Life in Sixteenth Street near First Avenue, which had been inaugurated as a branch of the Nineteenth Street chapel in January, 1S61, at No. 214 East Fourteenth Street, in a hired room fitted up for the purpose, the teachers being taken from the Bible classes of that Mission ; but it was soon moved to a Sixteenth Street site, and again later removed to Fourteenth Street, until the completion of the new chapel at No. 420 on that street for its joint occupation with the German Mission. The third was the Chapel o£ Living Waters at No. 283 Avenue B, an enterprise undertaken in the same year. During the July draft riots, however, in 1863, the building was attacked and gutted by the mob, but the Mission soon recovered from this shock' and at the following Easter anniversary in the church was represented by 12 teachers and 135 children. But various difficulties attending its maintenance as a separate mission induced the trustees, in 1866, to incorporate it temporarily with the original chapel work in Nineteenth Street. Within two years it was revived in a house. No. 607 East Fourteenth Street, and officered by members of the Nineteenth Street congregation, continuing its sepa- rate work until 1871. Meanwhile the thriving German Mission under the Rev. Dr. Schramm had utterly outgrown the accommodation which could be spared for it in the Nineteenth Street chapel. The rector and the Mission Trustees therefore, in January, 1863, purchased a lot of land and the building thereon in East Fourteenth Street for $3,700, altering and adapting it for the use of the German Mission at an expenditure of $7,000, which was supplied by St. George's Sunday- school and friends in the congregation. It was ready for occupancy October 11, 1863, and was consecrated by Bishop Potter on Christ- mas eve. Dr. Schramm's connection with the Chapel terminated in March, 1869, after a connection with St. George's Mission work of sixteen years since his first entrance upon it as a teacher. The Rev. J. C. Fleischhacker was his successor. The Rev. Mr. Bolton, who had so successfully organized and systematized the work at the Nineteenth Street Chapel, resigned in August, 1865, and the Rev. C. S. Stephenson, who had assisted him while yet a student for the ministry, was appointed to succeed him. At the expiration of a similar term of six years' service, Mr. Stephen- son's health failed, and the Rev. Eastburn Brown assumed the duties of the place in June, 1871, continuing in the work until. December, 1874. After a year's interval, in which the Chapeli 228 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH was served through temporary appointments of the Rev. Rob- ert Mollan and others, the Rev. Anselan Buchanan was elected minister in December, 1875, and remained in charge until April, 1878. The German work demanding more facilities for growth, and the Chapel -of the Bread of Life clamoring for room to expand, it was finally decided, after examining other sites, to buy a lot adjoining and replace the existing German chapel on Fourteenth Street by a larger two-storied building for the accommodation of them both. This plan was carried out in 1872, at a cost of $40,000, and the two Missions jointly occupied the new, commodious, and convenient chapel building. During the process of erection the German con- gregation was accommodated in a hall in the Plympton Building, at Eighth Street and Astor Place. From the date of the joint occupancy of the new chapel with the German Mission, the Chapel of the Bread of Life, under the efficient superintendence of Mr. W. H. Philips, grew rapidly. In April, 1873, it numbered 32 teachers and 413 scholars, holding two sessions each Sunday. Within five years it had 68 teachers and 1,000 mem- bers on its roll, divided into three departments, with an average attendance of 800. A Sunday Evening Service was regularly held. In this year, 1878, twenty-seven members of the school were pre- sented for Confirmation in the church. Its working force was de- voted and enthusia.stic. Such in brief outline was the City Mission Work during the rector- ship of Dr. Tyng. In order to fill in the outline it would be neces- sary to make mention of the various agencies for good which were in operation in the various chapels as occasion for them promised usefulness. The annual reports of the Board of Trustees which had the charge and supervision with the rector of the entire work, detail how numerous and efficient were these agencies. It may suffice to name some of them: The Sewing School, The Helping Hand, The Dorcas Society, The Sewing Circle, The Mother's Meeting for the women and girls, The Day School for Children, The Debating So- ciety, The Young Men's Literary Association, The Reading Room for boys and men; the Christmas Festivals, Thanksgiving Treats, and Summer Excursions, — all these bore their part, together with the Bible readers, parish visitors, prayer meetings, and other re- ligious gatherings for instruction and worship, in the uplift of the families and neighborhoods to which the Chapels ministered. The people for the most part were quite poor; and at the outset it was recognized that indiscriminate giving encourages pauperism and THE TYNG PERIOD 229 that the supreme effort in all truly charitable work should be to encourage self-help. This principle was effectively made operative in such ways as compensating women for their work in making garments and in selling to them, at one-third less than cost, clothing and other necessaries of life : so that the Trustees were able to report '^ many poor families have been raised to respectability and to en- tire self-support by the Divine Blessing on this work." The work in its entirety was one of which St. George 's might be justly proud. The aggregate expenditure for it, during the eighteen years from the building of the first chapel to the close of Dr. Tyng's ministry in 1878, approximated $250,000. Its gradual decadence with the de- creasing numbers and resources of St. George's congregation will be duly noted in the record of events. Changes in the congregation were becoming more noticeable by the removal of valuable families further up-town. Of the vestry identified with the erection of the new church, there remained only Adolphus Lane, Joseph Lawrence, and Samuel Hopkins, and on June 11, 1865, one of these, Mr. Lawrence, was removed by death. For more than forty years he had been a constant attendant upon the ministry and worship of St. George's Church, was made a vestry- man in 1847, and in 1863 a warden. His whole life had been dis- tinguished by unblemished uprightness and generous action, and in his church relations his example was one of singular purity and faithfulness to every obligation. The Vestry sincerely mourned his loss and retained the memory of his official fidelity, his judi- cious counsel, and his personal excellencies with reverent appre- ciation. The rector had from time to time sought recuperation of his strength in transatlantic trips, generally at the instance of his loving people and considerate vestry. Such periodic respites from his in- cessant and exhausting labors were an imperative necessity. But he began to feel that could he have a country home, where he might spend some portion of the year in the surroundings of that country life, the love of which he had not lost, he could the better stand the strain of his church duties and multiplied activities. Quite naturally his thoughts first turned to Newburyport, his native place ; but any spot so distant from New York could only serve for recreation dur- ing the summer months. The place he needed was one near the city, from which he could go daily to his work in order that his pulpit duties and pastoral ministries might be uninterruptedly con- 230 HISTORY Or ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH tinuous, save for a few weeks in midsummer when the church was closed. The spot selected was in Irvington-on-Hudson, to which he gave the name of " Cottage Home." There in succeeding sum- mers of his life he lived in relaxation and comparative retire- ment. He found much pleasure in improving tlie original small cottage and in acquiring more land and in beautifying the whole place; and doubtless to this wise provision of a suburban home he owed much of the vigor which remained to him in his declining 3^ears. In his annual report of the parish to the Convention in Sep- tember, 1865, the rector noted his completion of twenty years as rector of St. George's, and a summary of his work gathered from that report may well be entered here : The annual pew rents at the commencement of this period were $1,500; for the past seventeen years they have averaged between ten and twelve thousand dollars. The sum of benevolent contributions for others was in the first year $2,800; in the last, it has been $40,000. The aggregate of the first ten vears was $77,000; the aggi'egate for the last ten years has been $.325,000; total collections, $402,000. The Sunday-school collections have amounted to $38,352; with this sum have been erected a stone church in Monrovia, Africa, costing $10,000; St. George's Mission Chapel in East Nineteenth Street, costing $17,000 (exclusive of the cost of the land) ; and St. George's German Mission Chapel in East Eourteenth Street, cost- ing $10,000. The Dorcas Society has made and distributed among the poor 20,000 garments, and clothed 3,465 poor children of the Sunday-school. The Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society has expended over $5,000 for clothing for the sick soldiers and sailors. The Association of Young Men in aid of St. Luke's Hospital has collected and paid for the sujDport of patients over $12,000. A kindred Association of Young Ladies has made for the same institution 3,000 garments costing $1,500. Another band of young ladies has maintained a weekly sewing-school in which more than 1,500 girls have been thoroughly taught to sew. The supi^ort of our local missions, missionaries, and chapels has cost an average of $6,000 per year. Our Sunday-schools have been another flourishing and successful part of our twenty years' work. Those in the parish church long since attained their present size of 150 teachers and 2,000 scholars, which number has become so steadily maintained, that it seems to be the i^rovidential measure of our work. The mission schools at our four mission chapels are eminently successful and useful. During these twenty years I have received 1,225 communicants, 959 of whom Avere received to their first communion here. I have administered baptism to 175 adults and 625 infants. I have solemnized 463 marriages. I liave presented 899 for confirmation. In these last reports of actual re- sults are included only the work in the parish church, and not those of the missions which would nearly double these numbers. I have lost but THE TYNG PERIOD 231 one Lord's Day from absolute sickness in all my twenty years of ministry here. St. George's Church is still flourishing and fruitful, as these facts must show. Nevertheless we are rapidly experiencing the results of re- moval to distant parts of the city and to counti-y residences of many fam- ilies of our congregation, the influence of which is painful and to a degree injurious to our work. The future the gracious Lord will direct. The past has been eminently prosperous. The present is not discouraging. CHAPTER IX THE TYNG PERIOD (18G5-1878) On Tuesday, the 14th of November, 1865, St. George's Church was destroyed by fire. The flames were first discovered bursting from the roof and into the church from the ceiling about 2 p.m., and despite the most energetic efforts to save the building, by five o'clock the interior and the roof were completely destroyed, together with the organ and furniture, leaving only the walls and towers standing. The firemen worked assiduously to extinguish the flames, but as the fire broke out at so great an elevation, the means of reaching it proved ineffectual. The great height of the walls, however, confined the fire within them, and the adjoining rectory escaped injury. As Dr. Tyng surveyed the ruins of the church which had been reared under his watchful eye and which had stood as the embodi- ment of many hopes and aspirations, of much anxiety and care and of some honest pride, what wonder he exclaimed, ' ' All is gone ; the labor of my life is ended." A former parishioner writes: I was six years old wlien the church burned and I can remember dis- tinctly my childish grief, to think my church was being destroyed. I can see the crowds to this day in Stuyvesant Square watching- the flames, and their final dispersion by the i^olice for fear the beautifid spires would fall upon them. I still feel the awe which came over me when the hands of the clock stopped; it seemed to me foi'ever. I remember, when the heat in our drawing-room became almost unbearable, we little ehildi'en, six, five, and three, retreated to the back of the long room and fell upon our knees, and prayed, I suj^pose, for safety; but the impression left upon memory is that the prayer was for our beloved Dr. Tyng and his chui'ch. It was always Dr. Tyng's churcli to us. I remember how we were told that he stood upon the steps of the rectory and watched, Spartan-like, while the roof crashed in. But appalling as was the calamity, the rector and vestry speedily addressed themselves to the situation with determination and en- THE TYNG PERIOD 233 ergetic action. The use of Irving Hall, in the near neighborhood, was at once secured for the services of the following Sunday, and a committee was directed to make further arrangements for the future. A meeting of the pew-holders was called to meet on Mon- day, the 20th, to " confer with the vestry on the present condition of the church and the measures necessary to be taken to repair the loss sustained by the late disastrous fire." Thanks were conveyed to the fire department and the metropolitan police for their " ef- fiiciency and propriety of conduct " exhibited at the fire. At the meeting of the congregation there was a large attendance. The rector presented a printed statement setting forth that the cost of the church, rectory, and chapel had been about $340,000, which had been paid from the sale of lots in the lower part of the city and money received from pews ; the corporation had been with- out debt since 1850 ; $100,000 had been kept invested as a permanent endowment for the support of the church ; though the pew rents had been fixed at a lower rate than in any of the late new churches in the city, they had averaged for the seventeen years past about $10,000 per year; the annual expenses and repairs to the property had absorbed the whole income, including $6,000 per year from the endowment ; the insurance on the church was $70,000 and $10,000 on the organ and furniture ; to rebuild the church, this is the whole sum at present within the control of the Corporation; the cost of restoring the church would be from $150,000 to $200,000. Two postulates were to be assumed as binding, in rebuilding the church here or elsewhere: P'irst, that the endowment of $100,000 must not be expended or diminished for building, and, second, that no debt must be left on the new building to absorb the future income of the church by its interest and extinction, or to harass and destroy the power and energy of the church for usefulness by its bondage and anxiety. In any plans for rebuilding, two questions arise for settlement : 1. Shall we rebuild on this location or shall we remove ? 2. If we rebuild here, shall we restore the church in general con- sistency with its former aspect, allowing only such modifications of the interior as may be found desirable or expedient for convenience or economy? During the interval of building while worshiping in other places, will the pew-holders consent to the assessment and collection of the same sums as they have been accustomed to pay for the support of the ministry and worship of the congregation ? As the result of the deliberations of this meeting of the con- gregation, it was decided that the church be rebuilt on its present location and restored to its former condition, with as little expense 234 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH over $120,000 as possible, exclusive of organ and clock. A subscrip- tion list was at once opened, and in a short time $52,000 had been subscribed. A committee of seven was appointed to collect sub- scriptions consisting of Messrs. Percy R. Pyne, J. Pierpont Morgan, Charles J. Easton, Francis M. Babcock, Theodore Crane, William Alexander Smith, and W. H. Neilson. The vestry accordingly at once took order to proceed with the work and appointed a building committee of three members of the vestry, Messrs. Pyne, Haines, and Smith, and three members of the congregation, Messrs. Blodgett, Easton, and Morgan; the rector was subsequently added to the committee. These gentlemen at once con- sulted Leopold Eidlitz, the architect of the church, as to plans, specifications, and estimates. These were laid before the vestry December 21st, and the committee was instructed to restore the church as nearly as possible to its original aspect, with discretionary power to make alterations in its finish and interior. At the meeting of January 11, 1866, the building committee reported, that in ob- taining estimates for the rebuilding of the church they had had in view the recommendations of the vestry at its last meeting, and now proposed the following modifications of the original plan — namely, to line the exterior walls of the church with a twelve-inch hollow brick wall, to raise the apse thirteen feet and introduce five windows therein, to extend the chancel, and to substitute iron for wooden stairs up to the organ loft. Including these items, the committee reported detailed estimates of the architect, which amounted, ex- clusive of organ and clock, to $159,994. The estimates were ap- proved and the committee authorized to proceed with the work of construction. Upon the burning of the church, among the many letters of sincere sympathy addressed to Dr. Tyng was one from the rector of Trinity Church ; and this was followed by another, with the concurrence and approval of his vestry, tendering the use of Trinity Chapel on Sunday evenings until the church could be rebuilt. Dr. Tyng in reply expressed his thanks and those of the vestry of St. George's, and stated that it had been determined to rebuild at once and that the use of Irving Hall had been secured for the services. The committee had been authorized to offer at the rate of five thousand dollars per year, for the use, morning and afternoon, of the Church of the Puritans, but finding that plan impracticable, they leased Irving Hall at the rate of $2,500 per year for the Sunday services, with liberty to vacate at a week's notice. Such arrangements as were possible to adapt the hall for public worship were perfected, THE TYXG PERIOD 235 and the convenience and comfort of the large congregation which met in this hall until the completion of the new church were satis- factorily secured. The rector and vestry of the Church of the Redemption tendered the gratuitous use of their church on Sundays and holy days for the Celebration of the Lord's Supper, and as a token of appreciation of this courtesy, the treasurer was directed to send to the vestry of that Church through their rector, the Rev. Mr. Dickson, the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars, although the use of their edifice was not deemed necessary. The church was reopened for public worship on the 29th of Sep- tember, 1867, the rector preaching both morning and afternoon to congregations which thronged the edifice to its fullest capacity. The pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church, the venerable Dr. Gardiner Spring, occupied a seat in the chancel and offered an ap- propriate prayer at the close of the morning service. He was the senior pastor of the Presb3i:erian Church in the city; he had been the neighbor and associate in the ministry of Dr. Milnor in Beek- raan Street and the lifelong friend of Dr. Tyng and his family, so that his presence on this occasion in St. George 's was regarded as an appropriate expression of fraternal courtesy. The consecration of the church was appointed for the 19th of December, 1867, at which time it was duly consecrated to the wor- ship of Almighty God by the Right Rev. Ploratio Potter, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of New York. About fifty of the city and neighboring clergy were present, and the rector preached from Psalm 26 :8, ' ' Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy House and the place where Thine honor dwelleth." A social gathering and re- freshments were provided in the parish building for the bishop and clergy at the close of the service. The final report of the building committee showed that the com- pleted work on the new edifice, including the furniture, had cost $181,457.50. To meet this expense, there had been received from insurance $80,000, from contributors $69,216.60, from sale of pews and assessments $13,550, from interest and gains $6,445.53, for memorial windows $2,000; making a total of $171,212.13. There were a few uncollected items noted by the treasurer to be credited to the building fund, amounting to $1,800; so that only $8,445.37 of the entire cost of reconstruction had not been specially provided for. The rector presented a supplementary^ report of individual gifts, most of which he had undertaken to secure through the Sunday- schools or by his personal efforts from other sources. These were: 236 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH 1. Five memorial windows in the chancel at a cost of $500 each, to commemorate deceased and highly esteemed members of St. George's Church presented by the several families representing them or by individual members of those families. In the order of their arrangement, commencing at the southeast corner of the chancel they commemorate William K. Strong, by his widow Helen M. Strong; Abraham G. Valentine, by his daughter Mary J. Valentine; Joseph Lawrence, by his widow Rosetta Lawrence; Peter G. Arcularius and Augusta Arcularius, his wife, by the family of A. M. Arcularius, his brother; Frederick A. Tracy and Eliza R. Tracy, his wife, by their surviving children. 2. The whole furniture of the chancel, comprising the pulpit, reading- desk, font, communion-table, chancel railing, robes for ministering, in- cluding a gown of black silk and three surplices of lawn with black silk stoles, together with the additional cost of more appropriate and beautiful tiles for the floor within the chancel than the contract required, — in all amounting to $7,440, have been the gift of the Sunday-schools. 3. The books for chancel use were the gift of Edward and Sophia Ann Walker, in memory of Mrs. Dorothy Sheddell, mother of Mrs. Walker, who was a very grateful and attached member of St. George's Church. These books, seventeen in number, were enclosed in a black walnut case, standing in the vestry room of the church. They probably cost more than $500, a most beautiful and perfect set of books for the service of the sanctuary. 4. The clock, costing by original contract complete, including the ma- chinery necessary for the three dials in each tower and for a dial in front of the organ, when a new organ shall be erected in the church, and putting up and finishing the same, $4,800 provided by the personal efforts of the rector. The total of these gifts amounted to $15,240. The organ from the old ehurcli in Beekman Street, which had been conceded to St. George's in the final settlement with Trinity Church, was renovated and removed to the new church for temporally use. A question quite difficult of solution confronted the vestry, as to the legal effect of the destruction of the church upon the rights of former pew-owners, and also whether any right to property in pews had been acquired by persons contributing funds to the re- building of the church. A committee consisting of William A. Haines and Charles Tracy was charged to consider the subject fully in all its aspects, obtaining a legal opinion thereon from competent counsel not connected with the corporation, if they deemed it neces- sary or desirable, and report the result to the vestry with any plans which they might think expedient for the disposal of the pews in the church. The committee having consulted counsel reported his opinion February 14, 1867, to the effect that neither the late pew- holders nor the contributors to the reconstruction of the edifice have any legal claim on the pews in the reconstructed church, nor in the appropriation of the insurance money. The counsel, however, ad- THE TYNG PERIOD 237 vised that some recognition of such parties should be made in the disposition of the pews in the new church. The committee had not yet been able, however, to formulate a plan in accordance with this opinion for the disposal of the pews, but reported progress and would present a plan likely to prove satisfactory to the whole congregation at the next meeting. Accordingly on March 14th they presented a carefully digested plan by which the valuation of pews was increased about fifty per cent., the original owners were to have choice of the pew mostly corresponding to their old location, paying the difference between the old price and the new, and sums con- tributed to the reconstruction of the church were to be allowed in payment. There were 198 pews on the ground floor and eighty in the gallery, being fifteen less than in the former church. The highest priced pews were $1,200 each on the ground floor and the lowest $125; in the gallery, the highest figure was $500 and the lowest $100. The increased valuation secured a larger revenue at the original eight per cent, on the price fixed on the pews, but no dis- satisfaction was felt on this account, because of the concessions above noted in the matter of payment for the new perpetual leases which were issued to pew-holders. The thanks of the vestry were cordially and officially given to the members of the building committee " for their long, diligent, wise, and faithful labors and care, by means of which the recon- struction of the church has been successfully accomplished." " Grateful acknowledgments and cordial thanks were also pre- sented to the special committee on the arrangement of titles to pews and occupation of pews in the church for the great labor de- voted by them to the settlement of all the questions thus arising, and for the wise, forbearing, skilful, and successful manner in which they have accomplished the whole arrangements in relation to these important interests to the promotion of the entire peace and har- mony of the congregation." As a mark of appreciation of the ability and faithful services of Leopold Eidlitz, architect, the vestry voted him a special appro- priation of $1,000. r Among the cherished privileges of the Evangelical clergy were /those of uniting with Christian brethren of other names in organiza- I tions like the American Bible Society and the American Tract \ Society, of manifesting fraternal sympathy with them in united 'worship, and the free use of extemporaneous prayer on other oc- casions than the regular public worship of the church. The Bishop 238 HISTORY OP ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of New York in 1865 issued a pastoral letter having, as he stated, " been again and again appealed to by both clergymen and lay- men, who are not apt to be busybodies or censorious, to do something to check the evil," in which he condemned the practices referred to and charged the clergy who participated in them with some \'io- lation of their ordination vows. Replies from divers of the clergy were prompt and forcible. The rector of St. George's, in a long letter to the Bishop, repudiated utterly the allegation of disloyalty to Church and law, expressed surprise that the Bishop should have ranged himself on the side of partisan exclusiveness as against those who had been mainly instrumental in electing him and who had cordially supported his administration, asserted that the High Church position thus maintained was a novelty in doctrine and practice both in the Protestant Church in England and in this coun- try, and appealed to history to show that neither Bishops White, nor Madison, nor Bass, nor Provoost, nor Moore, nor Griswold, had antagonized the liberty which the Evangelical clergy had en- joyed. It was within two years that the Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity in New Y^ork, w^hile visit- ing in the summer home of one of his parishioners in New Bruns- wick, New Jersey, accepted an invitation to preach in a Methodist Church in that place. The Rev. Drs. Stubbs and Boggs having served notice of objection on the ground that New Brunswick con- stituted their joint parochial cure, the offender was cited to appear for trial before a Board of Presbyters appointed, in the absence of the Bishop abroad, by the Standing Committee of New York, and which convened in St. Peter's Church, New York in January, 1868. The case attracted great attention. The rector of St. George 's, feeling that this was " an attack on him in the person of his son," entered into the defense with earnestness and determination as one of the counsel with Mr. Cortlandt Parker, of New Jersey, and IVIr. Charles Tracy, of St. George's vestrj'-. He prepared an exhaustive argument and review of the case, in which he forcibly protested against the false assumptions of law and the injustice of the whole proceedings. Particularly he showed that there had been no such intrusion into the cures of the complainants as was forbidden by the canon, and that the interpretation put upon it by the prosecution was contrary to all precedent and subversive of the rightful liberty of preaching. But the strict constructionists of the diocese clamored for convic- tion ; a sentence of guilty was rendered and public admonition as a penalty was administered to the Rev. Dr. Tyng, Jr., on the 14th THE TYNG PERIOD 239 of March, 1868, in the Church of the Transfiguration, New York, his father at the time handing a written protest to the Bishop. This official condemnation of " the liberty of preaching " was soon followed by an attempt at restricting that other liberty steadily contended for by the Evangelical party, " the voluntary principle in giving." It was at the session of the Diocesan Convention of 1867 that the dominant party in the Church undertook to force all parishes in the diocese to contribute to certain specified objects, under penalty of forfeiture of connection with the Convention and the right to send delegates to the same. As St. George's had always stood for the voluntary principle in giving, involving the right to contribute its money through such channels and in support of such objects as commended themselves to its judgment and sympathies, it might naturally be expected to resent this attempt to dictate the direction of its offerings. The vestry accordingly, January 14, 1869, when the above action was brought to their attention, appointed its dele- gates to the last Convention a special committee to examine into and report upon the matter. Within a month the committee pre- pared and presented an exhaustive report which embodied the following facts, that Canon XV had been amended so as to require an annual collection for certain specified objects, and that Canon IV had been so amended as to impose the penalty of forfeiture of connection with the Convention in default of making any or either of the collections required. The committee argued that the Constitution of the Diocese gives no authority to the Convention to control the Churches in resjoeet of their charities, by specifying particular objects for which offering's shall be made, nor any power to exclude a Church for omitting to take collections for such specified object. The amendment of Canon IV by the Convention of 1867, was therefore whoUy unauthorized and is null and void. The Constitution provides a method for properly amending its own pro\asions, but no amendment of the Con- stitution has been made conferring on the Convention power to enact as a law such a requirement as this provision of Canon IV. The Convention has not and cannot have constitutional power to require a Church to take up a collection in aid of St. Stephen's College Annandale, or the Phila- delphia Divinity School; for the Missionary' Committee of the Convention, or the Diocesan Committee of the Church Missionary Society. The ab- solute and ultimate right and duty of each member of the Church to choose between such ultimate objects, according to his own judg-ment, is no clearer than the right of each parish in a body, in appointing collections for education and for missions, to discriminate between different organizations and agencies through which its offerings shall be api^lied. The existence of this amendment in the form of a canon renders it expedient that this 240 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Vestry both assert its right in the premises and also gTiard against beyig wrongfully deprived of its just representation under cover of legislation. The committee therefore recommended the adoption of a preamble reciting the above facts and argument and the following resolutions : That in the judgment of this vestry, the above-mentioned amendments of Canon IV. and the provisions of Canon XV. were and are unauthorized by the said Constitution and repugnant thereto; and the same are an infringement of the rights of the Churches, and are not valid amendments of the Canons of this diocese, and of right should be held, deemed, and treated as null and void. That in order to promote the peace of the Convention and Diocese, as well as to prevent any illegal attempts which might be made to deprive this Church of its rightful and Constitutional representation in future Conventions imder color of said amendments and provisions of the Canons, collections may be taken up in the usual manner for said two specified bodies, ' The Society for Promoting Religion and Learning in the State of New York ' and ' the Missionary Committee of the Diocese of New York,' upon some Sundays before the next annual Convention, the vestry hereby protesting that said amendments are in their judgment unconstitu- tional, unauthorized, wrongful, and void, and that the taking' of such col- lections shall not be construed to express or imply any assent to such amendments. This report was dated January 30, 1869, and signed by Charles Tracy, Adolphus Lane, and George C. Satterlee. The vestry having adopted the resolutions. Dr. Tyng made the two collections in the church during the following month, explaining, however, the reasons and circumstances under which they were made, and reported to the vestry that he had paid over the amounts of the collections to the respective treasurers of these societies and held their receipts for the same. A further report was made on this subject in November, 1870, by the delegates to the convention of that year, to the effect that in 1869 a motion was made and notice given by a delegate from this Church for the repeal of the objectionable amendments to the canons, which under the rules were referred to the standing committee on canons and went over to the convention of 1870, recently held, — which committee was supplied with printed copies of the report of January 30, 1869, and the action of the vestry of St. George's thereon. At this convention the committee on canons reported against repealing the parts of Canon XV providing for particular collections, but in favor of repealing that part of Canon IV, which imposes a penalty for omitting these collections. The repealing amendment was adopted by the convention, and it being perfectly understood and expressed in the convention that the specification THE TYNG PERIOD 241 of objects in Canon XV had no other force than mere advice, being without a penalty for violation, the delegates from St. George's did not deem it necessary or advisable to press for an amendment of Canon XV. They recommended to the vestry, however, that the reason for the temporary provision for the objectionable collections being no longer operative, they be discontinued in this church ; which recommendation was confirmed by the vestry. It may be noted that, as a vindication of their independence in giving, the annual appropriation of $250 for the salary of the bishop was always voted " as a voluntary contribution from this corpora- tion." The Rev. W. N. McVickar was appointed assistant from May 1, 1868, at $1,000, continuing in this office till October in the same year. The Rev. Morris A. Tyng was appointed his successor from November 1st. The organist, W. Francis Williams, received an addition of $200 to his salary in May, 1868, and $500 additional was appropriated for the choir. The committee on organ, consisting of the music committee with the addition of Mr. W. T. Blodgett, were at the same time authorized to procure and present to the vestry a schedule for an organ for the church. They subsequently reported that they had received propositions on the basis of a cost of $12,000 from six different builders, and had caused copies of the specifications without the names of the proposers to be examined by a competent musician and taken his judgment thereon, and that the proposition of George Jardine and Son appeared to the committee to be the most advan- tageous and satisfactory. The committee was thereupon authorized to contract with George Jardine and Son for the building, com- pletion, and erection in the church of an organ according to the specifications, including the necessary case and the ornamentation thereof and of the pipes upon a scheme to be settled upon by agree- ment with Leopold Eidlitz, the architect of the church, subject to the approval of the committee, for the sum of $12,000 and the old organ now in the church. The architect and the organ-builders not being able to agree upon a style of case to be erected at the latter 's expense, within their contract, the vestry finally authorized, with the consent of the organ-builders, the execution of a new contract with them for the organ only at the stipulated price of $12,000, the old organ to be taken by them in part payment at an estimated value of $1,500. 16 242 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH A separate contract was authorized to be made with Herter Brothers for the case and ornamentation as designed by Mr. Eidlitz at a cost of $2,500. The organ was accordingly completed and in use in 1869, the organist, Mr. Williams, having professionally examined it in every detail and certified to its conformity to contract. In April, 1869, the Rev. Dr. Charles Schramm having resigned the charge of the German Mission Chapel, the Rev. J. C. Fleisch- hacker was appointed in his place, and the vestry ordered the pay- ment of $272.95 to defray his expenses in removing from Ohio. The relation of the attendants upon the worship at its mission chapels to the corporation of St. George's, appearing to require some definition, the subject was referred to a special committee con- sisting of Charles Tracy and David Dows. Their report, presented March 10, 1870, was an exhaustive resume of the acts of the Legis- lature relating to religious corporations and the legal bearing of the same upon St. George's free chapels; and they reached the con- clusion, which was confirmed by the vestry, " that persons attend- ing upon the public worship in the free chapels of this Church, or otherwise claiming in any manner to be connected with any such chapel, are not by reason of such attendance or claim entitled to vote at elections of the corporation or to exercise any powers of corporators therein." During the summer of 1869, the chancel of the church was deco- rated by Cohn, after designs ])y Eidlitz, at a cost of $1,950. Quite extensive repairs to the side galleries of the church had been found necessary, owing to the inferior quality of the supporting columns and culpably careless construction, which had resulted in a partial sinking of the gallery lines. The cost of new columns and the work of bringing back the galleries to their original position was about $2,500. The year 1870 completed a quarter century of Dr. Tyng's rector- ship and the seventieth year of his age. No failure of strength in mind or body was as yet apparent, and his retrospective sermon, commemorative of the two anniversaries, which were nearly co- incident, was full of thankfulness for the past and present, and hopefulness for the future. The investments of the church at this time, with its cash balance, amounted to $106,292.56. The estimated receipts for the year were $24,000 and the expenses $23,267, including $10,000 for the rector, $1,000 for the assistant, $4,000 for music, and $2,250 for repairs and taxes. The Rev. C. S. Stephenson resigned the charge of the Chapel of Free Grace from May, 1871, and the Rev. J, Eastburn Brown THE TYNG PERIOD 243 became his successor in the following month, the Rev. John F. Steen having meanwhile been offered the position, which he declined. The trustees of the chapel presented Mr. Stephenson the sum of $500 as a token of their grateful respect and affection. The Rev. J. Crockar White, who had assisted the rector since May 1st, re- signed November 1st to accept a call to St. John's Church, Cleveland, Ohio. The condition of the north spire of the church having caused some anxiety, three competent architects were employed in the spring of 1871 to examine it. They reported that the stone which had been affected by the fire was liable to injury by frost and had spawled off in several places ; but that any further injury could be prevented by inclosing the open spaces in the lantern in such a way that fresh action of the frost on its interior surfaces would be prevented, and that the whole structure was at present entirely substantial and secure. The suggested work was done at a cost of $1,460. The German Mission in P'ourteenth Street had so outgrown its accommodations as to suggest the advisability of finding a new and larger site for its use. During the summer of 1871, the purchase of the property located at the northeast corner of Avenue C and Fourth Street, with a church building upon it, was favorably con- sidered; and in September a contract was entered into to purchase the same for $48,500. The title to the property, however, proved on examination to be defective and the contract was canceled. In the spring of 1872 a piece of ground 25X50 feet, lying immediately in the rear of the German chapel lot on Fourteenth Street, was purchased for $2,250, and steps were taken without delay for en- larging and remodeling the chapel. It was found, however, that the condition of the building would not justify the contemplated improvements upon it and that the wiser course would be to build entirely anew. The plan for a good and substantial chapel prepared by Mr. Eidlitz was adopted and the work begun. Delays, however, ensued through the necessity of driving piles for the new founda- tion, and the " eight-hour dai^," which the mechanics insisted upon; so that the building was not completed until December. The cost of the chapel was $39,512.62; the furniture and fixtures cost $4,214.87; for the rent of a hall in the Ph^mpton Building, corner of Eighth Street and Astor Place, for the use of the mission during the erection of the chapel and for some other expenses, $512.42 was paid, making the total outlay $44,239.91. In April, 1872, the rector expressed his desire to spend a short time in Europe. The vestry gave him leave of absence and directed 244 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH that the $1,500 appropriated in the resolution of January 21, 1864, be now paid to him. On his first visit to England, in 1842, he had appeared at the May anniversaries as a representative of the Amer- ican Bible and Tract and other societies, as his predecessor. Dr. Milnor, had done before him. He was now requested again to act as their delegate to the kindred societies across the sea. He was received with the utmost cordiality, made numerous addresses, thoroughly enjoyed meeting old and valued friends, and sailed for home on the 15th of June. The Rev. Matson Meier-Smith had officiated during his absence, having been appointed assistant from May 1st, and left November 1st to become rector of St. John's Church, Hartford. As absence of the rector under the laws of the State of New York leaves a vestry without a lawful quorum, it was resolved at this same meeting at which leave of absence was granted, April 15, 1872, to appoint an Executive Committee consisting of the entire lay membership of the vestry, who were empowered to transact all the ordinary business of the Corporation and report their proceed- ings to the vestry at its first legal meeting thereafter for ratifica- tion. This arrangement was found to have so many practical ad- vantages that it was continued from year to year. The Committee on Property, at the vestry meeting on March 13, 1873, stated that it had been thought desirable to examine the question of the title of this Corporation to the land on which our church edifice stands. They had accordingly secured opinions from Charles Tracy, Esq., and Judge James Emott, which, together with a copy of the deed of Peter G. Stuyvesant to the corporation, they presented with a request that these papers be entered at length upon the minutes. The conclusion of Mr. Tracy's opinion, which proved to be substantially identical with that of Judge Emott, is in these words: " My conclusion therefore is, that the deed as it stands conveys an absolute fee simple in the land, clogged by no condition, charged with no trust, and restricted by no covenant ; and that the church corporation, by leave of the court obtained in the usual manner, can make a valid conveyance of the property by deed or mortgage." The possibility of a future removal of St. George's Church had doubtless presented itself to many minds, and it was wise in any case to be assured of the indefeasibility of the title under which the property was held. The neighborhood was changing in its char- acter. Valued parishioners were moving on up-town or to the sub- urbs. Surrender of pews was not infrequent. The parish rev- THE TYNG PERIOD 245 enues were slowly dwindling. Nor did the panic of September, 1873, with its severe financial stress, help matters in the least. The treasurer's report at Easter, 1874, showed that the current expenses of the corporation had exceeded its regular income by $4,559.56; and that of the revenue for the year now ending, $13,000, and the arrears of pew rent for the preceding year $3,000, only $8,759.08 had been collected, with $3,000 more regarded as collectible. The receipt of $2,650 for a quitclaim deed of a lot formerly sold, and $1,401.86, being the share of St. George's with interest in the $5,000 reserve fund, retained by Phelps, Dodge, & Company, on the sale to them of the Beekman Street property, reduced somewhat the de- ficiency in the current account. On the old scale of expenses and should all the prospective income be received, there would be a deficiency for the current year of about $3,000, — a fact very sug- gestive of the necessity of reducing expenses or devising means of increasing the revenue. The treasurer's suggestion of increasing the assessments on the pews did not meet with favor. The executive committee, which consisted of the lay members of the vestry, had been for some time considering the advisability and practicability of establishing a new church for St. George's in the upper part of the city, and at its meeting held February 19, 1874, Mr. Tracy stated that he had prepared a preamble and outline of plan for establishing a new church for this corporation, in the upper part of the city, which he believed embraced the most prac- ticable suggestions made from time to time by members of this committee. Upon request the document was presented, considered, and amended so as to read as follows : Whereas some members of our cong'reg'ation have removed from the vicinity of the church on Stuyvesant Square, to more northerly parts of the city, and thei'e is a prevailing tendency to seek residences in that direction ; and it is evident that new church accommodations at a point convenient for the congregation, and others who may wish to join it, must be i^rovided soon or the future usefulness of St. George's Church will be gradually lessened ; and in the judgTuent of this committee measures ought to be taken immediately to acquire lands for such new church, and to establish, at as early a day in the present year as may be practicable, a temporary chapel in the same vicinity, and to i:>rovide for the consequent increase of ministerial sendee; And whereas it is desirable to determine in advance the general features of the enterpi'ise and fix on a plan to be followed in the main, with such changes as may be found needful as the work proceeds; Therefore resolved that the following be adopted as an outline of such plan: First. — Purchase a site for the new church, in the upper part of the city, sufficiently large to answer the requirements of this corporation. 246 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Second. — Immediately provide a temporary chapel on or near tlie same site, with seats for about eight hundred to one thousand people. Third. — Call an associate rector with permanent settlement. Fourth. — Maintain public worship in the present church, and also in the temporary chajiel; the rector officiating at each once on every Sunday, taking his choice of the place, and the associate taking the alternate place. Fifth. — The sittings in the temporary chapel to be rented. Sixth. — Make the first payments for the site, and the cost of the chapel, by money borrowed on the bonds of this corporation without mortgage. Seventh. — Apjjly the rent of the chapel sittings toward its expenses, in- cluding the associate rector's salary. Eighth. — This corporation declares the temporary chapel to be a tem- porary measure, and therefore it will proceed to the erection of the new church with as little delay as practicable. Nitith. — When the new church is completed, relinquish the temporary chapel, and maintain public servaee in both churches. Tenth. — The present fund of one hundred thousand dollars is to be pre- served for the support of the jjresent church in accordance with the resolu- tion of the vestrj' adopted March 13, 1851. The executive committee adopted the preamble and each article of the resolution separately and unanimously, and appointed Messrs. Blodgett, Morgan, and Spencer a sub-committee, with -power to negotiate for lots in the vicinity of Central Park and Seventieth Street for the contemplated new church; and requested Mr. Tracy to prepare a form of bond to be issued by the corporation of St. George's Church in furtherance of the proposed measure. At an adjourned meeting of the committee the sub-committee reported that upon the examination of various plots submitted to them, they were unanimously of the opinion that the lots on the northwest corner of ]\Iadison Avenue and Sixty-ninth Street would best suit the purpose of this corporation. The price asked for said lots was as follows: 100 feet by 95 feet on Madison Avenue and 120 feet on Sixty-ninth Street bj"" 100 feet deep adjoining the avenue lots, making in all 100X215 feet for $265,000, and for about $37,000 thirty feet additional on Sixty-ninth Street could be purchased. This entire action being reported to the vestry by the executive committee, its action was formally approved and the report ordered to be entered at length on the minutes. At a later date a proposal of ten lots on the southeast corner of Seventy-second Street and Madison Avenue was submitted to the vestry, the price being $275,000; and one, from the same owner, of lots on the corner of Seventy-first Street and Madison Avenue for $230,000. After the adoption by the vestry on the 12th of March, 1874, of the ' ' Outline ' ' then proposed for the establishment of a new church THE TYNG PERIOD 247 in a more northerly part of the city, the executive committee gave much attention to the selection of a location, the price of lots, the cost of building, and the obtaining of the necessary means. But on the 11th of February, 1875, the committee reported that the result thus far had been unfavorable to the enterprise and had compelled the committee to suspend the consideration of it for the present and await a better opportunity for its prosecution. In the mean time, the rector and all the members of the vestry had fixed upon the Rev. Charles Dallas Marston, of St. Paul's Church, Onslow Square, London, as the desirable person to be brought into the ministry of St. George's, to act jointly with the present rector, and on his demise to succeed to the rectorship. The hope was furthermore entertained, that Mr. Marston 's labors in the present church would prove generally acceptable, and that his es- tablishment here, combined with the continuing ability of the rector, would so assure the future of the congregation as to induce the necessary liberality in regard to the new church when the subject of its erection is again entertained. A call was accordingly extended to Mr. Marston to become associate rector with succession to the rectorship, at a salary of six thousand dollars per year and a suitable dwelling-house. The wardens and the two senior vestrymen were charged with the duty of communicating the call, and the rector was requested to write to Mr. Marston, with whom he had long maintained an affectionate relation, informing him of the unanimity and cordiality with which the invitation was extended and assuring him of the hearty co-operation he would receive in his work. It was a pleasing duty to thus write to one who had received his first religious instruction in Dr. Tyng's Sunday-school, and to whom he felt he could safely and gladly commit the undivided work at St. George's when their joint labors should have ended. It was a grievous disappointment, therefore, to receive his declination of the call, based upon family reasons and the conviction that London was his appointed ministerial sphere. If any had indulged the hope that Mr. Marston might be induced to reconsider his decision, his sad and sudden death only a few months later cut off that pos- sibility. At the May meeting, 1875, the vestry seriously addressed them- selves to the unpleasant task of trying to adjust expenditures to the probable income of the opening year, reported by the treasurer as $18,440. The extra appropriation to the rector was reduced to $3,000 in addition to the salary of $4,000; the organist and choir were cut from $4,000 to $2,500; even the insarance was somewhat 248 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH lessened; so that with reductions all along the line, the estimated outgo was ])rought down to $18,810. It was in the gloom and difficulty of these trying circumstances, that the rector preached his thirtieth anniversary discourse. The aptness of his text is striking. It was Philippians IV., 11 to 13 : " I have learned in whotsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Every- where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry; both to abound and to suffer need; I can do all things through Christ w^hich strengtheneth me." As this was the last public summing-up of his own ministry which he was privileged to make, a liberal outline of the facts detailed should be presented here. He said, in part : By the Divine permission I propose this day to take a survey of the history of these thirty years in the Lord's work, and I would do this in the spirit of the apostle's statement, calmly, thankfully, contentedly looking back over the whole, and looking upward and forward to the glorious re- sult approaching, which the apostle so eanaestly describes in his contempo- raneous letter to his son Timothy, as remaining not for him alone, but for all them, also, who love the Lord's appearing : ' Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me in that day.' In the outward aspects of this great enterprise, as seen and known of men, and as judged by human standards of thought and estimation, we have gone through the alternations which Paul describes, as included in this experience of thirty years in the work of the Lord in His outward Church. "We have seen for many succeeding years large crowds of hearers and wor- shippers completely filling this glorious edifice, silently, intently listening to the truth of God. We have seen as large, regular, pecuniary, material support statedly realized here, for the maintenance of the ministrations of the gospel, as probably have ever been known in any other church in this country. We have seen established a scheme of local missions among the poor in our own vicinage, which liave been an original pattern that many others have subsequently gratefully imitated, but which in their extent and outlay no other church has yet exceeded. We have seen Sunday-schools here gathered and maintained, which have been gratefully acknowledged and admired by all the people of God throughout the churches of this nation, but which in their years of prosperity have been exceeded by none, perhaps equalled by few, of these churches, in any ecclesiastical connection. We have seen an organized and consistent system of pecuniary beneficence maintained with facility and with unceasing success and perseverance, which has been a subject of wonder and gratitude among our fellow- Christians around us. We have beheld the Lord's gracious work of per- sonal salvation among the families and the souls to wliora we have been permitted to minister, continually prospering, and to a degree which has called forth and employed our unceasing thanksgiving and delight. We have witnessed a unity of sentiment, and sympathy of taste and feeling, marking the action and arrangements of this large congregation; THE TYNG PERIOD 249 as generally controlling and as little violated by individual purpose or con- viction as has probably ever been witnessed in any congregation of com- parative size. This whole concrete arrangement may well be distinguished as a line of unbroken prosperity, maintained ui^on the highest reasonable level, and as elevated and abiding as can be wholesome for any community of Christian people. Some distinguishing elements of this historical display of that which St. Paul calls ' abounding ' and ' being full,' we may justly and gratefully recall, as tokens of the gracious favor and providence under which we have lived in tliis united relation. They comprise discriminating facts of the history of the last thirty years, which have made the period of our con- nection as a pastor and a i^eoi^le. I. Our benevolent disj^ensations in money in this period have amounted to Nine hundred and sixty-two thousand four hundred and six dollars and eighty cents, giving an average annual dispensation for the whole period of Thirty-two thousand and eighty dollars and twenty-eight cents. There has been in this evidence of our advancing prosperity a very remarkable increase in the annual amoimt of gifts bestowed. The aggregate of the First decade of years was Seventy-seven thousand and ninety-seven dollars, or an annual average of Seven thousand seven hundred and nine dollars and seventy cents. The aggregate of the Second decade was Three hundred and twenty-five thousand and twenty-four dol- lars, an annual average of Thirty-two thousand five hundred and two dollars and forty cents. The aggregate of the Third decade has been. Five hundred and sixty thousand two hundred and eighty-four dollars, an annual average of Fifty-six thousand and twenty-eight dollars and forty cents. Thus may we be said, in the good providence of God, to have abounded in our means of liberal effort and bestowal, for the welfare of others, in the various channels which the goodness of God has laid open before us. The ladies of St. George's Church constituted a Dorcas Society among themselves soon after the church was opened, on this location, which has been maintained through the period of more than twenty-five years past. And their dispensation has been most abounding and regular, of garments prepared by themselves and under their inspection for the children of the poor. They have clothed 8,134 children, with 26,360 garments expressly prepared for this distribution, and at a cost of $14,063. They have dis- tributed more than 10,000 jDairs of shoes, at an average cost of more than one dollar per pair, among these children of the poor. Through all these years this merciful work has gone patiently and kindly foi-ward, and still proceeds, without pretence or display, like the dew upon the grass, fertiliz- ing but not distui'bing, blessing but with no sound. In another most important department of Christian work we have main- tained, for more than fifteen years, Three Mission Sunday-schools and their stated public worship and pastoral agencies, at a cost never less, including all the demands and arrangements involved, than $10,000 a year, or $150,000, excluding from this calculation the erection of three Mission Chapel buildings, demanding an outlay of more than $80,000. When from these outward facts, known and seen by all and measured by actual cost in money expended, we turn our attention to some other results of these thirty years of ministry, the evidences of that wliieh Paul calls ' abounding ' are not less remarkable. Another most important element of our ' abounding ' has been in the 250 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH record of our Sunday-schools. They celebrate their twenty-sixth anni- versary in connection with this location at this Easter. They have main- tained an average of 1,500 scholars and 125 teachers during this long period, and their contributions to their own fund of beneficent dispensa- tions have exceeded Eighty thousand dollars. Their fidelity and assiduity in tliis imjiortant work and privilege have given to these schools a reputa- tion and influence among the churches of our country, most honorable and valuable; I earnestly hope they may never fail or come short of such a history. From these general facts and results, involved in our history as a church during these thirty years, I turn to those recorded acts of personal min- istry, which have been especially my own. I have admitted to the Lord's table as communicants in this church 1,604 persons. I have presented for confirmation, to the Bishops successively officiating among us, 1,256. I have officiated at 615 marriages. 1 have administered Baptism to 1,061 infants and adults. Of my own loublic offices of the ministry I need not particularly to speak. It has been a cause for sincere personal thanksgiving to myself, that my health and strength for their public labors have been so remarkably pre- served and prolonged. With what sincerity and truth I have thus labored among you I must leave you to witness. Of your generous and faithful personal conduct to me, I should be most imgrateful not to bear the most decided public testimony and to offer the most grateful acknowledgment. You have abundantly ministered to my wants and in a generous measure provided for all my needs. Fo^ir times have you assisted me liberally in a summer's absence and journeying in Europe, and in all respects have given yourselves a name and repute among surrounding churches, in your relations to ray person and my office as your pastor, which have redounded in just honor upon yourselves. Personally you have allowed me to come behind in no gift which was within your power to supply, and collectively as a congregation j'ou have been in all these relations a living epistle known and read of all men. This has been an ' abounding ' in our past history, in all its branches of manifestation. God has been very gracious to us, in keeping herej in all the changing circumstances and tendencies of this enlarging city, a con- gregation of worshippers and hearers, so large in numbers, so constant in attendance, and so uncomplaining in habit and character. For these many successive years, we have been abounding in this gift also, and the char- acter and aspect of this church, under this peculiar review of it, have been too well known, and too generally acknowledged, to be doubted by any, or need testimony from any, to its reality and worth. To bear prosperity with meekness, to receive honor without boasting or self-esteem, is a pe- culiar and a precious gift. This gift the apostle gratefully says he had graciously received. He had been divinely instructed and divinely enabled to be a pattern to others in this most important experience of self-control and self-abnegation. ' I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. Ever^T\-here and in all things, I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me.' Gracious is such a lesson in providence. Precious indeed is such an attainment in grace. The trial of ' abounding ' we have passed. The trial of being ' abased/ THE TYNG PERIOD 251 we may still have to bear*, to what extent, our gracious Lord alone can tell us. But many facts combine, in their stubborn witness, to testify of the things which are yet to come. The removal of large numbers of families in their residences, either to distant and. upjjer parts of the city, or to the surrounding towns and vil- lages of the country, has already so reduced the number of stated families, and personal attendants upon our public worship, that we have become but a remnant of Avhat we were, and there appears no likelihood of the reversal of the cuiTent, or of a change in this respect in the future. Our attending congregation on the Sabbath or in our week services, which last have indeed expired, is not likely to increase. Our collections for benevo- lent dispensation have fallen off one-half. Our local and relative demands in our public work thus far assumed, have, on the other hand, in no degree diminshed, rather have manifestly increased. That which may be called our attractiveness to the general community around us has been very much lost, and we are evidently floating upon an ebb tide, with but little hope, in outward indications, of any flood to succeed it. I speak of this in our relative condition as a church. Thus we are to experience that wliich the apostle calls being abased and suffering need. How far this state of facts is dependent upon and produced by a personal failure in the ministry here, it is impossible for me to decide and would not become me to say. I am certainly conscious that the decays of age and the natural weariness in others in meeting a ministry so pro- tracted, are most important elements of failure in actual results, and I wish I may be able to take the apostle's ground of quiet and peaceful submission to the gTaeious providence of my Lord, and say, ' None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gosj^el of the grace of God.' Within a year St. George's mourned the loss of three of her most honored and devoted sons — William Whitlock, Jr., Adolphus Lane, and William T. Blodgett. Mr. Whitlock, who must ever be held in grateful remembrance for his self - sacrificing carrying of the financial burden by which St. George's new church was made pos- sible, died July 11, 1875, in his eighty-fifth year. He became a vestryman in 1835, warden in 1846, and retired at Easter, 1863. His earnest interest in the church continued, and his attendance at worship was as regular as his health permitted, till he was gath- ered to his fathers in the ripeness of a good old age. He was es- teemed by all who knew him for his unblemished probity, his prac- tical wisdom, his accurate judgment, his personal kindliness, and his consecrated Christian character. Mr. Blodgett was the next one summoned, November 4, 1875. He was baptized and confirmed in St. George's and became a vestryman in 1865. Prosperity attended him; he was a devotee of literature and art, a tasteful elegance surrounded him. In his home relations 252 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH he was admirable, and by his associates in the vestry was in life appreciated and in death sincerely mourned. Mr. Lane had been for fifty years a communicant of St. George's and for nearly thirty a member of the vestry, during eleven of which years he had been warden. His fidelity and modesty in the discharge of every duty and his devoted Christian character were an example to all about him. For many years he was a faithful teacher in the Sunday-school, and his walk and conversation was " such as becometh the Gospel of Christ." The last years of his life were clouded by much suffering as the result of having been run over by a heavy wagon in Broadway, which left him helpless, until, submissive, patient, full of faith and hope, he entered into rest in February, 1876. Unhappily harbingers of waning prosperity were forcing them- selves upon the attention of the vestry. The rector reported in December, 1875, " that obligations for the charitable work of this church to the amount of $1,369.54 were yet unpaid," and that the treasurer of the mission chapels had advanced for their account $1,100, and there was a certain prospect of a larger deficiency. In response to the rector's request for advice in relation thereto, a committee was appointed to consider and report upon the situation and the treasurer was authorized to borrow $5,000. The desirability and wisdom of appointing a permanent assistant minister having been brought to the attention of the vestry by the executive committee, Messrs. Tracy, Stearns, and Morgan were ap- pointed to confer with the rector and report a suitable candidate for that position. At a special meeting called for the purpose, Mr. Tracy reported that after conference with the rector, Mr. Dows, Mr. Morgan, and himself had visited Georgetown to hear and interview the Rev. Dr. Williams, rector of Christ Church in that place. After full consideration of the report, the rector formally nominated the Rev. Walter W. Williams, D.D., rector of Christ Church, George- town, D. C, as associate rector of St. George's Church. In order, however, that other members of the vestry might have the oppor- tunity of visiting Georgetown, the meeting was adjourned until the following Tuesday. The vestry having reconvened at that date, Messrs. Spencer, Stearns, and Marshall reported that they were pre- pared to sustain the judgment of IMessrs. Tracy, Dows, and Morgan as to the suitability of the Rev. Dr. Williams for the position. It was therefore, " Resolved, that the Rev. Walter W. Williams, D.D., now rector of Christ Church, Georgetown, be and hereby is chosen associate rector of St. George's Church in the city of New York, THE TYNG PERIOD 253 with succession to the rectorship in case of a vacancy therein," The senior warden was instructed to prepare a letter to Dr. Williams, informing him of his election, to be signed by the wardens and vestrymen and forwarded to him with an attested copy of the fore- going resolution. The following is the letter which was sent : The vestry of St. George's Church, in the city of New York, on the nomination of the Rector, Rev. S. H. Tyng, D.D., at a meeting held this day, have unanimously elected a^ou Associate Rector, with succession to the sole rectorship in case of a vacancy; and an attested copy of the resolution is herewith enclosed. This church has been favored for more than sixty years, in the suc- cessive rectorates of Dr. Milnor and Dr. Tyng, with a ministry truly Evangelical, and has been enabled by the divine blessing to maintain a home of pure faith and uncon'upted worship for its large congregation, and a support and defence for friends of like views throughout this coi^ntry. The closing years of its present rector come at a time when errors are creeping in, and the right choice of a successor is very im- portant. A duty thus devolves on the vestry which they deeply feel. In your election, imder these circumstances, we have acted with full knowledge of your Evangelical opinions, your ministerial experience, and the ability and learning with which you are endowed; and we hope you will find it in the line of your duty and calling in the service of the Master, to enter our parish and here forward the good work. We promise you a most cordial welcome from our people, and assure you that the matter of your maintenance will be arranged with liberality and to your satisfaction. The probable necessity of retrenchment in expenditure, so free- ly made in the past for the mission chapels of the church, prompted the action which the vestry took April 13, 1876, in appointing Messrs. Tracy and Stearns a committee " to review the relations between this vestry and the missions of this corporation and to make any suggestions for a revision in their management that they may deem expedient. ' ' . The committee later reported that ' ' no change in the organization of the chapels is desirable at present, except that in appointing the ten trustees of the chapels for the present year, seven be taken from the congregation and three from members of the vestry. ' ' The Board of Trustees was then appointed and was '' requested to submit to the vestry a statement of its financial prospects and plans before making any appropriation of money for the expenses of the ensuing year." As a contribution to the general reduction of expenses which the finances of the Church demanded, the insurance against loss by fire was reduced from $190,000 to $100,000, $95,000 being placed on the church building and $5,000 on the furniture. The 254 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH organ was insured for $13,500 and the clock for $2,500. The Six- teenth Street chapel was insured for $15,000, the rectory for $17,500, the Fourteenth Street chapel, including furniture, for $29,000, and the Nineteenth Street chapel for $15,000. The Rev. Dr. Williams having duly considered the call of the vestry to become associate rector, signified his acceptance of the position in the following letter: Georgetown, D. C, May 4, 1876. Messrs. Charles Tracy & David Daws, Wardens of St. George's Church. Dear Friends & Brethren: I have been on a visit to Virginia and hence the delay in acknowledging the receipt of yours of the 2d inst. Your call to the associate rector- ship of St. George's has been under consideration since my return from New York and after earnest prayer for divine guidance, and consultation with my brethi'en in the Ministry I have decided to accept your call. I do so under a solemn sense of the responsibility of the step, and deeply con- scious of my own insufficiency for such a work; but my heart's desire and prayer to God is that I may come unto you in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of peace, and that my ministry among yon may be for His glory and the edification and salvation of souls. It has cost me no little pain and sorrow to sever the ties which have so long bound me to this people, and the prospect of entering upon an untried field of labor and forming new pastoral ties causes me gi'eat anx- iety, but I hope it is the Lord's hand leading me, and I believe I shall receive your warm sympathy and eoi'dial support. I come desiring ' to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified,' and it will be my aim and endeavor to lighten the burdens of your beloved rector, and do all in my power to keep St. George's true and steadfast to the same high standard of a pure faith and uncorrupted worship, which for sixty years have so gi'eatly distinguished it. The last Sunday of this month is the tenth anniversary of my ministry of this church; and I think it due to my people here that I should remain their rector until then ; and I therefore desire that ray acceptance of your call date from the 29th of May. I also understand it will meet the wishes of the rector and vestry if I assume actual charge early in the fall. I greatly need rest and relaxation, as for some years past I have had no release from the duties of my ministry. Asking- brethren your prayer for the Lord's blessing upon the relation I shall occupy to your church and people, I remain Very Truly Yours, "Walter W. Williams. Dr. Williams also officially notified the clerk of the vestry of his acceptance. The vestry thereupon requested the rector to inform the congregation at the morning service on Sunday next of Dr. Williams's acceptance, and adopted a resolution frsing the salary of the associate rector at $4,000 per year, in quarterly instalments, with <^'^<<<^"7. (:^<::2/2^^^\ <^. < <- -s^y/^ THE TYNG PERIOD 255 a suitably furnished dwelling-house for his residence. These resolu- tions also were adopted : Whereas, The Rev. Dr. Williams has accepted the office of Associate Rector of the church to take effect on the 29th inst. and desires that he be allowed to delay taking active charge until the 1st of October, Resolved, That a leave of absence of four months be granted to Dr. Williams, and that his salary be continued during that period. Also Resolved, That Dr. Williams be informed that the vestry deem it de- sirable that he should officiate in this church one or more Sundays before his vacation. The associate rector responded to the request that he should of- ficiate in the church before his vacation by naming Whitsunday as the time when he might be expected. The house selected for his use was No. 10 Livingston Place, on the corner of Sixteenth Street, which was rented for $1,600 per year from October 1, 1876, with the privilege of renewal. A com- mittee of the vestry furnished it at an expense of $3,427.50. The important subject of a division of the work between the rector and his associate was referred to them by the vestry September 14th, to report " what they shall desire in that regard." On this matter the rector reported later, that he had arranged with the associate rector for an equal division of the public services of the church in regular alternate performance. He had also requested the associate rector to take the whole charge of the mission chapels, and to per- form all the pastoral services in the congregation to which he should be invited. The rector had great pleasure further in stating that this arrangement had been cheerfully adopted by the associate rector, and that he was fulfilling it, to the great satisfaction of the con- gregation. Members of the congregation engaged in the Sunday-school work having requested the rector to change the hour of Morning Prayer on Sunday from 10.30 to 11, the change was made with the con- currence of the vestry. The organist of the church since March 1, 1876, had been S. Austin Pearce, Mus. Doc. Oxon., and having applied for the use of the church for a series of organ recitals, his request was granted Novem- ber 9, 1876. A proposition to raise additional revenue by advancing the rents was at this same meeting carefully considered. No formal action, however, was taken, the prevailing opinion being that it would be better to raise money on a portion of the property of the corporation than to advance pew rents. 256 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Immediately after the Easter anniversary of the Sunday-schools in 1877, the rector was prostrated with a severe attack of typhoid fever complicated by erysipelas. For weeks he lay hovering between life and death, but his vigorous constitution, despite his advanced age, at length overcame the disease, though he was left in a state of exhaustion which augured ill for the resumption of his work. But in the quiet of his summer home at Irvington he rapidly im- proved, and in the early fall was anxious to take up again his duties in the church. He did all that he could, but was unequal to the strain of standing in the pulpit, and so preached remaining seated. It was so evident that freedom from responsibility and care were indispensable for Dr. Tyng, that in their generous and kindly thought for him the executive committee in December, 1877, adopted resolutions which the wardens of the church duly presented to him : Whereas, The Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., is now approaching the thirty-third year of his rectorship, the seventy-eighth year of his age, and the fifty-seventh year of his ministiy, and has reached a time when the vestry recognizes that he is in every way entitled to relief from the cares and burdens of an active rectorship, and to adequate provision for his remaining years, therefore, Resolved, That in case the Rector desires to resign the rectorship of this church and accept the honorary position of Rector Emeritus, then, and in that case, the bond of this corporation shall be issued in his favor, obli- gating this corporation to pay him the sum of four thousand dollars an- nually, in quarterly payments, during the remaining years of his life. Resolved, That the wardens be requested to wait upon the rector, and communicate to him the foregoing resolution and the feeling of affection and consideration Avhich led to its unanimous adoption. The wardens soon reported that on December 10th they had called on the rector, presented a certified copy of the resolutions, and had a very pleasant interview. The rector expressed his grati- fication with the spirit of the resolutions and intimated that he would reply in writing with as little delay as the importance of the subject warranted. It is easy to understand the reluctance with which Dr. Tyng faced the question of his resignation of the rectorship which he had so efficiently exercised for a generation. Of his failing strength he was painfully conscious, and yet the conditions of waning prosperity in the church clearly demanded a more vigorous administration than it was possible for him to give. His sense of duty, therefore, prompted the following letter addressed to the wardens : St. George's Rectory. December 12, 1877. Gentlemen & Brethren : — I have given due attention to the communica- tion from the ' Executive Committee of the Vestry of St. George's Church ' THE TYNG PERIOD 257 presented by you to me. I would express with much feeling, my gratitude for the action and expressions of the executive committee. I am ready to accept the proposal involved if adequate arrangements can be made for its due execution. The specific income proposed to be paid quarterly is satisfactory and quite adequate. But the proposal of the executive committee includes no house for the occupation of my family; while the free occupation of the rectoiy was a part of my original settlement, for which my agreement with the ' Corporation of St. George's Church ' provided. The proposal from the executive committee specifies no particular time, at which such resignation is to be desired by the vestry. I should be glad that these two j^oints might be considered and referred with power or with directions for agreement to the wardens who have been appointed to confer with me upon this subject. It would be well for both parties to have a distinct understanding of the elements involved in this whole change and arrangement, now to be decided; involving interests of such importance to the congregation and necessarily including much public consideration. In reference to the whole subject thus involved I have to say tliat I have no ' desire to resign the rectorship of St. George's Church.' But I am willing to do it, as by request of the executive committee, upon the basis presented in the preceding considera- tions. With these expressions of my views upon the subjects involved in the communication of the Executive Committee, I am with much respect and regard for the gentlemen to whom I have thus addressed myself. Stephen H. Tyng, Rector of St, George's Church. Upon receipt and consideration of this communication the ex- ecutive committee adopted the following : Whereas, It is apparent from the above communication that the rector has misunderstood the mtent and spirit which led to the action of the ex- ecutive committee on the eighth of December inst. it is therefore Resolved, That the wardens be a committee to confer with the rector, with powder as proposed by him, it being understood that no action which this vestry has taken is to be considered in any sense as a request for him to resign, unless in accordance with his own wishes. The wardens having conferred with the rector as instructed, re- ported at the vestry meeting, January 17th, that they had pleas- antly and carefully considered the subject with him and now pre- sented the following communication from the rector, addressed to them: St. George's Rectory, January 10, 1878. Gentlemen and Brethren: — In reply to your note of the 5th inst., and accompanying documents sent to me for examination, I have now to say that I have examined them all, with satisfaction, and I desire you to an- nounce to the vestry my entire agreement with them. In pursuance of the course which is therein proposed, I ask you to announce in my name to the vestry, my resignation of the rectorship of St. George's Church, to be accepted by them as to be accomplished actually on the first day of May, and all their aiTangements mav be made on the basis of tliis avowed pur- 17 258 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH pose. Be pleased to present to the vestry my assurance of earnest grati- tude for all llie kindness and (-onfidenee which have followed me through tuese thirty-three years thus completed in my sacred work in St. George's Church, and the assurance of my earnest prayer to God for His abounding blessings to rest upon them individually in their households and in the church. To yourselves personally I owe much for years of kindness, respect, and care. May the gracious blessing of God rest upon your families and your- selves in the life which now is, and in that which is to come. I am, per- sonally and officially, ever your faithful and grateful friend and brother. Stephen H. Tyng. The following resolution was thereupon moved by Mr. Tracy and seconded by Mr. Dows : Resolved, That the resignation of the rector be and is hereby accepted, to take effect on the first day of May next, and that m order to his support after his retirement the obligation of this Corporation granting to him an annuity for life, now submitted be sealed with the common seal of this corporation subscribed by its church wardens and the clex'k of the vestry and delivered to the rector, the same being as follows : Know all men by these jiresents, that the Rector, Church Wardens, and Vestrymen of Saint George's Clmrch in the City of New York, a religious society duly incorporated under and by the laws of the State of New York (hereinafter called the Corporation) in consideration of one dollar in hand paid the receiiit whereof is hereby acknowledged and for divers other good and valuable considerations the said Corjioration thereunto moving, does hereby covenant and agree to and Avith the Reverend Stephen H. Tyng, Senior, Doctor of Divinity (hereinafter called the annuitant), that the said Corporation from and after the first day of May, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, for and during the natural life of the said annuitant, will pay to him an annuity at and after the rate of Five thou- sand dollars a year, in equal quarter yearly payments, the first quarterly payment to be made on the first day of August, One thousand eight hun- dred and seventy-eight. And if the annuitant should die at any time be- tween such quarter days, the annunity sliall be apportioned and paid to that time, and inasmuch as this bond is made and received with intent that the annuity shall never be diverted from the use and benefit of the annuitant or to the payment of any debt or demand against him, it is stipulated and declared that this bond is not transferable and that no instalment of the annuity is capable of being assigned or encumbered before the same becomes payable. In witness whereof the said Corporation has caused these presents to be sealed with its common seal and subscribed by its church wardens and by the clerk of its vestry this the seventeenth day of January, One thou- sand and eight hundred and seventj'-eight. Before ,the vote was taken on the foregoing resolution, the rector addressed the vestry in these words : My Friends and Brethren: I cannot present this resolution for your adoption without an expression of my own emotions in such a relation. THE TYNG PERIOD 259 I shall have occupied the honored position of rector of this church for thirty-three years on the first of the approaching May. I have been thus connected with many gentlemen as members of this vestry. My relations to all have been in the receipt of unfailing kindness, ati'ection, and respect. My age, my extreme illness in the last year, and my many infirmities make it expedient that I should now retire "from a post so burdensome and so responsible. The arrangement which has been made by the wardens of this church, acting with full power for the vesti-y, accords entirely with my own wish and my own convenience. And I receive the action of the vestry thus presented to me with gi'atitude and satisfaction. I would now express my gi-ateful sense of the kindness wliich has pro- vided for me this relief, and my j^ersonal affectionate acceptance of the provisions of the vestiy thus made and declared. And I humbly pray that' the gracious blessing of our Divine Saviour may rest upon you all, and upon your homes and households with abounding gifts of love and gTace, and grant imchanging ministrations of His love and power upon the con- gregation and families whom you are appointed to represent, in this re- lation. The resolution was then unanimously adopted, as were also the following : Resolved, That the wardens and senior vestryman be a committee to draft resolutions and a suitable minute to express the feelings of this vestry and of the members of the church generally upon the resignation of their venerable and beloved rector and to submit the same to the vestry for their action. Besolved, That the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., Senior, be and is hereby appointed to the honorary position of Rector Emeritus of this church to take effect ujDon his retirement from the rectorship. After the transaction of the business relating to the call of the Rev. Dr. Williams as his successor, the records further recite : ' ' The rector then led in a prayer for the divine blessing to rest upon the Church and upon the action of the vestry here recorded. He pro- nounced the Benediction of Peace and after taking a personal and affectionate leave of each member of the vestry, retired from the meeting." It may be here noted that at the close of the annual election on Easter Tuesday, April 23d, the meeting adopted the following: Resolved, That at this the last annual meeting of the congregation over which our beloved rector is expected to j^reside, we desire to record our continued love and affection for him in his retirement and the acknowledg- ment of his faithfulness in the administration of this parish. The certificate of election is recorded in the handwriting of Dr. Tyng, who was at this time in his seventy-ninth year. The special committee to apprise the Rev. Dr. Williams of his 260 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH election as rector addressed to him the following letter, which, to- gether with his reply, they laid before the vestry April 25, 1878. New York, FeVy 19, 1878. Rev. Walter W. Williams, D.D. Dear Sir: The Rev. Di-. S. H. Tyng, Sr., having voluntarily resigned the Rectorship of St. George's Church in the City of New York as of May 1, 1878, and his resignation having been accepted to take effect on that day, the Vestry by unanimous vote has elected you Rector, to take effect on the same first day of May next. The following resolutions were adopted at a regular meeting of the vestry by unanimous vote: Besolved, That the Rev. Walter W, "Williams, D.D., associate rector, be and is hereby elected Rector of this Church, to take effect on the first day of May next. Resolved, That this vestrj' in thus carrying out an arrangement at the time of Dr. Williams' appointment as associate rector desire to express their satisfaction in so doing, and to assure hun that their action would have been the same had no agreement existed. Resolved, That the salary of the future rector be continued at Four Thou- sand Dollai'S per annum, i^ayable quarterly, and that he be allowed the free use of the rectory, adjoining the church as a residence for himself and his family. Resolved, That the wardens and senior vestryman be a committee to communicate these resolutions to the rector-elect, and to ask his acceptance of the rectorship; and that the same gentlemen be a committee to com- municate to the ecclesiastical authoi'ities of the Diocese the change in the ministry of tliis Church and secure their official recognition of the same. In pursuance of the directions of the vestry above contained and in the interest of the congregation and in expression of our own judgment and wishes, \^'e cordially and earnestly request you to accept this election, and assume the rectorship at the time set by the resolution. Very respectfully & traly yours, Charles Tracy. David Dows. J. PiERPOXT Morgan. New York, Marcli 11, 1878. Messrs. Charles Tracy, David Bows & J. Pierpont Morgan. Gextlemex: I have received the resolutions of the vestry communicated through you informing me of the voluntary resignation of the Rev. S. H. Tyng, D.D., as Rector of St. George's Church in this city and of my election to the Rectorship of said Church to take effect the first day of May, 1878. Allow me to express my appreciation of the kind words in which the committee have conveyed the action of the vestry and also to say that I did not need such action to assure me of the purpose of the vestry- to cany out the agreement made with me when called to the associate rectorship. As no such office or title is known or recognized by the canons of the Chui'^h, I would have suggested to the vestry, before entering upon the rector- THE TYNG PERIOD 261 ship, the propriety of a formal call to the same; but not because of any doubt of their intention, but to preclude any possible question as to the legality' of my tenure of the office. J. fully appreciate the responsibility of undertaking such a work and if I consulted my own feelings and wishes I would prefer a humble field and one less exacting in its demands; but now, after a ministry of nearly two 3'ears in your midst, you renew your offer, and express the cordial and earnest desire that I would accej^t the Rectorship. I can only assure you of my willingness to yield to your wishes and do hereby accept your election to the Rectorship of St. George's Church to take effect the 1st of May. My heai't's desire and prayer to God is that His work may prosper in my hands. My sufficiency can alone come from His grace and strength working in me and with me and the hearty support and co-operation of the vestry and congregation. I cannot expe(;t such a future of eminence and usefulness for this Church as has marked its past; few possess such eminent ability and gifts as my honored brotlier who now relinquishes the work, and few have been so owned and blessed of the I^ord in the ministry. All I can hope is to keep this Church true to its old standards of faith and adapt it to the altered circumstances and times which now meet us. May Christ Jesus the great Head of the Church, in His irifinite grace and love, so bless and prosper our united efforts that the work of the Lord may prosper in our midst; and this Church, with its glorious past, be stiJl honored in doing much for the glory of His great name and the salvation of souls. I remain dear friends & brethren, Your Servant in Christ, Walter W. Williams, The last Sunday in April, the first Sunday after Easter, which had always been Dr. Tyng's anniversary Sunday, and which was to be the last Sunday of his rectorship, was the occasion of his parting sermon to the flock he loved so well. The church was crowded with a congregation which felt the solemnizing influence of the thought, that the familiar voice of their beloved rector was being heard for the last time from that pulpit, and that the tender ties which had bound them for so long a period together as devoted pastor and attached people were now about to be sundered. The sermon was upon the text, " Perfect through sufferings," He- brews 11 : 10. Two schemes for personal happiness are opened to man. One the path of self-gratification, — the other the path of self-denial. The one i3roposes the indulgence of every desire, — the other the conquest and ruling of every emotion. The one is the path of animal pleasure, — the joy of the flesh. The other is the scheme of spiritual improvement, — the triumph of gi'ace, the reign of holiness. The one is the plan of man's fallen nature, the other is the suggestion of the revealed will of God. The one pro^ioses man's perfection through indulgence, — the other through suffering. Man would be happy by acquiring according to his will. God would have him happy, 262 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH by conquering' aeeoiding- to the will of God. In this, God's ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts. This is the important subject here presented to us, — as illustrated in our text, by the appointed endurance of the Saviour, and bj^ the consequent discipline of man re- deemed by him. lender these two heads, may we consider it, as the Chris- tian's hope and the Christian's discipline. The foundation on which he stands, — and the path and process through wliicb he is led. His concluding words were these: The ministi"y which is now closing in this place has been no exception to this rule governing the world. For a tliird of a centui-y I have here preached Christ crucified. It has been an unceasing proclamation of the power of an Almighty Saviour; repentance towards God and faith towards Christ. I have endeavored constantly to unfold these truths and to teach them from house to house. How faithfully, ye are witnesses. God knows liow I have loved you, how I have prayed for you through these long years. He alone can announce the results of such a ministry, and to His judgment I must commit the acceptance of my life of labor. Eternity alone can tell how many souls have here found rest and salvation. The multiplication of my years, the enfeebling of my body, the increase of my physical infirmities, have led me to this voluntary retirement from a ministry which presses so heavily uj^on a responsible soul. Of your relations to me I have no g^i'ound for com])laint, but much for which I give daily thanks as for God's will and provision for me. The generous way in which you have encouraged me was all that any man could ask, and your provision for my necessities has been just and adequate. This day our personal relations, so long maintained, are severed, but I leave with you a beloved brother whose fidelity I acknowledge, and I pray that imder his ministry, God will give abundant evidence that he is an apostle from the Most High. We shall meet before the Saviour's throne, and together shall rejoice and praise Him for having thus associated us during these years of prejDaration. I leave with one sad regret, — regret that there are many here who are kind and respectful to me, but without any personal knowledge of Christ's love. Every one in this church might rejoice in the perfect blessing of heaven, and say that Christ reigns in them. How many of you can say this? God's alternatives are before you. They cannot be escaped. Are you determined to be His children? Nothing else will answer the unceasing ])rayer of my poor heart. "With the power of God and the guidance of His Spirit, T have endeavored to discharge the trust committed to me. You have heard His truths and I leave them with you. And now may the peace of God which passeth all understanding be with you and keep you to the end. Amen. The special committee consisting of Messrs. Tracy, Dows, and Morgan, who had been appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the feeling of the vestry upon Dr. Tyng's retirement, reported the following minute, which was duly entered upon the records of the corporation and ordered to be printed in the church papers : The Rev, Stephen H. Tyng. Senior, D.D., having retired from the position of Rector of this cluu'ch on completing the thirty-third year of his ministry THE TYNG PERIOD 263 therein, the vestry desire to express to him and place on record their pro- found sense of his great ability, his ardent, constant zeal, his steadfast adherence to the Evangelical faith of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and to its order of worship through the long period of his rectorship, and to assure him of the affection felt for him by the whole congregation of St. George's Church. It is a cause of general regret that he has found it necessary, by reason of age and infirmity, thus to seek a release from the duties and cares of the pastoral office, but the memory of his emment ministerial fidelity and use- fulness, and of his true and large liberality in works of benevolence, will never fail, and the personal attachment of those who have enjoyed his ministry or shared his confidence will not be broken by this separation. It is their hope and ours that the residue of his life may be cheered by recollections of the past, full of labors and not free from cares, but abound- ing in successes, and be gladdened by the confidence of a future higher life which he has so often and so nobly jDreached. Before taking up the narrative of his successor's work, a brief review of the period of Dr. Tyng's retirement and notice of his death and funeral may fitly be inserted here. With the resignation of his rectorship the active ministry of Dr. Tyng was practically closed, his life work in its public interests and relations ended. It was a ministry which had been most remark- able in its character, in the extent and intensity of its influence, in its abounding labors, in its abundant fruits. Had he been taken in the midst of his activities, as would have been his own desire, his death would have been emphasized as a great public loss. But years of weakness and in the end senility veiled him from public view, as his strength was lapsing and his end was drawing near. It was indeed pathetic to see the old man, once so strong, experiencing the sadness of the words spoken to an Apostle in the earliest age, ' ' When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whether thou would 'st not." Among the sympathetic expressions in view of his retirement which he received from far and near was one from the Bishop of Ohio, who wrote in behalf of himself and wife : Diocese op Ohio. Cleveland, April 30th, 1878. My Dear Friend — .Julia and I beg permission to write to you on the occasion of your retirement from active parish work, with an exjDression of our hearty sympathy. Whether you feel it to be a subject of congi-atulation or of condolence, our hearts are Avith you. For if the event has any sadness in it, it cer- tainly has equally, if not more, of the glad and joyous. It is a prophecy of the Lord's 'Well done'; His own acceptance of a good day's work well 264 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH finished, and His own gracious loosing of the bands which, whilst they held you so doseh' to labor, held you also away from His reward of it. It seems to us a very kind ordering which provides for you an interval of cjuiet, honorable, and honored rejDose, between a busy life and a joy- ously active eternity; an interval for quiet reflection, before entering on the achievements of the grander life which is to come. And it seems to us that you are peculiarly fortunate, in that this interval finds you in full possession of your intellectual and spiritual powers. How wonderfully and graciously the Lord has led you, and how happily you have been able to seize and appropriate the opportunities for usefulness! And how grandly you liave been permitted to stand as a witness for the old truths, in a generation Avhich is as rapidly forgetting them, as it is forgetting the men who uttered them. Neither of us has ever forgotten your sermon, ' J have set my face as a flint.' It was characteristic, and has been de- scriptive. And now if the good Lord will permit you to complete your work, by gathering up the results of your ministry, and stating the principles by which, humanly speaking, they were attained, a treasure of pastoral di\-inity Avill be given "to the Church which could not now be equalled in value by continued pastoral laboi*. Wishing you every blessing, and assuring you of our love from both of us, believe me, Sincerely and affectionately yours, G. T. Bedell. But he never found himself able to write out the record of his ministry, as was thus suggested. He did indeed begin an auto- biographical sketch of his life, but it extended no farther than to embrace his boyhood, student life, and earlier ministries in George- town. D. C, in Prince George's County, Maryland, and in Phila- delphia. Much as he longed for continued usefulness, his strength proved inadequate to sustained exertion. He did not participate in the services of St. George's, although most cordially invited to do so by his successor, through the mistaken feeling that it might em- barrass in some way the new rector's work. After removal from the rectory of St. George's his family secured a suitable house in Lex- ington Avenue, in which for three years he was surrounded with every comfort which loving care could provide. The Church of the Holy Trinity, of which the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., D.D., was rector, being convenient of access he found great satisfaction in the ministry of his son, and was always sure of a reverent and cordial welcome in its chancel and among its people. In the fall of 1878 he undertook to preach on Sunday afternoons a course of sermons to the young on the " Mountains of Scripture " and the lesson taught by each. But he soon found himself unequal to the task, and an occasional address was the most he ever afterward ventured to attempt. One of the last was at the Pre-Millennial Conference THE TYNG PERIOD 265 of representatives of various Christian bodies held in October, 1878, in the Church of the Holy Trinity. He had been expected to pre- side and make the opening address, but finding himself unable to attend, sent what he had prepared to be read by his son. On the second day of the Conference, however, he appeared, and by his venerable aspect and earnest words produced a deep impression as he spoke of that pre-millennial coming of Christ, which was a fa- vorite topic with him and to which he had given much Scriptural research. His country home at Irvington, in which he had spent so many delightful summers, now became doubly attractive to him in these latter days of enforced repose. It was indeed a peaceful retreat from the noise and confusion of the city, from which he now gladly escaped; and when the lease of his New York house expired in 1881 the Irvington cottage was prepared for winter occupation, and there is quiet seclusion, while the shadows of life's evening were deepening about him, he spent the four remaining years of his pil- grimage, tenderly cared for by his devoted wife and ministered to by the granddaughters who were members of his household. His mental faculties had already become much enfeebled and their im- pairment grew apace. But his physical vigor abated more slowly, and he delighted in the long rambles which, in company with an at- tendant, he was in the habit of making into the surrounding country. A remarkable feature about his intellectual decay lay in the fact that long after his worn-out brain had become incapable of concentrated thought on any other subject, his power of expression on religious themes and in extemporaneous prayer still lingered. The end came unexpectedly. There was no special illness, no suffering. He laid him down upon his bed to rest, and in the peaceful slumbers of the night his spirit returned to God, who gave it. A special meeting of the vestry was at once called, September 5, 1885, at which resolutions were adopted expressive of the deep sym- pathy of the A^estry with his bereaved famil}'-, proposing to take charge of the funeral and defray all its expenses, continuing the annunity paid to the late rector-emeritus to November 1st, directing the payment to his widow of the instalment due on that day, and requesting the Presiding Bishop of the Church, the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., to deliver an address at the funeral and the Right Rev, G. T. Bedell, D.D., to preach a memorial sermon at a service to be later held in St. George's. The following uiinute was ordered to be entered upon the records of the vestry and published in the Church papers. 266 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH In the providence of God we are called to mourn the departure from this world of the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., long the honored and greatly beloved rector and pastor of this church. He was taken to his rest on Thursday night, September 3d, at the advanced age of eighty-five years seven months and three days. At the hour of midnight ' he fell asleep in Jesus,' and was not, for God took him. Dr. Tyng's ministiy in this city commenced in 1845, at which time he was called to succeed the venerated Dr. Milnor as the rector of St. George's Church. The church building was then in Beekman Street. Subsequently a new site was obtained, on Stuyvesant Square and Sixteenth Street, where a vei-y large and imi^osing building was erected. During this transition period the cares and labors of the rector were very great. It was a venture of faith. The new church was located beyond the centres of population ; only a jiortion of the down-town congregation could be taken to it. It was therefore an open question whether so vast an edifice could be filled without much delay. But Dr. Tyng was equal to the emergency. His indomitable energy and unrivalled powers as a preaehei', coupled with remarkable ad- ministrative ability, and aided by a united vestry, soon removed all doubts and difficulties, and rapidly carried the enterprise forward to a complete success. In a brief period the great church was full to overflowing, and the Sunday-school building was crowded with teachers and scholars. Subse- quently Mission Sunday-schools were established, and two chapels, one in East Nineteenth and one in East Fourteenth Street, were built, where regular services were held. This rapidly growing work was under the supervision of Dr. Tyng, and with all its details he kept himself familiar. His presence and examjDle insi)ired every imijortant movement. The result was, in a few years St. George's had the largest congregation, the greatest number of children and youth under Sunday-school and Bible Class in- struction of any Church in the city, if not in the eounti-y, and stood among tlie foremost in all benevolent and Christian work. The contributions to missionaiy and other charitable objects were exceptionally numerous and large. These things were, imder God, the legitimate fruits of the influence and teaching the people received from their revered rector. As a pastor. Dr. Tyng was unceasing and untiring in his labors. Per- sonal convenience or comfort never stood in the way of his ministering to any and all who needed his services. Among the poor he was always a warmly welcomed visitor. They felt he was their friend and helper. With the children and youth he Avas a special favorite, for he entered most fully into their thoughts and feelings, and identified himself with their interests. From this portion of his peoi:)le he had veiy large additions to the communion of liis Church. In a word, among all classes, the old and the young, the rich and the poor, he was most cordially welcomed, and his ministrations were gTatefully i-eceived and most highly prized. In objects of general benevolence, Dr. Tyng took a lively interest, and to them devoted much attention. He sen-ed on many boards and com- mittees, and was an earnest and efl'ective advocate of their claims on public occasions. The announcement of his name as a speaker was sure to draw a crowd. As a preacher of the gospel he had few equals in his day. His views were distinctly Evangelical, and he never failed to preach Christ, and Him crucified, as the only hope of a lost world. He was clear and emphatic in his presentation of the truth, and his ministry was greatly honored of God, THE TYNG PERIOD 267 and through it great numbers were brought to the Saviour and to the comforts and joys of His great salvation. Such, briefly, was the man, the preacher, and the pastor who for so many years ministered in this church. In 1878, when age and infirmities had disabled him, he retired from active service, but retained his connection with the church as Rector Emeritus. In placing this minute upon its record, the vestry desire to express their profound gratitude to Almighty God for the gracious Providence which gave to this church such a gifted and faithful minister of the Lord Jesus, and sustained him through so many years of arduous labor. They bow in humble submission to the dispensation which translated him from this world to the Church triumphant in glory. Wm. S. Rainsford, Rector. David Dows W. H. ScHiEFFELiN, Clerk. J. PiERPONT Morgan ' Wardens. The funeral service was held in St. George's Church on Tuesday, September 8, and was most solemn and impressive. Former par- ishioners in large numbers swelled the congregation gathered to pay their tribute of respect and affection to their departed rector's memory. Other religious bodies were largely represented both by ministers and people. The clergy in the chancel were Bishop Alfred Lee, of Delaware; Bishop Henry C. Potter, of New York; the Eev. Dr. Dix, rector of Trinity Church; the Rev. Dr. Richard Newton, who had succeeded Dr. Tyng both in St. Paul's Church and the Church of the Epiphany in Philadelphia; the Rev. Dr. William H. Benjamin, of Irvington; the Rev. Dr. W. S. Rainsford, rector of St. George's, and its assistant clergy. The address of Bishop Lee, a lifelong friend of Dr. Tyng, here follows : The course is finished. The weaiy life-journey ended. The day, with its early brightness and promise, its meridian fervor and shaded evening is closed. The voice that has often echoed within the walls of this spacious sanctuary, and which has aroused many a slumbering conscience, is now hushed, and the lips that had uttered thrilling exhortations are pallid and dumb. Many affecting memories are awakened by this solemn funeral occasion in the minds of those Avho knew the departed rector of this church in years gone by. We recall vividly, not the decrepit and exhausted invalid, but the powerful advocate for truth and righteousness, as he stood up in his' manly and unimpaired vigor, an earnest, fearless ambassador for Christ. The current of life at the present day flows on swiftly — old landmarks soon sink in the distance — the men who were prominent a few yeai-s back are now almost forgotten — names and events of a half-centuiy or a quarter- century ago seem already historical. But if the world loses sight of well- known forms and the recollections of the Church grow faint and dim. the life-work of Stephen H. Tyng is not destined to perish. ' He that doeth the will of God abideth forever.' His handwriting was not upon the sand, 268 HISTORY Or ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH to be effaced by the returning wave — but is inscribed in an everlasting register, and indelibly stamped upon souls won for Christ. ' I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit sliould remain.' What is done in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ is abiding and irajierishable. Thei-e are those, not a few, now living unto God, active in the Master's service, who were brought under his ministi*y to the Saviour's feet, some of them, doubtless, in this assembly to-day. There are others, probably a still greater number, who have preceded him and have crossed the boundai*y line, and, it may be, now bail with joy his entrance into their blessedness. Dr. Tyng was a man heartilj^ engaged in many departments of Christian labor — a busy man while his working-day lasted—' not slothful in business, fervent in spirit.' He did with his might what his hand found to do, and never overlooked or neglected any of his pastoral duties. But it was pre- eminently as a preacher that he improved liis talents, honored his Lord, and served his generation. Those who listened to him in the culmination of his powers cannot forget the impression made by his sermons. Our Church at that period was small in numbers and extent compared with its present state; but its j^ulpit was adorned by a number of ministers who, we may assert without disparagement to the present day, liave not been since sur- passed. The sermons of such men as Mellvaine, Bedell, Hawks, the Johnses, Elliott, Burgess, Vinton, and others Avhom I coidd name, were eloquent and instructive in a high degi-ee, full of thought and beauty, and pervaded with an unction from above. Among these eminent and honored preachers of the Word, Dr. Tyng stood in the front rank. Each had his peculiar excellences, one distinguished in this respect and another in that. In some points our departed brother was not behind the chiefest. There was in- tense energy, burning zeal, direct and pointed application, which powerfully affected his hearers. He was remarkably gifted as an extempore speaker. His words flowed in an imbroken stream, a torrent of thought and feeling that carried congregations with him. He never hesitated for a word — and the word used seemed always the most fitting — and his sentences were as well rounded and complete as if carefully elaborated at the desk. But while so fluent in utterance, he did not become mei'ely rhetorical or de- clamatory. His sermons were enriched by the fruits of patient study and previous preparation. He was a diligent reader, and specially a close stu- dent of the sacred Scriptures. ' The law of the Lord was dearer to him than thousands of gold and silver,' his occupation by day and meditation by night, and he poured forth out of his treasure things new and old. One main attraction and element of power was the scriptural character of his teaching, and his lectures and expositions were exceedingly vivid, clear, and interesting. His hearers gained new and striking views of the beauty and fulness of the Avord of God, and went from the church to their Bibles with increased zest and profit. A marked characteristic of Dr. Tjmg's sermons and of his whole bearing, was fearlessness. If he was for many years, in the best sense, a popular preacher, he never sought popularity by concealment or compromise of his views of tnith and duty. He never consulted the prejudices of his hearers, nor kept back aught that was profitable lest he should give offence. Under all circumstances his courage was unfailing. Those who attended his min- istry must count upon being foi'cibly reminded of duties and being plainly Avarned against sins. To some persons his boldness might sometimes seem THE TYNG PERIOD 269 to border on defiance, but his governing impulse was the desire to be faithful to the Master whom he served, and to the souls over whom he watched as one that must give account. And with boldness of rebuke he always set forth redeeming love in the most full and persuasive rejjre- sentations. He magnified the Lord Jesus in all His offices of power and grace. The living, life-giving, loving Christ illumined his appeals; and if he sometimes seemed severe, he could also be tender and affectionate, and such exi^ressions from his lips came with great effect. The subject of these remarks was indeed a strong man — strong in his native endowments, intellectual and physical — a quick, active, penetrating mind in a vigorous frame. Had he chosen another calling, embarked, for in- instance, in political life, he would have been one to sway by his impetuous and fiery eloquence, great masses of men, as well as to command the attention of listening senates. He was strong in faith, decided in his convictions, hold- ing the truths which he had adopted with vise-like tenacity. He believed, therefore he spake. He was strong in his apprehensions of the magnitude of his office and the everlasting results of his ministry. He was strong in his knowledge of men and discernment of character and direct aiDplieation of truth to the heart and conscience. The closing years of life, when laid aside by the providence of God from the duties of his calling, might suggest to those who knew him in his prime the exclamation, ' How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod !' But an aged and faithful servant of the Lord is not forsaken, nor less loved, because his strength faileth. The treasure is placed in an earthen vesesl, and the vessel of clay is subject to deterioration and infirmity. But it is the casket that is impaired, not the jewel. In the glowing language of St. Paul, to wliich we have just listened, we find exceeding consolation for such an event as temijorary eclipse and failure : ' So also is the resur- rection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in ineorruption ; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glor}'; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a sj^iritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And, as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.' With the natural body we associate corruption, dishonor, and weakness. Though so admirable in its structure, it may become a wreck. The harp of thousand strings, disarranged and out of tune, is no longer able to dis- course eloquent music. But to the spiritual body are ascribed ineorruption, glon,^, and power. It shall rise from ashes and decay to immortality, fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body. Such, to-day, is the hope that cheers us respecting our brother departed. The Lord grant that our part may be with him ui the resurrection of the just. The interment was in Greenwood Cemetery, and by the open grave the presence of the rector of Old Trinity, the Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix, was specially noted by those familiar with the associated his- tories of Trinity and St. George's and appreciated as a mark of official respect and personal regard. In the biographical sketch of Dr. Tyr\g will be found various characterizations of the man, but the following extract from the 270 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Bishop's address to the Diocesan Convention within the month of his decease may fitly close this record: Our record of departed clergy ends with the death of Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, Rector Emeritus of St. George's Church in this city. Dr. Tyng's departure terminated a connection with the venerable parish of which he was rector extending over nearly forty years — the most of them fruitful in their influence upon individual souls, to a rare and exceptional degree. No one who was in the vast throng in St. George's Church on the day of his funeral could have well mistaken its signifiieance. It was an assemblage representing the people of all classes, drawn from all parts of the city and from distant neighborhoods as well. It was a testimony to a ministry of commending qualities and of enduring results. Dr. Tyng was pre-eminently a preacher. His pulpit was his throne, his voice a trumpet, and his whole personality one that compelled attention, even where it did not command assent. But besides this, his seiwices in the missionary work in this city, the mission chapels which, under his leadership, his people reared and maintained, his immense Sunday-school, in which it has been said that he knew eveiy child by name, his power on the platform as the exponent of great reforms, his devotion to the school of theology which supremely reverenced the Bible and the voice of the individual conscience as enlight- ened by the work of the Holy Ghost — all these features of his character and ministry would have made him a leader in any community, and an earnest figaire in any age. There have been those who have counted lum as disesteeming the Church of his fathers, and undervaluing its apostolic order and ministry. But his public works remain to contradict such an impression, and his vast con- firmation classes to witness, as his Bishop said to him many years ago, that almost no one else had been instrumental, in this or any other Diocese, in bringing so many candidates for confirmation, bom and matured amid other associations, within the influence of the Church's doctrine and fellow- ship. Like all men of his temperament. Dr. Tyng had strong antagonisms, and was not always careful in avoiding and expressing and emphasizing them; but there are pages in the history of this diocese which, if they could be written here, would show that he could illustrate the noblest and most generous magnanimity and a large spirit of Christian brotherhood. The Church witnesses to her catholic mind in the honoring of such men as he, even as she illustrates her many-sided adaptedness in finding a place for their rare gifts, and a sphere for their powerful influence. -^ ^, <^ =^ CHAPTER X THE WILLIAMS RECTORSHIP AND INTERIM (1878-1882) The situation at the beginning of Dr. Williams's rectorship was one of extreme difficulty. The exodus from the vicinity of the church of so many of the substantial families who had contributed to the prestige and efficiency of St. George's was proceeding in accelerated movement. The income from pew rents had been steadily diminish- ing since 1873, at which time they amounted to $13,224.55, and were now estimated by the pew committee at $7,000 to $7,500. The an- nual deficit arising from expenses over income had been met by issuing notes of the corporation, which at this time aggregated $17,500, and the total assets over liabilities showed a shrinkage of the endowment or productive property to $77,500. It was proposed in October that unrented pews should be offered at low rents, and the matter was referred to the rector and treasurer with power. In December the vestry appointed a committee consisting of Messrs. Stearns, Dows, Morgan, and Spencer ' ' to take into consideration the financial condition of this corporation and recommend some course for the future, and to report as soon as possible." Meanwhile propositions for retrenchment by abridging the mission work at the chapels were being considered, with the ultimate result that the chapel properties were sold, the proceeds turned into the treasury of the corporation, and the work abandoned, after a futile attempt to incorporate it in any large degree with the worship or Sunday-school of the parish church. The first step in this direction was taken October 11, 1877, when a preamble reciting ' ' that the funds for the support of the missions of this church will not suffice to carry on the same on the present plan," prefaced an instruction to the Mission Trustees to terminate that branch of their work heretofore carried on by the Rev. J. C. Fleischhacker. The German work had well served the purpose for 272 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH which it was originally undertaken at a time when a large number of German families unable to speak English had become resident in the district to which St. George's was ministering. But now the children having grown up in the daily use of that language, and it seeming undesirable to continue to give public instruction in a foreign tongue, and further, as preaching services in German were being maintained in the neighborhood under the auspices of " The Church German Society, ' ' it seemed wise to transfer the entire Sun- day-school work in Fourteenth Street to the superintendent and teachers of the Chapel of the Bread of Life, who, it will be remem- bered, occupied the chapel jointly with the German Mission. The Rev. Mr. Fleischhacker cordially co-operated in the readjustments made necessary by the change, and many of the children of the German Mission were absorbed in the larger Sunday-school, so that at the following Easter an average attendance of 800 was reported. Mr. Fleischhacker having requested the use of the chapel on Six- teenth Street for a Sunday-evening service, the vestry granted the request, and his congregation soon succeeded in organizing them- selves into an independent church. In April, 1878, a communication was received from him asking for the loan and use of the following articles — viz., a font, pulpit, melodeon, two clocks, twenty-seven benches, German Bibles and books, pictures, and two banners, to which the vestry made a favorable response. A committee was appointed December 8, 1877, " to inquire into the expediency of consolidating our missionary work in the Four- teenth Street chapel," with a view to disposing of the Nineteenth Street property; and in the same month it was ordered " that no engagement of a minister for the Chapel of Free Grace be made after the term of the present incumbent shall have expired." The Rev. Mr. Buchanan promptly tendered his resignation to take effect after Easter, which was accepted by the vestry with the assurance " that in parting from the ser^dce of this church he will bear with him our affectionate regard and esteem and our hope that the divine favor on his evangelic, diligent, and zealous ministry as manifested in this parish may be continued in every field of duty to which he may be called." The rector was authorized to employ a missionary to assist tem- porarily in the work of the church at a rate of salary not exceeding two thousand dollars per annum, to be paid out of the Mission Fund. The following communication from W. H. Philips, W. G. Dominick, and F. P. Marshall, recommending the sale of the Fourteenth Street chapel and the transference of its work to the church, was received THE WILLIAMS RECTORSHIP AND INTERIM 273 by the vestry May 9, 1878, and laid on the table for future con- sideration : To the Bector and Vestry of Saint George's Church. Gentlemen : We are informed that the congregation connected with Rev. Dr. Hall's Church have determined to build or purchase a chapel for the use of their mission in Fourteenth Street in the iuunediate vicinity of the Bread of Life Chapel and that a considerable sum has been raised for this object. There are now chapels enough in our neighborhood, and except on sectarian grounds there is no reason why another should be opened there. If it is done it will inevitably inaugurate an unwholesome and unwelcome competi- tion into which we will be forced to enter with manifest disadvantage and for no good in result. Six months' exi^erienee in our present position has taught us our weakness, and that we cannot possibly draw the helj) we require to continue the work on its present basis from om' own Church, and that we are by no means prepared to compete with the numbers and resources a Church like Dr. Hall's can furnish to maintain a rival chapel. If we could command the sendee of every worker in St. George's Church, we would still need additional help and we believe it unwise to attempt more than we can properly perform. We believe that advantage should be taken of the opportunity to sell the Fourteenth Street chapel while it is offered and that Dr. Hall's people, who are determined to have a chapel of their own be allowed to occupy the field and continue the work. Further we suggest that the Church call in its workers, unite and con- centrate them in the Sixteenth Street chapel in an earnest effort to add to its numbers and to its strength. We therefore recommend that the Fourteenth Street chapel be sold for value to Dr. Hall's cong-regation, reserving furniture and fixtures that will be needed elsewhere. It is important that this whole matter should be kept as secret as pos- sible that the attachment of our fi'iends may not be weakened by any open agitation of the subject. Wm, H. Philips. W. Gayer Dominick. F. P. Marshall. New York, May 6th, 1878. At a vestry meeting held May 31, 1878. the rector read a state- ment which he had prep.ared, setting forth the present weakened state of the parish and urging a concentration of the parish work at the church. After a discussion in which all took part, resolutions were unanimously adopted appointing a committee consisting of Messrs. Dows, Llorgan, and Mead to negotiate for the sale of the property in East Fourteenth Street now occupied by the Chapel of the Bread of Life. Another committee was charged with the duty of making such arrangements for the transfer of the teachers 18 274 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH and scholars of the Fourteenth Street mission as would be for the best interests of the parish. The music committee was authorized to install a steam engine in the basement of the church for the purpose of blowing the organ. This engine was a gift to the church by Mr. J. Noble Stearns and its cost complete was about $650. In October, 1878, the treasurer of the Mission Chapels reported to the vestry that the total receipts from June last had been $1,286.04 and that $4,137.22 additional would be required to carry on the work until May 1, 1879. The rector was authorized to employ the Rev. J. Rice Taylor as his assistant in the Nineteenth Street chapel at a salary not exceeding $900 till May 1st next. On November 7, 1878, the special committee appointed to negotiate for the sale of the Fourteenth Street chapel submitted a report of the progress of their negotiations, including the correspondence with Mr. Henry Day representing the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and resulting in an offer by him of $27,500 for the property. By unanimous action the offer contained in this report was accepted. In the preceding month the rector had presented to the superin- tendent and teachers of the Chapel of the Bread of Life a plan by which the removal of the Sunday-school to St. George's Chapel might be effected, with a view to its consolidation with the parish Sunday-school, the united schools to be called The Sunday-school of St. George's Church. This plan was cordially approved by the vestry, and their earnest desire was formally expressed that the plan should " be accepted by Mr. Philips and his band of teachers and scholars." But the officers and teachers of the Bread of Life Mission met November 17th and resolved to " respectfully decline the invitation tendered to remove our work to the Sixteenth Street chapel." The reasons given for this action were that the accom- modations in Sixteenth Street would be inadequate ; that the loss of their distinctive name would drive from them many teachers and scholars ; and that they could not feel assured of entire con- fidence and cordial sympathy in the new surroundings. The vestry met these objections by expressing willingness to provide all the accommodations that experience should prove necessary; by setting forth that St. George's was the appropriate name for the consoli- dated schools gathered in the Home Chapel; and by assuring the chapel workers of the vestry 's ' ' full sympathy and co-operation with them in the Sunday-school work of the church." Many of the teachers, however, were loth to give up their name and identity, and a farewell meeting of teachers and scholars was held at the THE WILLIAMS RECTORSHIP AND INTERIM 275 chapel on Sunday evening, November 24th. The school was there- fore disbanded, but many of those connected with it identified them- selves with the Sunday-school of St. George's. The committee to negotiate the sale of the Fourteenth Street chapel made its final report to the vestry January 9, 1879. The property had been deeded to the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church for a consideration of $27,500, which had been paid to the treas- urer, the bell, organ, and other movables having been reserved. A committee was appointed at this meeting consisting of Messrs. Spencer, Stearns, and Reynolds to supervise the mission work of the church, which committee reported March 13th that there would be a deficit in the fund for carrying on the work of $400. A special committee was thereupon after discussion instructed " to inquire into the expediency and feasibility of disposing of the chapel in Nineteenth Street by sale or lease so as to avoid further expense to this Corporation. The music committee was authorized at this same meeting to employ a choir of men and boys and to prepare for establishing them in the chancel. But the committee at the next meeting reported: Since the last meeting of this vestry the Committee on Music have given much time and consideration and a thorough examination to the whole sub- ject of music for St. George's Church and have come to the following con- elusions : First. — That the introduction of a chancel organ and chancel choir in the church at present does not seem to be practicable. Second — That the fixing the appropriation for music for the coming year at anything less than $3,000, the present grant, will probably result in our having music less acceptable than in the past year, and therefore notwithstanding the depressed condition of the finances, we recommend a continuance of at least the present sum granted, namely $3,000. Third. — We submit whether the true interests of St. George's Church do not lie in improving this important branch of the church worshijo rather than in allowing it to deteriorate through lack of support of this vestry. Other churches are finding benefit from giving added attention to their music. Hearty and elevating worship can only be obtained tlrrough the services and leadership of skilled musicians and these to be secured must be paid liberally. They cannot be had otherwise. The present labors and etforts of this committee fully convince them of this. The report was favorably received and the appropriation asked for was granted. The Rev. Newton Perkins was invited by the rector, under date of June 6, 1879, to become a " fellow-laborer and one whose gifts could have free play in this dense and crowded part of the city," and on the 19th he reported to the vestry that he had appointed 276 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Mr, Perkins as his assistant for twelve months from July 1st at a salary of $1,300, which action was approved. At the same meeting the Committee on Music reported '" that they had inducted Mr. Burdett Mason as organist and choirmaster of St. George's Church and had introduced a choir of men and boys to carry on the musical service in fulfilment of the expressed wishes of the vestry." But in March of the following year it was voted that it was inexpedient, in the opinion of this vestry, to employ a boy choir after Easter. A solution of the problem confronting the parish in view of the increasing removals of parishioners and the decreasing revenue was to be found, in the opinion of many, in the removal of the church to an up-town site. A committee consisting of Messrs. Spencer, Stearns, and Dows had been appointed May 8, 1879, " to report on a location and plan for building a church up-town to report at an early day." This committee made a preliminary report November 13, 1879. Mr. J. P. Morgan was added to the committee and power conferred upon it to contract for the purchase of property on which to erect a new edifice. Judge Curtis dissenting. The committee further reported December 13, 1879, " that it had been decided to open a subscription list to see how much could be depended upon for the erection of a new church edifice, but that no site had been selected. ' ' At the same meeting a committee was appointed to confer with the rector upon the whole subject of his salary, with the result that at the next meeting, January 8, 1880, .$1,500 was appropriated to the rector, in addition to his salary, for his services during the year ending May 1st next. ' ' It was also voted February 12th ' ' that if the funds of the mission chapel of the church justify it, the salary of the Rev. Newton Perkins be raised to $1,800 from January 1, 1880." On the 5th of March occurred the lamented death of "William A. Haines, a former member of the vestry and sometime treasurer of the corporation. He was a man of broad culture and of large affairs, a scientist of high attainments, especially in the line of conchology, in which he was a diligent and skilled collector, vice- president, and chairman of the Executive Committee of the Museum of Natural History in Central Park, a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company ; and in the affairs of the church he was pains- taking, faithful, liberal, and efficient. He had been a communicant in St. George's since 1848. The vestry requested the Rector Emeritus to prepare a suitable memorial, which was signed by the THE WILLIAMS RECTORSHIP AND INTERIM 277 entire vestry, copied into the records, and the original, in the hand- writing of Dr. Tyng, was sent to Mrs. Haines. The Oratorio Society, having been permitted by the vestry to render Bach's Passion Music in the church, a letter to the rector, under date of Trinity Parish, St. John's Clergy Rooms, March 19, 1880, was received from the Rev. W. H. Cooke expressing profound appreciation of the kindness and courtesy of the vestry in the mat- ter; and a further official recognition came later from Abner L. Train, secretary of the society, cordially acknowledging the liber- ality of the vestry and the enthusiastic spirit with which it co- operated in rendering possible the successful recital of Bach's sub- lime composition. The lamented death of Hon. William E. Curtis, a vestryman and for the last twenty-six years a communicant of St, George's, was the occasion of the special meeting of the vestry, October 7, 1880, which adopted a minute which was sent to the family and published in the church papers in which it was said : ' ' He has left with us a grateful memory of his exemplary life and of his steadfast interest in this Church and wise counsels in its affairs. His valuable services in the care of the Public Schools and as President of the Board of Education and his honorable career as Chief Judge of the Superior Court were worthy fruits of the Christian faith and virtue which he maintained. ' ' The death of a former member of the vestry, Ross W. Wood, who departed this life on the 12th of April last, one week before com- pleting his eighty-fifth year, and who was a vestryman from Easter, 1854, to December, 1869, when he resigned by reason of his ad- vanced age, was at this time thus noted on the minutes : ' * We de- clare our personal regard for him, our respect for his Christian character, and our appreciation of his aid in sustaining the charities of the Church and his constant and judicious service in the business of the vestry; and we condole with his family on the loss of its venerable head." The General Convention of the Church honored St. George's as its place of meeting in October, 1880, for what proved to be one of the most memorable sessions in its history. The condensed account of it here given is from Bishop Perry's History of the American Episcopal Church: The General Convention of 1880 met in the City of New York under circumstances of gi-eat interest. The exciting questions which had occupied the time of preceding conventions, to the exclusion of many important matters of a practical nature and had well-nigh rent the church in twain,. 278 HISTORY OP ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH were no longer discussed. The Cliureh, ceasing to concern itself about the mint, anise, and cummin of ritual, or the shibboleths of party, had arisen to a new life and a more hearty consecration. He ' who maketh men to be of one mind in an house,' in giving unity, had added the purpose and power for aggressive effort. It was felt and confessed that the making of canons and the amendment of the constitution, imj^ortant as these measures might possibly have been in the past or might be again at some future day, were not so important as the consideration of c^uestions relating to the spiritual life or the outward growth of the Church of God. The missions of the Church were found to be of such absorbing interest and such commanding imiDoiiance that much of the time of the two Houses, sitting together as the Missionary Society of the Church, was given to the Chui'ch's aggressive work. For the first time in the history of our Church the missionary bishops, both of the home and foreign field and those western bishops into whose sees the tide of immigration was pouring with unexampled rapidity, found a welcome and a hearing in the presence of the representatives of the Chixrch at large; and could tell the story of the spiritual needs of their jurisdiction and the difficulties and trials environing them in their arduous work — an opportunity never offered them before. As might have been anticipated, the Church in Convention assembled, stirred by the appeals and aroused by the enthusiasm and devotion of her mission- ary apostles, awoke to a desire and inaugiirated efforts to make herself the Church of the land and the Church of the people, entering with full pur- pose of heart and greater vigor than ever before into the work of missions at home, abroad, in all the world. To this, the ' Missionary Convention,' there gathered a representation of bishops, clerg3', and laity larger by far than ever before. The conviction of our catholicity on the part of those who had thrown off the yoke of the Romish infallibility was attested by the presence of the Rt. Rev. Edward Herzog, D.D., the Christian-Catholic Bishop of Switzerland, who by his participation in the services, sacraments, and daily sessions of the con- vention was brought into intimate relation with a Church catholic, but not Roman; protesting against error, but neither rationalistic nor infidel. The Swiss bishop, vested in his alb and richly embroidered cope and wearing his pectoral cross, formed a novel and picturesque feature in the long procession of bishops at the opening service in St. George's, New York. The Bishop of Edinburgh, Dr. Henry Cotterill, representing the Church whence Seabury received the succession, was also present during the early days of this convention, as was a bishop and svnodical depvitation from the Canadian church. Three missionary bishops were elected, and, after the rising of the convention, consecrated to their apostolic work the Rev. George Kelley Dunlop. D.D., for New Mexico and Arizona, the Rev. Leigh Richmond Brewer, D.D., for Montana, and the Rev. John Adams Paddock, D.D., for Washington Territory. An important report on the functions of rectors and wardens and vestrymen presented in the ujiper House by the Bishop of Pennsylvania and in the lower by the Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix laid down as plain principles the facts that the Church existed before any parishes, that the clergj^ were commissioned to their office, and administra- tion before any parish existed; that the Church and the ministiy are divine in their origin, perpetual in their existence, and essential to the mainte- nance of the kingdom of Christ ; that the vestry is a purely human institu- tion, a creature of civil law or conventional an'angement, and utterly THE WILLIAMS RECTORSHIP AND INTERIM 279 without divine authority or sanction, and consequently that the wardens and vestrymen are not and cannot lawfully or scripturally be masters and rulers of the clergy; but they are auxiliary to the clergy as important adjuncts and aids in the work in which they have been set by the Holy Ghost. In the adoption of an outspoken protest against the toleration of polygamy in the Territory of Utah as seriously impeding ' the work of the Church of Christ and the best interests of Christian civilization'; m the careful consideration given to the affairs of the Church of Jesus in Mexico; in the effort to secure for the Indians legal protection of their civil rights by placing them under obedience to law ; in the furtherance of the work of the commission on ecclesiastical relations with other churches; in the comprehension of the delegates from the missionary jurisdictions to the House of Deputies, and the members of the Board of Managers in the membershiji of the missionary society of the Church; in the organization of a chui'ch-building commission ; in the commendation of the work among the colored people, and the adoption of a scheme of systematic beneficence for missions; and in the discussion of the questions relating to the tenure of church property, the Convention showed itself to be occupied with matters of expansion and work. Party spirit found no opportunity for display in a session where every day's debate and labor were given to matters of practical work or to questions relating to the spiritual good or growth of the Church. A united Convention, imbued with the missionary spirit, in- dicated a Church alive to its Master's will and word and at peace within. On the Sunday following the close of the General Convention a series of popular evening services was inaugurated which was the precursor of the free-church movement in St. George's. The assist- ant minister secured the consent of the rector to try the experiment of a free evening service in addition to the worship of the regular congregation in the morning and afternoon, believing that the op- portunity should be offered to the many to engage in a hearty reverential service and to hear the best of preaching. To the great satisfaction of all interested, the church was crowded to its capacity at the first service, which was conducted by the Rev. Newton Perkins and the preacher was Canon Knox-Little, of Manchester, England. The offerings were unusually large and the free church plan as thus applied entailed no expense to the vestry. This movement so auspiciously begun was favorably regarded by all classes of Churchmen and the clergy of the city cordially co- operated by occupying the pulpit. Among the noted preachers who contributed sermons were the Rev. Drs. Henry C. Potter, John Cotton Smith, Morgan Dix, Alexander Mackay-Smith, John A. Paddock, N. H. Schenck, John W. Shackleford, and the Rev. Arthur Brooks. The comments of the daily press on the new departure were most favorable. One journal said: " St. George's Parish is showing the true spirit of the Master in dividing with others the 280 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH use of its beautiful house of worship and the enjoyment of its privi- leges of commanding the best pulpit talent. This experiment de- serves careful study and may lead the way to a very important work." These services were continued until June 11, 1882. The treasurer of the church, Mr. Henry P. Marshall, in con- nection with his regular report to the vestry November 11, 1880, presented also the following report of a visit to the Rev. Dr. Tyng, Rector Emeritus, which was on motion entered at large upon the minutes : Calling on him on Saturday evening the 6th of November to give him a cheek for a quarter of liis annuity, I found him and Mrs. Tyng in his library or study. The conversation was general, referring to many incidents in his min- istry and his relations to members of St. George's Church who have passed away. Mrs. Tyng took her full share of tliis conversation when the doctor suddenly paused and said to Mrs. Tyng, ' I have something to say to Mr. Marshall and you will please not interruiit me until I am through.' Holding the check in his hand, he spoke of his personal friendships with the members of his vestiy and then said : ' But now I address you as an officer of the Corporation. I have, said he, always received the utmost consideration hj the vestry of St. George's, my wants personal and official have been met generouslj^ and adequately, and I look back on my ministry among you with much satisfaction and gratitude. When I first thought of resigning the rectorship with its cares and responsibility, being then in comparative good health, I did not expect that the Corporation would feel called upon to contribute to my support. You can imagine my feelings when in infirmity the proi^osition came to me that in such an event I should be amply i^rovided for during the re- mainder of my life. I could not hesitate as to the course I should adopt, and now I wish to say that the provision is a munificent one, is as great an honor to St. George's as it is unexampled in the history of the church — an obligation I feel the greater because the annuity was the spontaneous act of the vestry uninfluenced by me. It relieved me from anxiety and set my feet upon a rock. It is an event in your history to be proud of, it is to me an ever-recurring subject of thankfulness, and must be a blessing to the giver as well as to the recipient. I wish you to state this to the vestry with my prayers for the continual welfare of the Church in all its interests and the officers thereof. I cannot,' continued he, ' exjDress myself too strongly in this matter,' and he repeated again and again his gratitude for the provision for his comfort and the injunction that I should communicate the same to the vestiy. The subject of erecting a new structure up-town was constantly pressing itself upon the attention of the vestry, and the committee on property was requested December 9, 1880, to inquire whether the Nineteenth Street chapel can now be sold advantageously; and in view of its possible sale a committee of three was appointed to THE WILLIAMS RECTORSHIP AND INTERIM 281 report what can be done toward procuring a site for a chapel up- town. In the following month, however, this action was taken: " That Messrs. Spencer, Dows, Stearns, and Morgan be appointed a committee on the subject of a new church in the upper part of the city and requested to report as to the location and cost thereof and as to the means to pay for the same, with proposed scheme there- for." This committee, March 16, 1881, made the following report : The undersigned, a committee appointed to determine upon the question of removing uiD-town, have examined vai'ious sites and concluded that by far the most desirable one is on the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and Seventieth Street, or the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and Sixty-ninth Street, both properties 100 feet on the avenue and 150 feet deep, either of which could be obtained for the sum of $175,000. The committee further ascertained that the sum of $100,000 would be subscribed toward the new church. The question, therefore, now arises as to the expediency and the pos- sibility of making the move. The committee estimate that the land will cost $175,000 ; to build a church a minimum cost of $200,000 — total, $375,000. Against this, subscriptions, say, $100,000 : probable amount from sale of pews $100,000— total, $200,000, leaving a deficiency of $175,000. The committee would therefore refer these facts back to the vestiy, with- out attempting themselves, to decide this question, leaving it for the indi- vidual members of the committee to discuss the question at a full meeting of the vesti'}\ David Dows. Harvey Spencer. Joiix Noble Stearns. J. PiERPONT Morgan. Whereupon it was unanimously resolved " that it would be in- expedient to undertake to build a new church up-town unless the sum of $175,000 be first absolutely secured, and that the matter be recommitted to the special committee to report at the first meeting of this vestry after Easter for final action whether this amount can be secured." "Whatever decision might be arrived at as to whether a new church should be erected or the congregation retain its present site, the policy of concentrating the financial energies of the parish in its work at the church was evidently to be pursued. The German work and the Mission of the Bread of Life had been relinquished, and the Fourteenth Street chapel which had sheltered them had been sold and the $27,500 received therefor had been absorbed in the funds of the church. And now, March 16, 1881, it was deter- mined to close the chapel on Nineteenth Street at the end of the 282 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH present year. Meanwhile the building was placed at the disposal of Mr. McLaren, secretary of the mission • trustees, ' ' with such assistance as he may secure for Sunday-school services under the direction of the rector." The Rev. Mr. Perkins, in charge of the Chapel of Free Grace, was instructed to notify the congregation that after Sunday, the 24th of April, the church services at the chapel would be discontinued, but he was " permitted to hold a service with Holy Communion at 9.30 a.m. on the third Sunday of every month in the church for the special accommodation of the congregation of the Chapel of Free Grace." The project of effecting a change in the gallery for the purpose of placing an organ near the chancel was referred in March, 1881, to a special committee. The music committee meanwhile engaged the services of S. N. Penfield as organist from May 1st, which en- gagement was renewed in the following year at a salary of $1,200 per annum. At the vestry meeting, April 14, 1881, it was ordered " that $3,000 be paid to the rector for extra salary during the past year and expenses incurred by him." The rector at the same meeting presented and read the following resignation: After prayerful consideration I have decided to accept the call extended to me from Christ Church, Baltimore. I therefore announce to you my resignation of the rectorship of St. George's Church to take effect on the second day of May next, and request your prompt acceptance of the same. It is not necessary for me to enter into any detailed aceoimt of the reasons for my action. It is not from anj' dissatisfaction with my personal or oflficial relations to this church. But you are well aware of the peculiar difficulties which surround churches situated like St. George's— its locality on the East Side, the change in the character of the population in this vicinity in the last ten years, the constant removal of families from us, the diminished resources which this produces, and the different conditions imder wliich its work in the future must be prosecuted — all these con- siderations convinced me long ago that the removal of St. George's to some other locality was an impei-ative necessity if the church was to maintain its historic position and minister to tlie class of people who had given it position and influence in the past, and also if the present edifice was to become a free church and the center of large missionary work in this vicinity. It was in the hope that I might accomplish these objects that I accepted your call ; but as this hope does not seem likely to be fulfilled, I am constrained to feel that some other ministry than mine may achieve the desired result, while I may accomplish more for my Master in some other field of labor. That field of labor has now most unexpectedly opened before me in the vacancy in Christ Church, Baltimore, a church which has now honored me a third time with its confidence by a unanimous call, and the marks of God's providential leading are so clear and conspicuous in this last call that I feel it is His blessed will and my solemn duty to accept. THE WILLIAMS RECTORSHIP AND INTERIM 283 I have, therefore, this day sent my otJScial acceptance to the vestry of Christ Church. In now severing the tie which has bound us together in such intimate and holy relationships, I must thank the vestry for the uniform kindness and courtesy which I have received at their hands, at the cordial and liberal spirit with which they have sustained all my efforts. I have not accom- plished all that I hoped and what I might have reasonably expected under different circumstances, but I do leave St. George's in a better condition than when I became its rector; it is now united and harmonious; the work of the church concentrated; the attendance on its services constantly in- creasing; the Sunday-school well organized and prosperous; and the con- tributions to charities liberal. Commending you to Christ's gracious keeping and guidance and praying for you all the fulness of His grace and peace I remain, Very faithfully and affectionately your brother in Christ, Walter W. Williams. The rector thereupon called the senior warden to the chair and withdrew from the meeting. The vestry proceeded to the consideration of the rector's letter and after deliberation adopted the following minute: The Reverend Walter W. Williams, D.D., having offered his resignation of the office of Rector of this Church, to take effect on the seeond^day of May next; and this Vestry in common with the entire congregation, esteem- ing him for ability, learning, eloquence, and soundness in the faith, and for gentleness and loveliness of character joined with unfailing zeal in his Master's work, but recognizing the causes he assigns for aeceioting the call of Christ Church, Baltimore, as sufficient to make the proposed change reasonable and just, deem it their duty to assent to his release; and therefore the Vestry, with deep regret, do hereby accept his resig- nation. Messrs. Tracy, Morgan, and Spencer were designated a special committee to prepare a letter to the Rev. Dr. Williams for signature by the wardens and vestrymen. To make immediate provision for maintaining the services, it was resolved " that the Eev. Newton Perkins, assistant to the rector, be continued in his present position until further notice, he being guaranteed one year's salary of eighteen hundred dollars ($1,800), payable quarterly, and that he be invited to occupy the rectory after Dr. Williams vacates the same until further notice from the vestry. ' ' At the next meeting, April 21, 1881, the special committee re- ported that in accordance with the resolution of the last meeting a letter had been signed by the wardens and vestrymen and delivered to Rev. Dr. Williams, of which the following is a copy : 284 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Rev. Walter W. Williams, D.D. Reverend and Dear Sir : As the Chureliwardens and Vestrymen of St. George's Chm-ch in the City of New York, we have duly considered the letter of resignation sub- mitted by you and found it our painful duty to acquiesce in your request. We cannot contemplate the approaching separation without grateful recollection -of your ministry for the last five years, during which this Church has not been wholly free from adversity and you have borne heavy burdens for it. Yet your courage has never failed, your labors have been constant, hopeful, and efficient and you now have the pleasure of seeing it preserved and in a prosperous state with bright promise for time to come. While 3'our lot lias not been always pleasant, your true heart and lively faith and your diligent care and services have yielded precious fruits. By your teaching and example our people have been built up, strengthened, and blessed in all things belonging to the hope, comfort, and usefulness of the higher life. They and we thank the gTacious Lord for His favor thus manifested in the past and bid you God speed in the new work to which j-ou are called. St. George's Chuix-h will hold you in happy memory and rejoice in all your success. Faithfully and Truly Yours, Charles Tracy, Sr. Warden. David Dows, Jr. Warden. J. Pierpont Morgan, Vestrj-man. Harvey Spencer, Vestryman. Henry P. Marshall, Vestryman. Jno. Noble Stearns, Vestryman. John D. Wood, Vestryman. J. B. Reynolds, M.D., Vestryman. Theodore H. Mead, Vestryman. New York, April 15, 1881. At this meeting it was ordered that while the rectorship is vacant the senior warden have authority to invite clergymen from time to time to fill the pulpit, and the assistant minister, the Rev. Newton Perkins, was directed to continue the services as at present held at St. George's — viz., the first service at 11 a.m., Evening Prayer with- out sermon at 4.30 p.m. until the 1st of June, and the People's Service at 7.45 until the church is closed for the summer, and to attend all parochial calls in cases of sickness, marriages, baptisms, and funerals. ' ' It was further ordered that the use of the rector's study be granted to the Eev. Mr. Perkins, it having been learned that he does not wish to reside in the rectory. Provision was also made for assigning pews in St. George's for the use of those members of the Chapel of Free Grace who shall signify their intention to become members of St. George's. A committee to nominate a candidate for rector was appointed THE WILLIAMS RECTORSHIP AND INTERIM 285 November 22, 1881, consisting of Messrs. Tracy, Stearns, Wood, and Spencer, which on the 28th of February, 1882, reported the name of the Rev. J. Houston Eccleston, D.D., rector of Trinity Church, Newark, New Jersey, who was thereupon elected rector at a salary of $5,000 and the use of the rectory ; and the same committee was instructed to communicate the call to Dr. Eccleston and urge his acceptance. Interviews and correspondence followed, with the re- sult that Dr. Eccleston declined the call. The committee on property in April, 1882, reported a proposed sale of the East Nineteenth Street property for $20,000, one-half of the purchase money to remain on bond and mortgage at five per cent. The consent of the Supreme Court having been secured, the property was transferred through Mr. G. W. Wenner to a German Lutheran congregation. The duty of overseeing the removal of the Sunday-school of the Nineteenth Street chapel to the chapel on Sixteenth Street was intrusted to Mr. Stearns, who also was au- thorized to take charge of the mission funds. The Rev. Newton Perkins was continued by the vestry as minister in charge of St. George's at a salary of $150 per month, the engage- ment to be terminated by the vestry at any time by giving Mr. Perkins two months' salary. The Church of the Incarnation having been so damaged by fire as to be unfit for occupancy, the vestry of St. George's tendered the use of its church to the homeless congregation. The final letter in the correspondence which ensued here follows : Rectory of the Ixcarnatiox, New York, 209 Madison Avenue. Mr. Charles Tracy. Dear Sir: As in my note to you I left some doubt as to the ultimate decision of the vestry of the Church of the Incarnation on the offer of hospitality of St. George's Church, I would now state that on full consideration of the subject it has seemed best to establish our seiTices until the restoration of our church in those localities most convenient to the homes of the congrega- tion. Masonic Hall has therefore been secured for morning services on Sunday and the offer of Christ Church accepted for Sunday afternoons. In thus declining the kind offer of St. George's, I would express on behalf of the vestiy and of all the members of the church, to whom it has been made, the fullest appreciation of the warm feeling and sympathy which it conveyed. And for myself I can say that it would have given me great pleasure to have officiated in the church and ministered to its eongi'egation bad such a course seemed for the best interests of the Church of the In- carnation. With warmest regards I am, Yours very sincerely, Arthur Brooks. May 1st, 1882. 286 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The following financial statement of St. George's corporation is of special interest as being the last presented by the treasurer, May 11, 1882, before the inauguration of the new plans and method* which ushered in the coming era of a new St. George's: SYNOPSIS OF PROPERTY OF ST. GEORGE's CHURCH 1882-3 The Church Editice, Rectory and Chapel in Sixteenth Street, together with Organs and Furniture in each, not estimated. House and lot, 146 Chambers St $35,000 House and lot, 73 Warren St 25,000 House and lot, 203 East Sixteenth St 7,500 $67,50a United States Bond (Currency 6%) 5,000 Ground Rents, estimated 500 Nineteenth St. property agreed to be sold at 20,000 $93,000 Cash, say 1,000 $94,000 Liabibties to U. S. Trust Co 15,000 $79,000 Estimates for the Coming Year. Estimate of Income: Rent 146 Chambers St $2,900 Rent 73 Warren St 2,000 Rent 203 E, Sixteenth St 1,000 Interest on U. S. Bond (Currency 6%) 300 Interest on balance of sale of Nineteenth Street chapel after paying $15,000 250 6,450 Pew Rents 4,500 Opening Church 50 $11,000 From Offertory 1,000 $12,000 Taxation on the Real Estate about $1,050 Repairs, say 400 Shows a net income from investments $5,000, or five per cent, on a capital of $100,000. THE WILLIAMS RECTORSHIP AND INTERIM 287 Estimate of Expenses. Rector Emeritus $5,000 Assistant Minister 1,800 Music 3,100 Sexton and Assistant 1,000 Taxes 1,600 Repairs 500 Diocesan and Episcopal Funds 100 Anderson Fund 270 Milnor Professorship Fund 500 Fuel and Gas 600 Sundries 530 $i5,ooa Showing a probable deficiency of $3,000 Mr. Stearns, from the committee to nominate a rector, reported, May 23, 1882, the name of Eev. W. S. Rainsford, of Toronto, Can- ada, who was thereupon elected rector at a salary of $5,000 per annum, with the free occupancy of the rectory, and the committee was instructed to communicate the call to Mr. Rainsford and urge his acceptance thereof. Wlien the vestry next met, August 10, 1882, Mr. Stearns reported having visited Toronto, but Mr. Rainsford being absent on his vacation he saw only Mrs. Rainsford and con- cluded from her conversation that there was little probability of Mr. Rainsford 's acceptance of the call to St. George's. Mr. Morgan was thereupon added to the committee to communicate with Mr. Rainsford. The engagement of the vestry with the Rev. Newton Perkins was ordered terminated August 15th, and the treasurer was in- structed to pay his salary to that date, together with $300 for two months additional. The Rev. Hugh Maguire was placed in temporary charge of the parish from August 15th at a salary of $100 per month. The appointment of superintendent of the Sunday-school was intrusted to the senior warden and ]\Ir. Stearns with full power in this regard and as to all other matters appertaining to the school. On the 18th of August another member of the vestry, Dr. James B. Reynolds, departed this life. In recognition of this sad event the vestry met and adopted the following resolution, directing that a copy be sent to Mrs. Reynolds and that it be published in the church papers: 288 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Resolved, That we record his death with sorrow. His life-long attachment to this Church, from the time when he was taught m the Sunday-school, through the period of his services as a teacher, and afterwards as a member of the vestiy, and his high professional position, and liis exemplary Chris- tian character, are worthy of honorable memory, and we cannot suppress our regret that his career among us has suddenly ended in the middle and vigor of his life. The vestry were not disposed to acquiesce in Mr. Rainsford's failure to accept the call to St. George's, and on October 27th, after discussing the situation, appointed Messrs. Morgan and Stearns to visit Toronto and took a recess until they should return. Upon being apprised, however, of their intent, Mr. Rainsford, the condi- tions surrounding whom in Toronto had become considerably changed, telegraphed that he would meet them in New York; and the story of what took place is best told in his own words in A Preacher's Story of His Wo7'k: On the train coming down I made up my mind that a few conditions were absolutely essential to success in the work at St. George's, and I determined to propose those conditions to the vestry. I had very little hope that they would agree to them. However, I also made up my mind that if they would not agree I would not accept the rectorship. I arrived in New York and was most kindly received. I met the vestry in Mr. Morgan's study, and they asked me to become rector of St. George's Church. I said : ' I think the church has gone too far to be pulled up ; I do not think I have the strength or the capacity to pull it up; but,' I said, ' I will undertake the work on three conditions.' ' Name your conditions,' said Mr. Morgan ; and I did. ' First, you must make the church absolutely free — buy out all those who will not surrender their pews; next, abolish all • committees in the church except the vestry; and, third, I must have $10,000 for tlu'ee years, apart from my salary, to spend as I see fit; my salary I leave to you.' * Done,' said Mr. Morgan. That which I did not expect had come to me. But it was none of my seeking. I bowed my head and thanked God. Upon his return to Toronto he addressed to Mr. Stearns, of the committee, the following letter: Toronto, Nov. 23, '82. Deae Mr. Stearxs: After a more anxious and perplexing time than I can describe to you, I have decided to accept the call to St. George's— and in God's strength, I trust, attempt the work there — provided that on full consideration the vestry feel themselves in a position to guarantee the arrangements I sug- gested when in New York. First. — That from end to end the church be made and declared free — peo- THE WILLIAMS RECTORSHIP AND INTERIM 289 pie having likings for special pews could be shown to them by gentlemen who understood the office. Second. — That I should have the support and countenance of the vestry in making any changes in the seiTices or introducing other services; entire control of the music of the church, a])iDointment of organist, etc; and that necessary alterations be made to allow of an organ and choir in or near the chancel. Third. — That a guarantee of ten thousand dollars a year for three years should be given me, wherewith to procure sufficient and efficient clerical assistants. I should also like to have it understood that no further encroachment be made on the church's endowment for this same period of three years. As a personal matter I should require a few changes in the rectory, not expensive ones, but still such as I think are necessary to enable me to keep to a certain degree open house. This, as I assured the vestry, I consider no unimportant work, and further to do so I should require a salary of six thousand dollars a year. I hope and think that after what has passed between us the vestry will not mistake my motive in thus plainly stating matters which I deem essential to any success at St. George's. I am quite aware that they may seem excessive demands. If the vestry think so — or if after careful con- sideration they find they are not in a position to grant them, I am sure they will frankly say so — and I shall always think with gratitude of the courtesy with which they have treated me. If after weighing the whole matter they still think well to grant them, I can only assure you nothing that I can do shall be left undone to promote and carry on the grand work that under the blessing of God the church has accomplished in the past. Let me further beg the vestry not to expect too immediate a success. There must remain for any one undertaking it a great deal of lost ground to recover, an immensity of fresh gToimd to explore. I could not hold out any hope for an immediate reduction in the musical expenses, as the choir would need considerable outlay of time and money. Competent assistance is an absolute necessity in my scheme of parish work, nor would my health permit of my undertaking the church without it. I think it very probable that a visit to the old country would be necessary to procure the man or men I need — I should ijroiDose to start early in January, returning as soon as possible, settle my aft'airs in Toronto, and be in New York in March. I do not see that it would be possible to begin sooner — sorry as I should be for the delay. I should of course visit New York and see the vestry again if necessaiy before sailing. I would have to request the vestry to pay my expenses and grant me a salai^v from January 1st. I have now, my dear Mr. Stearns, fully and freely as the vestry desired me stated ray views. I can only pray God our Father, whose is the work, to guide you all to a right decision. Looking for an early answer, I remain very faithfully y'rs, W. S. Rainsford. The vestry having considered the foregoing letter, it was re- solved '' that the vestry heartily concurs in the views of Mr. Rains- 19 290 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH ford and pledges to him its active co-operation and support in carrying them out." This action being communicated by telegram to Mr. Rainsford, he wrote to Mr. Stearns: " I want more than the vestry's co- operation and support in making and declaring the church free. To make the church free is not my work, but theirs. . . . The vestry must pardon me if I seem to them over-particular about details. One cannot too carefully avoid any possible misunderstandings." To this communication the warden, Mr. Charles Tracy, replied: Mr. Stearns has shown me yours of 30th ult., received to-day; and I write now to assure you that the clmreh will be made free soon as prac- ticable, but it cannot be so changed instantly. There are two classes of pew-holders, temporary and permanent. The former class have rights for the half year, from Nov. 1, 1882, to May 1, 1883; wliich rights are estab- lished by consent and entry, and the rent for that half-year was due Nov, 1st and has been or will be paid. No new right of that sort, reaching beyond next May 1st will be granted. The other class (about forty in num- ber) have pei'manent leases upon rents payable in advance Nov, and May 1st. At least half of these will surrender their leases on request, but the others must be negotiated with. The vestry has no power to annul the leases, but if any holder neglects paying rent for two years he may be evicted; and if one does pay his rent he can only keep out others by using the pew himself. I should add that one pew is on permanent lease free of rent and two on permanent leases free of rent for the life of the present owner, but no trouble will come from these. While the Church cannot break its covenants in permanent leases, it still will be able to work out the free-church movement so that it may proclaim all the seats free next May 1st. This the vestry undertakes to do, taking all the little risks of having to deal with any reluctant tenant, if one is found. In the meantime we hope and expect from the commencement of your ministry in the church to get a relinquishment of all the pending temporary leases. The enclosed certified copy of resolutions, with the letter they relate to, a copy of which is enclosed, and with this present letter, will, I hope, satisfy you that the vestry undertake fully to carry out the views expressed in your letter. Faithfully yours, Charles Tract, Churchwarden. In Mr. Rainsford 's reply to Mr. Tracy, December 4, 1882, he wrote : ' ' Your statement of the affairs of the church is to me satis- factory. I did not suppose the church could be at once declared free; all I wanted a clear understanding about was that the work of freeing it should not rest on me, but the vestry, I inclose a short formal answer to the copy of your vestry's resolutions " : THE WILLIAMS RECTORSHIP AND INTERIM 291 Charles Tracy, Esq., Church Warden St. George's, New York. Dear Sir: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of a resolution passed by St. George's Vestry Nov. 27, 1882, and to assure both youi-self and the vestry that I am deei:>ly grateful for the cordial manner with which they have received my letter of Nov. 23d. I can only again assure you, dear sir, that so far as in me lies I will give myself gladly to the work of the Church that by you has extended to me so generous a confidenee, a con- fidence which I tiiist neither you nor the vestiy will have reason to regret. Believe me to remain, Very faithfully yours, W. S. Rainsford. Toronto, Dec. 4, 1882. The entire correspondence was ordered to be spread upon the records at the meeting of December 27th, and to give formal effect to all that had been agreed upon the following resolutions were adopted : 1. Resolved, That the salary of the rector-elect be six thousand dollars a year from the commencement of his rectorate, January 1, 1883. 2. Resolved, That the entire control of the music of the church and the appointment of organist and choir be given to the rector. 3. Resolved, That the committee on Property and Repairs be authorized to put the rectory and furniture in perfect order for the use of the rector and his family; and that all bills for the same certified by said committee be paid by the treasurer. 4. Resolved, That the pew rents due November 1, 1882, for six months expiring May 1, 1883, be collected and that no letting of pews be made for any term extending beyond May 1, 1883. 5. Resolved, That whenever by reason of absence of the rector there can- not be a lawful meeting of the vesti-v" there shall be an Executive Committee with power to manage and conduct all the ordinary business of this cor- poration. Said committee shall be composed of members of the vestry, any five of whom shall constitute a quorum. Meetings of the committee may be called by any two members on one day's notice. All the proceedings of the committee shall be reported in writing at the next following vestry meeting. 6. Resolved, That the churchwardens be directed to give to the Bishop or Ecclesiastical Authority of this Diocese due canonical notice of the election of Rev. "William S. Rainsford as Rector of this Church. CHAPTER XI THE RAINSFORD PERIOD (1883-1893) The new rector entered upon his duties in January, 1883. A stouter heart than his might well have quailed before the situa- tion as he found it. The worshipers had dwindled to a scant rem- nant of the once grand congregation which had thronged the large and stately edifice. The finances were at the lowest ebb. The Sunday-school was but a shadow of its former self. The old par- ishioners had mostly moved away and with them the old prosper- ous times had vanished. The vestry realized that they were face to face with new conditions which demanded radically different methods of Church administration. In Mr. Rainsford they believed that they had found the man to meet the situation; and that their judgment in the matter was accurate and sound is witnessed by the wonderful success which has attended the development of his wise plans for making St. George's Church a mighty power for spiritual good and social betterment. At his first meeting with the vestry, January 19, 1883, the war- dens having reported that the canonical certificate of his election had been delivered to the bishop, the rector thus expressed himself : The rector at this his first meeting with St. George's vestry desires to express his deep sense of the kindness with which personally he has been received by its members, and tlie confidence they have seen fit to place in one so young and to them so little known. He asks their prayers on his behalf, and would hope so far as he can to return their kindness and to deser\-e the trust. Without delay the vestry now addressed itself to the progressive work of carrying out the plans which the new leadership involved. Laying foundations for the new regime was thus enthusiastically begun. The first and foremost change to be effected was to make all pews free. The following action therefore was unanimously taken: ff^. fY\^^u.^yfnel!:j THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 293 Whereas this vestrj', after mature deliberation, has decided that the best interests of the Church would be promoted by the seats of the church being free to all attending the services ; therefore Resolved, that this church be declared free. Fesolved, that the committee on pews be directed to make no more leases of pews belonging to the corporation. Besolved, that these resolutions, attested by the rector and clerk, be posted at the doors of the church, and that the same be then published in the Church papers. Resolved, that the pew committee be instructed to take such measures as they may deem expedient to obtain from present holders of pews a surrender of their leases at the earliest practicable day. To introduce a choir and organ near the chancel, which was the next thing to be done, required material alterations both at the east and west ends of the church. The rector and the property- committee were authorized to obtain a plan and drawings from the architect, and at the meeting on March 12th were em- powered to carry into execution the adopted plan prepared by Mr. Eidlitz. To give increased efficiency to the work of the clergy whom he was to call to his assistance, the rector wished to lodge them in one building near the rectory. In pursuance of this plan the vestry leased a house in the rear of the rectory. No. 208 East Seventeenth Street, for the term of three years from May 1st at an annual rental of $1,500, the premises to be used as a clergy house and for other purposes of the parish. Articles for furnishing the house were contributed by members of the congregation and a fund of $950 was raised for the same purpose. A committee of ladies, one acting as treasurer, engaged a housekeeper and exercised such supervisory relation to the enterprise as seemed advisable. Each of the clergy was to be provided with ample and free accommodations, but was to pay his board. The space not thus required was to be used as might be needed for various meetings and classes both on Sundays and week-days. The first of the assistant ministers was Ralph L. Brydges, who came in the early spring of 1883. His presence was peculiarly welcome and helpful, as he had been a fellow -worker with the rector previously in Canada. The immediate adoption of the Envelope System, in lieu of the superseded pew-rent method, was now resolved upon as one of the means of defraying the current expenses of the Church. The mat- ter was placed in the hands of the rector and senior warden, and at the May meeting Mr. Tracy reported that the pledges already 204 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH made, to be redeemed at the Oifertory through the envelopes, aver- aged $104 weekly. Thus provision was made for the three things deemed most es- sential by the rector, a free church with the envelope system of voluntary contributions, improved music made possible by a choir and organ at the chancel, and a clergy house for the rector 's helpers. The repairs on the rectory which had been ordered in anticipa- tion of Mr. Eainsford's coming were reported to the vestry to have been completed at a cost of about $3,000. During the summer of 1883, while alterations and repairs were being made in the church, the services were conducted in the chapel, the Sunday-school meeting at 9.30 a.m. The committee on pews encountered much difficulty in securing surrenders to the Church, especially from estates of deceased pew- holders and from owners who through old associations were loath to give them up. But their persistent efforts resulted in their being able to report in April, 1884, that all but thirty-four had been secured, and of these, with three exceptions, the free use was con- ceded to the vestry. There were parishioners who wished to have, as in some churches miscalled free, sittings or pews assigned to them; but the vestry unanimously decided tliat this was inadmis- sible as at variance with the principle of a free church. A design for a new pulpit was presented by the rector which was approved and ordered to be executed, and the old pulpit later was placed in the chapel in Stanton Street. The superintendent of the Sunday-school, Mr. W. H. Philips, had bravely struggled, with his faithful helpers, during the interregnum, to maintain the school's efficiency. There were about 300 members. In anticipation of a pressing need of increased accommodation, nine persons of the congregation contributed $6,000 to purchase the adjoining house, 205 East Sixteenth Street. It was a leasehold property on which the yearly ground rent was $225. The generous donors were A. Corning Clark, J. Pierpont Morgan, David Dows, Charles Tracy, J. N. Stearns, W. H. Schieffelin, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Tailer, and Mrs. Edwards. A door was then cut through the wall between the chapel and the acquired property and several adult classes were accommodated there. One class of fifty boys met in the basement of the rectory and a men's class met in the clergy house. The rooms were utilized on week-days for various parochial activi- ties. The house adjoining on the west, which the Church also owned upon leased ground, for which it had no present use, was rented for $1,200. THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 295 The Rev. E. F. Miles, M.D., who was the second acquisition to the staff, became the superintendent in the early summer of 1883, and the school grew apace with corresponding difficulty in securing teachers w^ell equipped. In the year book of 1884, the rector wrote : St. George's chief work as I conceive it should be our work among the children. let the best of our people take up this work! Don't leave it to the young alone. We want men of business to hold the lads who are fast becoming men. We want men and women well instructed in God's Word, with some experience of life, too, who will deny themselves in order to help the young children. We want young men and young women for the young children. We want parents to take more interest in the Sunday- school. Come sometimes on Sunday morning. The Sunday-school had trebled in size since January, 1883, num- bering at Easter, 1884, 19 officers, 55 teachers, and 1,061 scholars. In this same year book the rector gave his first formal intimation of his long-cherished feeling of the pressing need of a commodious, well-designed, attractive parish building to house the Sunday-school and the multiplying parish organizations. He little suspected how soon and amply that need would be supplied. The alterations in the church and the installation of the new organ by the chancel were rapidly proceeded with, the cost of the improvement amounting to $12,598.64. At Easter, 1884, J. A. Albertis, choir-master, and Julius G. Bierck, organist, re- ported a membership of 63 in the new choir, classified as 33 sopranos (15 boys and 18 women), altos 10 (5 boys and 5 women), 9 tenors, and 11 basses. The rector writes in the year book: All attending St. George's will recognize the change in the character of our music. I was very sure that the congregational music I longed for, and which is necessaiy to the hearty worship of God, could never be had while our choir Avas in an organ loft, away from the people, and where it was impossible for them to hear. I therefore received a promise from the vestry before coming to New York, that such changes should be made in and near the chancel as would admit of a choir and a smaller organ being placed there. Many were very doubtful of the success of this plan; it has, however, succeeded beyond my expectations. We need constantly new material for our choir. Some may not have much money to give or very much time to spare; cannot they lend their voices to the Lord? This is no unimportant sei'^'ice. The choir has been a gi'eat help to me. To a great extent it is volunteer. Some who receive small remuneration could elsewhere find much better positions. Their patience and punctuality during the drudgery of early days of training is worthy of all praise. Mr. Bierck, who officiated for four years as the organist at St. George's, and who subsequently took Orders and served in later 296 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH life as organist and choir-master in the Church of the Saviour in Philadelphia, wrote of his earlier experience with Mr. Eainsford: He is pre-eminently an enthusiastic believer in congregational singing, and always insisted that the people should have a part in the service canticles as well as the hymns ; consequently the congregational singing in St. George's Church was noted for its volume and heartiness. While he is not a theoretical musician, and the writer oftentimes differed with him both as to selections and the interpretation thereof, his enthusiasm and indefatigable methods of work were contagious, and in consequence there was an esprit du corps in the choir productive of the most helpful worship- ful music. Regarding the services of the Church, the rector wrote in this same year book: My one aim and desire has been to have services in which all can heartily join. The idea is too common, especially, I think, in our Ej^iscopal Church, that everything is done for the peol^le — the prayers read for them, and God worshiped in our beautiful chants by proxy. Witness the habit so common of sitting down when tliat sublimest of all hymns, the ' Te Deum,' is being sung. A hearty service, hymns universally sung, prayers in which all join audibly, are the best preparation for a helpful sermon ; while a cold service, here and there a murmur of response, makes the time spent in God's house uninteresting and profitless. Let all, then, join in hymns, chants, and responses, and if you see strangers v/ithout books, immediately supply them with them. Nothing of this sort is trivial. We may ^-ery reallj^ help or hinder each other. The Sunday services were numerous. The Holy Communion was celebrated at 8 a.m. with additional Celebrations on the first Sun- day of the month at 11 a.m. and on the third Sunday at 8 p.m. Morning service and sermon 11 a.m.; children's service and sermon 3 p.m. ; evening prayer and instruction, 4 p.m. ; evangelistic service and sermon, 8 p.m. ; prayer-meeting at 9 p.m., except on the third Sunday when the Holy Communion was celebrated. There was morning prayer or litany daily at 9, except on Saturday, when there was a children's service and sermon at 9.80. There were also Cele- brations of the Holy Communion on Wednesdays at 8 a.m. and on Thursdays at 12 m. The various organizations already at work may be briefly noted: Industrial School, with 250 scholars and 25 teachers, meeting every Saturday morning. Kitchen Garden Class, conducted by four ladies, which met in the chapel every afternoon with 36 pupils. Boys' Club, organized January 7, 1884, to gather the boys in the neighborhood and amuse and instruct them. Boys of from twelve THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 297 to fifteen years met on Tuesday evening and those from sixteen to nineteen on Thursday, the board of management consisting of fourteen gentlemen. Girls' Friendly Society, organized as a branch of the National Society, January 8th, with Mrs. Rainsford as presi- dent and fifteen associates, ladies of education and refinement, who conducted the Society's affairs and interested themselves in the welfare of the girls. The stated object of this Society, which has branches throughout the Anglican Communion, is "to bind to- gether in one society Churchwomen as Associates and girls and young women as Members for mutual help, religious and secular, for sympathy and prayer; and to encourage purity of life, duti- fulness to parents, faithfulness in work, and thrift." Young Peo- ple's Association, organized November 8, 1888, governed by a board of directors of three male and two female members, one of the clergy being its chairman. The organization met Thursday evenings for general literary and musical exercises. The Church's Work among the poor included: The poor fund, derived from the Com- munion Alms and from donations, administered by the rector, which for the thirteen months to March, 1884, had amounted to $1,756; Committee on Ministering to the Sick Poor, which supplied them with delicacies and things necessary; the Medical Department, in charge of one of the assistant clergy, who was a doctor of medicine and reported that during ten months 1,410 visits had been paid to the sick and 1,000 prescriptions given out, and that the total cost of medicines, medical appliances, and comforts for that period had been $212.91. The Seaside "Work, whose object was to give the poor of the parish a change of air during the hottest weather. During the first season, extending from June 4th to September 4, 1883, 1,844 mothers and children had enjoj^ed a day at the seashore, while over 200 were entertained for a week in the hired cottage at Rock- away Beach. In A Preacher's Story of his Work, Dr. Rainsford thus describes conditions and the beginnings of his ministry : We did not advertise St. George's; we put no advertisements of any kind in the papers. I began to preach to a veiy small congregation ; and I think it was a great advantage to begin in tliis way instead of having a lot of people around I should have had to fight — people who would be sure to be opposed to the things T wanted to say and do. A certain number of people who were here when I came soon left; they did not like my way. As an usher said, years afterward, ' Those that stayed stood for work, and could stand anything.' We did not open the galleries at all for six months after I came. There was none of that — I think often harmful — rush of strangers and curiosity 298 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH seekers at the beginning; we grew, comparatively speaking, slowly. I preached very badly the first six months, too; I don't know why; I did not feel as if I had any grip of things for quite a long time. But I think a slow growth is a great advantage. A great many men are broadly advertised before they come; people hear that a great preacher is coming; they crowd and rush at first, but soon melt away. So, for the first year or Wo, our growth was slow, as our accounts show. Charles Tracy, one of the greatest helps a man ever had, my senior warden, and I used to count over the pennies on Sunday evenings. I started out in the beginning to try to reach the people in the neighboi'- hood; I knew they had never been reached before; they never could have been reached with the old pew church system. Great changes had taken place in this part of New York City. Houses that had always been occupied by one family wei-e constantly being given up, and into these houses came four and five and sometimes more families. If the Church cannot fit itself to so moderate a change — a change wrought in the evolu- tion of a great city— is that not a most tremendous criticism on the lack of life, development, and adaptability in the Church 1 That was the problem with which I was confronted. Here was a church which, in the sixties, had been immensely successful. After 1865 it began slowly to fall off. I found a big church; empty, expensive to run, very costly to heat, most inadapted to my work in many ways, sun-ounded by a denser population than in its palmier days, and yet incapable of reaching that i^opulation, except through the Sunday-school; and the gulf between the congTegation and the Sunday-school was a great one. How to cross the gidf between the Sunday-school and St. George's broad aisle-line of pews was a question to be solved; and it was solved; otherwise my work would have been impossible. The Church ought to be able to fit herself to new conditions. She is like a fisherman accustomed to earn his bread at catching herrings; pres- ently the run of hei-rings goes away from that section of the sea; in their place comes a tremendous run of smelts. If the fishennan could change his net, he would be a richer man than before, because smelts are better fish; but he starves because he cannot change the size of the meshes. That is putting it very simply ; that is about the idiotic policy that the Protestant Church has followed. Follow the churches from the Battery up. They can minister fairly well to the family; they know, by tradition received from their fathers," how to do that ; but when that element departs, they get frightened and run after it. That is precisely the situation; but the churches do not recognize it. The Rev. Lindsay Parker had been added to the staff in the fall of 1883, and the number of visits paid by the clergy during the year ending with Easter, 1884, was reported at 10,872. The num- ber of communicants was 700, while the number of communions made had been 4,713. The moneys received and accounted for by the rector from Janu- ary, 1883, to April, 1884, were Communion alms for the poor, $1,756.60; for the Fresh Air Fund, $],372; for special objects in THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 299 the parish work, $1,120; and for other purposes $1,009; total, $5,257.60. The receipts of the parish treasurer for special extra parochial objects were $1,015.25; Christmas offerings for decorating Church and Sunday-school rooms $565 ; to pay expense of building choir-room, of alterations in the church, and the new chancel organ $8,500; for purchase of No. 205 East Sixteenth Street $6,000; special guaranty fund from January, 1883, to April, 1884, given by J. P. Morgan, Charles Tracy, David Dows, J. N. Stearns, J. D. AVood, and Harvey Spencer $10,512.50; contributions toward the clergy house $1,612 ; special cases $243 ; collections in church on plates $5,000; by envelopes $6,000; donations received $464; total, by treasurer, $39,911.75; making the total receipts for the fifteen months $45,169.35. The rector naturally felt much encouraged by this showing for the first fifteen months of his ministry, yet he says : But let no one think that the success of St. George's work is assured. We are laboiing, I do believe, on a good plan. We have good material, plenty of sand, lime, and briek, but a church does not consist of these, but of sand and lime and brick laid in good courses, and so rising into a solid, durable wall. This is not the work of a few, hut of all. As in the tabernacle of old, each must do his or her part, and that part be a free-will offering. The following description of him at this time is taken from the New York Tribune: The stalwart, stout-hearted young rector, skilled in aggressive mission duty, glowing with zeal and energj^, wise in worldly experiences gained in travel and manly adventure, gifted with forensic power of a sen'ieeable, versatile, compelling soi't, fearless, intrepid, religious through and through, direct, simple, and sincere as a child. This is something of the new rector's outfit, but not all of it. His presence itself is an assurance of success. . . . His voice is wonderful in its breadth of register, ranging from a ringing tenor through the baritone and resting on a veiy low, but vibrant and very mellow bass. . . . Over six feet in stature, strongly but not heavily framed • — blond complexion. Standing in the chancel, while the first verse of the recessional hymn is being sung, the newly trained choir fails to catch the true rhythm and he involuntarily sets them right, clapping liis hands two or three times energetically. And so he forges ahead, strong and hopeful in large, quick and observant in lesser things, modest, simple, drawing the hearts of the young and the old, friends and strangers, closer about him. Under the heading " A Successful Rector," Harper's Weekly of May 2, 1885, said: Mr. Rainsford is popular in his church and out of it — in the pulpit, in society, and among the poor. He has made a great mark in the pulpit. He is a startling though not a sensational preacher. His ideas are striking, 300 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH and are flashed out in quick consecutiveness, witli a flow of language that gives a glamor to the whole discourse. Few men have at their command such a gift of ready and cultured speech. He is never at a loss for a word. His discourses are mostly extemporary. He takes a few brief notes with him to the pulpit, but soon is taken out of himself, as it were, by his fleeting thoughts. He speaks out his mind frankly and freely, and a sermon from liim may certainly be called the elegance of plain talk. To gain a foothold with the East Side people who would not be attracted to the regular church services, the rector in August, 1884, began a mission at 253 Avenue A, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets. There was a small hall, of unsavory reputation, behind a saloon in this locality, and he hired it, at first by the week. The first attempt at a service was made August 31st. The entrance to the hall was through the saloon, and there w^ere interruptions and disorder, which, however, gradually decreased. In October the whole building was leased for three years and alterations made, the upper floors being rented for tenements and the lower floor being devoted to various instrumentalities for good. A Gospel service was held regularly on Sunday afternoons with congrega- tions largely made up of people who had led ill-favored or degraded lives. A Sunday-school was opened in Novem.ber with pretty rough material. The rector in " A Preacher's Story " recalls an incident of those tempestuous days: I remember one man in particular — a big, strong fellow. He came in and sat down in the Sunday-school (by this time 1 had some of the very best teachers I could find working there, and I always put the best workers I had there), and began to talk in a way that a man should not talk to a lady. He was a little drunk. I saw the lady's face flush; I walked over, and told him to get out. He w^ould not move. I said : ' We are here to help yon people; we are paid nothing for it; now, you are enough of a man to respect a lady; why do you sit here and make it impossible for her to teach these boysf He swore at me and would not get out. 'You don't want me to call a policeman, do you? Go out quietly.' He jumped to his feet, and I saw I was in for a row. He was as big a man as I am. I did not call a policeman, but I hit him harder than I ever hit a man in my life, and knocked him down. Then I stood over him and said; * Have you had enough?' He said, 'Yes.' 'All right,' I answered; 'now get out.' And he went. About three weeks after that, we got into a scrimmage outside the Sun- day-school room with some toughs, and, to my horror, I saw, elbowing his "way through the crowd, this same burly fellow, and I began to feel that, between him and the others, I would be killed, when, to my astonishment, he walked up to the ringleader and said: ' Tlie Doctor an' me can clean out this saloon; you get out.' But all that .sort of thing soon passed away. THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 301 The Sunday-school had for its superintendent J. Bryant Lindley ; and after the curiosity seekers had dropped away it settled down into an average attendance of 80 scholars and 14 teachers. Evangel- istic services were held Tuesday and Thursday nights, and a read- ing-room was opened as a place of refuge from the bar-room and street corner, where papers, books, and games were furnished Friday evenings. The singing at the services and school had proved a great attraction, and a week-day evening hour devoted to the simplest form of musical instruction was much appreciated. From time to time five-cent entertainments were provided, consisting of good music, popular songs, prestidigitation, and stereopticon views, at which careworn mothers bringing their children were refreshed and interested, and rough men showed their pleasure as some chord vibrated, which all the wear and tear of life had not robbed of its power of responding to some touch of nature. A Helping Hand was also organized in February, 1884, which soon grew to a mem- bership of seventy-four, with twelve ladies from the Church to teach and direct. Meetings were held each Tuesday, opened with bible-reading, prayer, and singing, lasting two hours and a half, each woman being credited with twelve cents an hour for her sew- ing, applicable to the purchase of groceries or garments. Later, religious services of the Salvation Army pattern were instituted under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Wilson, an addition to the staff from Canada. The effort was by every means to do what good the workers could, to make the people feel that the Church really cared to help them in their spiritual and temporal needs; and when, after some years of effort, St. George's stood for some- thing in the minds and hearts of those who had been helped and blessed through its good work among them, as the rector said: " I gave up Avenue A and drifted the people up here." An amusing but telling incident told by Jeannette Gilder in the New York Critic, IVlay, 1904, might here find place : Some years ago — I forget just how many — I was walking' up Broadway in the dusk of the evening, and at the corner of Fourteenth Street, which was then what Broadway and Twenty-third Street is to-day, I noticed a tall, good-looking man, a blond, well made, and evidently an Englishman, distributing what I thought were advertisements, possibly of some cheap restaurant. ' There,' said I to myself, ' is some Englishman who has come over here and got stranded, and is taking the first job that he can get to eaim a night's lodging.' I was tempted to go back and speak to him, for something in the man's appearance impressed me favorably; but before I put this impulse into execution I met a friend, and stopped and told him about it. He walked back with me to have a look at the man. No sooner 302 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH did his eyes rest upon hira than he turned toward me with a pitying smile. 'Don't you know who that is?' said he. 'I know notlung more than I have told you,' I replied, nettled. * I simply see in tljat man a gentleman who is temporarily embarrassed. Now, what's the joke?' * Why, he replied, with a laugh, ' that is Rainsford, the new rector of St. George's. He is distributing invitations to his mission over on the east side.' I was glad to be put right, and did not regret my unneces- sary sympathy. I have never told Dr. Rainsford this anecdote, but I will some day. St. George's Sunday-school passed in the fall of 1884 under the superintending care of the Rev. Lindsay Parker, who introduced a better discipline, and with the help of his associate, the Rev. Dr. Henry Wilson, who took charge of the teacher's meetings, made ])rogress toward the goal of a well-graded school. The teachers generally failed to let the manifest advantage of the graded plan outweigh their felt repugnance to giving up old scholars to whom they were attached. They further showed reluctance to turn in the offerings of their classes to a common treasury, from which appropriations should be made by a committee of the school ap- pointed for that purpose. But in due time the new plans were ac- cepted and efficiently well worked. The first copy of St. George's Chronicle, a monthly publication, came into being April 1, 1885, with the following introduction by the rector : This little paper is started in the belief that it is needed, and in the hope that it will prove to be of use. The agencies for good originating in the parish and connected with it are now many. The progress and results of each are matters of solicitude to those at work upon the rest, and of interest to the congregation at large. To gather and report these facts is what is now specially attempted. A bulletin of regular and special services; of the various appointments of the rector and assistants; and of the hour of eveiy other meeting for a parish purpose, is appended as a means of ready information. The Church calendar for the month is given, with the same end in view. The Parish Register, it is thought, will be of personal interest to many. The Rector's Column is allotted as a means of supplementing and renewing pulpit notices. City Church news will include notes of services of s]iecial interest and other matters in the city which concern the members of the Church. The paper is published by the Executive Committee of Avenue A Mission. The Committee is self-appointed so far as this work is concerned. No one else is responsible for what the paper contains, unless the contrary is expressly made to appear. The name of the paper was changed in the early nineties to In- dustrial Herald, because printed by the boys in the Industrial Trade School, and in 1907 became the St. George's Herald. THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 303 The growth of the parish during the year ending at Easter is attested by the fact that 266 communicants had been added, making the present number 966; the envelope system had yielded nearly $10,000, while the total receipts for all purposes were in excess of those of the preceding year by $10,963.66. There had been a marked increase also in the attendance at the Sunday night evangelistic service and the prayer - meeting which followed it , and the rector found that ' ' many souls had been strengthened and comforted, and we have had the joy of knowing that some in that quiet half-hour have given themselves to God." Invitations to attend these services were every Sunday night distributed by a small body of young men, who standing at street corners in all weathers extended them to passers-by. In response to the inquiry, ' ' Is there no place for tired mothers ? ' * a Mothers' Meeting was organized at this time and entered upon its long career of helpfulness. In dealing with the problem of the poor the rector's leading principle was " to reduce the number of persons receiving pensions, to help with money as little as possible ; but when help is necessary not to give in driblets, but to give so as to raise permanently those assisted." A carefully instructed class for Confirmation numbering 150, young and old, were presented to Assistant-Bishop Potter by the rector on Friday evening, April 24, 1885. The music had materially improved under the skilled director- ship of J. G. Bierck. The choir numbered seventy-two, most of them volunteers, who gave much time and patience to the work. The chancel organ was still incomplete, as several stops in- cluded in the original design had not as yet been added. The time seemed to have come when this work should be done, and also an electrical connection made with the large gallery organ. The vestry ordered this whole work contracted for with George Jardine & Son, the organ-builders, at an expense of $900 for the completion of the chancel organ and $630 for the electrical connection. The contract was made in November, 1886, but took some time to execute, but by and by the tones of the great organ blended with those of the new chancel instrument, vibrat- ing in harmony through the great church edifice and adding heartiness and volume to the worshipful voices of the choir and congregation. The following communication was received by the vestry October 13, 1885, with liveliest satisfaction : 304 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH New York, October 5th, 1885. To the Rector, Churchwardens, and Vestrymen of St. George's Church. New York City. Gentlemen : On behalf of the family of the late senior warden, Charles Tracy, I wish to communicate to j'ou, officially, their wish to erect to his memory a church house to be styled ' The Memorial House of St. George's Church.' My proposition is this, that your Corporation shall transfer to me, in fee simple, the jilot of ground on East Sixteenth Sti"eet running from the westerly line of the rectory lot westerly to the easterly line of the lots en Third Avenue, and running back to the southerly line of the adjacent lots on the south side of East Seventeenth Street. Upon receiving from you the deed of the property mentioned, I will engage to have erected upon the entire property a church house, which house shall include an adequate chapel and Sunday-school rooms; rooms for the resident clergy, an office for the Corporation, and rooms for the Mission work of the parish, these latter to include suitable accommodations for the Boys' and Girls' Clubs, Girls' Friendly Society, Helping Hand, etc. ; also bath-rooms and a gymnasium. When completed the property to be deeded, free of debt, to the Rector, Churchwai'dens, and Vestrj'men of St. George's Church, New York, on condition that they will keep the same in good repair and condition, and use the same exclusively for the parish work in perpetuity. If this proposition meets your approval, I suggest that a committee, consisting of the rector, the wardens, Mr. Spencer, Mr. Cutting, and Mr. Tracy, be appointed, with full power to assist in caii'jdng out the same. Yours Truly, J. PiERPONT Morgan. "Whereupon it was Eesolved, That the warmest thanks of the vestry be presented to Mr. Morgan and to the family of the late Mr. Tracy for this most generous and magnanimous ctfer, meeting a great and increasingly felt want of the parish, and that the same be accepted, and the committee named in Mr. Morgan's letter, the rector, the wardens, and Messrs Spencer, Cutting, and Tracy, be appointed to assist in carrying out the object proposed. Steps were also taken to secure the title to the two lots adjoining the old chapel then held under lease, that the terms of the above proposal might be fully met. The rector's salary was raised to an annual $8,000, the increase to date from the first of November. The property committee were instructed to consider the matter of erecting memorials in the church to the Rev. Dr. Milnor and the Rev. Dr. Tyng. In pursuance of this instruction the committee ultimately recommended that marble busts of the late rectors would be the most appropriate memorials; and the recommendation being approved by the vestry, the busts were ordered and late in 1887 were placed together with the monu- THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 305 ments supporting them in their present position in the chancel arch. The project of holding a Mission in St. George's had been long contemplated by the rector. Other city clergymen in sympathy with the idea wished to join in the movement, and the result was the great Advent Mission which developed in New York in No- vember, 1885, under the leadership of Mr. Rainsford's long-time friend, the Rev. W. H. M. H. Aitken. President of the Church of England Parochial Missions Society. Announcement of the coming mission with some explanation of its purpose was made in the June number of St. George's Chronicle, and the work of preparation, so essential to insure success in any mission, was carried on aD summer. It was on Saturday evening, November 28th, that the long-talked-of, long-prayed-over mission was inaugurated by an in- formal meeting in the chapel to give a cordial welcome to the mis- sioners and introduce to them the workers who had volunteered to assist in various departments of the undertaking. The public ser- vices on the next day were full of deepest interest. The solemn preparation of the Holy Communion ushered in the series of wor- shipful events. The church was thronged. Among the many clergy present, besides the Missioners Mr. Aitken and Mr. Stephens, were Bishop BedeU of Ohio, Bishop Sullivan of Algoma, and Canon Desmoulins and Rev. T. Brawl of Toronto. Mr. Aitken preached both morning and evening and addressed a gathering of jnen only in the afternoon. A meeting in the chapel for women only was addressed by Mrs. Crouch, while the Rev. Mr. Stephens held the interest of the children and young people in the church. At the evening service Mr. Sankey sang and at its close there was an after- meeting. It was a day of long-sustained and varied effort which fitly ushered in the daily prayer and preaching which were to prove of such inestimable blessing. The results of the mission were wide- spread and deep, in building up the spiritual life of many a Chris- tian, and in attracting many from the borderland to cross the line and range themselves on the Lord's side. Close following this mission in New York, the rector of St. George's held one in Detroit, beginning January 2d, lasting twelve days. Bishop Harris and the city clergy co-operated cordially, and the results convinced them that parochial missions wisely conducted are a most valuable helpful agency in furthering the Church's work. An address had been delivered by Dr. Rainsford in the preceding month before the semi-centennial missionary meeting in the Church 20 306 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia, which the Kev. Robert C. Matlack, secretary of the Evangelical Education Society, resented as containing reflections on the educational societies of the Church. On his return from Detroit, Dr. Rainsford replied to Mr. Matlack, January 21, 1886, in part as follows : What I did say and I do say is briefly this : the best youth in our Chi'istian homes does not always or even often find its way into the ministry. Chris- tian parents put their brightest boys into business, law or medicine. The glorious possibilities offered by the profession of ministers of the ever- lastmg gospel are not appreciated. We need to begin at the Christian home, create missionary enthusiasm there — so that the pride of all pros- perous parishes should be the young men going forth from them to preach the gosj^el — to an age — than which none ever needed it more or was more prepared to accord it a more respectful hearing. ... I hold the present system of ministerial education radically mistaken. If a young man hears. ' Woe is me if I preach not the gospel ' he will preach the gospel, and the previous discipline of trial and struggle is more valuable than any other possible experience. If he has no means, let him first prove his power as a man to hold some place among his fellow-men, then enter Holy Orders later in life. . . . When Mr. Rainsford accepted the rectorship of St. George's, a guarantee fund of $10,000 for three years was assured to him by six members of the vestry to insure the payment of the Church's expenses over and above its probable income. This generous pro- vision expired by limitation January 1, 188G. The rector therefore appealed to the congregation for a more general use of the envelope system, and, to such as were able, to increase their pledges. The first year these had yielded about $4,000. In the second year the amount was nearly doubled and in the third was trebled, the sum realized being $12,822 from weekly pledges varying from $20 to five cents. In the year book he says : T would indeed be ungi-ateful, if in presenting this third Year Book to the members of St. George's congregation, my heart was not full of thank- fulness to God and to man, to one and all, gi'eat and small, poor and rich, assistants, vestrymen, and church workers. I have received nothing but kindness, friendliest, heartiest support and help. The success of such work as ours — and we have so far succeeded wonder- fully — depends not on one or two, but on one and all doing their duty. The various parts of the church's machinery do their work smoothly and well, because workers, imnoticed and unknown outside the limits of their own small sphere, work not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of God, doing His will from the heart. A large band of such God has raised up in St. George's. To these, in cliief part, is owing our church's prosperity. THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 307 The Eev. Lindsay Parker, who had been first assistant minister, resigned in April, 1886, to accept the rectorship of St. Peter's Church, Brooklyn. During his association with St. George's he had rendered most efficient and devoted service, strengthening the rector 's hands by loyal and intelligent co - operation, contribut- ing materially to the results achieved. The vestry therefore put on record their " cordial appreciation of his faithful service and heartfelt regret at parting with a co - worker, whose genial temperament and noble qualities of heart and mind have en- deared him to all who have enjoyed the privilege of association with him." Early in 1886, the title to the lots adjoining the old chapel, which the Church held under a leasehold interest, having been now se- cured, the vestry was in a position to comply with the condition named in Mr. Morgan's letter of October 5, 1885, and ordered the conveyance to him of these lots and of the land on which the chapel stood as a site upon which to erect the new Memorial House. The rector and the property committee were empowered to make pro- vision for needed quarters for the Sunday-school and other parish work during the demolition of the two houses and the chapel and the erection of the parish house. The place secured was Irving Hall, in which the congregation worshiped after the fire of 1865. The Sunday-school moved over on May 23d. The main school and the bible classes occupied the Hall, its galleries, and boxes. The primary department, having met in the Church as previously directed, marched in an attractive procession of 470 girls and boys to the rooms prepared for them adjoining the Hall at Fifteenth Street and Irving Place. The new accommodations, on the whole, were quite convenient and acceptable. The school might naturally have been expected to decrease in number and in discipline, thus meeting in an unaccustomed place with many of the teachers leaving for their summer outing, and with the loss of Mr. Parker, their efficient superintendent, whose connection with the parish had but shortly before been severed. But all these disadvantages were overcome. There were self-sacrificing teachers who remained throughout the summer heat and volunteers supplied the vacant seats, and there was an increased attendance, while interest and good order were maintained under the superintendency of Mr. V. E. Wetmore, who was a teacher of a class of boys in the main school. In the fall of 1886 the vestry decided that the Easter offerings of the congregation should be devoted to the liquidation of the Church indebtedness, and a movement to secure $25,000 was set on 308 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH foot for that purpose, and $23,400 was received and so applied in the following spring. In March, 1887, both Bishop Potter and the people of the Church of the Nativity, in Avenue C between Fifth and Sixth Streets, ex- pressed a desire that St. George's should take over their property and identify with it their work in Avenue A. A committee of the vestry, however, reported adversely to the proposition, and it was decided to be inexpedient to assume any responsibility in the matter. The Confirmation service of 1887 took place on Sunday, May 1st. The services were most impressive. The Bishop sat in his chair at the gate of the chancel and the candidates came up two by two, and kneeling before him received the imposition of hands. There were 161 candidates, of whom 70 were adults. This was followed by the solemn service of setting apart a deaconess. The Bishop's address explained the office and work of a Deaconess in the Church, and he then conferred the privilege and responsibility of that office upon Julia Elizabeth Forneret, a trained nurse of large experience, who had been laboring in the parish for more than a year, and who had proved the value of the service of a trained and consecrated woman. The rector hoped soon to have others working by her side and in due time " to have some little corner in the city which we can call our Deaconess' House." The rector found it necessary, as rectors generally of free churches do, to perpetually keep the envelope system before the people's minds. He wrote in 1887 : Of all tbe 1,400 or 1,500 people present in St. George's Church on Sun- day moi'ning, somewliat less than 400 have joined our envelope system. It necessarily follows that a very disproportionate share of the church's necessary expenses fall on these comparatively few persons. Speaking roug'hly, these 1,000 non-subscribers give less than $5,000 a year^the four hundred envelopes yield a little less than $15,000. What should be done? Those who are truly interested in our work should all of them lend a help- ing hand here; should explain the envelope system, the absolute necessity there is for adopting it, to those who they know are coming to the church, and yet do not join. Just now, quite a number of those who have taken envelopes in the church are returning them with the statement that they are leaving town for the summer. Those who do this, while they expect to return in the fall, surely cannot understand the object of our envelope system. If they rented a pew in a pew church, they would expect to pay rent for it during absence in the summer. By taking an envelope for only part of the year, they immensely increase the work of those volunteers who conduct the management of our system. Much better take an envelope for a small amount, and subsciibe for a year at a time. I do not care to constantly allude to this subject from the puljiit. It would help our church, if those THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 309 who understand tlie absolute need of making this system work gently and smoothly, would use what opportunities they have to explain its needs to our people. In the spring of 1888, he felt encouraged, as 250 new subscribers had been added to the list, and many of them he was glad, to know were of the poorer people. The annual receipts from the envelope pledges and the plate collections for the support of the church had at this time reached the splendid total of ^20,845.64. In the year book he sketches the kind of work which St. George's ought to do, and is trying to accomplish, and the spirit in which it ought to be done. Honestly I believe we are working on correct lines. I am sure as I can be of anything, that the city Church of the future must jjrosecute its work in some such directions as we are trying to prosecute ours. That Church must declare by its methods, as well as by its preaching, that it is the visible embodiment of a message of good things from God to the whole city in which it stands. Its life must touch at many points the city life to which it is set to minister. Semi-weekly meeting-houses for religious coteries churches must cease to be. They must also proclaim the fact that they have so ceased to be, in the ears of a population that is growing less and less inclined to go to church, and so to listen to them at all. ' Services that are beautiful, yet simple; dignified, yet earnest, will help. Preaching that does not ignore the rich experiences or treasuries of the past, while it remembers that in the present lies its power of unspeakably great opportunity, Avill help. The aspect which St. George's Church presented to observers is indicated in the following extracts, the first from Wilson's Cen- tennial History of the Diocese of New York, page 250, and the other from the Rev. Dr. Dyer's Records of an Active Life, page 438 : On the accession of the present rector the vesti-y resolved, at his urgent request, to make the church free, and the results, not only spiritually and socially, but financially, have gi'eatly exceeded their expectation. Not only is the church thronged to its atraost capacity, and sei-A'ices greatly multi- plied and enriched with a chancel choir and organ, but the voluntary contributions and offertories reach a far larger amount than was ever realized from pew rentals. The parish activities are greatly multiplied and in most thi-ifty operation. We have in New York at least two Churches entirely free — there may be more, but I only know of the two, St. George's and the Holy Communion. These Churches, I am told, are thronged on every Lord's Day, and at other times, and these throngs are made up of all classes. The rich and the poor sit, or stand, literally, side by side; no distinction is made. At other Churches such crowds are not seen, and why? I know of but one 310 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH reason. They do not feel so at home anywhere else. The veiy crowd which tliey help to make inspires a feeling of deep interest, and they enter with a whole-hearted zeal into all the sei-vices which take place. Of course they become strongly attached to the Church, and are glad to do anything they can for it. The following characterization of the rector is from The Evening /S'ioiof May, 1888: No atmosphere of theological formalism or ceremonial lingers about this deep-chested, broad-shouldered Christian athlete. He came to St. George's like a fresh life-giving breeze from the ocean and he started all the drones in that religious hive buzzing with industiy. This man is not an intellectual giant. He does not preach sermons faultless in rhetoric and hyper-refined in diction. But there is always wholesome meat on the joints of his discourse. His cliief strength lies in his wonderful capacity as an organizer in church work, in liis intense earnestness, and in his warm sympathy. The blizzard in the spring of 1888 afforded the Avenue A Mis- sion an opportunity of doing some characteristic work. The mission room was turned into a sort of impromptu hotel. Many poor fel- lows who otherwise would have been homeless gladly availed them- selves of the shelter and warmth therein provided. In the morning, after a substantial breakfast, they were supplied with shovels and marched off to the nearest street-car depot. Most of them returned to the mission service in the evening, having earned a good days' wages, and some became regular attendants. The Church of the Reformation in Stanton Street, sometime known as Old Epiphany House, because the site had formerly been occupied by the Church of the Epiphany before their ex- change of property with the Church of the Reformation, was placed in charge of the Rev. Dr. E. F. Miles in 1886. The difficulty of raising sufficient revenue, however, for its adequate support as an independent church having become acute, the trustees of the prop- erty in 1888 transferred it to St. George's Corporation, which thus became the owner of this valuable property with a commodious new building on a lot 80X100 and containing within its w^alls a church, a Sunday-school room, gymnasium. Girls' Friendly rooms and young men's club-rooms, besides apartments for the minister in charge and for the janitor. The Rev. Charles Scadding, one of the assistant ministers, was assigned by the rector to the care of this mission work with its philanthropic and educational adjuncts so useful and necessary in a neighborhood like Stanton Street. An interesting function was observed at morning service on June THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 311 3, 1888, when fourteen men of the parish were set apart by the Bishop as Lay Readers. The exceeding value of lay co-operation had always been insisted on and its potency recognized and de- veloped by the rector as an essential factor in a well-ordered and efficient church. From the ranks of those who had been foremost in good works these fourteen were selected to receive the honorable official recognition, by the chief pastor of the diocese, of the lay- man's right and willingness to work. Those who on this occasion were to be set apart assembled at the chancel-rail and were ad- mitted to the canonical office of Lay Readers in the use of a form of service which had been set forth by the Bishop of Long Island. Bishop Potter highly praised, in his address, the efficiency of the lay helpers of St. George's and testified that as to some of those now receiving official recognition, he personally well knew their qualifications for the work to which they were now formally called. Close following this Sunday, on the ensuing Thursday, occurred St. George's great red-letter day — the day of dedication of its Memorial House. The house was now completed, ready for oc- cupation. But not content with the bestowment of this princely gift, the generous donor crowned his own munificence by the addi- tional donation of the three adjoining lots and houses on Third Avenue (Nos. 173, 175, 177) to constitute a part of the Endowment Pund. Upon the dedication day, the members of the corporation met in the vestry-room together with the Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt. Rev. H. C. Potter; the Presiding Bishop of the Church, the Rt. Rev. John Williams of Connecticut; the Rev. Dr. Walter W. Williams, former rector of St. George's, and the assistant clergy of the parish, and proceeded in a body to the main hall in the new building, where the specially arranged dedicatory service was to be t^onducted. At the point in the order of service designated for that purpose, Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan read the deed of gift of the Memorial House and also the deed of gift of the three houses on Third Avenue adjoining, and in delivering the deeds addressed the rector thus : Reverend Sir: — On behalf of Mrs. Morsyan, my children, and myself, as donors, I beg to present to you, as the beloved rector of this church, the deed of this building and the lots upon Avhich it has been built, with the prayer that under tlie guidance of an ovei'ruling Providence, it may prove an instrument of promoting love, charity, and brotherly kindness among those among -whom vou and vour successors in oflfice may minister in Holy Things. ^ ^ J .> 312 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The rector then formally announced the grateful acceptance of both gifts by the Corporation. Mr. Morgan then addressed the Bishop as follows : Right Reverend Sir: In the forced absence of my valued associate, David Dows, Esq., senior warden of this corporation, it becomes my duty as junior warden on behalf of the Rector, Churchwardens, and Vestrymen of St. George's Church to request you as Bishop of the Diocese to set apart and dedicate this building for the purposes for which it has been erected — tlie Glory of God and the benefit of Mankind. The service then proceeded. The vested choir of the Church were present. A number of the clergy not in surplices were occupying seats assigned to them. The first address was given by the rector and was so characteristically important and was so true a tribute to the man whose honored name is linked with the Memorial House that it is reproduced in full : Nests are generally supposed to be builded before eggs are laid or broods are hatched; but I must remind you this morning, that we have seen fit to depart from the order of nature. Here are not only a goodly num- ber of eggs, but a brave number of hardy chicks who are already able to get about, while this our nest we open to-day. I want you friends all to understand, that the swarmmg of this morning' does not mean for us a new departure; we do not intend to launch out into a number of new activities. The rooms that you want to inspect do not imply a number of untried undertakings, guilds, clubs, etc. Briefly, what they mean is this : that we like what we have seen of each other in the past five years, and are determined to see still more of each other in the future. There is an immense gain in the sort of parish life that receives in this building so splendid an illustration. In unnumbered ways we have reaped and ai'e reaping the benefit of living togethei'. Any church that in the future must work effectively amid the dense populations of large cites at least, must be a church to touch the life around it with a daily touch. However zealous the preaching or beautiful the services, if it but claim men and women's attention for a brief portion of one day in seven, it must fail in these days, seriously to affect their lives. I will not detain you this morniHg, while I detail those advantages that come fi'om clergy and people living closely together and being constantly associated. A few ladies present will remember that little meeting in my own drawing-room, nearly five years ago, when a small band enabled me to set apart one house for my assistants, who were still in those days to be mine. They had not come yet. Since then it has become axiomatic with us, that two men living together can do more than three men living apart. And if that up-stairs Capua, which you are presently to inspect, does not enervate our clerical energies, I think I may say the advantages of the assistants of a parish like this living together will be as abundantly evidenced in the future as it has been in the past. MEMORIAL HOUSE (1888) AND RECTORY 20C to 209 East Sixteenth Street THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 313 I am to speak of what this building means. It means a nest for a brood already in existence, and in a fairly thriving condition. But it means more, more, my friends, than one s]dendid gift, splendidly given. It re]iresents thousands of gifts, free-will offerings all. The Tabernacle of old was builded by the free offerings of the children of Israel. The free church it was whose walls rose, whose sumptuous services wei'e dedicated, because princes and great men gave gifts that were costly. Wise men and women who could work skilfully, gave brains and cunnmg finger- work; and poor and rough folk, we are told, brought even gifts so seem- ingly trivial as a little goat's hair or a badger skin. And so, at last, the perfect expression of a people's worsliip, stood forth complete. Our benefactors this morning, and you, gentlemen of the vestry, know well, and rejoice with me in knowing, that the self-denying work of hun- dreds made this building a necessity. I look around this assembly this morning, and see yoU; my friends and fellow-workers, who for years have quietly and steadily plodded on at your work, sometimes with little encour- agement: your reward — one reward at least — is this morning's gift and service. It is your work and energy, and i^raying and hoping, you teachers in the Sunday-school, you workers in Avenue A, you visitors— your work, I say, it is, that is crowned with this splendid gift which we to-day dedicate. It is the response to your self-denial. God, the Father, and God, the Saviour, and God, the Holy Ghost, to Thee be all the glory ! But yet, again, this is a Memorial Building pre-eminently — a Memorial Building to as good and true a man, as faithful a friend, as sincere a Cln-istian gentleman, as it has been my fortunate lot to meet. What Charles Traej^ was at home, what that life was which he and his loved wife were helped of God to lead, it is not my place, this morning, to tell; nor is this the occasion on which to tell it. But something of the results of his work to this church I must speak of. Charles Tracy was not alto- gether an easy man to know; strong men often are not. When I came to New York in '82, he insisted on my staying with him, and in his bouse I was a guest for almost three months; and so staying, I learned to know him and to love him very deeply. I remember the evening talks we used to have; for visiting in St. George's Church was then, comparatively speaking, a simple matter. Our list of membership was somewhat brief; did not require three or four assistants to get around it. And so in the evenings we used to speak of the uncertain future, and many were the plans I talked over with him. On one such evening, I broached the idea of this building, not an altogether new one to me, and I shall always remember how heartily he entered into it. ' Tell your ideas to Morgan,' he said. I did not know Mr. Morgan so well then, and to tell the truth was a little bit afraid of him. I think perhaps sometimes he must almost wish I was a little more afraid of him now. Friends, I did go, I did tell my ideas, and I stand to-day to say I am glad I did. I found that he had a gift that T distinctly can never lay claim to — for that matter, no more can my assistants — he had a good memory. For some ten or fifteen minutes, I rapidly talked over with him what I thought a parish building ought to be; and when, nearly two years afterward, on the eve of his startmg to England, he put a paper in my hand, I found that every single particular which I had mentioned he had remembered and noted down, to find its embodiment in brick and stone. I learned to trust Mr. Tracy's judgment; and it was well for me, at 314 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH the beginning of my ministry, that I liad so wise and loving a counselor and helper. You, gentlemen of the vestries of '82, '83, '84, '85, know- how much we owe to him in our sometimes protracted debates and con- sultations. Do you remember how heartily he took up the idea of the Envelope System, as being the only way in which to support a free church? Do you remember how he made himself its secretary and treasurer, and what enjoyment he took in the work which to another would have seemed. one of drudgery and dull routine? How he did rejoice in the little gi'ow- ing pile, of contributions; and I remember on Sunday night, he could scarcely ever be persuaded to go to bed till the record of the collection had been taken and his accounts added up. His faith was the faith of a child; his wisdom the ripe experience of a man of affairs; his charity never vaunted itself and never was puffed up. Thank God, his eye was not dimmed, nor was his natural force abated, when, to quote old Bunyan, * The post from the celestial city sounded his horn at Ms chamber door.' He went from us to the Lord he loved and tried to serve, and I speak no words of exaggerated eulogy when I say, taking him all in all, we shall not soon see Charles Tracy's like again. He rests not from living; but in living. To-day, we remember too, Louisa Tracy, his wife — brave, sweet, and true; she who shared his eveiy interest, and bore liim the children for whom we thank God to-day. In her, her husband manifestly found ' The fireside sweetness, the heavenward lift The hourly mercy of a woman's soul.' You will, I am sure, agree with me, Reverend Fathers in God, that we have good reason to thank our Lord for the past, with all its precious memories; and though the future must mean hard work and heavy respon- sibility, who, looking round on such an assembly as this, in such a place and with such friends and helpers at his side — who could be craven enough to fear to meet it? Time absolutely forbids that I should recall memories that preceded my coming to St. George's; were it not for this, some lengthened reference would surely be seemly to that brave and good man, most eloquent of preachers, and indefatigable of workers, who for so many years made the Church of St. George's a power in this land. The rector, in concluding his address, introduced his predecessor, Dr. Williams, as one " who did his best when wind and tide were against him to make this Church what it ought to he." Bishop Potter followed with remarks referring to the setting apart of the lay helpers on the preceding Sunday, reiterated the value of lay co-operation, and then introduced the Bishop of Connecticut. The latter said that his text if he were going to preach would surely be on this occasion " The Son of Man came not to be min- istered unto but to minister," and that the noble practical work of St. George's parish was being looked up to not only in the city of New York but all over the Church, After the benediction by the Presiding Bishop, all present were THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 315 invited to inspect the beautiful Memorial House. Tbe following description of it was prepared before it was completed, but gives a fair idea of what it proved to be : The lieight from gTound to eaves will be seventy-two feet, to the top of the gable cross 110 feet, to the top of the tower, the greatest height, 146 feet. The material will be red sandstone to match the church, and will be relieved with carvings and fine traceried windows, in the main Sunday-school room, as well as in the story devoted to the clergy house. Throughout, the building Avill be fireproof, with iron floors, brick arch supports, tile floors, and glazed brick walls. Much care has been expended on • drainage, two entirely complete and separate systems being carried from basement to upper story on opposite sides of the house; thus dressing- rooms and baths intended for boys and girls respectively are quite distinct and widely separated. In the basement story will be the apparatus for two elevators and the furnaces, and large i^reparation for the storage of second-hand clothes of the Clothing Fund Society, and for groceries, bought in quantities, and sold at cost price to any of the poor families with whom the various visitors and societies of the parish bring it in contact, who may desire it. On the level of the street, the first story, will be rooms for the infant classes of the Sunday-school, intended to accommodate 600 children in classes of 150 each. On this floor too, will be the dispensary, with ample accommodation for the poor people to meet the niu'se whom the parish employs. The second story will be the main Sunday-school room, with a seating capacity of 800. It is ninety feet deep and is most beautiful in form, having two large transepts; across the transepts its width is seventy-six feet. The height of nave and transepts is twenty-four feet in the clear, but the sides of the room are divided into two stories, which are broken off into sei^arate class-rooms for the accommodation of older children and Bible classes. These two decks of rooms will be used durmg the week for the meetings and classes of the Girls' Eriendly Society. The members also will have the use on certain evenings of the gymnasium, and always of the bath- rooms of the girls' side of the house. The features of the third stoiy will be a large gymnasium 16 feet high, with further dimensions of 47X41 feet; the spacious baths and dressing- rooms for women and men will be on opposite sides. This floor has club- rooms for the men of the parish: here will be a writing-room, and from here they will go out to conduct the boys' clubs which they have already organized in widely separated parts of the city. The men's club-room is 41X35 feet, and to it is attached a reading-room. It is here that young men are to find home and social entertainment, and sympathy, whenever they may wish it. The fifth floor will be called the Clergy House, where the assistant clergy of the parish are to live. Common kitchen and dining-room ar- rangements are supplemented by rooms held in private by each clergyman. Preparation is made for four assistant clergymen. Each will have a private study and bedroom. The large clergj- parlor out of wliich the studies open will be common 316 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH frround to clei\ey and congregation, and there at any time any member of tlie congregation may find help and sympathy fi-om some of its clergy. This will be used as a room for local gatherings, for pastoral intercourse with workers, and for any purpose the needs of the parish may indicate. Still above is the attic, not yet assigned to any use. Floor plans of the Memorial House and full details of what the various organizations are that use it, and how they carry on their work, are given in that invaluable and enlightejiing book by George Hodges and John Reichert, published by Harper & Brothers, The Administration of an Institutional Chnrch, A Detailed Account of the Operation of St. George's Parish in the City of New York. The completion of the Memorial Building having done away with any further need of the old Clergy House in Seventeenth Street, the rector now diverted the attention of the ladies who had seconded his efforts to sustain the Clergy House into the new line of a similar provision of a home for deaconesses. He rented the house 204 East Seventeenth Street, and with the ladies' help established comfort- ably there the Deaconess, Miss Forneret, and her associates, Miss Simpson and Miss Bolman. They visited the sick and poor and in addition to their other duties took part in the summer seaside work. The first important public gathering of a general character in the Memorial House was the annual convention of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, which met October 18th to 21st, The opening ser- vice was held in the church, but all the business meetings were conducted in the Memorial House, whose unrivaled facilities for the convenience of such a gathering were appreciatively recognized. It having been suspected that the spires of the church had come to be in an unsafe condition, the architect was ordered to examine them, and found that the north tower, more especially the south side of the same, from the eaves of the church to the bottom of the steeple , had greatly suffered from the fire and many stones needed to be replaced. Both towers and steeples also needed to be repointed. The vestry therefore ordered this work to be done, and also authorized the property committee to wire the church for lighting by electricity. When the electric lights had been put in, the vestry were informed by the committee, January, 1889, that the expense had been met by private subscription. Subsequently to this repointing of the spires, it was discovered in the following year that safety demanded that they should be taken down, and this beautiful feature of the structure was most regretfully sacrificed. The growth of systematic giving through the envelope system was steady although slow. Seven hundred people who by 1889 were THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 317 thus contributing to Church support were giving $22,853, while the other hundreds of attendants gave at the offertory $5,170. The rector pleaded constantly for fuller acceptance of this financial plan as absolutely vital to the success of a free church. For the support of the two missions of the parish in Avenue A and Stanton Street, and the activities which centered in the me- morial house, a unifying scheme had been attempted, aiming to substitute for individual appeals and other means of raising money for these objects two church collections in May and November. After a year's experience the vestry thoroughly approved this plan and the congregation were most strongly urged to give the needed money, some $11,000, in these two collections. After four years and more of faithful and efficient service, the organist and choir-master, J. G. Bierck, left in the fall of 1888, and William S. Chester was appointed in his place. The choir, mostly volunteers, by hard and earnest work encouraged their new leader's efforts to effect steady improvement in the character and rendering of the music which was so marked a feature of St. George's worship. The rector had for a long time been overworked, and on Ash Wednesday afternoon he was taken with dizziness and obliged to dismiss the congregation without the usual address. His physician insisted upon his complete withdrawal from all parish work for a time. Accordingly on Monda}'', March 17, 1889, he started South intending after a short stay in Georgia to go West. He gained strength wonderfully under the southern sun. His restoration was extremely rapid and encouraging reports of his condition followed in quick succession. Meanwhile the people proved their loyalty by seeking to relieve their rector of anxiety as to his parish work by faithfully complying with the exhortations of his parting letter and with those contained in one from the vestry, both letters being read on Sunday to the con- gregation. These urged a prompt attendance at the services, keep- ing up contributions, and devotion to the parish work with un- abated vigor. The bishop kindly aided in securing clergymen of prominence to preach on Sunday mornings. Archdeacon Mackay- Smith assumed the instruction of the Confirmation class for men and Dr. Wilson took charge of that for the women. On every hand was manifested proof of Dr. Rainsford's power in the fact that those whom he had trained to work and give and pray could stand the test in this emergency, wrought through his enforced absence, by constancy and steadfastness. With renewed health and increased 318 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH vigor he resumed his duties in September, in time to attend the annual convention of the diocese, which this year met by the Bishop's appointment in St. George's Church. The General Convention of the Church met also in St. George's and its Memorial House in the following month, October, 1889. It was the Centennial of the adoption of the Constitution of the Church and the Ratification of the Book of Common Praj^er. Matters of large importance were to be brought before it, such as revision of the Hymnal, enrichment of the Prayer Book and flexibility in its use, proportionate representation of dioceses, the proposed change of the Name of the Church and pensions for the clergy. The opening service was of the old-fashioned type, but orderly and reverent, and the music was hearty and well rendered with the accompaniment of both the chancel and great organs. The volume of tone and the rhythmical unanimity of the congregational sing- ing were strikingly impressive. The Bishops met in the memorial house and the Deputies in the church. The hospitalities of the parish were much appreciated by the members of the Convention as attested by the individual and official expressions of thanks; and the quality, variety, and effectiveness of the work being done in the memorial house and the parochial missioixs was a revelation to many and elicited much hearty commendation. It had been a custom in St. George's during the present rector's incumbency for the people to unite audibly with the minister in repeating the General Thanksgiving. As it was generally held in the Church at large to be an unrubrical practice, an effort was made in the General Convention by those who favored it to have it de- clared permissible. Both Houses, however, having gone on record as judging it unlawful, the rector of St. George's decided that, much as he disliked to give it up, individual preference should be sub- ordinate to law, and therefore asked the congregation to refrain thereafter from the audible repetition of the General Thanksgiving with the minister. The Fresh Air work dates from the first year of Mr. Eainsford's ministry. In the summer of 1883, excursions to the seashore were inaugurated. A cottage was rented at Rockaway Beach and large numbers of the poorer parishioners were taken there for a day's outing or for a longer stay. The excursionists, however, in 1890 were entertained in the new St. George's Cottage-by-the-Sea, which Mr. J. P. Morgan had made possible by a gift of land, 200X300 feet, upon which the parishioners had built the house. It was a two- story and basement cottage with ten rooms on the first floor and THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 319 nine on the second, designed to accommodate some fifty people, while underneath were located the bathing office and the dressing-rooms. The whole cost of the building with its furnishings, exclusive of the ground, was some $9,000. During the winter of 1900 a dormitory was added to the cottage and extensive alterations and improve- ments were made at a cost of $4,000 more, which was defrayed by Mr. Morgan. A full description of the floor space and all con- veniences is given in the Administration of an Institutional Church already referred to, and which is a veritable treasure-house of plans and methods by which a modern church on broad lines can be well worked. The good accomplished by this Fresh Air work and sum- mer home has been incalculable. During the previous year, with only the facilities of the two rented cottages, 11,443 people went down for the day, 426 were entertained for a week, making a total of 11,869, at an aggregate cost of $3,325. The one - day guests brought their own lunch, but were supplied with coffee, tea, and milk. The whole work is most admirably systematized and has been continuously in full charge of the superintendent, John Reichert, and his efficient wife. In the year book of 1890 the rector wrote : We are now at last in a loosition from which we may begin to estimate the advantages coming to ns from onr Memorial Building. It may not be possible to tabulate them, but they ai"e none the less important. At the beginning of this year we could scarcely form any estimate as to what the expenses of our memorial building would be. To run it has cost about $6,500, and in large part this must be added to our expenses. Our envelopes have yielded $20,843.19. Loose cash on the plates $4,404.04, and $35,791.80 has been raised by subscription to meet the special expenses of the year. The sum total of all our gifts and offerings from Easter, 1889, to 1890 has reached a larger flgxire than ever before — • very nearly $100,000, and m this figure I include all mission funds, both parochial and extra parochial. And when it is remembered that during the greater part of the year I have been, of necessity, away from the church altogether, and during the short time I have been here have only been able to do a very little work, this is in truth a splendid showing, and a testimony that may not be mistaken as to the permanence and success of the work God has worked and is working among us. The communicants of St. George's Church now number over 2,400. Such a list means immense responsibility. One thing is very certain and that is the Church is drawing the very poor; they are coming to our services, more of them and more regularly, year by year. Thank God for this! The subject of an adequate endowment to insure perpetuity for the good work of St. George's Church was one most dear to Dr. Rainsford's heart, and whose imperative importance he lost no 320 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH opportunity to urgently declare. Not that he wanted an endow- ment so large as to diminish energy and effort on the part of those who should enjoy its benefits, but one sufficient to supplement the giving of the people and insure perpetuation of the work and wor- ship, when present generous supporters should have died or moved away. In January, 1890, the vestry took hold of the matter and proper forms for subscription and for bequests were directed to be prepared. But it was not until the following year that a decided impulse was given to the movement by a letter from Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan of date January 26, 1891, in which he made the following pledge : ' ' For each hundred dollars paid in by any other party after this date I will pay one hundred dollars in addition, these payments on my part to be continued until the endowment of the church and memorial house shall reach the sum of four hundred thousand dollars, provided this is done within live years from this date." At the vestry meeting of March 16th, the rector presented a formal statement of his views which were the result he said of the convictions of years and not hastily made. They were in the form of a letter which here follows in part : Gentlemen of the Vestry and my very dear Friends: I feel very strongly that the time has come when it is my duty to suggest to you a course of action, which I believe to be essential to the well-being and ultimate maintenance of the work of St. George's Parish, which I have good reason for believing is dear to you as it is to me. I cannot but feel that the work we have attempted together, and in which we have been vouchsafed so large a measure of divine success, is important not only because it implies the permanence of our own parish life, but because in it we have together succeeded in laying down some very clear lines, on which, I am fully persuaded, those who follow us in our own parish or in city parishes genei'ally, must labor, if they are to succeed. In short. I do believe St. George's is breaking the heavy ice in waters on which others shall sail where we have cleared the way. Our work has a city importance — without unduly flattering ourselves, I believe I may say, a national importance. Many ai'e looking to us, are wondering at what we have done; many are beginning to follow Avhere we have been per- mitted by the Lord God the honor, in some measure, of leading the way. These things being so, we have indeed a large responsibility. We must not only lay plans for immediate success, but we must, as wise builders, see how we shall provide against the storms of the future. We must found our Church upon a rock. We must anchor her. Gentlemen, as it is to-day, you know very well that, were it not for the generous offerings of a few, we should each vear face a deficit. Our work will not. we hope, grow less. In its veiw nature, if it succeeds, its success carries with it a certainty of moderate expansion ; and expansion under those conditions under wliich we labor means the expenditure of THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 321 more money than we can raise from those classes of people to which the church is most certainly sent. A warm and beautiful sendee, a large and stately church, a well-trained band of workers, and even more than these, those large, roomy sjiaees which are absolutely essential to the develop- ment of a work which draws from the laboring and tenement-house classes, must, of necessity, cost large sums of money. A church to do the work we are doing must have space to work in, and nothing in New York costs like space. How shall we meet this annual deficit? The band who can meet it is getting smaller. Nor have we any right to expect that, as the few rich and willing drop out, others will take their places. One we have lately lost — no one has taken his place. Some may object to this statement, may disagree with me. I can only point to the churches around us. I can only say that the law that affects them will ultimately affect ns; and the movement that has led to the aban- donment of scores of positions which, in the vital interests of Christianity, should be held to-day more strongly than they ever have been held, is just as potent to affect us. Nothing stands between St. George's and retreat (and I cannot overstate what I believe to be the disasters incident on a retreat) but the lives of two or three men. Let me speak with absolute frankness. I had, as you know, a severe warning in my work more than two years ago. If it had been final, and my work with you had been at an end, it would be absolutely impossible for the vestry of St. George's Church to secure the services of a first-rate man to cany on the work which you and I are engaged in, without a permanent guarantee of an enlarged endowment. Gentlemen, we have led the way in aggTessive parish work. Let ns lead the way in providing for the maintenance of that work. If we believe, as I think you all do, that the Church should bring to the poorer populations her largest and most generous aid, and not her shrunken and shriveled worship, as presented to the working people in a mission chapel, there are onlj- two wa^'S in which it can be done. It can be done by attaching to the churches, far away from fashionable centers, a few rich and generous men. But you must yourselves see that tliis is to introduce a great element of uncertainty. Or it may be done — as I feel very confident in the end the common wisdom of our church people will say it shall be done — by providing for these down-town churches sucli moderate endowments as will always supplement the vigorous work and generous offerings of those people who attend and are benefited by their services. To supi^ose for a moment a not unlikely case. Suppose that the vestry secured as rector some one who they had good gi'ound for believins" could fill the place and sustain our extended organizations, and that under trial the man chosen proved quite unable to do this — what then? As we are now situated, a few years of leanness would hopelessly complicate the situation. The annual deficit would increase and mount up. The streams that feed our church life would become dry, the pressure of circumstances would most likely result in the removal of the church to some richer locality ^then what we had done would have been done in vain, and St. George's would add but another to the long list of churches that have shamefully retreated before the difficulties they were called on by God resolutely to grapple with and overcome. 21 322 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH But if we endow our work, and so make provision during our fat years for a possible succession of lean ones, we have, at least, done our part to discharge the trust committed to us. By the aid of an endowment the church would stand her ground, till famine times were passed and pros- perous daj'S once more returned. I am unfeignedly proud of the resolute spirit displayed years ago by St. George's vestry. Some of you were members then. Those were days when all tilings seemed to counsel retreat. Debts gi-ew, and people fell away. There were few left to stand by the old church, but those who did stand did their duty. They knew she had a work to do and a place to hold in the line of battle, and they would not leave a gap in that line by retreating to a i^osition, as they easily might have done, of comparative ease and comfort. Thank God, gentlemen, you then bravely so decided. For full well, we all know, that if this or any other church once goes up north, nothing can bring it back again. But I ask, can we so forget the past and its very real danger, as for a moment to justify ourselves in leaving the church open to the recurrence of such a danger"? Is it not but right that we should take every stej) to provide against a similar situation? For such a situation, you all know, might very easily again occur. And now, gentlemen, what shall we aim to dof In mentioning figures, I do not wish to be undei'stood as saying that it is possible for us now to set any definite limit to St. George's endowment. I believe that years hence o^r work will have so developed that what we might regard, at pres- ent, as an adequate endowment, we should then consider qmte inadequate. But for the joresent it seems to me that, if we could raise our endowment to $400,000, we should by doing this have let down one or two pretty strong anchors, that would help us to hold our own in any stress of weather that might come, I think there also ought to be an endowment of $50,000 for a Deaconess* House for St. George's Church. Grace Church has already secured $30,000 for a similar institution, and Dr. Huntington has asked for an endowment fund of $100,000 more. But, hitherto, I have assumed the sole respon- sibility of my Deaconess' House, and am quite willing to continue to do so, till the Vestrj' think the time has arrived for such a measure of support as this I suggest. Gentlemen, I beg you to remember that this formal statement of my views is not hastily made. It is the result of the convictions of years, and I hope and believe with all my heart that you will see your way, one and all, to support and carry fonvard to certain success this effort, which I believe it to be nothing less than our duty to make. The reading of this cogent and conclusive presentation of the case was followed by formal expression of the vestry's willingness to co-operate in measures necessary to increase the Endowment Fund to $400,000 and their pledge to use every practical effort to that end, and a special committee was designated consisting of Messrs. Cutting, Tracy, and Bull to co-operate with the rector and prepare a plan. The committee thereupon issued an appeal to all wor- shiping in St. George's Church, reciting the need of the increased THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 323 endowment and Mr. Morgan's pledge, accompanying their appeal by a copy of the rector's letter and a subscription card. Radical changes were at this time being made in the method of conducting the work at the Stanton Street Mission. The vestry was convinced that the first duty of the Church is to carry on ef- ficiently the work that is growing larger and more important in the parish house. The rector was convinced that it is impossible to achieve satisfactory results among the miscellaneous nationalities in the Stanton Street neighborhood without a much larger force than the Church is able to put into the field. One clergyman and one deaconess were altogether inadequate to the increasing demand for more persistent and aggressive effort. It was therefore decided to make the experiment of intrusting this entire work to Charles James Wills, president of the St. George's Chapter of the St. Andrew's Brotherhood, who with his wife would reside in Stanton Street and gather about him such lay helpers as he might. The vestry in pur- suance of this plan rented the property for one dollar per year to a committee consisting of the rector and Messrs. Cutting, Stearns, Tracy, Wills, and Greenough on the condition that the corporation be released from all financial obligations in connection with the property or work. Bishop Potter expressed a cordial approval of the plan and his gratification that the new arrangement would con- tribute to the solution of a question which he deemed of first im- portance, " the relation of lay work to the Christianization of our great cities." Mr. Wills accordingly entered upon his work with characteristic zeal on Easter Sunday, 1891. On February 20th, Mr. Morgan addressed a letter to the vestry in which he said: " In view of my former undertaking to fully complete the Memorial Building, I now agree to pay for such addi- tions and alterations to this end as may be specified and authorized by a formal resolution of the vestry before the 1st of April next." The offer was accepted with the thanks of the vestry and the following additions and alterations were indicated as desirable to be made : enlargement of the electric - lighting plant, increase of boiler power, new pumps, ventilating apparatus, and reconstruction of roof. It had been customary up to 1891 to receive at the offertory the silver plates on which the offerings had been deposited, piled one above another. The rector having asked for a large alms basin into which should be emptied the contents of the plates, the ladies of the Employment Society united to present one to the Church and it was used for the first time on Easter Day. 324 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The rite of Confirmation was administered on Palm Sunday, in the absence of Bishop Potter, by the Bishop of Mississippi, Dr. Hugh Miller Thompson, to 199 candidates, the majority of whom were baptized and brought up in other Christian bodies, while two were Chinese and one a Jew. Their former affiliations were Episcopal 97, Lutheran 51, Presbyterian 14, Methodist 5, Baptist 6, Dutch Reformed 6, Congregational 3, Roman Catholic 8, Unitarian 1, No Church 3, Jewish 1, Chinese 2, Unclassified 2. This number, to- gether with those who were confirmed in the Stanton Street Mission, made the total confirmations in the parish 237 for the year. At the Holy Communion at 7 a.m. on Easter Day there were 1,076 communicants, of whom at least 900 were wage-earners, a class too sparsely represented in our city churches. The girl members of this confirmation class were associated by the rector into a society whose purpose was to deepen their spiritual life and to stimulate Christian activity. They were divided into groups for mutual en- couragement and Christian work and were made a part of the International Order of The King's Daughters. From this nucleus within two years The King's Daughters of St. George's had grown into a membership of 406. As superintendent of the Sunday-school, Mr. R. Fulton Cutting had succeeded Mr. Wetmore in 1889. Many improvements were now introduced. Classes in the senior department were curtained off and as many scholars as could be well handled were assigned to each good teacher. The Rev. Mr. Acheson assisted him; but while Mr. Cutting was absent on an extended European trip Mr. Acheson accepted a call to Middletown, Connecticut, and the rector committed the care of the school to Mr. H. H. Pike, who had been its secretary since 1883. Upon Mr. Cutting's return and at his very earnest solicitation Mr. Pike retained the position of the school's superin- tendent. It was in one respect a critical period in its history. The International System of Lessons had been in use, with an attempt at its adaptation to the Christian year in leaflets issued by the Evangelical Churchman Publishing Company of Toronto. The in- adequacy of this system was profoundly felt, especially the evil of substituting use of printed extracts from the Word of God for the handling of the Book itself; and the rector determined on the con- tinuous study for two years of the Life of Christ, and purchased 200 copies of Stoch's Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ for distribution among the teachers as the basis of study. But just then the at- tention of the superintendent having been called to the Blakeslee System of Graded Lessons, these so commended themselves to him THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 325 that samples were placed in the hands of his experienced co-workers, and the verdict was so favorable that soon the school, from the kindergarten up, was studying the Life of Christ upon the Blakeslee method. A new departure also was eifected by substituting for the old plan of teachers' meetings the gathering of the teachers in cir- cles of ten for study of the lesson, each acting as leader in turn. The project of erecting a new organ in the main school-room greatly interested the young people, and their offerings for this purpose amounted to $741, while a fair held by them added $655 more, the vestry making up the balance of the cost, which was $2,446. The Children's Service to familiarize them with the Prayer Book and the Worship of the Church, which had been held in the memorial house on Sunday afternoons, was moved into the church and an auxiliary vested choir of boys insured a heartj^ rendering of the music. The Rev. Dr. Wilson, who had come to be senior assistant, and " to whose fervor and devotion to duty," the rector testified, " so much of the success of the early years of our work was due," left after a term of service extending from 1884 to 1891. " By many he is missed for by many he is loved." The clerical staff was now to be composed of four young men. From the beginning Dr. Rainsford had a definite idea of making the experience in St. George's of those who were associated with him helpful in their future ministry. I think by now most of you understand the system imder wliieh the younger clergy come and go from St. George's. I am very sure that our great city parishes will not dischai'ge their obligations to the whole Church unless they constitute themselves schools in which young men of promise, leaving the seminaries, can gain a practice and knowledge of parochial work, which will be invaluable to them when they accept cures of their own. My effort is to have four or five young men with me for periods of two to four 3'ears. By that time such help as I can give they have gotten, and almost universally they themselves bear testimony that their stay in St. George's has not been in vain. This is good for the clergrs', but hard for the rector and parish. In this connection I cannot sufficiently thank my fellow-workers of the laity for the invaluable aid they have given me and tlie clergy. The younger clergy come in contact with lavmen, who have been trained to their efficient work for years in the parish, and they help the clerg\' as much as these latter help them. Thus we are very democratic in St. George's and all, by thus submitting to kindly criticism, help rub off each other's corners, and also to strengthen and develojj an intelligent Church life. At first we had a system that included senior and junior clergy, but I found that necessarily seniority was accounted by length of time and not 326 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH by competency, and I found that the senior, being only human, arrogated to himself certain rights which were not helpful to him or to his junior brothers. Then I got the inspiration that each of mv clergy should be the senior assistant for one week in a month; during that week he is officer of the week, so to speak, as a cadet at West Point is selected to be officer of the day; he must see the people, take the funerals, preach, and make emergency calls. This plan has worked delightfully; it gives each man as many rights as the others; and in addition gives more leisure to the others to i-ead. My idea is to let my associates enter fully into the life of the parish; to visit the rich, and not simply the poor; to let them see me whenever they wish, and make them feel that we are working together. Every Monday moraing my clergy spend a coui^le of hours with me, often more, and during the week they arc in and out of the study all the time. I expect good work, and I get it. Give a man a chance, and if there is anything in him it will show. I do not have any trouble in keeping them. The Deaconess establishment was transferred in 1892 from its temporary quarters in Seventeenth Street to a building which the rector purchased, standing on leased ground, in Sixteenth Street, just opposite the Memorial House. Repairs were made and addi- tional furniture provided by the ladies. The value of trained con- secrated women in the Church's work was coming to be more and more acknowledged. Miss Clara H. Simpson and Miss Hildegarde von Brockdorff were formally admitted by the Bishop of the diocese to the Order of Deaconesses on Sunday, December 4, 1892, and they with Deaconess Forneret comprised the Deaconess House staff. It was an article of belief with Dr. Rainsford that deaconesses are as essential as the junior clergy in the prosecution of the work of a great city parish, and among the tenement houses he regarded them as " the very stay and backbone of all that we do." A prominent parishioner had written to the rector in November, 1892, declaring his intention of leaving St. George's on the ground that the strongly pronounced tendency of Dr. Rainsford's ministry was " a too exclusive attention to what may be called the humani- tarian side of religion." In his kindly answer to his critic Dr. Rainsford said: I agree with you that nothing is more important than the building up, by the Church, of individual holiness of character. But. surely, this in itself is not our only final aim. The individual member exists for the body.^ The body is God's witness to the i;niverse which He governs and fills with His life." Now, in my judgment to-day, the danger to Clnistian people is alto- gether on the side of forgetting the social obligations of the Christian Church. She is His body. His bride, through which He reveals Himself to the whole by wliom He claims His rightful dommion over the whole. I do not think, but I know full well, in tliis our hyperprotestant com- THE KAINSFORD PERIOD 327 munity, the ordinaiy Christian man has not begun to grasp what this means for the Church. His religious life is a thing between himself and God, and there, alas, it ends, and so dies too often of inanition, failing to do its duty to its fellow-man. You gladly admit that we in St. George's are doing all that' we can to present, at least, Christian character and practice to men. This, in my view, is the chief thing to-day. Christ's law obeyed is what men want to see; it is the best way to present the person and work of Christ to a community that can be only saved by these. The foregoing correspondence may serve to call attention to the transfer of emphasis on the part of the rector of St. George's from the old-time idea of individual soul-saving to social salvation as the Church's mission in the world. Both are indeed of primary im- portance, but the new phrase " social salvation " stresses the ap- plication of the saving power of religion to society in a way un- familiar to the older generation. The following passage from The Reminiscences of Bishop Thomas M. Clark, published in 1895, aptly describes this newer application of the Gospel: TVe have extended the range of our work and are now adjusting the mechanism of the Church in order to meet the emergency. We are begin- ning to recognize the fact that the Gospel must be brought to bear directly upon society, as well as the individual— its habits and institutions, its modes of doing business, its politics, its amusements, and even^thing else that pertains to the moral side of our nature. I have tliis moment taken up the Year-book of St. George's Church, New York, and nothing could more strikingly illustrate the change of which I am speaking. The contents of this book would have been a puzzle to the members of old St. George's in Beekman Street, and I am afraid that good Dr. Milnor would have shaken his head somewhat ominously if it had fallen under his inspection. I am sure that he would not, if he had lived to see how the change came about, and what has been the result. These are some of the ' Ecclesiastical Institutions ' carried on under the allspices of our Episcopal Church : ' Gymnasium. Athletic Club, Tennis Club, Literary and Dramatic Clubs, Deaconess' House, Free Circulating Library, Girls' Friendly Society, Industrial Trade School for Boys, Kitchen Garden, King's Daughters, Girls' Missionarj'^ Guild, Employment Societj'^, Mothers' Meetings, Relief Dejmrtment. Seaside Work, Penny Provident Fund, Tee-to-tum and Community House, Women's Baths,' and so on, including many other matters more distinctively churchly and religious. We believe that in recogTiizing these things as pertaininsr to the kingdom of God, we are not only following the example of Christ and obeying His precepts, but we are breaking down the old distinction between the secular and the religious — not by making our religion secular, but by trj'ing to bring all things into conformity with the mind of God. We cannot believe that He is interested only in our Sunday work, our church- going and prayers and sacraments, and has no concern with anything else that pertains to the welfare of the creatures whom He has made." 328 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The plan and spirit of St. George's was to utilize any available instrumentality to bring to bear the Church's influence in the pro- motion of social as well as individual righteousness. So a wide range of civic and of social movements enlisted the rector's ready sympathies and active co-operation. With characteristic energy he threw himself into the forefront of the struggle for the uplift of humanity. He realized that men were turning from relationship to organized Christianity and he would reach out after them into the highways or the tenements and compel them to come in. With many-sided loving interest he sought to draw them to accept the service offered in the name of the divine Man of Men " who went about doing good." He felt that the religious instinct, unsatisfied by the old presentations of religious life and hope, had become sluggish through disuse. It needed spiritual quickening truly, but is ready to respond to loving deeds. The corner-stone of the new choir-room was laid in October, 1892. The growth of the choir had made increased accommodation an im- perative necessity. The vestry bought a strip of the adjoining land and paid $1,280.45 toward the cost of the building, the balance, $2,965, having been collected by the organist and choir-master, W. S. Chester. The new room was heated with steam and lit by electricity, and proved a great convenience and material help in sustaining the high standard of the musical work of the parish. The choir numbered 83 members. The rector said : " No words of mine can be too strong to express my sense of the value of Mr. Chester's services. The spirit and work of our choir leave very little to be desired. ' ' The evening Trade School for boys was a development of the Boys' Club. In the fall of 1892, the house 520 East Eleventh Street was leased, altered, and fitted up for industrial work. The original I)urpose of the boys' club was to get them off the streets and inter- est and amuse them. Gradually trade classes were formed, mainly for recreation ; then the mere recreation came to be a minor feature. During this winter, the trade school grew to 200 members, divided into two departments, main and junior, under competent direction and instruction in drawing, carpentering, and other manual work. A fund of $5,000 was raised for its support, largely collected by the efforts of one interested lady of the congregation. The practical usefulness of the trade school was thus demonstrated and better facilities were before long provided. The Boys' Club, before it was merged into the Trade School, provided only for boys under fifteen years of age. But as only THE RAINSrORD PERIOD 329 boys over eighteen were eligible for the men's club, this left those between fifteen and eighteen years of age, the most critical period in a boy's life, uncared for. Therefore the Battalion Club was organized. There were included in this club three separate de- partments, but closely associated through having one common meet- ing-place. These were the military, the literary and social, and the athletic departments. The boys according to their tastes identified themselves with one or more of these. The management was in the hands of a committee of which one of the clergy was the chair- man. The death of Charles J. Wills, November 28, 1892, was a most serious bereavement to his rector and fellow-laborers for Christ. " He was a man who gave himself to serve his fellows." It was an act of special courage and self-sacrifice to go down as he did to live in Stanton Street to carry on that work. The strain told on his health ; he died at his post, dearly loved by all who knew him and his loss was irreparable. His funeral in the Church was largely attended, not only by the vestry and his fellow-workers but by members of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew even from distant cities who honored his example and had acknowledged his leader- ship ; and people from the sweatshops and others from the Stanton Street neighborhood gathered to pay their last tribute of regard for a man through whom so many had been made better and stronger for the work of life. The care of the Stanton Street Mission now devolved on the Rev. A. H. Locke. The Sunday-school w^as flourishing though sorely pressed for teachers for its five hundred children, and all the other agencies for good were actively in operation. The Tee-to-tum at 153 Essex Street, established in the previous year through the liberality of Mr. R. Fulton Cutting, was working well. The vestry, however, in March, 1894, decided it was wise and best to make over to the bishop of the diocese or to such party as he should desig- nate, the responsibility for the maintenance of the services and work in this mission field, with the understanding that the whole property should be conveyed to the Cathedral Trustees, or other body cor- porate, whenever said corporation is prepared to receive it. The Old Epiphany House thus became the Pro-cathedral and so remained until the vestry authorized the deeding of it, with the Bishop's sanction, in 1903 to the New York Protestant Episcopal City Mission Society; which transfer, however, was not finally effected and re- corded until the spring of 1906. CHAPTER XII THE RAINSFORD PERIOD (1893-1905) With the beginning of 1893, Dr. Rainsford had completed ten years of labor in St. George's Church. During that time vast strides had been made in the number of persons ministered to, the organization of agencies for good, the increase of the real property of the parish, and the growth of the endowment fund. The number of individuals connected with the parish had grown from about 2,000 to 5,472, to which should be added 2,000 in the Stanton Street Mission and 500 in the Avenue A Mission — a total of 7,972 souls. The communicants had increased from 700 to 3,185 at the Church, 1,000 in the Stanton Street Mission, and 200 in Avenue A — a total of 4,385. The baptisms had increased from 99 in the first year of this period to 239 in the last ; confirmations from 119 to 232 ; mar- riages, 34 to 82; burials from 38 to 117. The services had been largely multiplied on week days and Sundays. The number of organizations and activities maintained in the parish house had grown from 10 to 25, and the volunteer workers from 198 to 410. The property had been increased by the addition of the Memorial House, the Seaside Cottage, and the Stanton Street Mission, while a house had been purchased which stood on leased ground in Six- teenth Street for the Deaconesses, and the Avenue A Mission and the Boys' Industrial Trade School occupied rented quarters. The endowment had grown from $80,000 to $268,836.32, the net income from which was very close to $10,000. The total receipts from January 1, 1883, to April, 1884 (fifteen months), were $45,169.35, as compared with the receipts from April, 1892 to 1893 (twelve months) , $118,878.33. A most notable record of parochial progress. The following pen-picture of the Memorial House and its activi- ties, as they existed at that time is taken from the year book of 1894: THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 331 How to cultivate ' Christianity between Sundays ' is the problem that confronts the Church to-day. Every parish must grapple with the dif- ficulty as best it can. The 'Memorial House is St. George's answer to the gi-eat question. It is more — it is a sermon in stone. It shows that what is preached from the pulpit on Sundays is practised by the pew on all the days of the week. Of parish houses the memorial building is one of the earliest, and still one of the best. Other parish buildings are open at cer- tain hours, on certain days, and are closed at other times. But the me- morial house is always open. From seven in the morning till eleven at night the doors are wide open, not one or two days in the week, but all the days not for ten months, but for every month, holidays and holy days included. It is a house of many rooms. The briefest and fairest statement is that all the rooms are always in use. Of course this is not literally true. The room must be cleaned, meetings do end, and workers do depart, but it is safe to say that every room in the building is in use at least once every day of the week. John Wesley described the ideal Church as that in which * the members were at work, all at work, always at work.' Apply the rule to a building, and say that the best Church-house is that in which the rooms are in use, all in use, and always in use, and you describe the Memorial House of St. George's. The building stands behind the church physically and educationally. The children enter the Sunday-school, grow up, and grow out into societies which still keep them, if not in the Church, at least in touch with it and under its influence. The boys enter the Battalion — a military, social, and literary society, and in due time gTaduate therefrom into the Men's Club. The girls when old enough become members of the King's Daughters, or of the Girls' Friendlj- Society. There is something for everybody in the Memorial House. The child of three and the man of sixty find a home therein, with helps for head and heart and hand. This will appear from a description of the rooms, but it must be remembered that each room in its time plays many parts; the class-room of to-day is the work-room of to-morrow, the office of the morning becomes the parlor of the evening, A dance may be going on in one room, a religious service in another, and a stereopticon exhibition in a third. As various as the life of man is the use of the Memorial House. The House is arranged with a view to utility. The gi'ound floor is for the practical affairs of the Parish, the reception of visitors, and of ap- plicants for aid, the arranging of work, and the distribution of food and clothes. The topmost floor is the parlor of the building. Here the large receptions are held, here the clergy live and entertain their friends and co- workers. The building has two entrances — one admitting to the women's side of the house, the other to the men's side, which is also for the people generally. The women's side leads up only two flights of stairs; the men's goes up to the top of the building. On tliis side the elevator runs up and down constantly. By this arrangement the girls and women may keep quite to themselves in going out and in, and the men are equally free. The advantage of tliis division of a public building will readily appear to one who considers that four or five hundred people of all ages, of both sexes, often enter in a half-hour. Three rooms in the basement are occupied by the Battalion, a boys' 332 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH club, for elnb-rooms and an armory. The rest of the basement is occupied by the engine and the electrie-liglit plant and their appurtenances. The gi'ound floor contains eight large rooms. On Sunday morning these are used for the Primary Classes of the Sunday-school. Later in the day they are occupied by other societies — the Chinese Sunday-school, Young People's Bible Classes, and the like. A large and elegantly furnislied room on this floor is the proper home of St. George's Chapter of the Brother- hood of St. Andrew. Another room is the office of the Deaconesses, adjoining which are rooms for groceries and for clothes. These rooms are used three nights in the week and on Sunday afternoons for the Free Circulating Library of the Parish. Other rooms are occupied by the Girls' Friendly Society, and the largest room of all is devoted to the work of the Employment Society in the morning and the Kitchen Garden in the afternoon, and miscellaneous entertainments in the evening. Tliis floor is used for various classes and meetings besides those enumerated, and the same is true of almost every room in the building. The second floor is occupied by the Chapel and Main Sunday-school, with sejiarated Bible Class-rooms adjoining. On week days the large auditorium sei'\'es for the meetings of the King's Daughters, the Industrial School, and general entertainments. The Parish vestry-room and oflice of the Sunday-school are situated on this floor also, while off the west gallery of the Chapel are placed the club-rooms of the Girls' Friendly. The Men's Club and Gymnasium cover almost the entire foui'th floor. Three rooms are devoted exclusively to the use of the club; a library and writing-room, wliere quiet reading or study may be done ; a main reception- room, which is given over to general conversation and amusements, and a billiard-room. Back of the club is the gymnasium, with dressing-rooms and shower-bath adjoining, while at one side is the home of the sexton. The floor above this is used as the Clergy House, and consists of a large drawing-room at the center of ten rooms which are the private apartments of those in residence. A dining-room and kitchen occupy the west wing. The attic of the building serves the purpose of a band-room for the Bat- talion. After all, the Memorial House is not a thing to be described, but to be seen. Wise men tell us that life is indefinable. Well, this building is alive. It looks like nothing so much as a big hive. So it has been de- scribed, and the name fits it. In the spring of 1892, Dr. Rainsford first he^an to speak upon the Drink Problem and the Saloon Question. His views upon the subject were clean-cut and forcibly expressed, but by many he was persistently misunderstood and by some misrepresented. In the May number of the North American Revieiv he contributed an arti- cle under the caption " Possible Reformation of the Drink Traffic, "^ to which he invited criticism. He pointed out in this article the extreme difficulty of reforming the traffic, especially in large cities^ on account of the enemies of reform who were both many and mighty. The professional politician is bound up with the traffic in many ways. Some of the methods of attempting temperance THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 333 reform he could not approve. He recognized the fact that well- conducted coffee-houses, tee-to-tums, and the like do good, and had no doubt that by multiplying such resorts something could be ac- complished; but these expedients will not touch the case of those who insist upon having alcohol in one shape or another. He would not stand for allowing liberty in this matter to the rich in their social clubs, while denying to the wage-earner the same liberty in the only substitute for the club open to him, the corner saloon. The present saloon indeed embodies, as all know, the worst features of the liquor trade. It is contrived to push the sale of drink, and until people realize that the real root of the worst evils of the liquor traffic is to be found in the personal profit made out of the trade little real reform will be accomplished, but " sooner or later it will become evident that it is in the highest degree unwise and inex- pedient to leave the sale of alcohol in private hands, to permit its manufacture and distribution to be a matter of private enterprise. Some such regulative system as that adopted in Sweden and Norway, where within fifteen years the total sales of spirits has been reduced by one-half, or some improvement on that system, will be adopted here." The impetus for the improvement of the saloon he thought must come from the members of the Christian Church. The Churches as such cannot go into the liquor business nor in fact deal officially with many social problems, but they can furnish concrete examples of what can be done. The process by which the voluntary kindergarten paved the way for the incorporation of the kindergarten system into the public schools illustrates how this might be accomplished. Saloons can be established and conducted which should serve as models. " The Public house that the people need," he wrote, "is no mere dram-shop, but a commodious meet- ing-place, a club-house. It must provide amusement, music cer- tainly. It needs no standing bar. Its food supply must be plenti- ful, cheap, varied, and well cooked. Milk, coffee, and tea must be as much its staple trade as beer, wines, and in some cases perhaps spirits. It should be a directly business concern, with no savor of crankdom or religion about it." The New York Times of January 29th contained this comment: Such a saloon as Dr. Rainsford has in mind would be a benefaction to its neighborhood, and would resemble the German family resort rather than the American bar, which is \-isibly superseding the family resort, even in the German quarters of the town. There is no reason 'why Dr. Rainsford's clerical brethren should not join him in his efforts to procure the establishment of such places, nor why rich and generous laymen should 334 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH not make their efforts practicable. Certainly such a movement would do more for ' temperance reform ' than all the prohibitionists have succeeded in accomplishing. Until some proper substitute for the saloon could be offered, Dr. Eainsford was not in favor of sweeping away the drinking-places. " I would not do it if I could by the raising of my hand. The drunkard is made by his environment. It is hard enough for people who have good surroundings to keep straight. How much harder it is for those who have the wretched surroundings of the poor! No, the labor must be to better men's conditions; to give them better modes of relaxation before we take away those they have, bad as they are. ' ' Not only did some people think that the rector of St. George's intended to open a saloon, but he was in receipt of letters from business men asking him to talk the matter over with them as a business proposition. The following condensation of his views upon some aspects of this subject is given from an article appearing in St. George's Chronicle in February, 1893 : He was not in sympathy with present methods of rescue work, which he regarded as unintelligent and the results altogether unsatisfactorv\ And this because the drunkard is apjiroaehed almost entirely on the emotional side of his nature in the religious meeting which he is induced to attend. He responds to some earnest appeal, pities himself, repeats his wretched story, and the real man in him becomes weaker and less able to grapple with his foe. Nor do those who regard the drunkard as a criminal recog- nize the real needs in the case any better than the emotionalists. They ignore heredity and do not allow enough for environment, and while con- stantly asserting that drink makes misery they forget that misery too makes drink. Bringing the drunkard under the ban of the law will not reform him. Prohibition is a well-meant crime, a conspiracy in the interests of man against manhood. High license is only a break on the wheel of the runaway coach. You must get at the horses' heads, if you would avoid the ditch. What are coffee-houses— the best, most practical efforts, per- haps, made by temperance folks'? Excellent things, in every way, if you only want coffee. But are we fools and blind enough to believe that we can suddenly eradicate an almost universal desire for alcohol, meet and overcome it with the presentation of an occasional coffee-house? No, our treatment has to be much more radical than this. What, then, may be attempted? What direction shall we best, most hopefully give to our efforts? Briefly, I reply in the use of a simile. The drink trade, at present a curse, a blight, a pestilence, must be inoculated. We must inoculate the bad saloons with the better saloons. One of the most wonderful discoveries of hum^an genius was that like cured like. At first men laughed ; at last they believed. Like cured like, sang its gospel, and smallpox almost vanished from the face of the earth; and with this THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 335 knowledge science to-day is assailing hydrophobia, consumption, and even cholera. Let us inoculate the drink ti'ade. We may hope, perhaps, in time to win a purely scientific aid in some measure to offset the tragic facts of heredity. But however science may be able to aid us in this gTeat contest, it must always, it seems to me, mainly be a moral one. We can- not hope to win moral victories by inmioral means. We cannot hope to help men to live true, self-respecting lives, by restricting their freedom, by plotting against their manhood. Perhaps no community ever stood so greatly in need of places of social intercourse as our own. Drink has claimed and holds these places. The social instinct draws them to the saloon, there di'ink lies in wait to destroy them. What they must have are better provisions for social needs. It is folly to attack the saloon till you provide a substitute — we can only oust the bad club by bringing in a good. People in New York cannot and will not do without saloons. In- oculate these places. Put on the market a saloon roomy instead of cramped; with small bar, instead of all bar; with tables, clean food, cheap, wholesome, non-intoxicating drinks, at cost jDrice, or near it — good beer, wine, all of the purest, at prices that will pay a large profit. Do all you can to stimulate the sale of the lighter and healthier, and I'etard that of the worst sort of drink. In short, bring to compete with the present gin-mill, a model saloon, where a man is not ashamed to bring his wife and children, and where things beautiful and clean and of good report distinctively predominate. Dr. Kainsford was in favor of permitting the saloon to be open, during certain hours on Sunday. A mass-meeting to favor the pas- sage of a law to legalize such opening was held in Cooper Union, March 14, 1895, at which the rector of St. George's made an able and courageous speech, in which he argued that it would diminish law-breaking, would be fairer to the poor man and the working classes, since the present system practically discriminates between the rich and poor, would tend to diminish drunkenness by doing away with drinking in the tenement houses, and would do much to take the saloon out of politics by making blackmail more difficult. This is in substance what he said : First, I believe that the opening of saloons for certain hours on Sunday would diminish lawbreaking. There are two sorts of bad laws, those that in themselves are bad and \dcious, and we all know what they are, every blessed one of us, and there are laws that in themselves are good but yet do not express the settled moral convictions of the people. They are not backed by public conscience. Their aim may be excellent, yet their prac- tical result is that they defeat the aims of those who framed and enacted them. Great masses of people will not obey laws that do not approve themselves to them. They may not be harsh and unjust laws; but if the settled conviction of the people is that they are harsh and unjust, it will be impossible to have them obeyed. Now, in this city of New York we have just this situation. This city is not an American city only. It is a cosmopolitan city. It is Irish, 336 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH German, Italian, and people of these nationalities, however good citizens they are, believe that the law closing the saloons on Sunday is a harsh law; a law imposed on them from the outside; a piece of Albanyism; and so they evade it. I do not say that this is true of Irish or Germans alone; it is also true of a large proportion of our American population. The net result is that we are treated to the admitted shame and fraud of a pretended closing of the saloons. The policemen wink, the blinds are drawn down, men, and sometimes women and children, slink in at back- doors and out of half-closed doors, and the whole city receives a lesson as to the low regard which a multitude of its citizens and its officials have of the law the latter are sworn to enforce. I tliink that perhaps the greatest danger confronting us to-day as a Nation is the low conception that a great many of our people have of the law. We cannot be truly civilized, we cannot develop in any of those things that make for true greatness and progress, as long as our regard for law is as shamefully light as it is now. This applies to all sections of the community, the richest as well as the poorest; and I say again, with all the emphasis of which I am capable, that to raise our National conception of the righteousness of law we must be careful that our laws express the moral convictions of the people and do not go beyond them or yet lag behind them. Again, I am in favor of opening the saloon on Sunday, because I think such action fairer to the poor man and the working classes. It is a fact which we must face — a sad fact, perhaps, but nevertheless true — that the saloon is the only club the poor man has. The conditions of life in tliis city make that the fact, and I say, in all sincerity, we have no right to close the only club he has until we give him another. Let me not be misunderstood here. I do not want to encourage drunkenness, not even to encourage moderate drinking. I am a total abstainer myself. Per- sonally, I believe the vast majority of men in eveiy way are healthier and richer and happier for not touching any alcohol. I have tried both jjlans myself. I was once a moderate drinker. My experience agrees with that of the great majority of those who have tried it. Men are better in every way for not touching liquor at all. But this is beside the question. I may convince m,y neighbor of this truth; I cannot force him to it. I may bring him, literally, to the water, but I cannot make him drink; and I help him to be reasonable by treating him reasonably. Now, the poor man does not go to the saloon simply to drink or to smoke. He goes to meet his friends, and he has got to go there to meet his friends, for he has no home in which they can meet him. His tenement is too crowded, and there is too much going on in it. Now, you have no right to close up the working-man's club on Sunday. If you do, you should close the gentle- man's club too. I wish we were in a position to do without opening saloons on Sunday. But what I contend is that in the present crowded state of our great city it is impossible. We must give the working people the opportunity for the development of their social instincts. For a third reason I am in favor of opening saloons on Sunday. I believe it would directly tend to diminish drunkenness. In a city of two millions, if people want to get liquor, they will get liquor. If they have got to send their children on Saturday night and store it in their tenement- THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 337 houses so that they may have a soak and booze on Sunday, the family may be temijted to join ; more than that, the present method of pretending to close the saloons and keeping them open tends to make drunkenness, because once a man gets in a saloon he is apt to anchor there. He won't go in simply to take a drink, but, having found comfortable quarters, he settles down for the whole day, and is apt to come out drunken. For a fourth reason, too, I advocate opening the saloons on Sunday. I believe such a law would do much to take the saloon out of politics. The present law affords every opportunity of blackmail, and any legis- lation which makes blackmail more diihcult is beneficial. Since you liave asked me to speak to you here, before I sit down you will allow me to say, with the utmost frankness, that I believe all the presently proj^osed excise laws are quite madequate. None of them fully faces the difliculty. None of them goes to the root of the matter. More than that; in this whole matter we are behindhand — behind the rest of the world. Those who have studied this tremendous question of excise legis- lation are almost unanimously of the opinion that the real root of the matter is private profit in the drink trade. Sooner or later, it seems to me, good citizens, whether they are teetotalers or moderate drinkers, will combine to take a trade that, at least in this country, must always be fraught with great danger to the commvmity, out of the hands of private citizens altogether. Drink makes criminals. Drink increases enormously the expenses of the municipality and the State. And the profit derived from drink, the untold millions of profit made by the brewer, distiller, and saloon-keeper, should not go to them at all, but should go directly into the treasury of the city and the State. This is unpopular doctrine now, but the time surely will come when men will see the necessity of obeying it, and, let it cost what it may, will gird themselves to accomplish even so great a task. We will become Socialists on the question, I am a Socialist on it, and I admit it. Dr. Rainsford's deep interest in the matter of improved con- ditions for the working-man led him to sympathize most heartily with the canse of tenement-house reform. Under the auspices of the Social Reform Club, a mass-meeting was held in Cooper Union, Janaary 30, 1895, at which the chairman of the Tenement-house Committee, Richard Watson Gilder, delivered a carefully prepared address followed by Dr. Rainsford, who said in part : We want to stand back of the Tenement-House Committee. The trouble is, we haven't trusted enough in each other. We want trust based on a conception of what is right. The reason why tenement-house reform is so important is that the burden of rent comes so heavily on those who are least able to bear it. It is unjust to lay the heaviest burdens on the weakest shoulders. I want to lift my voice and plead for the consideration by the community at large of the danger of driving people to despair. There is danger to any society which has within its borders a large number of citizens wlio are being driven to despair by the burden of poverty. It is not much help to a man to give him alms. He wants a chance to hold up liis head and earn his own living. It costs as much to keep one tiger as ten horses, and we have had too much of the tiger lately. We want 338 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH the support of the public foi* the work of the Tenement-House Committee. The reforms suggested by the committee will not avail without the support of public opinion. The Reform Advocate of April, 1891, says: The April number of The Forum contains under the caption ' What can we do for the Poor?' a strong jilea for concerted action on the part of New York Churches to combat the quickened lapse into paupei'ism of the tenement population of the eastern metropolis. The pleader. Dr. Rainsford, evidently is not satisfied with the unsystematic efforts of the existing organizations; he is a sturdy defender of the Church's right to take upon itself the work, which is now left almost exclusively in the hands of ethical societies. Not all are agreed with him in this. He himself quotes a prominent divine who protests that aims of this character are not within the domain of the church. . . . The Inter-Ocean of March, 1891, says in the same strain : . , . For the purpose of sustaining the part of his indictment referring to church organization, Dr. Rainsford quotes from a clergyman, whom most 23eople will readily recognize as Dr. Dix, of Trinity Church, New York, who evidently thinks that the proper mission of Christianity is to prepare men for a higher spiritual existence in the world to come. He says : ' The Church was not founded with the direct view to moi'al culture, class elevation, etc. I have no confidence in the judgment or wisdom of those who tell us that the Church must try to reach the masses, purify polities, and elevate the laboring classes.' Dr. Rainsford, on the contrary, dwells exclusively upon the Churchly and Christian side of the social problem and thinks that the betterment of the masses can only be effected by leavening their minds with the spii'it of true religion. Imbued with this feeling and doubtless wedded to it also, he states that the duty ' belongs not to ethical societies but to the Christian church,' and he advocates a union of the various denominations with the view of encouraging a com- pleteness of effort and harmonv of action in rejDressing the common enemy of all. The rector was requested by the vestry April 2, 1894, to call the attention of the congregation to the fact of a deficiency of $5,600 in the current revenue and to appoint a special collection to meet it on the following Sunday. To prevent undue crowding of the building at public services, the wardens were instructed to cause the church gates to be closed, when in their judgment it should become at any time advisable, and the property committee was directed to cause these gates to open outwardly. Repairs to the towers of the church were authorized at a cost not to exceed $1,500. A copy of the elegant special edition of the Standard Book of Common Prayer of 1892 was presented to the Church by Mr. J. P. Morgan and accepted with the thanks of the vestry. It may be THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 339 fitly mentioned that the Church at large is indebted to the same generous giver for the cost of this entire edition. The sexton of the church, Richard Hanlon, who had held that position for eight years, died July 10, 1894. This was the rector's tribute to him: Mr. Hanlon was not simply an efficient official, he was a warm-hearted and generous friend, and bis strong, manly personality was an influence always making for good among that great band of young people tbat daily flocked in and oat of the parisb bouse of wbicb he had charge. A good man and a true, faithful in the discbarge of bis office, and wonder- fully patient toward all men — we miss him greatly. Under the will of Elizabeth R. Henderson, St. George's Church received in the settlement of her estate $32,397 for the Endowment Fund of the Church, for the Deaconess Fund $3,239.70, and $3,239.70 for the Woman's Auxiliary, the income thereof to be applied to Foreign Missions. At the meeting at which it was reported that these sums had been paid to the treasurer, March 11, 1895, plans were considered for erecting on the Third Avenue property, held as part of the endow- ment, a modern apartment-house to replace the three small build- ings then upon it. The property committee at the next meeting was directed to let contracts for the proposed construction, which con- tracts called for an expenditure of $34,377.04. The building was commenced May 1, 1895, and completed in February of the follow- ing year at an actual cost of $41,516.77. The total of the endowment fund of the Church as it stood March 31, 1895, was $316,043; of the deaconess house $4,457.90; the net income of the Church endowment, after deducting charges against real estate, being $12,081.92. A beloved and honored member of the vestry, Mr. William H. Schieffelin, departed this life in the fifty-ninth year of his age iu June, 1895, and the vestry placed on its records the .following minute : In the winter of 1883 Mr. Schieffelin became interested in St. George's Church and was elected to its vestry, to which body he has been re-elected annually till the year of his death. From his first connection with the parish he brought to its sei-vice an enthusiastic whole-heartness which was of untold value in developing its resuscitated life. At the request of the rector, Mr. Schieffelin undertook perhaps as difficult and certainly as thankless a task as could fall to the lot of any, namely, the seating of the congregations under the untried free-pew system. With patience, gentleness, unflagging attention, and Christian tact he dischai'ged his duty, Sunday by Sunday, year by year, till quite recently failing in health made it impossible to do so any longer. 340 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Important as was this undertaking, lie served St. George's in other ways. Though his healtli was j^recarious and he suffered constantly, he visited weekly the various parish activities. He made time to mix with the young people, and personally to know scores of the poorer members of the Church. His outstretched hand and welcoming smile will be sadly missed by these. Rector, wardens, and vestrymen, we honor his memory and mourn his loss. The programme of the convention of St. Andrew's Brotherhood in 1895 included an address on Christian Unity by the Rev. Dr. Charles A. Briggs, a professor in Union Theological Seminary, at that time a Presbyterian minister and not as now a respected presbyter of our own Church. Objections to his appearance on that platform on the ground of theological views, held by or at- tributed to him, being urged upon the attention of the Council of the Brotherhood, one critic going so far as to write : ' ' Dr. Briggs is not a fitting person to address the Brotherhood of St. Andrew upon any question whatever," the Council withdrew the topic from the programme. This action called forth the following vigorous and manly protest from Dr. Rainsford and the St. George 's Chapter of the Brotherhood: To the Editor of ' The Churchman' : Will you kindly allow me sj^ace in The Churchman to add my pro- test to that already entered by Dr. Van De Water against the action of the Council of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew in withdrawing from the Louisville programme the topic of ' Church Unity ' ? Once the subject had been decided on and printed, once Dr. Briggs had been asked to speak, the Brotherhood was, in my judgment, bound to stick to its guns. If a body as widely representative as the Brotherhood of St. Andrew has been and should be is to trim its sails at the bidding of evei^yf chance protest or protestor, then, indeed, shall that body have abandoned the broad and eomi^rehensive platform on which they have wrought such good work. The Brotherhood should be as wide as our Church. The teachings of Dr. Briggs are not contrary to the teachings of the historic Church. His critical conclusions are only those arrived at by men of unquestioned orthodoxy and undoubted learning in the Catholic Church. By a veiy large number of the ablest clergy in his own communion he is sustained. Surely the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, having asked such a man to address its convention, was guilty of something worse than a blunder in withdrawing that invitation. I could not have believed the council capable of such a step. No doubt they have taken it, feeling deeply the responsibility resting on them to promote, so far as they may, the actual unity of the Church; but unity will never be won by narrowing the platform on which they who hail Jesus Chiist as Lord are to stand. I as well as the officers and members of St. George's chapter of the THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 341 Brotherhood must beg to enter our protest against this action of the General Council. We cannot believe that the Brotherhood is unitedly in favor of this step, which it seems to us was a step backward; and to emphasize our protest, no deputation from St. George's will this year attend the convention at Louisville. W. S. Rainspoed. St. George's Rectory, Sept. IStli, 1695. The Legislature of the State in 1895 enacted a new law affecting corporations of the Protestant Episcopal Church, making it per- missible for an existing corporation to adopt, if it chose, specified provisions of the new law. Acting under this statutory permission, the vestry in November of that year adopted these recommendations, to be presented for action thereon at the annual meeting of the corporation in the following spring: First. — That the date of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation of St. George's Church in the City of New York be changed to Tuesday in the week beginning Avith the first Sunday in Advent of each year. Second. — That the number of Vestrymen be changed to nine. Third. — That the manner of electing Churchwardens and Vestrymen, and the terms of ofifiee of Churchwardens and Vestiymen shall be changed as provided for in Section 35 of Chapter No. 723 of the Laws of the State of New York for the year 1895, so that at the next annual election one Churchwarden shall be elected to hold office for one year, and one to hold office for two years; and one-third of the number of vestrymen de- termined on shall be elected to hold office for three years, one-thu'd thereof to hold office for two years, and one-third thereof to hold office for one year; and, thereafter, at the annual meetings of the Parish, there shall be elected one-third of the number of Vestrymen determined on and one Churchwarden. Fourth. — That the qualifications of voters and the qualifications of Churchwardens and Vestrymen be changed to the requirements of Section 30 of Chapter 723 of the Laws of the State of New York for the year 1895, viz. : That the qualifications of voters at any meeting of the Cor- poration be changed so that men of full age who have been regular at- tendants at the worship of the congi-egation or parish of St. George's Church, and contributors to the support thereof, for one year prior to such meetmg, shali be qualified ; and that the qualifications for Churchwardens and Vesti'ynien shall be changed so that no person shall be eligible for election as Churchwarden unless he be a qualified voter as aforesaid and a communicant in the Protestant Episcopal Chmch; and that no person shall be eligible for election as Vestryman unless he shall be a duly qualified voter as aforesaid and shall have been baptized. At the annual meeting which was held on Tuesday in Easter week, March 7, 1896, the recommendations of the vestry were unanimously adopted and the required legal certificate of such action thereupon signed. The vestry elected at this meeting therefore held office only 342 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH until the following December 1st, at which date J. Pierpont Morgan was elected warden for the two-year terra and J. Noble Stearns for one year. The vestrymen elected for the three-year term were R. Fulton Cutting, William Foulke, and W. Jay Schieffelin; for the two-year term Frederic H. Betts, Seth Low, and H, H. Pike; for the one-year term Wager Swayne, Henry W. Munroe, and John Seely Ward, Jr. Mr. Charles Edward Tracy, a Vestryman from 1885 to 1896, died at Colorado Springs on the 22d day of January, 1896. In recog- nition of Mr. Tracy's connection with the Church and his services thereto, the vestry directed the entry of the following minute upon their records: Mr. Tracy became a member of the vestry on the decease of his eminent father, Charles Tracy, who for a long term of years had been a vestry- man, and subsequently senior warden. Coming as he did, to office under such circumstances, he brought to the fulfilment of its duties an inherited affection for the Church, and immediately evinced a warm personal interest in its welfare and a spirit of conscientious devotion to its claims upon his time and talents. For several years he took charge of one of the most laborious and important departments of the church work — the system of envelope collections, with its attendant records, and cheerfully met the large demand for time, patience, and energy required for its successful management. In many important matters he was the legal adviser of the Church and his wise counsels and cordial co-operation in times of difficulty will ever be remembered and appreciated by his associates. His character and conduct commands our affectionate regard, and this minute records our sense of loss by his death. The Avenue A Mission, after a most useful life of thirteen years, had to be given up through lack of funds. The rector wrote in 1896: It cost twenty-six hundred dollars a year to keep it up. We could not raise the money; it had therefore to be abandoned. The children we will ti'v and secure in the upper school. Many of the poor peoi:)le will wor- ship in the beautiful place which Grace Church has erected three blocks away; and, as far as we can, we will assist the Grace Church clergy with the names of these. Never has the Sunday-school been in so flourishing a condition, never has the Helping Hand been able to j^resent so good a report, never has the Sunday-night service been better attended or given more unmistakable proofs of usefulness. The closing of the Mission, owing to lack of funds, will mean the loss, felt keenly by a large number of our East Side people, of the Sunday-evening service. The organizations mentioned above, including the kindergarten, wliich has met daily in the Mission rooms, will be transferred to the Memorial Building. Also there will be held on Wednesday evenings in the churcli, a service modeled on the week-night services held at the Mission by the St. Andrew's Brother- hood. THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 343 This service, transplanted to the Church, was short, bright, inter- esting, and devotional. It took the place of the old Bible Class which had met on that evening and was so well attended as to give promise of continuance as a permanent institution. The effort to increase the Church endowment had proved so successful that during the five years ending March 31, 1896, $162,948.02 had been received, and the endowment at that date stood at the handsome figure of $348,231.27, of which the income lor the year had been $13,325.28. There was also a Deaconess House endowment of $4,647.90, and a Foreign Mission endowment of the St. George's Branch Woman's Auxiliary amounting to $3,239.70. During the summer of this year, the parochial statistics were carefully compiled with the following result : Number of persons on our books not returned as baptized, though prob- ably baptized in other Christian bodies, 1,435; number of baptized persons on our books, 1,572; number of communicants on our books, 3,683. — Total number of individuals (males, .3,337; females, 3,353) 6,690. Of these there were reported as living in tenement-houses 4,484; in boarding-houses, 791; in flats, apartments, and hotels, 744; in private houses, 487; out of town, 107; unclassified, 77. — Total, 6,690. Those connected with the various departments of St. George's work were classified as follows : Sunday-school, 2,194 ; former members of Avenue A School now transferred to St. George's, 280; Chinese Sunday-school (not including 24 teachers), 40; Sewing-school, 286; Girls' Friendly So- cietv, 543; King's Daughters, 502; Battalion, 230; Men's Club, 398; Athletic Club, 136; Evening Trade School for Boys, 266; Choir, 75; Brotherhood, 63; Woman's Missionary Association, 75; District Visitors, 44; Guild and Employment Society (committee) 25, (women employed yearly) 40; Helping Hand (committee) 24, (women) 126; Mothers' Meeting, 219; library (free) used by 450; number of books to select from, 4,000; Seaside Work- — guests for a week, 551; excursionists for a day, 11,178. Most of these departments are supported by our two parish mission collections, second Sundays in March and November. The annual amount needed is about $14,000. In the fall of 1896, several letters addressed to the Board of Health of the city objected to the " tolling of the beUs of St. George's." This occasioned letters from the neighbors to the rector begging that the ringing might not be discontinued. The follow- ing appeared in the columns of The Sun: To the Editor of 'The Sim': Sir : As there is much complaint against what are called the ' bells * of St. George's Church, Stuyvesant Square, will you kindly print the sentiments of a property owner, who lives not only within the sound of 344 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH the bell (for there is only one), but of the organ of St. George's. Those wlio know me know that I am a particularly fidgety old fellow, so that if I can stand a thing any one ought to stand it. At night, if I lie awake, that mellow bell tells me the hour, but never disturbs me; and on Sunday morning, if I lie abed to read the book reviews in the Sunday Sun, there is nothing so soothing to me as the tone of the bell wliieh calls other folks to church. Indeed, if this agitation should succeed in silencing the bell of St. George's, I think I must apply to the courts for a madamus to have it ring on. Civilized people throughout Christendom accepts the sound of church bells not as noise but as music, and there is no other common tiling more fraught with poetry and sentiment; things for which we would be better if we had more. When the poet Cowper wished to describe the savage desolation of Alexander Selkirk, cast away on a desert island, he wrote: ' The sound of the church going bell These valleys and rocks never heard. Never sighed at the sound of a knell, Or smiled when the Sabbath appeared.' Frederick Keppel. SUiyvesant Sqxiare, Dec. 6th. The rector called a meeting on March 29, 1897, of all those actively- engaged in the parochial organizations, at which 350 w^ere present. Three minute reports were read by the heads of each organization. The object of the meeting, which it was intended to make annual, was to afford to those engaged in each department some knowledge of what was being done in others, thus to secure that better under- standing of and sympathy with each other's work which would secure more satisfactory and permanent results. Another means of unifying the interests of all had been devised in a new system of finance by which the treasurer of the Church had been made banker lor the treasurers of all the various parochial societies. These made deposits with the treasurer of the Church and drew by check, upon occasion, against their several accounts. This plan resulted in a fuller general treasury and a more systematic keeping of society accounts. In the political campaign of 1897, the rector of St. George's and its leading parishioners were enlisted in the Citizens' Union for the purification of municipal politics. Seven years before, the rector had felt it to be his privilege and duty to enlist the interest of the young men of the congregation in the promotion of this end and addressed a letter to them in which he said : Dear Fellow Workers: We have banded ourselves together in prayer, to help, wherever we see it, the good, and oppose the evil. It seems to me, that, though we may differ widely on many political questions, we would THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 345 do well to remember that the government of our great city is really not a question of politics, but of business; not whether we shall help forward a Democratic or Republican party, but whether we shall, or shall not, have bonestj-, purity, good government, and respect for law, in our midst. Under political rule our city's government has become a disgrace. The political organization that has controlled it, and threatens to continue that control, is manifestly corrui)t. Let us do what we can to support the movement instituted by wise men and honest. Let us collectively and individually do what we can to induce all our friends to vote for the candidates put forward by the People's Municipal Leagaie. Let us make a beginning now by seeing that they register. In the spring of 1897, the prospect was encouraging for the suc- cess of the principles and candidates of the Citizens' Union. In one of the daily papers appeared the statement: " Dr. Rainsford's declaration in favor of the Citizens' Union will give great strength to the movement. He is popular among the wage-workers, and they have confidence in him. His advice to them will be worth more than would be the work of dozens of ward politicians." A number of the vestry of St. George's were important factors in this municipal campaign. Seth Low the candidate for Mayor, R. Fulton Cutting chairman of the Citizens' Union, William Jay Schieffelin member of its executive committee, Frederic H. Betts and J. Pierpont Morgan, members of the organization committee. Besides these members of the vestry other prominent members of the congrega- tion were lending their names and interest to the movement, among whom were General Wager Swayne, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, James B. Reynolds, and William Potts. Dr. Rainsford himself said : * * I think it is reasonable to be confident that the independent move- ment will win. I have faith in the good sense of a majority of the people. I think they realize that it is time to abandon partisanship m municipal affairs. In any event, if we do not win this year, we will in years to come, and I want to be one of those to help start the movement promising so much for New York's future govern- ment." His prediction was realized and the independent movement won. A unique and significant occasion was the reunion of the clergy who had served St. George's as assistants under Dr. Rainsford. Out of the twenty-two who had been members of the staff during the fifteen years nineteen were present at the dinner in the Memorial House on Wednesday, January 26, 1898. Dr. Lindsay Parker pre- sided, and each man gave expression to his esteem for Dr. Rainsford as he testified what his service in St. George's had meant to him and what he had gained from association with its rector. A loving- 346 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH cup was presented to Dr. Rainsford, with the following inscription and the twenty-two names of the assistants engraved upon it : William S. Rainsford, D.D., Rector of St. George's C'hureh, New York, January First, 1883. This oup is a token of the affection and high regard of those who have laboured under him and have been inspired by him during the past fifteen years, given at a reunion of his assistants held on January 26th, 1898. The parish of Trinity Church celebrated its bicentennial anni- versary in May, 1898, with an octave of services. The rector of St. George's was among those invited to speak and his address was delivered at the noonday service on Tuesday, May 4th. He spoke as the " rector of Trinity's eldest child," and, after giving a brief sketch of the early history of St. George 's, he said : The unique position of the Episcopal Church, to-day, in our metropolitan city, is due to Trinity Church, due to the wise policy, first, of those en- dowing her; and, second, of those who wisely conserved that endowment. There are many, I know, to-day, found willing to eark at and condemn the accumulation of such large property as that which Trinity Church possesses within the control of one corporation. There is a heedless, im- thinking jealousy often abroad, which if it could have its way, would break up and divide those resources which have enabled our mother church to do as she has done. I think there can be no doubt whatever that the centralization of endowment in Trinity Church has been, under the blessing of God, good for the Church of C'hrist in this city and state at large. Let me point out further another advantage which has been gained for the community by the bulk of the church's endowment remaining with the mother church. This, and nothing less than this, call it the centralization of ecclesiastical wealth, if you like, has checked what all thoughtful men must a.gree in believing to be the fatal up-town movement of the churches. Can any one, looking over the needs of this great city of ours, be for one moment in doubt where the gi-eatest, where the most difficult, task of the Church lies? Our great parish churches, our beautiful buildings, our most stately services, must be given to those who need them most. It is the poor, the spiritually neglected, who have the first claim on them, if we hold ourselves to be trustees for Jesus Christ. Here at the head of Wall Street you have spent — where, God grant you may continue to spend — your chief energies. Here and in the great district lying south of the 20th streets, suitable churches cannot be maintained, if their maintenance entirely depends on the almsgiving of those who attend their sendees. Large endowments must be at hand to supplement those gifts, however willingly, however generously, we may always expect they may be given. Hundreds of thousands of people who cannot pay for decent sleeping ac- commodations, certainly cannot be expected to j)ay those large sums, which, in our crowded city, are necessary to maintain the spacious house of God with its beauty of worship. Hundreds of thousands of lives bound in, bound down by an environment sordid and debasing — it is these that need a eliureh worship, large, beautiful, statelv, using wisely all the gTacious THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 347 accessories of life, which their straitened means deny to them. The great churches of the future should rise among the needy and the toiling people. The strong forces of God should be placed where all evil things abound. The best preaching, the most beautiful services, the most inspiring music — let them rise, let them sound, let them be seen where life is most weary and overpressed. In the fifteen years in which it has been my fortunate lot to live in this city and minister to some of its people, I have seen over 110,000 people move into the town below Fourteenth Street, and I have seen nineteen Protestant churches move out. I carmot conceive of any change in, any abatement of, this movement; a movement, which I beg to think all thoughtful Christian men can agi'ee in denouncing as the ignorant, mi- christian and fatal retreat of the churches from the poor, the leaving of the poor to follow the well-to-do. It is a sin against the community, it is a danger, it is a foUy as well as a weakness. Of that, one day, I am very sure that all will be convinced. But what is to be done meanwhile? How shall we arrange our forces till that better day dawn, when the Cliristian intelligence of the community will be so aroused that wise and godly men will so arrange the Church's forces, that the strongest regiments and the best equipped organizations shall be set to attempt the most dif- ficult tasks— till that day dawn, I say, what shall we do? Anchor fast the churches that we have got where they are, and be profoundly thankful that a wise and far-seeing policj^ put it within the means of this ancient church to make all the lower part of the city of New York, from which the other Protestant bodies are retreating as fast as they can, her own peculiar parish. Yet for one moment further let me press this point on you. Already men see that the beautiful buildings, the ample spaces, the gi'acious sug- gestions of art, are not only not thrown away, but are also needful to the building and rounding out of the life of the crowded poor. Is it too much, I say, to ask that those who agree to these truisms, as we call them, may be brought to acknowledge that the large, well-organized and thoroughly equijjped church can supply for these populations one of the sorest needs which man's many-sided nature thirsts for? At present, too often, we put the single clergyman, the weak church, the totally insufficient organization, to deal with the almost impenetrable masses of ignorance, unbelief and vice. We oppose the battle line where it is tliinnest to the heavy columns of the enemy. We are without a policy; we are isolated regiments of good men; we are CongTegationalists in practice, if Episcopalians in theory. And so, pending the time of larger intelligence, sensitive conscience and more real self-denial, I rejoice ^^ath all my heart in the great centralized power that for two hundred years Trinity, on the whole, has used so wisely. In view of the Spanish- American War, the rector in May, 1898, submitted to the vestry the question of his applying for a com- mission as chaplain in the army. Discussion of the question made it quite evident, without formal action, that while the vestry might acquiesce, if the rector felt this was a call of duty, still they were unanimously of opinion that the obligations resting on him in con- nection with the interests of St. George's parish were at the present 348 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH time too great to justify his leaving them, especially as the new obligation proposed to be incurred was one from which he might not be released for an indefinite period or until the close of the war. St. George's Church, however, was well represented, as about one hundred of its men enlisted, of whom some saw service in Cuba and the Philippines in both the regular army and as volunteers. None were killed, but there was among them a good deal of sickness and two died of fever. During the summer of 1899, the entire Church property was put in good repair, including the improvements in the memorial house, at an expense of $29,360.65, which was more than covered by the Easter collection made for that purpose. The work was done under the efficient supervision of Mr. William Foulke of the property committee, to whom the vestry voted their " appreciation of his valuable and laborious services, ' ' while expressing their gratification at the successful completion of the work. A profitable house-to-house visitation of certain blocks east of First Avenue, between Fourteenth and Nineteenth streets, was un- dertaken at this season. The whole clerical staff was relieved for a fortnight from all other work and made over 2,200 visits. They were not the usual hurried visits made by census-takers, but visits often prolonged until the desired information was forthcoming. It is an interesting fact that not more than sixty families in all that district disclaimed affiliation with some church. As a result of the visitation, a considerable number who had been careless in their church relations were induced to do better and many young people were introduced into the various organizations of St. George's Church and into the Sunday-school. During this winter a course of six lectures by selected speakers, specially addressed to working-men, was held in the Church under the auspices of Bishop Potter and other well-known friends of the working-man. The body of the Church was reserved for them, the galleries being thrown open to the congregation. The list of speakers and their topics was as follows : January 23d, Professor George D. Herron, formerly of Iowa College, 'Economic Basis of Self-Government'; February 15th, Rev. Washington Gladden, Columbus, Ohio, ' Strength and Weakness of Labor Movements To-day ' ; March 8th, Rev. Lyman Abbott, ' The Democracy of Industry ' ; Marcli 22d, Rev. S. C. Swallow, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, ' Slave, Serf, and Wage- Earner '; April 5th, Hon. William Dudley Foulke, Richmond, Indiana, ' The Relation of Trusts to Labor Organizations ' ; April 26th, Professor James H. Canfield, Columbia University, ' The Labor Man's Social Progress.' THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 349 This course of lectures originated in Dr. Rains ford's desire to give to the working-men of this city the views and suggestions of men whose broad sympathies toward working-men were well known and whose lives inspire confidence in the value of their thoughts upon the present condition of labor and capital. It was an indi- cation of his profound interest in whatever concerned the welfare of the working-man. He believed in trade unions and contended that the labor leaders were ' ' not bad fellows nine times out of ten. ' ' At an address delivered before the Amalgamated Society of En- gineers he said in part: The time has eome when all labor organizations should do something to make the whole country feel that they are not working simply for their own personal advantage, but that they realize other responsibilities. The main difificulty in the way of the steady progress of trades-unions comes from themselves. Instead of unity, they spend half their time in pulling each other down. That is sheer madness. We are just beginning to learn one truth, and that is if one suffers all suffer. The only way we are going to win is by a larger conception of those who are successful of their obligations to the weaker. We are inclined to think that there is little to be done for the lower strata. The successful unions are so blind to their own interests that they neglect to use part of their strength to aid the weaker unions. His championship of working-men was grateful to them, and the Central Labor Union thus voiced its commendation of his views : Resolved, That the Central Labor Union of the city of New York, in the name of organized labor, does hereby most sincerely and earnestly offer its thanks to the Rev. Dr. Rainsford, of this city, for the recent advanced ideas on labor organizations which he so fearlessly and sincerely advocates. Besolved, That his God-like utterances in the name of man are justly befitting his holy office and the sacred position he occupies as a minister of the Gospel and teacher of God's truths on earth; that his words are liighly commendable, and tliat his example be emulated and taught by all teachers and edueatois of man. Resolved, That this Central Labor Union respectfully tender a copy of these resolutions to the Rev. Dr. Rainsford, with the heartfelt thanks of organized labor, and that the i:)ublic press be requested to publish the same, that Labor's friends may be encouraged to speak out honestly and nobly in downtrodden humanity's cause. Of the Year Book of 1900 The Outlook of November 17th ap- preciatively says: Of the increasing number of Year-Books published by our churches that of St. George's, New York City, still maintains its lead in interest. St. George's is essentially a down-to^vll church; perhaps it has successfully solved more problems than has any other religious mstitution similarly situated. Within the past year, however, its situation has again changed. 350 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH As Dr. Rainsford, the rector, says, from the nature of the movement in the popuh\tion of the city, those wlio are liberally supplied with means form each year a lessening proportion of the congregation; but poor people, too, are now moving away from the neighborhood; nor are the causes of this movement hard to imderstand: ' Here is a family that comes in contact with the church when tlie chil- dren are quite little. These join the kindergarten and juvenile Sunday- school classes. In their early teens the boys go into the Trade-school, the girls into the Junior Friendly. Later the boys are to be foimd in the Battalion, and still later in the Men's Club, while the girls have graduated to the various classes of the Girls' Friendly or King's Daughters. The whole status of the family has risen, and when these children, who came to us before their teens, reach their early twenties, the family comes to the conclusion that the neighborhood in which they have lived for many years isn't good enough for them, and they move to Brooklyn or to One Hundred and Fiftieth Street. It is absolutely true that our poor people are moving away almost as rapidly as our rich have moved. You will see that, the facts being as I state tbem, the work of the church is not made easier thereby. We have to stand our ground, and do what we can for thousands of people who in a few years will not be numbered in our flock. Surely the work of the down-town church in New York jiresents difficulties and opportunities that are unique.' A new departure made during the past year was the freeing of Dr. Rainsford's staff from all other Avork for a fortnight, that it might devote its attention to a house-to-house visitation of certain blocks east of First Avenue. On the admirable scheme of lectures addressed to working-men which found successful realization last winter The Outlook has already commented. Dr. Rainsford's next need to be supplied is as follows : ' I want to give the young working people opportunity for meeting. . . . Opportunities for social intercourse are an immense moral safeguard. . . . As things are to-day in New York, where can a young man and a young woman meet? Not in the tenement-house. That is too crowded and gen- erally too hot. The street is a poor place, and to loiter there and talk is contrary to law. The hasty ' move on ' of the ]ioliceman is not a pleasant though it is a very common experience.' Dr. Rainsford would provide a large, simply furnished room, with a piano and papers and writing ma- terial — a church drawing-room always open. The idea is a good one, and we hope to see the experiment tried. In the Year Book of 1901, Dr. Rainsford wrote : There are, no doubt, other conditions of Church work than those obtain- ing where Ave are ]:)laced; there are other locations Avhere to reach the people in whose neighborhood the church stands is, comparatively speaking, easy; but, situated on the East Side of New York, as St. George's is, I owe it to you and myself frankly to confess that year by year it grows a little more difficult to bring our neighbors into the Church or its kindred organizations. There is a steady, though slow, falling away in the attend- ance of our Sunday evening congregation at St. George's, and yet since I have been rector the service has never been so efficiently rendered, nor has the preaching ever been better; both are positively good. The change in Sunday obsen'ance is very gi-eat. Multitudes of men — DEACONESS HOUSE, 19*^2 208 and 210 East Sixteenth Street THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 351 good men and good citizens — who used to come to church more or less regrilai'ly now spend Sunday in outdoor recreation of one sort or another. There has been a lamentable increase of social entertainment on Sunday, and this among a class that have absolutely no excuse for making this misuse of the Lord's day, for they have plenty of leisure the other six days of the week to entertain as much as they choose. By using the seventh day for such puri^oses they overwork their servants and they add to the strain and stress of life. They generally neglect their cliildren, if they have any, and, consciously or unconsciously, they take away somewhat from the repose and quiet of the day — a repose and quiet that are more needed by our sorely beset generation than ever before. A low class of theaters and nearly all the saloons are wide open for the poor, and though at first there may seem no connection whatever be- tween the desecration of the Lord's day among the fasliionable people and this last desecration which I allude to on the Bowery among the poorest, I think you will see that there is a very real connection between the two. What is done at one end of society is always copied at the other, whether it be the ostentation of the funeral or the gambling on the race-track or at cards. If saloons were oi3en — as. in my judgment they should be — at midday and at dinner hour, they might be kept shut at the dangerous and unprofitable hours during which they are now doing their evil work. But since an ignorant bigotry opiooses such reasonable hours of opening, we are grievously afflicted and tormented by the illegal and much more de- moralizing opening, protected by the police, and winked at by the public. It is needless for me to repeat that our burdened city society needs the Church as it never needed it before; needs it for the very change it brings into life, if for no higher reason ; needs it for its restf ulness and peace. I belie\e that need will gi-ow and make itself felt, and that the evils that spring from the neglect of the Church will be the final inducement to men to return to her. The hunger for the spiritual is not dead among the people. The work of his deaconesses was one which Dr. Rainsford deemed of inestimable value. He had long hoped to house them more com- fortably than in their rented quarters. His hope was realized when in February, 1902, his senior warden presented to the vestry a deed of two lots, Nos. 208 and 210 Bast Sixteenth Street, on which he had erected what the rector enthusiastically called " the most beau- tiful deaconess house in the United States, adequate in every way, charming and comfortable." The deaconesses with glad hearts set- tled in their new quarters in April, 1902, the ladies of the Church having provided $5,000 for the proper furnishing. The East Side people, when they heard " their friends the deaconesses " were to have new quarters, got up a show and fair netting $600 which was paid over to the rector. Toward the endowment of the house $3,000 was received from an anonymous friend. The dedication service was conducted by the bishop April 10th. One feature of the house is the infirmary on the fourth floor, where convalescent patients 352 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH from the hospitals not strong enough as yet to take up the old life and work are given better nourishment and pleasanter surround- ings than their tenement homes could provide. Women and girls, tired and almost sick, also find here rest and refreshment which often wards off illness. The house has proved incalculably useful. The attention of the vestry having been called to the Church's ownership of lots in the New York Bay Cemetery, the property committee was authorized to have the same put in order and was empowered to dispose of lots and locate burial places. In August, 1851, the board of trustees of this cemetery, located in Hudson County, New Jersey, conveyed twenty lots to Stephen H. Tyng, rector of St. George's Church, as a gift to assist in developing the cemetery, the consideration being that the grantee should suitably inclose the lots, maintain the same in good order, and pay the mainte- nance charge of twenty dollars per year on the basis of one dollar for each lot. The title of the lots was subsequently transferred to the Church and the poor of the parish who cannot afford to pur- chase graves can freely secure burial places therein. The rector in his twentieth year book, Easter, 1902, gave a sta- tistical summary, covering the nineteen years and three months of his ministry, which indicates the amazing progress which had been attained during this period. The figures speak for themselves: PAROCHIAL STATISTICS S3 3 o ■< S < 2 5 a o ■< s r. ■< z p. 31 ■< a a a z o a o z From Jan. 1 1883, to Easter, 1883.. 5 3 2 50 No list ' Easter , 1883 ' 1884.. 76 22 22 119 550 1,,300 1884 ' 188.5. . 73 51 51 136 700 1,9.53 188.5 ' 1886.. 99 66 58 161 1,215 2,795 1886 ' 1887.. 177 74 83 148 1,4.34 3,188 1887 ' 1888.. 102 71 61 L50 1,788 3,388 1888 ' 1889.. 144 101 74 164 2,123 4,482 1889 ' 1890.. 172 101 60 148 2,4.58 4,982 1890 ' 1891 . . 159 91 67 217 2,591 5,269 1891 ' 1892.. 173 94 112 199 2,797 5,582 1892 ' 1893.. 202 79 104 209 3,185 5,972 1893 ' 1894.. 196 87 112 216 3,4.30 5,872 1894 ' 1895.. 239 102 110 180 3,479 5,976 1895 ' 1896.. 199 86 92 228 3,611 5,659 1896 ' 1897.. 187 72 101 229 4,163 7,447 1897 ' 1898.. 202 74 78 191 4,129 7, .574 1898 ' 1899.. 163 105 89 189 4,381 7,.521 1899 ' 1900. . 216 86 88 204 4,634 7,967 1900 ' 1901.. 181 84 102 204 5,018 8,280 ' ( ( 1901 ' 1902. . 163 84 98 206 5,086 8,290 THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 353 FINANCIAL RECEIPTS ENVELOPES r PLATES OTHER SOURCES TOTAL From Jan 1, 1883, to Easter, 1884... $6,000 $5,000 $34,000 $45,000 ' Easter, 1884 " 1885... 9,300 3,800 44,900 58,000 " 1885 " 1886... 13,900 4,600 68,500 87,000 " 1886 " 1887 . . . 14,700 3,600 57,700 76,000 " 1887 " 1888... 15,900 4,942 54,158 75,000 " 1888 " 1889... 22,850 5,170 49,980 78,000 " 1889 " 1890... 20,843 4,440 82,553 107,836* " 1890 " 1891... 19,890 4,528 87,173 111,591 " 1891 " 1892... 20,061 4,192 103,076 127,329t " 1892 " 1893... 20,123 4,470 110,529 135,1221 " 1893 " 1894... 19,420 3,758 106,407 129,5851 " 1894 " 1895... 19,260 3,501 123,828 146,589§ " 1895 " 1896... 18,478 3,652 107,398 129,5281[ " 1896 " 1897... 18,473 3,262 65,445 87,180 " 1897 " 1898... 18,169 2,675 69,384 90,228 " 1898 " 1899... 18,452 2,529 61,380 82,361 " 1899 " 1900... 19,875 2,800 93,842 116,517a " 1900 " 1901 . . . 18,868 3,047 67,186 89,101 " 1901 " 1902... 19,775 3,544 74,257 97,576 Cost of Memorial Building ground , building and f urnisliing ; Cost of ground and building new Deaconess House, Property at Rockaway Park. Thia incluiiea $35,791, money collected by the yestry for the repairs of the church, and other special objects. "Deludes $8;^, 665, endowment fund. Deludes $29,969, endowment fund. Deludes $30,831, endowment fund. Deludes $56,684, endowment fund. Deludes $32,377, endowment fund. Deludes $30,429, Easter collection for special repairs and improvements in Church and Memorial House. $1,869,543 385,000 2,254,543 The following figures indicating membership in various bodies in the parish will be of interest : Vestry, 11 ; Clerical and Deaconess Staff, 16 ; Corps of Ushers, 16 ; Chancel Committee and Decorating Committee, 25 ; Sunday-school, including teachers and officers 204, 2,312; Girls' Friendly Society, 500; King's Daughters, 400; Mothers' Meeting, 384; Sewing School, 409; Young Married Women's So- ciety, 191 ; Dramatic and Literary Society, 25 ; St. Andrew's Brother- hood, 15; Men's Club, athletic branch, 600; Battalion, 250; Evening Trade School for Boys, 300. The choir were chiefly members of the congregation who had had no musical education. To make of them trained choristers four separate grades were instituted, each receiving personal instruction according to their several abilities and gaining promotion to a higher grade through an attained greater proficiency. The Sunday-school was divided into the Primary Department with its Kindergarten, the Junior Department, the Senior School, and Bible Classes. Graduation to each higher course of study was secured upon the passing of examinations. There were meetings of the teachers for 23 354 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH preparation of the lessons and also lectures for them in the art of teaching by Dr. Hervey and Professor Fagnani. The Battalion was reviewed by Colonel Appleton in May in the Seventh Regiment Armory, and the colonel thus wrote of it: " I desire to say that I have never seen a more attentive body of soldiers, and it was in- structive to me to notice the enthusiasm that carried them through one of the longest drills ever witnessed in the Seventh Regiment Armory without a man flinching or expressing in his face a desire to fall out." The Men's Club has become self-supporting and re- linquished the appropriation which the vestry formerly had made for it. The Dramatic and Literary Society had been taken up by the young people with enthusiasm, and its members gained im- provement in such lines as pronunciation, elocution, and self- possession as well as much enjoyment in the production of the plays. The rector had been criticized for wanting " to turn the Church into a theater," but he believed the drama ought to be a power for good in human life and the dramatic instinct utilized in right directions. He was also criticized for letting the young people dance in the memorial house, but he believed in bringing them to- gether in a healthy atmosphere. He did not think the sidewalk ought to be the only place for social intercourse. They had no chance for this in tenement conditions, and dance halls were no place for them, so he approved their social gatherings with dancing in the parish house. The Fresh Air work was of incalculable value. No less than 811 adults and children had been entertained for a whole week at St. George's Cottage, Rockaway Park, at the Bat- talion Camp and other places of resort, while 12,355 people were taken on a day's excursion during the season at a total cost of $5,299. There had for years been in the parish three organizations for bettering the condition of the poor — the Employment Society, the Helping Hand, and the Clothing Department — working on the same general principle of giving work to those who needed it for which in return they received compensation in clothing, groceries, or money. In the fall of 1902 the rector accomplished a consolida- tion of these agencies in order to secure a more effective work. A proper celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Dr. Rains- ford's entrance on the rectorship of St. George's engaged the at- tention of the vestry in November, 1902, and a committee was ap- pointed to arrange details. The twenty-four assistants who had wrought with the rector in the parish work were asked to attend the celebration as the Church's guests. Over three thousand invita- tions were sent out for a reception January 1st. The rector and his THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 355 wife received in the large room in the Memorial House, which was beautifully decorated, a band of music being furnished in the gallery and refreshments served upon the lower floor. On the next evening the wardens and vestrymen gave a dinner to the rector to which Bishop Potter, Bishop Doane, Drs. Greer and Huntington, and other distinguished guests were invited. These with the present and former assistants, the members of the vestry and Mr. Reichert, sec- retary of the committee, made forty-four in all who sat down to the banquet. Mr. R, Fulton Cutting toward its close presented Dr. Rainsford, in behalf of the wardens and vestrymen, with a gold loving-cup inscribed on the bowl: " Presented to the Rev. W. S. Rainsford, D.D., in loving recognition of twenty years of a faithful and successful rectorship, St. George's Church, New York, 1903," with the names of the vestry ; and on the base, ' ' The Love of God — The Brotherhood of Man — The Spirit of Jesus." The rector ex- pressed his deep appreciation in response, and remarks were made by Bishop Doane, Mr. J. P. Morgan, Mr, Seth Low, the Rev. Dr. S. D. McConnell, the Rev. Ralph Brydges, and the Rev. Lindsay Parker. " Auld Lang Syne " was sung and the benediction pro- nounced. At the Sunday morning service, January 4th, the body of as- sistants in their vestments occupied reserved front seats, with the wardens and vestrymen seated directly behind them. The sermon was preached by Bishop Doane, of Albany, and Mr. R. F. Cutting followed with a brief review of the development of the parish during the twenty years. The rector paid a feeling tribute to those who had helped him and who had passed away and to those who were still active in the parish work. At the evening service three of the old assistants spoke — Lindsay Parker, Theodore Sedgwick, and Frank H. Nelson. The offerings at the services were added to the Church endowment. The Bishop of Albany in the conclusion of his sermon paid this tribute to the fidelity of the past and present rectors of St. George's to the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ : There has never been in the long and honorable history of this parish any uncertain sound of the Gospel of Jesns Christ, the Son of God. Per- haps to some of us at times the voice seemed somewhat narrow and hard, but earnest and true and fearless it has been always in its way. And to- day it is broad and rich and fresh and clear and true and searching, be- cause the breath that sounds it and the mind that modulates it are true and clear and fresh and rich and broad with the evangelical catholicity of the Gospel in the Church. Here in this house of God, here in the presence of the rector, here in the face of his vestry and his people, of his friends, 356 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH it would violate the sacred proprieties of the place and the instincts of his nature if I ventured to utter needless and niisi)laced words of praise. But standing in the contemplation of the results of the twenty years of this rich rectorship, one may thank God for the abundant blessings which have proved and crowned its faithfulness. From the very beginning when the stand was taken that tlie Church must not move into what seemed larger and easier places, but must stay here and do its work among its old neigh- bors and its new ones, from the very beginning, with the introduction of and tlie insistence on a service of rich and reverent worship, with the church continuously open to all, absolutely free to all, with constant and continuous preaching, and with frequent opportunities for Holy Com- munion, the plan v,as laid out which has been steadily perasted in of tliis ministry in all its ways of presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mr. Cutting in his address emphasized Dr. Rainsford's insistence on the social mission of the Church as a fundamental reason for the success he had achieved: Dr. Rainsford has never ceased to press upon the congregation the fundamental importance of the social mission of the Church, and to dis- tinguish every step toward the realization of that ideal by a characteristic positiveness. So doing, he has touched us on the side which is most open to the breath of insiDiration. Coercion, restriction, are negative, repellent. They are tolerable only when in suboi"dination to the forward movement. But the positive is a vital element of civilization, and he who strikes that chord with a sure and certain hand will inevitably discover the responsive music of the human soul. Twenty years ago there were many people who looked askance at the methods of the Rector of St. George's Church and thought that he was dangerously secularizing the functions of the Christian Church. But have not the results of his policy testified to its value? Has not the fact of reverent multitudes kneeling at the table of the Lord within these honored walls attested its virtues? Indeed, it has given to us one of the most beautiful of the many distinctive characteristics of St. George's Parish, and that is the inseparability of the social and the spiritual. Dr. Rainsford's own description of the mission of the Church was in these words : I want to say to you people, one and all, that we can't afford to forget the Lord's command that we are here to caicJi men. We are not here to build cathedrals or beautiful churches and then throw them open and wait till the people come. We are here to catch men, to go after them. For the people need God; and more, as one of you said at the dinner last Friday night, they know they need God. Beloved, let me say it — and I know that I am not exaggerating the situation of multitudes of people in tliis land to-day: they know they need God, but they don't think the Church can help them to God. When I use the term ' the Church,' I shall con- tinue to use it in the broadest sense of the term. And if we seek to be true to the Master, true to the gi'eat past in which we rejoice, true to the richest heritage which we profess to enjoy, beloved, we have got to THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 357 face that fact that there are multitudes of people in this land that know they want God, but believe that the Church has ceased to have any special message for them. I am convinced, as I recognize tliis unhappy fact, as I set myself, so far as 1 see the waj', as one weak man, to correct it, I am absolutely convinced that the way to do it, the way out of all our dif- ficulties, is to try to get back to the methods of Jesus, in His example, in His teaching, in the study of it, all we can give. I am more and more convinced of that; and the more I study the more I see that Jesus' plan was absolutely, superbly successful. He came to men, and He was one of them. He put on the garb of his time. He spoke the patois of His land. No beautiful Greek tongaie was His. He had His thoughts, His deeds, moulded by the traditions of the localit3^ And yet He was the Son of God. And there comes down to us, beyond misunderstanding. His great, big, sim^Dle plan which God in His infinite mercy give us grace to follow. Beloved, what we have got to do, if we are going to do His work in our time, is to make the people see that because we are Christians, and because we belong to the Christian Church, we determine to be one with them, not only because they need God, but because the everlasting God has ordained, in His infinite wisdom, that men do not only need God, but they need God by way of God's Church. There is no other way. There is no other way. The Church is the organization of men that are trying to be good, after the pattern of Jesus Christ. This age in which we live manifests on all hands the widest development in human activity that the world has ever seen. So, in the mercy of God. we look to the common sense and enlighten- ment of men to see that men cannot be good alone any more than they can lose alone, or be successful alone, or happy alone, or do anything in this world alone, that men usually crave to do. No more can they be good alone. Just as I have put it to you before, I put it to you again, because in its simplicity lies its regenerating power — you cannot be good, in these United States, without the Church of God. Society, as Mr. Cutting has said, cannot be saved except by the Church of God. It is the deepest conviction of my soul that in the mercy of God it is provided that in the Church, and the Church alone, should be developed the compensatmg force against the severe competition of the time, the development and maintenance and declaration to men of the largest, most loving, most practically brotherly association that the world lias ever seen — her life, her unity in love, her recognition of the fact that God calls all men that love and follow Jesus Clu'ist in the twentieth century to unite in the Church of God, which, in the true and infinite mercy of God, is a saving force, to save us from being ground and rent asunder by the prevailing competition of the times. Competition gives spur to the lazy flank of humanity. But more than a spur, men need a luring onward and upward to the great principle of love that Jesus revealed and incarnated. We are here in the world, with our money, with our time, with our education, with our social influence, and some of us Avith only our horny hands — and the Master's hands were horny — to give expression to that glorious truth. The following letters of regret and inability to attend the twentieth anniversary were received from the editor of The Outlook and the president of Columhia University: 358 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH New York, December 26, 1902. J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq. Dear Sir: I regret very much that absence from the city in the West makes it impossible for me to accej^t the invitation extended to me to attend the dinner to be given on the 2d of Jannaiy, 1903, to the Rev. Dr. Rainsford. His inspiring influence has reached far beyond the bounds not only of his OAvn parish and his own city, but also of the honored Church to wliich he belongs. I do not think any man in the last quarter of a centuiy has done more to influence the Church in the direction of a democratic ad- ministration and a catholic faith, disregarding the lines of class as well as of creed, than Dr. Rainsford. I am sorry that 1 cannot by my personal presence attest my affectionate regard for him and my gratitude for the work which he and those asso- ciated with him have done. Yours sincerely, Lyman Abbott. Columbia University, January 7, 1903. Jtev. Br. W. S. Rainsford. My dear Rector: It has been a keen disappointment to me that because of Mrs. Butler's critical illness I have been unable to participate personally in the re- joicings attendant upon the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of your coming to St. George's. You well know, however, that I have been l^resent in spirit, and that no one feels more keenly or more deeply than I do the splendid service which j'ou have rendered to the community and to the church. With warmest regards I am, Sincerely yours, Nicholas Murray Butler. The Rector of St. George's was the speaker at the midday service in St. Stephen's Church, Philadelphia, March 13, 1903, in which he was said to have made statements which certain persons felt to be " subversive of the Gospel and of the Christian Faith." Eleven clergymen, styling themselves " members of both the great historic schools of the Church," issued a statement condemning the preacher by implication as guilty of a catalogue of disloyalties and specifying a number of things which they solemnly declared to be '' the very truths of God." The Church Standard of that cit3% on the other hand, testified that intelligent persons who were present vehemently denied that Dr. Rainsford 's statements were subversive of the doc- trines of the Church. It was also reported that the Bishop when asked to join in the statement of the eleven presbyters replied with characteristic dignity, " If you will show me a stenographic report of what Dr. Rainsford said I will express an opinion," Just what Dr. Rainsford really did say no one appeared to know, as those who heard him did not agree in their recollection, but general un- THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 359 prejudiced opinion approved the position of the New York Sun, which said: We have seen no exact report of the remarks of Dr. Rainsford at Phila- delpliia, but there is no reason to believe that he swerved in the least from the position held by many of the most illustrious Churchmen of this time, or said anything which would have provoked surprise in any one familiar with theological teachings of men of the highest and most approved stand- ing in the Anglican Church and the Episcopal Church. The bishop coadjutor of Pennsylvania, in view of the continued commotion in Philadelphia on the subject, addressed a letter to Dr. Eainsford, who was his personal friend, expressing full confidence in him as '' a frank, bold, loyal, and sincere Christian in all the fundamentals of the faith," but suggesting in view of the misap- prehensions existing that he write to the bishop stating, at his re- quest, what the facts were. To this letter Dr. Rainsford thus re- plied : New York, April 2, 1903. My dear Bishop: Your very kind letter is, I need scarcely say, warmly appreciated. If anything could move me to assume the defensive in this pending con- troversy, it would be your request. But I cannot even for you, good friend though you are, waive my own judgment as to what honor and honesty demand of me. I taught at Philadelphia in my noonday addresses only what I have been teaching in St. George's Church for twenty years past; not only so, but in printed discourses which have been open to public criticism and official censure ever since their publication, teaching substantially identical with that which it is now sought to condemn, has stood unrebuked. I accept ex animo ' all the articles of the Christian faith as contained in tlie Apostles' Creed,' and I hold to the mediatorship of our Lord Jesus Christ with my whole heart; have made it, hi fact, one of the cardinal points of my teaching. Whether in my method of expressing my beliefs, I depart from, established usage farther than is wise is a question for my ecclesiastical superiors. To a self-constituted tribunal, swayed so far as one may judge— partly by anger and partly by timidity — I cannot hold myself resi^onsible in the least degree. You remember, my dear Bishop, as well as I do, the pressure that was brought to bear on Frederick Temple in 1869, and on Phillips Brooks in 1891, to persuade them to break silence. But they held their peace. The one became Archbishop of Canterbury, the other Bishop of Massachusetts. To-day no charge of heresy is so much as whispered against either one of them, and they are praised in all the churches. I am, dear Bishop, with esteem and regard, Faithfully yours, W. S. Rainsford. Rt. Rev. A. Mackay-Smith, D.D., Philadelphia, Pa. 360 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Dr. Rainsford's views as to the place and function of creeds are well expressed in these words which he penned some two years later: I am confident that unless our creeds are treated as symbols of divine truth, beautiful and necessary if you will — but still as symbols and not as complete and final exiDressions of divine truth — these creeds that we have been brought up to love and reverence, will seem to our fellow-men as bandages we insist on binding on their eyes — not as lamps we would if we might ]ilace in their hands. We are what we are, we know what little we know because others have suffered and died for the tnith of God as they saw it. Their duty is ours. We too must be willing to suffer for truth as we see it to hand down what we see to our children as our fathers handed down what they saw to us. The light shining for us shows us things they could not see but that cannot make less precious the things they saw, and seemg them lived by them and died for them. The best thinking, the best praying, the best living of the ages leaves its mark on the creeds. They were not only the symbols of the faith, the battle flags under which they conquered, they were the liglits that warmed innumerable hearts and homes. We are all too ready, we in a new land, to forget our past, the pains and privations, the patience and courage, the blood and life of those whose labors we reap. We are all too ready in our vast prosperity to forget. Many say the churches are too devotedly wedded to the past. It may be so, but if so in America to-day it is a good fault. The church of Jesus Christ is the house of the spirit of Him who was and is and is to come. The past is hers as the present is hers and hers the future. Therefore she was, is, and must be a church with a creed; but a creed not chiefly of definition but of comprehension, not a definite state- ment of truth transcending all human statements that drives men apart as they reason and argue, but a sacred symbol hallowed by the ages that aids men to meet in worship and points the way of prayer. Material improvements in the church structure were efifected dur- ing the year 1904. The project of a safer and more modern method of electric lighting was favorably acted on, to cost not in excess of $6,000 to lie provided by a special fund. Ampler protection to the congregation in the event of fire was very carefully considered, as it was recognized that the existing means of egress were not ade- quate in case of panic from whatever cause. The changes ultimately agreed upon were those suggested by the architects M. L. and H. G. Emery, who made the plans and had cliarge of their execution. In order to improve the exits at the east end of the church, the columns which supported the east gallery were removed and re- placed by new and smaller columns ; these being so set as to avoid interference with free passage frora the main church into the vesti- bule, and the doors from the main floor into the towers were closed up, so that those leaving the galleries by way of the towers might ST. George's church Christmas, 3 904 THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 361 have full possession of the same; and the doors from the gallery into the towers were improved in some respects and made to open more readily than before. New leather-covered doors donated by Mrs. James Amory Moore were provided for the vestibule openings without locks or latches so that they might always open freely. New front doors, lighter and more manageable than the old ones, were also furnished. At the west end a reconstruction was adopted which involved raising the chancel organ from its original position at or near the level of the main floor up to and above the gallery level. By this work the choir stalls and the chancel organ were set in their present position ; and in point of appearance, and in respect to the sound of the singing and organ music, the change has proved most suc- cessful and satisfactory. Two large vestibules were gained, one under each side of the choir. A new doorway to Sixteenth Street was formed in the south side, being treated on the exterior in a style and scale conformable to the surrounding work, and reaching the sidewalk by a broad platform and steps ; while on the north side an existing small doorway was enlarged to form the present wide opening, and just outside of it a very large vestibule was formed, giving access either to the choir-room, or to the open-air passage or alleyway on the north side of the church and so to Ruther- ford Place. From the west end of the galleries passageways about four feet wide Avere formed leading to easy stairways of the same width which descended to the chancel. The entire cost of this work was $23,890. Mr. John Rei chert, who had been the rector's secretary almost from the beginning of Dr. Rainsford's rectorship, was appointed assistant clerk of the vestry March 20, 1905, and in the following December was elected clerk. In the fall of 1904 the rector determined to consolidate the mis- sionary interests of the parish into one inclusive organization to be called St. George's Church Missionary Society. It seemed to him that such an organization would be wise because it recognized the fact that the parish as a whole has a duty toward Missions which was not adequately met when a number of small societies were the only agencies at work for the advancement of this cause in the parish. But, on the other hand, he did not wish either to abolish the existing agencies or to lessen their activities. He simply wished to co-ordinate them into one representative body which should first of all make itself responsible for raising the parish apportionment for General Missions, and while developing to the utmost the giving 362 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH capacity of the parish in the cause of Missions should so direct the missionary energies of the congregation as to avoid conflicting ap- peals. The new society met November 7, 1904, elected officers, and recognized itself as made up of the following branches : the Clergy Branch, the Vestry Branch, the Deaconess Branch, the Woman's Branch, the Girls' Friendly Branch, the King's Daughters Branch, and the Sunday-school Branch. The society was to provide for diocesan and city missions as well as for the foreign and domestic missions of the Church. It was to act through its executive com- mittee, which was constituted of appointed representatives from every branch. In the midst of his labors Dr. Rainsford's health gave way. As far back as the Holy Week of 1904 he had begun to feel the symp- toms of a general breakdown and crossed the ocean in the summer for a rest and change. The trip, however, failed to recruit his strength, as after his return pains in his head and other warnings urgently admonished him to go away till fully cured. Loath as he was to leave his work, he yielded to the peremptory order of physi- cians and sailed for Plymouth on December 10th for a long rest. His stay in England was but brief, as he designed to find some quiet spot in southern France where with his wife's society and a con- venient golf course he might hope for restoration in the open air. Responding to the vestry's invitation, the Bishops of New York and other noted preachers filled the pulpit on successive Sunday mornings. The workers in the several departments took pride in doing each his or her duty conscientiously and with redoubled energy. The vestry recognized in this emphatic testimony to the firm foundation upon which the splendid structure of St. George's parochial activities had been upreared. Deprived of the inspiring presence of the master builder, the workers he had trained wrought in the work with the enthusiasm he had aroused in them. It was a striking tribute to the continuing influence of his personality. Reports came that the rector's health was much improved. A letter from him dated Cortina said nothing of himself, but spoke appreciatively of how the Church was staunchly steadfast in well- doing. But in October, 1905, the vestry, having " learned with great regret that the rector is unable to resume personal charge of the parish during the present winter," appointed Rev. Hugh Birckhead of the staff as minister in charge, subject to farther action of the vestry, his salary to be $3,500 from October 1st. At this same meeting Mr. Morgan stated that it having become necessary to abandon the house occupied for some years by the ^^^^B^^^ p^SBiBSiP ^fl W^ff BHlP f? WBftilfESSf I I llf llf I J ;■■■ .III, l!3LS C i I -y- > /iw nl' ST. George's evening trade-school, i905 505 East Sixteenth Street THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 363 evening Trade School, he had purchased the lot No. 505 East Six- teenth Street and erected thereon a suitable building for the use of the school which he now tendered to the Church as a free gift. It was thereupon resolved " that the vestry for itself and in behalf of the congregation records its gratification at Mr. Morgan's gener- ous gift of the substantial and commodious building he has provided for this important feature of the Church's work and accepts with thanks the deed of the property." The Trade School was a novelty and experiment when it was undertaken in connection with the Church. But during the twelve years of its existence it had not only wrought incalculable benefit to many hundreds of boys and young men who had participated in its exceptional advantages for fitting them for their life work, but it was a plain object-lesson of what might be done if the public- school system could embrace industrial education in its curriculum. It was removed to its new building in the fall of 1905 and its facili- ties largely increased. The original classes had developed into six distinct departments — wood-working, mechanical drawing, printing, plumbing, manual training, free-liand drawing — and in each of these practice and theory went hand in hand under the direction and supervision of competent paid instructors. The parish lost one of its most valued friends and advisers in the death of Mr. F. H. Betts, which occurred November 11, 1905. At its meeting in the following month the vestry adopted the following minute : Resolved, That the Wardens and Vestrymen of St. George's Church hereby record their appreciation of the character and virtues of their late associate, Frederic H. Betts. Mr. Betts' sei-vices to the parish were many and varied — a teacher in the Avenue A Mission and afterward in the main Sunday-school, a member of the property committee of the vestiy from 1887 to 1891, a delegate to the Diocesan Convention from 1890 until his death, clerk of the vestiw from the time of his election in 1886, and the legal adviser of the corporation. He fulfilled liis many duties with fidelity and loyal spirit. Mr. Betts was generous, high-minded, and genial, and the vestiy affectionately inscribes in its minutes this tribute to liis memory and expresses the sense of the loss it has sustained in his death. At a meeting of the vestry at the residence of the senior warden, Februarj'- 2, 1906, there was presented and read the following letter : Cairo, Egypt, January 7, 1906. J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq., Senior Warden, St. George's Church. Dear Mr. Morgan: Almost a year ago I wrote to you saying that I greatly feared my health would not permit of my returning to St. George's, but that for the future I must be content to do easier work. 364 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH I am better now than I was then, but I have definitely concluded that I have not strength enough to continue in the rectorship — no crippled man can do for St. George's what its head should do. You know better than any one in all my parish probably what it costs me to write this — • to sever the bands that have bound me for twenty-three years to you all is beyond words a bitter task. In fulfilling it I am only consoled by the knowledge that some of the thing's achieved during my rectorship must make for the good of the Church of God at large in the United States. What has been accomplished is imder God largely due to such a happy and continuous co-opei-ation of congregation, vestry, and clergj' as, I venture to think, has seldom been achieved anywhere. You, dear sir, have perhaps done more in aiding my work than any one else in a great band of fellow-workers where all were brethren. To you therefore, not as my senior warden only, but as my tried and valued friend, T commit this definite resignation from a i^ost, the holding of which has been as much a delight as it has been an honor. To all the members of my staff, my vestry, and my congregation I give my love and sincerest thanks. I never can repay you all for what you have been to me — or for what you have helped me to do. 1 remain ever yours most affectionately, W. S. Rainsford. The following preambles and resolutions were thereupon adopted : Whereas the Vestry has received a communication from Dr. Rainsford stating that failure to recover physical strength, despite his long rest, necessitates his retirement from active service and presenting his resigna- tion as the Rector of the parish, and Whereas this communication sadly and unexpectedly puts an end to our anxious hope that he would ultimately be able to resume his pastorate and leaves the vestry in view of his already long absence from active duty no alternative but to acquiesce in his decision, therefore Besolved, that the resignation of the Rev. William S. Rainsford, D.D., Rector of St. George's parish dated from Cairo, Egj'pt, January 7, 1906, be accepted, albeit reluctantly and with profound regret, and that the salary which he has heretofore received in his official capacity be continued until the first of July proximo. Resolved, that the following minute be inscribed on the records of the vestry with devout gratitude to God for the gift of such a pastoi'ate: The Rev. William S. Rainsford became Rector of St. George's parish in 1883. He was then thirty-two years of age, of splendid physique and in robust health. When he assumed his charge the church was practically without a congregation, with limited facilities for parish work, with small endowment, and with a reputation in the diocese that was little more than a tribute to a memorable past. He lays down his charge after twenty-three years of exhausting labor, impaired in health by the burden of a cure of 7,000 souls, with the Endowment Fund increased by $300,000 ; with a parish building complete in accommodation and equipment and which is a model of successful and useful operation ; with a Deaconess House, a Trade School, and a seaside cottage; with an official force of twenty men and THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 365 women, an army of volunteer workers unsurpassed in numbers, intelligence, and devotion, and with a reputation acquired for the parish as extended as American Christianity-. His name is written large in the annals of our religious and civic life, and he will be followed in his retirement by the affectionate solicitude for his welfare of the congregation that he gathered and by the respect of the many who prohted by his teaching and by his personal ministration. Resolved, that an engrossed copy of this preamble and the resolutions attached be sent to Rev. Dr. Rainsford and that this minute be published in the Church papers. Impressed with the importance of speedy action in the choice of a successor and the wisdom of securing one whose knowledge of the methods which had made the parish so signally efficient and successful would secure their practical continuance, the vestry unanimously elected at this same meeting, February 2d, the Rev. Hugh Birckhead as rector of St. George's Church, the salary being fixed for the time being at $6,000. Mr. Cutting and Mr. Low were designated as a committee to inform the congregation at the next Sunday morning's service of the resignation of Dr. Rainsford, of its acceptance by the vestry, and also of the election of Mr. Birck- head as the rector of the Church. The rectorship of Dr. Rainsford was the evolution of an epoch in St. George's history. It was a re-creation of the parish on new lines with new material and with new results. His predecessor. Dr. Tyng, was, like himself, gifted in a superlative degree with the constructive faculty and both created congregations and left their impress upon widely differing products. One cannot read the record of their respective ministries without a feeling that the at- mosphere and the environment are utterly unlike. The older min- istries of Dr. Milnor and of Dr. Tyng were both of the old evan- gelical type to which the broader ministry of Dr. Rainsford stands in plainest contrast. Each had a clearly marked constituency. The Beekman Street people, to whom the first of the great rectors min- istered, were the ingathered product of the old-fashioned methods, and what was left of them was but the nucleus of the great con- gregation which Dr. Tyng assembled round him in Stuyvesant Square, just as the few that were left of these served only as the nucleus around which Dr. Rainsford collected such large numbers of new followers. There was in each of the two great transitions a period of decadence followed by a period of upbuilding. The wor- shipers in Beekman Street were moving rapidly aAvay up-town in the last years of Dr. Milnor 's time, with the result of lessened in- 366 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH come with decreasing numbers. A new St. George's edifice and a fresh gathered congregation were the result of Dr. Tyng's signal constructive power. Then the same process, as in the previous gen- eration, wrought havoc with what was in every aspect of the case a wonderfully prosperous parish. The people moved away up-town. or to the suburbs and again decadence held full sway. The esti- mable clergyman who came to Dr. Tyng's assistance and for a few years held the post as rector was impotent to stay the tide. It must and did run out. The people who had been moving into the St. George's neighborhood could not be reached by the old current methods and a new departure was imperative. The situation Avas perplexing, critical. But happily the Vestry of St. George's were " men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do " and God provided them a man fitted to meet the ex- igency. Forthwith the process was begun which shaped St. George's into a modern church of the institutional kind. It was a gradual evolu- tion. Methods were tried and if found wanting modified. But seething at the outset in the heart and brain of Dr. Rainsford were aims and plans to bless his fellow-men which, based on fixed and leading principles, led to success. The underlying secret of his power lay in his consecrated personality, alive to the needs of the age and in sympathetic touch therewith, believing with all the in- tensity of his nature that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation, individual, social, and national. That the Gospel has a mission to the whole man, body, soul, and spirit, and that the Church should be the mightiest force to save society were recog- nized by him as fundamental principles. In his wise and steady application of them to the problems of St. George's he was most fortunate in having first a vestry loyal, united, sympathetic, trust- ful, and ready always to devise the ways and means for carrying on the work. And he was further fortunate in being able to at- tract about him willing helpers who were content to do what their hands found to do with their best might in consecration of their time and energy and means to make the work effective. It is this principle of devoted co-operation which has been the chief practical element in securing the achieved results at St. George's. That a rector should be left to do the preaching and the visiting and what- ever good he might without the active, helpful, self-sacrificing as- sistance of his people is an obsolete and quite impossible idea gauged by the modern standards of a Church's highest influences. For the principle of co-operative endeavor is vital in the work of an THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 367 Institutional Church. Every man, woman, and child connected with it must have and feel that he or she has a place in the parish, with a consequent personal responsibility for the faithful performance of the functions of that place. Attendance at worship would nat- urally be regarded as a matter of course, but regularity in this will not advance a parishioner above the grade of " hearers only " whereas all should be also " doers of the word," doers in co- operation with the rector and one's fellow- workers in furtherance of the parish plans and purposes. There therefore comes to be a corporate life to which each one contributes and which in turn en- courages and stimulates the individual worker. The impressions of a Sunday in St. George's caused one who signed himself " An English Pilgrim," writing in The Churchman of January, 1903, to say : At St. George's the visitor is at once impressed with the idea that a con- gregation not only consists of worshipers, but is a body of worshipers. Perhaps this emphasis of the corporate idea had something to do with the greater interest shown in the congregational singing. Somehow or other there was here a certain indefinable sense of brotherhood and fellowship that one does not always find in a Christian church. That was a tine impression to be produced upon a stranger, and his tribute to the felt presence of the corporate idea attests the deep hold which it has upon St. George's life. One of the principles by which this sense of corporate life is created is to aim to make each member of the parish feel that he or she is so essentially a part of it as that the church is theirs, where they all mingle upon equal terms and that each one of them has an individual responsibility to work in it and for it and to help support it. As one means to this end great emphasis is laid upon the ' * moral significance of money " which is frankly brought to every one's attention, all being asked to do their share in giving through the en- velopes to support the church and through dues or contributions to maintain the separate organizations with which each is connected. So everybody pays; and while, of course, what each receives in its intrinsic value cannot be measured by the dollars of his outlay — just as tuition fees in college or hospital charges leave out of ac- count the value of the plant of which the student or the patient enjoys the benefit — still, as everybody pays, they are lifted out of the category of passive beneficiaries and become active co-operators in building up their church and making it a power for good. As the Rev. Dr. Hodges aptly says : The state of mind of the man who is contributing to the support of an institution is wholly different from the state of mind of the man who is 368 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH being supported by an institution. The act of giving has a moral, trans- forming, regenerating value. There are a number of men in St. George's parish who could easilj' pay all of the expenses. Nothing could be more mifortunate than such a misjudged kindness. There are parishes in which that thing has been done, where a rich rector pays his own salary, or a rich vesti-y make up the annual deficit on Easter Monday out of their own pockets. 15ut these are weak parishes to which the parishioners are at- tached but loosely, According to the St. George's plan, the people are an integral part of the parish. It is a co-oj^erative institution, like a factory in which every employee has a share in the business. And this is effected by the fact of contribution. There is, of course, a danger, in striving to create an Institutional Churcli, of over-organization on the part of zealous rectors who are ambitious to multiply parochial activities more rapidly than is judicious. And the increase of agencies which is not a development evoked by the real openings of opportunity is apt to degenerate into what Dr. Eainsford aptly phrased as " the ceaseless rattle of religious machinery." But if there is, as in Ezekiel's Vision, " the spirit of life within the wheels " the working machinery, however elaborate, will be instinct with power and productive of spiritual results. How admirably this was the case in St. George's is well told by Dr. Hodges: It is essential to the life of a strong parish to combine with all this organization the fervor of a religious spirit. Of all Dr. Rainsford's con- tributions to the parish this is the most important and the most charac- teristic. He made an institutional church of which nobody has ever com- plained that the gj^mnasium is more conspicuous than the chancel. He kept the perspective true. He set forward the social mission of the chui'ch without minirrdzing its spiritual mission. Both the social and the spiritual are indeed included in the ideal of religion which He proclaimed who sent His disciples to preach the Gosjiel of the Kingdom and to heal the sick. They were to minister to the whole man, body and soul alike. The teacher in the sewing-school is engaged in a religious occupation quite as valid as the teacher in the Sianday-school and may thereby accomplish quite as much in the name and for the sake of God. But while in body man is akin to the animals in soul he is akin to God. The soul is the man, not the body. Whatever changes, awakens, overjoj's the soul makes a different man. From the point of view of the best progress the material is of inter- est and value because it affects the spiritual. It is also true that the spiritual dominates, determines, ti'ansforms the material. The most neces- sary amendment of social conditions, even in their most depressing phases, is not that which produces a better house, but that which produces a better man to live in the house. To this end all the material betterment is sub- ordinate; in part, it contributes to spiritual betterment and in part it de- pends upon it. Thus Dr. Rainsford said that the best thing wliich can be done for the reformation of a bad neighborhood is to ]:)lant in the midst of it, not a model tenement, not a school, but a church. With a good THE RAINSFORD PERIOD 369 church all other good things would logically follow. And by a good church he meant one which by its brotherly interest in the whole life of its neigh- bors gains their confidence and affection and then upon the basis of this gain gains them. Such a church he organized. It was never a parish house with a church attached; nor was it a church with a parish house attached. It was a church, a place of religion, expressing itself in all these various ways. Thus one notices that every organization is vitally connected with the church, as the branch to the tree. New members of the organizations are received by the initiation of a service of prayer in the church. The ultimate object of every organization is not to amuse, nor even to instruct, but to bind the members closer to the church. At the heart of all the parish arteries are devout men and women who are both working and praying, doing all that they do as Christian folk for Christ's sake. Dr. Rainsford made St. George's what it is to-day, not only by his administrative ability, but by his religious fervor, by his zeal for God, by his concern for the salvation of the soul. Without that the institutional church may be a foolish and complicated waste of time. With that the institutional church even in the hardslui:)s of poverty, with crude machinery and incompetent workmen, will be a j^ower for good. This is the sig- nificance of the St. George's plan. CHAPTER XIII THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP (1906-1911) The Birckhead rectorship was thus auspiciously begun, it being the unanimous conviction of the vestry that the plans and methods of administering the parish devised by Dr. Rainsford, which had proved so effective, would be best perpetuated and developed by one who was so thoroughly imbued with them and had been so identified with their spirit and practical operation. At the first meeting of the vestry after the election the following letter was presented : St, Paul's School, Concord, N. H., Feb. 11th, 1906. To John Pierpont Morgan, Esq., Senior Warden of St. George's Churchy New York. My dear Mr. Morgan: In answer to the call of the vestry of Saint George's Church to become its rector, tendered me by its wardens on the morning of Sunday, Feb- mary the fourth, I would say that in contemplating this call I halve been influenced by the following considerations: First, that I share with the congregation of St. George's Church, in a peculiar sense, their deep and lasting resjDeet and affection for Dr. Rains- ford. ^ Second, that I feel keenly with the vestry that the work of St. George's Church should be continued along the lines that have been laid down, and that by one who has learned somewhat of the method and spirit of the late rector. Third, that I recognize the call of the vestry of St. George's Church to become its rector to be the call of God Himself, and that a refusal of it for mere personal considerations would be at once moral cowardice and disloyalty to the vows of my ordination. I therefore heartily accept the call of the vestry of St. George's Church to become its rector upon the following conditions : First, that the vestry bear in mind that in accepting this call I am relying entirely upon their unanimous desire and judgment as to my tak- ing this office and not on my own. Second, that the vestry give me the same moral and financial support that they have given Dr. Rainsford in carrying on the work of the parish. Third, that I shall have the same authority that was vested in the late /^/^Cy(:>/6^ii.i__ THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 371 rector in making such changes as may seem fitting and necessary in the services and organizations of the Church and parish and in matters relating to clerical supply after consultation with the vestry. Looking forward to many years of sympathetic co-operation with you in the work of our Father's Kingdom, I am, Faithfully yours, Hugh Birckhead. The senior warden stated that the canonical certificate of the Rev. Mr. Birckhead 's election had been delivered to the Bishop Coadjutor. The rector then expressed himself as follows : ' ' The rector at his first meeting of the vestry desires to express his deep sense of the kindness with which personally he has been received by its members and the confidence they have seen fit to place in one so young. He asks their prayers and criticisms on his behalf." Mr. Morgan stated that there ought to be a house for the superin- tendent on the Church grounds at Rockaway and offered, if the vestry would allow him, to pay for the same. His offer was grate- fully accepted and the thanks of the vestry tendered for his generous offer. The cost of the house when completed was $7,245. In the year book of 1906 the rector writes : This year has proved to many of us what a real place St. George's occupies in our lives. As long as the existence of this work seemed assured many of us took its worth as a matter of course; but as soon as its con- tmuance was put in jeopardy by the withdrawal of our great head worker, each one of us faced the possibility of losing the St. George's we had known, and each keenly realized, on looking back along the years, how the spirit of this place had become a part of our best selves. If the great fabric which Dr. Eainsford built with so many years of splendid patient service is to last, we as a congregation must feel that the burden of it rests now on our shoulders. The future of St. George's, under the guidance of God, is ours, eveiy one of us, to make or to mar, and, God willing, we will carry the work forward along the lines of breadth and sanity that have been laid down in the past to realms of greater usefulness to the city and the Church of God. The rector informed the vestry at the meeting of December 19, 1906, that money for the establishment of a camp for St. George's parish at Blackball, Connecticut, had been offered to the Church by Mr. "Wolcott G. Lane and his friends; Which offer was accepted and the thanks of the vestry tendered to Mr. Lane and his friends for their liberal gift. A fresh-air work had been carried on in this locality for several years for a selected group of Trade School boys to provide them with a wholesome outing during the summer. The liberality of the Lane family and others now insured the permanence 372 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of this useful work, and the name of Camp Rainsford was most fittingly attached to it as having to do with boys, religion, and out- door life. The cost of the new camp, including the equipment, was $6,937.75. The property came into the possession of the Church under a lease at an annual rent of one dollar for a term of ten years from January 30, 1907. The camp accommodates about forty-five boys, who stay for two weeks at a time during the summer months. The large organ was found to be in bad condition in April, 1906, and the property committee was authorized to make the necessary repairs at an estimated cost of $3,000, which sum was proposed to be raised by a special collection on the second Sunday in May. The desirability that St. George 's Church should plan to co-operate in raising money for the Missionary Thank Offering to be presented by the men of the whole Church at the General Convention to be held in Richmond, Virginia, in 1907, in commemoration of the first Holy Communion celebrated in an English colony in North America at Jamestown, Virginia, in the year 1607, was brought before the vestry by the rector in November, 1906. So efficiently was co- operation secured that the offering from St. George's parish amounted to $112,116.02, which included a gift from the senior warden of $100,000. The collection for theological education was ordered at this same meeting to be hereafter made on the second Sunday in December, and the treasurer was authorized to pay the amount of the collection to the rector. The total amount received was $3,274.66, which was appropriated and paid over by the rector to the Cambridge Divinity School. The rector expressed his intention of giving during the winter in the church some special musical services and asked that part of the collections taken at these services should be appropriated to defraying the expenses of the same ; which request the vestry acceded to in authorizing an equal division of the amounts collected between the expenses of the music and the treasury of the Church. The organist, Mr. Homer Norris, in his annual report in the spring of 1 907, thus records the execution of the plan : We have given two remarkably fine special musical services. On the evening of November 24th we sang Spohr's ' Last Judgment.' The work was so greatly admired that the rector asked us to repeat it on the evening of December 29th. On the evening of April 5th we sang ' The Seven "Words of Christ,' by Theodore Dubois, accompanied by the full Russian Symphony orchestra. The work made a profound impression. The giving of these two cantatas proved what I wrote in my last year's report, to the effect tliat when the choir prepares a ' special ' musical ser\4ce it needs s B r, Ti t> >^ s -TJ o B •-fs !?5 r/i * ' *^ w O 51 o !fl td l> o Mi W w> r' n tr' R r-i o o '^ B TO ,_, o w H n &. ^^^^^^^^ ^mfijM S.Z " T> Cl 3 K d 2 w ^ 5 o w o w B- O i/; -■ o K it;^ 1 2 > > o a H ^ W H Ml > > o J^ 1^ 5 > a: jq" "T* :5 W 50 fO o p % p o TT >-H C/3 > > 2; >! p o THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 373 the stimulus of a eoroposition presenting difficulties to overcome. Con- cerning the performance of the ' Last Judgment ' a parishioner wrote to the rector the following : ' I must send to you my cordial congratulations on the way in which the choir sang the difficult music of Spohr's ' Last Judgment.' In former times the singing was hearty, but it was what a choir-master would call ' rough,' or ' ragged,' but yesterday you had pure intonation, precision, refinement of style, and plenty of power. ... I know something of what the difficulties are in obtaining good singing from a voluntary choir, but you really have done this at St. George's.' Another parishioner, who was formerly a choir-master in a prominent parish, wrote the following regarding the performance of the ' Seven Words of Christ ' : ' We were much impressed with the beauty of it. The music itself is very fine, impressive, dramatic, and beautiful, and it was beautifully given ; the choii' sang superbly.' The lamented death of John Noble Stearns occasioned a special meeting of the vestry on the day of the funeral, March 17, 1907, at which the following minute was ordered to be entered on the records of the Church: John Noble Stearns died March 14, 1907, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. From his boyhood a worshiper at St. George's Church, a teacher in its Sunday-schools for the greater part of his life; vestryman for nineteen years and junior warden for seventeen years — in his death we have been bereft of an associate whose like we shall not see again. His loyalty to St. George's in adversity and prosperity alike, his gen- erosity, his judicious counsel, his rare amiability of temperament, combined to give him an eminence among us that he never sought. In paying this- tribute to his honored memory, the members of the vestry record their grateful appreciation of the privilege they have enjoyed of association with him in the service of God at St. George's Church, and direct that the remarkable record of the ancestors and relatives of Mr. Stearns and of Mr. Steams himself be entered in the minutes as an evidence of the loss to the parish incurred by his death. They also direct that a copy of this minute, with the record attached, be sent to the family of Mr. Stearns, with a message of affectionate sympathy, and that both resolution and record be printed in The Churchman. Mr. Stearns had personally known the Rev. Dr. Milnor and the ^our succeeding rectors, and his long life of loving service had been no inconspicuous element in shaping the parochial history. The remarkable record of his family's connection with the parish re- ferred to in the vestry minute shows that his maternal grandfather, Cornelius Schermerhorn, was a vestryman fi'om the organization of the parish November, 1811, to Easter, 1820; his grandfather. Dr. John Stearns, vestryman 1823 to 1835 and warden 1835 to 1848; his uncle, John Noble, vestryman 1832 to 1834; his uncle, Adolphus Lane, vestryman 1841 to 1855 aud warden from 1855 to 1871. 374 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Hiram Ketchum, his grand-uncle, was vestryman from 1846 to 1848 and George C. Satterlee, a relative, was vestryman from 1862 to 1872. Among the points of interest in the year book of 1907 may be noted the rector's earnest desire to perpetuate his predecessor's plan of utilizing the splendid organization of St. George's parish for the training of young clergymen, which Dr. Rainsford regarded as " his greatest contribution to the American Church," Though the frequent changes in the personnel of the staff involved in carry- ing on this plan was hard for the rector in parting with tried workers and not altogether agreeable to the congregation to be accepting ministrations from a succession of young clergymen, still Mr. Birckhead urged the people to continue to receive the new assistants into their homes and lives, which practice he regarded as '' a part of their membership as much as contributing through the envelope system." He called attention to the gradual but steady change in the character of the East Side population. The driving out of the old German element, which had been so largely con- tributive to the constituency of the parish, by the incoming Italians and others, presented a problem which had got to be frankly faced. He referred with satisfaction to the enthusiasm of the nearly five hundred volunteer workers in the Church who *' made the great machinery of the parish possible and permanent." Their gatherings for conference and to hear reports of the conditions of the several organizations tended to unity and confidence. The need of a chapel in the parochial equipment he declared to be a long felt and pressing one. So many uses could be profitably made of it. It was the first suggestion of what is now so happily incarnated in the Memorial Chapel. The finances in the first year of the new rectorship presented gratifying figures. The following record of receipts is taken from the treasurer's report of March 31, 1907, and are exclusive of the income from the permanent fund : Received from the envelopes, $21,176.94; from plate collections, $3,206.86; for Parish Missions, $14,034.71; for support of Deaconess House, $8,858.15; for support of Seaside Cottage, $4,274.07; for Poor Fund, $2,137.51; for extras, ,$6,526.49; for the Endowment Fund, $2,914.48; for special objects, $4,376.96; for missionary purposes, $8,352.37; for Men's Missionarv Thank Offering, $5,080.75; total, $80,939.29. By thie rector and treasurers of the organizations the following were received: By the rector for the Rector's Fund, $2,850.10; for the Thanks- giving Fund, $49; for the Christmas Festival, $937; for the Easter Flowers, $306; total, $4,142.10. Otherwise received: Women's Industrial Society, THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 375 $1,638.19; Men's Club, $2,071.68; Girls' Friendly Society, $1,150.77; Mar- ried Women's Society, $952.38; Battalion, $982.53; Boys' Industrial Trade School, $4,275; Superintendent's Cottage, Rockaway, building of, $7,245; Camp Rainsford, building of, $6,937.75; total, $25,853.31. Tt)tal amount raised for the year 1906-07, $110,934.69. That the International Exposition in Paris should award to St. George's Church, New York, a Grand Prix for its socialized work is worthy of record: IRev. Hugh Birchhead. My deae Sir : It gives me sincere pleasure to inform you that the International Jury in Social Economy, on my recommendation, made you the award of a Grand Prix for the socialized work in St. George's. With appreciation of your valued co-operation in sending this exhibit for our section I am. Very Sincerely, 'Wm. H. Tolman, Com. General, Amer. Section. Exposition Internationale, July-Oct., 1907, Paris, France. The exhibit referred to in this official notification consisted of photographs of the parish activities, pamphlets, year books, tabular matter, and the book. The Administration of an Institutional Church — a detailed account of the operation of St. George's Church in the city of New York, by George Hodges and John Eeichert. The * ' Grand Prix ' ' was awarded for this exhibit, and the ' ' Diplome de Medaille d'Or " specifically mentions the book. This invaluable work of three hundred and fifty pages, published by Harper & Brothers in 1906, was undertaken in response to innumerable re- quests for information as to the methods which had proved so effective and successful in building up a magnificently organized parish in new and trying conditions. The book embodies the results of many years' experience. It is a full description of concrete methods by which an Institutional Church has been created and developed. It gives the finished product, arrived at through experi- ments and progressive betterment, of detailed plans and directions by which desirable results have been achieved and presumably may be attained elsewhere. It contains a complete description of '* The Plant," including diagrams of the floors of the several buildings. It is replete with forms for circulars, appeals, for tabulating sta- tistics, for keeping parish records, and for all requirements of the free church and envelope system. It is a complete repository of information as to the how and why of a highly developed Institu- tional Church in practical operation. 376 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The Bishop of New York kindly prepared a brief historical intro- duction to the book from which an extract is here given, and the President of the United States penned the noteworthy appreciation which follows of Dr. Rainsford and his St. George's work: But the history of St, George's Church for the last quarter of a century has illustrated, most of all, the power of a single and noble manhood. Eloquence there may be; the genius of organization; personal magnetism; tenacity of purpose, and qualities like them; but they are all inferior to that loftiest quality which makes men sensible of divine authority and of human sympathy. In the union of these two powers, I think that the ministry of the present Rector of St. George's Church has been altogether exceptional. He has the characteristics of his race and temperament; and the superficial listener or observer may not always be enamoured of these; but he has made St. George's Church a witness for his Master, Jesus Christ, among a population as dense as any city in the woi'ld contains and that throngs and crowds St. George's pews whenever its doors are opened. The poor and heavy-laden, the ' forgotten of their fellow-men,' who turn to its altar for strength, comfort, and refreshment, know that a great human heart is there to translate to them the divine heart of Love that broods above us all, with matchless Sympathy and Help ! Henry C. Potter. Luxor, Egypt, January 8, 1906. The Church must be a living, breathing, vital force or it is no real Church; and therefore not only all good citizens, but especially all earnest Christians, are under a real debt of obligation to the Rev. William S. Rainsford for what he has done with St. George's Church in New York. Every serious student of our social and industrial conditions has learned to look with discomfort and alarm upon the diminishing part which churches play in the life of our great cities — for I need hardly say that no increase in the number of fashionable churches and of wealthy congregations in any shape or way atones for the diminution in the number of the churches in the very localities where there is most need for them. If ever the Christian Church ceases to be the Church of the plain people, it will cease to be the Christian Church. Dr. Rainsford has stood pre-eminent among the clergymen to whom it has been given to prevent this condition of things fi'om obtaining. His remarkable physical and mental equipment, and the appeal that ethical considerations make to him. put him in the forefront of those both able and eager to do the task. He was keenly alive to everything that appeals to men as men, and his broad and deep sympathies made him acutely sensitive to the needs of others no less than to the way in which these needs could be effectively met. With such an equipment he took an empty church and filled it. He filled it with the men and women of the neighbor- hood. He made these men and women feel that whether they were rich or poor mattered nothing, so long as they were Clu-istians who tried to live their Christianity in a spirit of brotherly love and of sane, cheerful helpfulness towards themselves and towards one another. He brought the Church close to the busy, working life of a great city. With his strong human hand he felt the throbbing pulse of the people among whom he THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 377 worked, and he fired their hearts with the spirit that was in his own. As a preacher, as an executive, as a citizen among his fellow-citizens, Dr. Rainsford made St. George's Church the most notable institution of its kind in the world. He did lasting work for social and civic righteousness. Not only New York City, but the nation as a whole, owes him a debt of gratitude for his molding of American citizenship in the form in which it should be east. The kind of citizenship for the upbuilding of which he labored is that which rests its sense of duty to city and country on the deep and broad foundation of ,the eternal laws of spiritual well-being. I keenly regret Dr. Rainsford's retirement from active duty, and I wel- come this book as giving a record of a life work full of insi^iration for his fellow-man. To Dr. Rainsford can be applied the words of the German poet: ' Wer nieht gelitten, hat nur halb gelebt ; Wer nicht gefehlt, hat wohl auch nicht gestrebt; Wer nicht geweint, hat halt auch nur gelacht; Wer nie gezweifelt, hat wohl kaum gedacht!' Theodore Roosevelt. The White Bouse, Washington, B. C, April 7, 1906. It should be noted that two years before the publication of this book, at the Universal Exposition held at St. Louis in 1904, com- memorative of the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, the Inter- national Jury of Awards conferred a gold medal upon the work of a number of Institutional Churches, including St. George's, New York. The resignation of Miss Cornelia E. Marshall as Branch Secretary of the Girls' Friendly Society in October, 1908, after twenty years of loving service and devotion to the girls of St. George's, was a distinct loss to the parish. Hundreds of girls had come under her care and received the stamp of her personality, and many associates owed to her their inspiration in seeking the uplift and betterment of the young women within their influence. Miss Marshall became the president of the Girls' Friendly Society in the diocese and her place was taken, at her suggestion, in St. George's by Miss Louise G. Freeland, who has since proved her ability to perpetuate Miss Marshall's work. Another great loss to the parish was the removal of Deaconess Simpson, of which the rector thus writes : The great loss of the year to all of us has been that of Deaconess Simp- son, who for the last twenty years has done a remarkable work in this parish with untiring devotion and gi-eat spirituality. She has left a profound impression upon the minds of hundreds of our people, which they will carry with them always as one of tlieir sacred possessions. The love and belief that she has earned here will follow her as she takes up her work in the Bronx in connection with the Chapels of the Atonement and St. Martha. I wish to particularly acknowledge here the beautiful spirit she 378 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH has shown in leaving a place so dear to her, and I trust that her connection of love and sympathy with St. George's may always remain. The pressing problem wrought by changes in the neighborhood was dealt with fully by the rector in the year book of 1908, and the included figures are strikingly suggestive : Our neighborhood has largely changed. The prevailing German popula- tion, from which twenty years ago this Parish was recruited, is slowly and steadily moving away to the suburbs and Hebrews, Hungarians, and Ital- ians are taking their places. In 1903 we had 3,468 parishioners (45 per cent, of the entire congre- gation) living between Eleventh and Twentieth Streets, east of Fourth Avenue. To-day we have 2,480 members (33 per cent, of the congregation) in the same locality. It has been our policy to encourage those families who have moved so far away that they can no longer regularly attend Church or the meetings of the organizations in the Memorial House to join other Churches in their new neighborhood. All of us have labored with indi^'idual cases to accomplish this, and on the afternoon of Sunday, February 23d, at the request of the Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese, I preached at one of the great monthly services in the new Bronx House, in order to urge any of my own people living near there who might be in the congregation to withdraw from St. George's and add their en- thusiasm to strengthen the Churches in the Bronx. In spite of this per- sistent policy on our part, I find that in 1903 we had 192 parishioners in the Bronx, to-day we have 484. In the same year we had living in Long Island, New Jersey, and Westchester County 450 people, to-day we have 1,000. The work of transfer progresses slowly and regular church attend- ance suffers in consequence. It is a great tribute of loyalty to all St. George's means in the lives of these people, and it must be dealt with in the light of their real appreciation and not with ruthless sacerdotalism. To sum up this matter, five years ago there were 8,290 people connected in some way with St. George's; to-day there are 7,816. Then we had 5,216 communicants and now we have 5,166. It should be the purpose of the future to continue to make this neighborhood work and to frankly say to those at a distance that we cannot give them regular parochial atten- tion. The Staff cannot call on any one living above 125th Street, except in cases of emergency or at times of bereavement. We owe this deliberate deduction to the Church at large and to the splendid efforts which Bishop Greer is making to strengthen the life of the Church in the Bronx. You will see from all this that there is still a great work to be done here for many years among our own people, but that we should not let this blind us to the fact that there are many unchurched Protestants in our midst to whom we should appeal. The tendency in a 'place which in- spires so much loyalty is inevitably exclusive. The average Protestant rejoices in the fact that he belongs to a religious clique, and it requires constant effort to keep before our minds the fact that we are not trying to save the Church, but to save the World. That our message is more to the men outside the Church than inside the Church. I ask all of you who have an appreciation of the saving power of the Gospel to illustrate this through the conduct of our gi-eat inheritance in St. George's. We the' BIRCKHEAD rectorship 379 must 'go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.' A Church is dying which is not aggressively missionaiy. Let vis remember that Catholic means nothing less than universal. During the past tliirty years the Episcopal Chui-ch has expended millions of dollars in undertakings looking toward ends which a generation ago were scarcely thought of. During this period we have probably built more parish houses than churches. We have equipped these buildings generously with club-rooms, reading-rooms, gymnasiums, and other physical apparatus. We have also interested our people in these works, and they have not only given lavishly to them, but, what is far more important, they have given themselves, they have held up our hands and have faithfully worked by our side. This movement proceeded largely from the splendid organizing brain of Dr. Rainsford and it still bears the imprint of his noble per- sonality. Originating at St. George's Church it has not only spread through our entire communion, but, beyond our communion, it has changed the ideal of most of the other Evangelical churches and it has profoundly influenced the Young Men's Christian Association and the Salvation Army. The object of this effort is the creation of a better social, moral, and physical environment for those whose lives contain few elevating influences. Its importance consists not merely in the benefits it confers upon the less fa- vored, but in the charity and the sympathy it has awakened in the Church and in the drawing together of the rich and poor. It is an endeavor to improve man, so just, so reasonable and successful that it can never be abandoned so long as our social relations continue what they are. By this expansion of sympathy and by this self-sacrificing endeavor to help those who most need our help, the Episcopal Church has intrenched itself in all our great cities and has gained a national recognition which our old re- stricted selfish policy would never have gained for us. Even if their Sunday services should be neglected, churches like St. George's, Grace Church, and St. Bartholomew's Church, New York, would still stand among the most potent forces of the cities' betterment, as among the most ef- fective agencies for the improvement of human Life, It had been planned to hold a pre-Lent mission for one week in the spring of 1908. The execution of the plan, however, was delayed and its scope enlarged into a two weeks Advent mission, which was held from November 29th to December 13, 1908, by the Rev. W. J. Dawson, D.D., of London, the vestry guaranteeing its cordial co- operation and support. The following contemporary notice of the Mission well describes it : Much interest and enthusiasm is attending the mission which is being conducted by the Rev, Dr. Dawson in St. George's Church on Stuyvesant Square. Congregations wliich crowd the capacity of tlie church building are coming out evei"y evening to hear this famous mission i^reaeher who is stirring the neighborhood around the church as it was years ago when missions were introduced into that jiarish by the late rector. Dr. Rainsford. Dr. Dawson is a preacher who appeals to the people in a perfectly straight- forward manner, and his sermons and addresses are free from that sensa- tionalism which is characteristic of many such series of special services. 380 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The Mission was announced as a means of stirring up the religious life of that community in this Advent season and will continue during the first two weeks of this month. It was begun on Advent Sunday, and daily services are held in the afternoon and in the evening of each week-day; they will end on Sunday, the 13th, The services are planned to appeal to all sorts of people. The afternoon meetings partake of the nature of quiet hours, while the evening services are purely evangelistic in tone. That these meetings are taking hold of the people of the Church and of the neighborhood is evident from the rapidly increasing attendance at the two services each day. As a preacher, Dr. Dawson is wonderfully well fitted to hold missions. His power in the pulpit, his sympathy with all classes, his knowledge of human nature — gained from a long i^eriod of pastoral work — all combine to make his addresses reach those for whom they are intended. From the critical point of view his sermons are worthy of close study, for it is a rare thing to find a preacher who unites all the qualities which go to make up a well-rounded discourse — as they are seen in his sermons. His aptness of illustration, his quiet humor, his wonderfully well-chosen diction, and his force in utterance are points which indicate a finished preacher. His sermons reach the people — the educated as well as the uneducated — for Dr. Dawson is not only an Evangelist, but he is at the same time a scholar and knows well how to adapt his ideas to all accej^tably. He brings a great fund of scholarly attainments to bear upon his hearers, for he is thoroughly at home in the realm of literature and letters and has to back his mission preaching a reputation as a critic and as a lecturer which is recognized in the English-speaking world, and during the months of the year in which he is not engaged in conducting missions over this country he is at work upon his literary productions. He is assisted in the service by a large chorus choir which leads the congregation in a service of praise before every daily meeting. An innova- tion has been introduced by having the choir sing hymns upon the steps of the church before the evening sei^dces as a preliminary to the worship of praise. And in this service fully one hundred people engage each night. In order that this mission may reach many in the neighborhood, it is being planned to have a great religious procession through the streets near the church the early part of next week. Religious processions are no new thing in evangelistic campaigns and have been used for many years, par- ticularly in England, where they are regarded with favor by even the most conservative churchmen in the Church of England and the other religious bodies there. Success has attended such demonstrations, and in some mis- sions which Dr. Dawson has had in this country such processions have been carried on. The whole policy of having this mission in St. George's is in keeping with the * traditions ' of that parish, for it has always stood as a leading representative of the Evangelical school in the church in this country; and its previous rectors, the Rev. Drs. Milnor, Tyng, and Rainsford, were leaders in that matter, so that the present rector, the Rev. Hugh Birckhead, is merely carrying on the ideas which this parish has always emphasized. A special musical service, " The Children of Bethlehem," was held in the church on Sunday evening December 27, 1908. It was THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 381 described as " A Mystery ' ' in two parts and was sung by one hun- dred of the parish children assisted by adult soloists and the Russian Symphony Orchestra under the direction of the organist, Homer Norris. Ben Greet, the well-known open-air actor of Shakespearian plays, was the narrator. Part T. of '' The Mystery " showed the pasture lands surrounding the village of Bethlehem. In the winter twilight a group of shepherd children were watching the flocks. Part II. represented the stable. After the musical service the rector made a brief address wel- coming the strangers present and urging all to begin the new year aright. Speaking of the musical service, Dr. Birckhead said : In England when there were no theaters and very few persons knew how to read great festivals were given in the chapels. They were called * Mystery Plays ' and were acted by the clergy and members of the choir. These * Mysteiy Plays ' always pictured some scene from the Old or the New Testament. One of these plays was called ' The Shepherd ' and told the storj' of the first Christmas. They were similar to the service we have had to-night. The three hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the Hudson River by Henry Hudson in 1609, and the one hundredth anniversary of the first successful application of steam to navigation by Robert Fulton in 1807, were regarded by the vestry as of sufficient impor- tance to justify arrangements, which they made in March, 1909, for a special service to be held in St. George's Church on September 26, 1909, in their commemoration. Two valuable bequests were received by the Church during the j^ear ending in March, 1909. The first was one of $13,726, under the will of Frances Louise Wilson, to be known as the Frederick Danne bequest for the " Endowment Fund of Seaside Work." The other of $25,000 was for the endowment fund of the parish under the will of Mrs. David Dows, whose husband had been a vestryman and warden from 1868 to 1890 and whose services had been in- valuable during the trying period of transition in the parish history. Another endowment gift of $1,000 was made early in 1910 by Mr. and Mrs. Wolcott G. Lane, the income of which during their life was to be applied toward the support of Camp Rainsford and after their death to this or a similar purpose; which gift was appre- ciatively accepted by the vestry. The rector's treatment of two pressing problems in the Year Book of 1909, as indicating the necessity of changing methods to meet new conditions, is worthy of insertion here : 382 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH There are two problems which particularly confront the Church to-day. The first of these is whether the Church is to have a part in the solution of the national problem of democracy. Those who have the eye to see must bear witness to the fact that great forces are at work in our land to bring about social reformation. Questions of individual liberty, the re- striction of corporations, and the correction of the political machinery are all being vigorously mooted, and every intelligent man who reads his daily paper must realize in what is thus brought to his attention that these are but the birth pangs of a greater national life. Meanwhile the Church has sedulously confined herself to purely religious matters. She has refused to hear the voices from without, she has allowed most of the leaders of our time to grow up outside her border and to act without her support. Bishop Greer, in. the annual convention address, said that religion in this land was only ' a guest,' treated courteously and given honorable place, but not really a part of the life of every day, not really a working factor in the great solution, . . , The problems that confront us as a nation are prin- cipally moral problems, — how to make it easier for men under this gov- ernment and in this government to do right. These jDroblems are distinctly the province of the Church. They need at once inspiration, the spirit of discernment, and the loving knowledge of human nature which char- acterized our Saviour, Moreover, the Church is here ' not to be ministered unto, but 1o minister and to give her life for many.' We have taken the attitude that we should receive the contiibutions and the confidence of the community without particularly striving to minister to the community; and if we minister we are quite content to deal with the results which mis- management and misgovernment bring about, rather than to insist that the causes which produce those results should be done away with. The whole scheme of philanthroiDV, necessary as it is, stands in the way of the average intelligent American, dealing with the first causes in his own land. It is part of our good nature and kindness that we would rather bind up the broken arm than eoiTect the machineiy which inflicted the fracture. It is simjDler, and in a great majority of cases it costs little more than the effort to write one's signature. I trust that this Parish will take a definite part in the movement toward civic righteousness in New York. It is part of God's trath that we should be rightly governed, it is part of Chris- tianity that we should do away with the wheels of a system which are luring hundreds of well-meaning men into fraud and graft. Such ques- tions as the opening of the saloon on Sunday and the city's budget, of vital importance to the commmiit^^, are well within our province, and there are many more. The average American is not interested in his own govern- ance. It is on this lack of interest that the eorrui^t politician depends. The causes and results in our American life are too far apart for the average man to see their relation, for the average man to see the result of his own wrongdoing. The Church must bring them together, the Church must make the complexities of the situation plain, the Church must insist that citizenship is a definite part of Christianity. God grant that the Church may qualify when the great day of decision comes, and not as was so terribly tnie in France in 1789, and is so grimly tnie in Russia to-day, fail the nation in her hour of need. The second problem to which I wish to call yoiu' attention is ' How to reach the man outside the Church who calls himself a Protestant.' There are here in our midst in New York, according to the Federation THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 383 of Churches, 1,072,000 Protestants, of whom only 337,000 are actually Church members, and only 500,000 seats in Protestant Churches. We should be particularly interested in this matter, because we have to-day registered upon the books of St. George's Church the names of 7,816 people, 5,229 of whom are communicants, in spite of which fact we rarely have an attendance of more than 3,000 persons at all the religious services of the week. Part of the reason for this is- the change in the feeling of our time. We have not the same sin-consciousness that our forefathers had. The fear once so potent a factor in religion has been largely eliminated by the doctrine of evolution and by the gradualness of the whole human process. We shall never see again the religious dominance of the Middle Age or the religious intensity of the Puritan. The whole scheme of thought about God and His relation to us has become very broad and allows much room for mdividual opinion and great divergence in conduct as well as ideas. These reasons do not entirely explain the situation. Man is es- sentially a religious animal; he really wants to know God, he really wants to do right, but this effort after God consciousness requires too much concentration and too high a standard of comment ; * it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' But it is a ditiicult discipline to live daily face to face with Him. We are ever seeking, therefore, the easiest way; we try as individuals and as organizations to discover some escape from the all-absorbing imperative of the Christian conception of God. The Church, influenced by this demand in the community, has turned her attention to social things, on the one hand, or has reduced her requii'ements to suit the comfortable, luxurious living of a certain class, who find it a j^art of their peace of mind to attend public worship at least once a week. The comfortable gospel is too often preached in the Epis- copal Church; it is well written, interesting, and has a certain cultivated spirituality which is very pleasing to the trained ear; it is frequently dis- cussed at the luncheon table on Sundays and occasionally finds a place in the conversation of its hearers during the week which follows. By much repetition of such preaching certain beautiful and sacred results are undoubtedly obtained, but such sermons require a cultivated taste to be api^reeiated. They minister very often to the ninety-and-nine who need no repentance; such people do not wish to be aroused, the word sen- sational is the most scathing epithet in their vocabulary which can be applied to a sermon or clergyman. But, alas, the world is not going to be saved through such self -satisfying ministrations. The average man wants realities and will have them wherever they may be found. These realities, alas, are too often the hard American facts of commerce or the tangible luxuries which appeal to the senses, and he is perforce content with these because the great realities of the spiritual life have never been revealed to him or forced on his attention. The average Churehless man or wom.an is unconscious of any great lack, and they can only be made to feel their loss by a very stirring presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and by a still more stirring exemplification of what it can mean in the lives of men and women. What was true in the days of the Apostolic period is true to-day. Men are more convinced by human sacrifice than by words or organization, and while evolution teaches us the siu^'ival of the fittest Christianity makes imperative the sacrifice of the most fit. This, then, is the question to every man and woman who has had a vision of what Christianity can mean in his time, to bend all his energies 384 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH to make the message of the Cross interesting, comprehensive, and forceful by word of mouth, and, above all, by example. The measure of the ef- fectiveness of any great world thought is the measure of the human energy and consecration put into it. We can only be thrilled by the devotion we find in the lives of others who are frankly following the steps of Jesus Christ, and when it comes to the great majority of uneducated or half- educated people it is the human document only that they can decipher, and if that human document is far from convincing, then they must be far from convinced. The cause of evangelism is very dear to-day in the heart of this parish. I believe that in the broadest sense of the word a wise evangelism is the only hope of the Church. The evangelization of New York will come gi'adually through the spirit of the men who bring it into being. They must have two ideals always in mind, preaching and living them tirelessly ; first, ' Brotherhood to all always,' and second, ' Jesus can answer any need if I can only make him real.' A most interesting event and one of prime importance in the personal history of the rector took place in the church on Wednes- day, June 9, 1909, at 4 p.m. It was the first time that the marriage of a rector of St. George's had been solemnized within its walls. Thousands of invitations had been sent to relatives and friends of the two families immediately concerned and to members of the parish. The church was naturally crowded to its full capacity. The bride was Miss Caroline Minturn Hall, and the ceremony was performed by Bishop G-reer. The reception, which was given by the wardens and vestrymen, was held after the ceremony in the Memorial House. The large room on the second floor was beauti- fully decorated, and it was here the rector and his bride received the guests while strains of soft music Avere wafted from the gallery. The large room on the ground floor, also decorated, was used as the refreshment-room. The throng was very great, but the ushers, aided by the Cadet Battalion, kept the guests in motion and every one had opportunity to shake hands with and to congratulate the rector and his wife. The wedding trip was spent abroad. A springtime festival was held on St. George's Day, April 23, 1910, the occasion of which was the planting of twenty young maple- trees on Sixteenth Street in front of the Church, ]\Iemorial House, and Deaconess House. The trees were presented by various organ- izations of the parish. The street was roped off, the asphalt had been thoroughly cleaned, and the grand-stand, the windows on both sides of the street, and every available inch of standing room were filled by interested spectators who greatly enjoyed the festival. After the tree-planting, a pantomime presenting the story of St. George and the Dragon was acted; and this was followed by eight national costume dances in which the children of the THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 385 Saturday-morning school had been carefully drilled for many^ weeks. The choir-master at St. George's had had to contend with the great practical difficulty of keeping the two divisions of the choir, located on the north and south sides of the wide chancel, in time and tune. A small organ on the south side would rectify the dif- ficulty, and the organist from his usual seat on the north side would be able properly to accompany that division of the choir in solos or choruses. During the summer of 1910 the desired organ was supplied at a cost of $1,200 and was dedicated in the evening of November 14th. The latest addition to the practical benevolences of St. George's is the Tuberculosis Class, which, after a somewhat experimental year, has taken a permanent place among the parochial activities. The following appreciative description of the work is from The Congregationalist and Christian World: The class reaches a number of patients vinsatisfaetory to the private physician and inaccessible to the dispensary. These people will not give up a half-day's work and pay to go, of their own initiative, to the nearest tuberculosis dispensarj' and wait, sometimes an hour or more, in a crowded, noisy room — on the same bench usually with patients in every stage of the disease — in order finally to be examined by a physician who is an utter stranger to them. This is the more true if such patients have few symptoms, as is often the case, and do not believe themselves in need of medical advice. They can be and are reached by a personal friend or the church visitor, and can be induced to present themselves for examina- tion at the church house among patients belonging to their own neighbor- hood or circle of acquaintances, by physicians known to them personally, and at an hour arranged to suit their necessities. For an evening class is conducted once a month for the examination of applicants who are unable to come in the daytime. The regular meetings of St. George's class are held Thursday after- noon each week in two rooms set aside for the purpose in the Memorial Building (parish house). One is the examining and consultation-room where the patients are seen individually by the class physicians. The week is then reviewed in detail, as each class member is required to keep an accurate record of his daily regime in a book devised for the purpose. So intimately do the doctors come to know the members of the class that these weekly conferences are more like friendly conversations for advice and encouragement than professional consultations. The other room is the class or club-room for the social side of the organization, upon which so much stress is laid at St. George's. Here the wisdom and ingenuity of the committee are everywhere evident. Clean, white enamel paint, window-cushions, and in the colder months a blazing wood fire m the open fireplace render the room bright and cheerful. The class visitor (a trained nurse), one or two members of the committee, and some of the ' graduates ' and older patients are always present on class 25 386 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH days to welcome and encourage strangers. Tn the middle of the afternoon milk or hot cocoa and sandwiches or bread are provided for all. No wonder it is easy to persuade new-comers to return and bring their friends and family for examination! The roof-garden of the Deaconess House is used as a camp for the open-air treatment of the Tuberculoids. There are a kitchen, dining-room, dressing-room, and bath adjacent, all convenient and attractive. The vital difference between this class work as it is carried on by St. George's and some other churches and that of the ordinary institution is the emphasis which is laid upon the indi- vidual, the personal sympathy and care and touch of the Christian Church seeking to heal the sick ones. The fresh-air work has changed its emphasis. Formerly the great need was to provide a daily excursion, as the facilities for going out of town were then limited and expensive. To-day for a small sum a whole family can reach one of the seaside resorts and spend the day enjoyably. But the special need is for a longer sojourn at the shore, that tired mothers and working-girls on their brief vacation may have a quiet, inexpensive opportunity for rest. The desirability of this change has been increasingly apparent for the last ten years, and it has been decided to use the Rockaway cottage principally for those who can remain a week. The few extra rooms in the cot- tage, which heretofore were used for purposes in connection with the daily excursions, have been converted into bedrooms. In the spring of 1910 there were put up bungalows on the cottage grounds at a cost of $1,007 which accommodate three families. These bungalows are specially designed for the use of the young married people of the parish who have one or two small children. Each bungalow consists of two rooms and a piazza with all necessary furniture, gas-stove, cooking utensils, and dishes. The occupants for a two weeks' stay provide their own food and do their own house- keeping. This arrangement has proved very satisfactory and com- mended itself as an important provision in the seaside work. The boys have Camp Rainsford as a summer resort, and the working-girls are encouraged to save up their money to provide for a vacation in the summer and spend it in one of the vacation houses. Every year a num])er of the girls who for various reasons are not able to provide for themselves are assisted from the parish funds. The ownership of the 4,331 feet constituting the ocean beach at Rockaway Park had been for a long time in dispute. The Rock- away Park Land Company claimed it and made efforts to sell it and also to build upon it. During the winter and the following THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 387 DIAGRAM OP ST. GEORGE's PROPERTY, ROCKAWAY BEACH 388 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH spring of 1911 the Eockaway Park Citizens' Association took the matter up and it was finally settled thus: on June 15th the Rock- away Park Land Company turned over the beach to the Rockaway Park Citizens' Association for the sum of $10,000, which then pre- sented the beach to the city of New York under the following con- dition, viz. : ' ' that Triton Avenue and Ocean Beach shall forever remain open so that the view southward shall forever be free, open, and unobstructed except for a suitable board-walk." This settlement of the disputed question may be regarded as highly satisfactory. Not only is the property of St. George's Church more valuable, but the city now owns one piece of ocean front where its people can come for a breathing spell without encroaching on the rights of others. The $10,000 fund was raised by those interested, and in behalf of St. George's Mr. Morgan contributed $2,500 toward it. The Laymen's Missionary Movement, an organization of the men of the Protestant Churches in the United States and Canada for " the evangelization of the world in this generation," early enlisted the co-operation of the men of St. George's. An organization was effected February 6, 1910, and the Hon. Seth Low was invited to describe the movement and its plan to the congregation on the fol- lowing Sunday morning. Immediate fruits resulted, A circular letter with subscription blank and envelope were sent to every man in the congregation. A missionary dinner was arranged for in the parish house January 20th at which over one hundred men were present and among the speakers were Hon. Seth Low, Mr. Stephen Baker, and Mr. W. Fellowes Morgan. A missionary rally was ar- ranged for on Sunday evening, February 12th. St. George's was represented on the executive committee of the diocesan body co- operating with the Laymen's Missionary Movement by Mr. William E. Curtis and Mr. H. H. Pike. In a letter addressed to the rector, after the close of the fiscal year of the General Board of Missions, Mr. George Gordon King, its treasurer, stated that " St. George's Church stands No. 5 in the list of givers to Missions. ' ' The Woman's Branch of St. George's Missionary Society was active in its interest and liberal in its contributions to the cause of Missions, and its president, Mrs. John Greenough, was appointed to represent the women of the Protestant Episcopal Churches of New York at the " Jubilee in Commemoration of Fifty Years of Women's Work for JMissions " held in New York last spring, March 25-30th. Early in 1910 the vestry took into consideration what arrange- THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 389 ments should be made to suitably celebrate the one hundredth an- niversary of the organization of St, George's Church. In the previ- ous year the publication of a history of the parish had been decided upon and an engagement entered into with the Rev. Dr. Henry Anstice to write the book. The writer of this histoiy was born in New York City October 7, 1841, and was baptized in old St. George's by the Rev. Dr. Milnor March 29, 1842. His parents were Heniy Anstice and Mary Saltonstall, communi- cants of St. George's, whose regard for the rector was later evidenced by naming one of their sons James Milnor. He well remembers toddling up the east aisle of the old church to receive a book and a cake at the hands of Dr. Milnor as he stood arrayed in his gown and bands on the chancel platform on New Year's Day to make his annual distribution to the chil- dren of juvenile books and those caraway-seed cakes stamped with various devices, which were so popular with the young New-Yorkers of that day. He A-ividly recalls the ministries of Dr. Tyng and his assistant, Mr. Rooker, in the transition period when the congTegation worshiped in the Chapel of the University on Washington Square and was one of the first attend- ants at the Sunday-school in the original chapel building in Sixteenth Street. Plis early education was secured in private schools in the city and in the Yonkers Collegiate Institute. He entered Williams College in 1858. graduated with honor in 1862, and became a candidate for Holy Orders in the Diocese of New York October 30th in the same year. Gradu- ating from the Philadelphia Divinity School in 1865, he was ordered deacon in the Church of St. John the Evangelist, New York, Jidy 2, 1865, by Bishoji Horatio Potter, at Avhose hands he had received Confirmation in July, 1858, and was advanced to the priesthood by the same Bishop in St. Paul's Church, Flatbush, November 21, 1865. His first ministerial duty was the temporary charge of St. Barnabas' Church, Irvdngton-on- Hudson, in which church he was united in maii'iage May 30, 1866, with Miss Flora Fenner by Bishop Horatio Potter, the Rev. Dr. Tyng and other clergj-men being present in the chancel. He became rector of St. Luke's Church, Rochester, New York, in May, 1866, remaining in that position for thirty-one years, until May, 1897. During this period he was elected in 1868 a member of the Board of Missions of the Domestic and Foreign Missionaiy Society; Financial and CorresiDonding Secretars^ of the Missionary^ Board of Western New York, 1870 to 1879; Dean of Rochester, 1882, with a brief interval, to 1895; Trustee of the Clergj^men's Retii-ing Fund Society, November, 1888; Sec- retaiy of the Missionaiy Council, October, 1887, being triennially re- elected during the whole life of the Council, twenty-seven years, until it was discontinued by the General Convention of 1904. He received the honorary degi-ee of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Rochester in June, 1875; represented the Diocese of Western New York in several General Conventions from 1877, in which year he was appointed first Assistant Secretary of the House of Deputies; and was elected member of the Board of Managers of the Domestic and Foreign Missionai-y Society February He became rector of the Church of St. Matthias, Philadelphia, in March, 390 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH 1897; was elected an overseer of the Philadelphia Divinity School in June, 1899; trustee of the American Church Building Fund Commission, of which he had been a Commissioner since 1895, in November, 1900; President of the Northwest Convocation of the Diocese of Pennsylvania Januaiy, 1901; and Financial Secretaiy of the Clergymen's Retiring Fund Society April, 1902. His resignation of the rectorship of St. Mattliias' Church took effect October 1, 1903, when he returned to his native city to devote liimself exclusively, aside from Sunday preaching, to the interests of the various Church organizations with which he was officially connected and to the duties of Secretary of the House of Deputies, to which position he was elected in October, 1904, after having served as first Assistant Secre- tary for the preceding twenty-seven years. , The plan and scope of the entire celebration being now under consideration by the vestry, various projects were suggested to fit- tingly mark the memorable occasion. The erection of a Memorial Chapel was the suggestion meeting with most favor. The treasurer reported that he had to the credit of the Chapel Fund $300 and a pledge of $2,000 toward the cost of its erection; and also that the premises No. 4 Rutherford Place, next to the Church, were for sale at $42,000. The property was purchased by members of the vestry for $37,922.96 and title to it was taken March 30, 1910. In the following December the project of building a chapel on this property came up for final decision, and it was unanimously agreed that to erect a Memorial Chapel would be the most fitting and useful way of permanently commemorating the occasion. A list of the subscribers to the Chapel Fund may be found in Part II. of this history. The date of incorporation of the Church, November 19, 1811, happily coinciding this year with a Sunday, it was resolved to specially commemorate that day, and the rector was instructed to request the Bishop of the Diocese and the Rev. Dr. Manning, rector of Trinity Church, to reserve that date that they might speak on the occasion of St. George's Centennial Celebration. The committee on Plan and Scope issued the following official notification and appeal: TO THE MEMBERS OP ST. GEORGE's PARISH AND ALL THOSE INTERESTED IN ST, George's church as an historic landmark With the present year St. George's Church completes its first century of corporate life. On November 19, 1811, this Parish came into being under the laws of the State of New York. It would seem to be only within the dictates of common gratitude that some special notice should be taken of our Hundredth Anniversary as a family worshiping God together in this place. CyC^nyi^^ZZi,<^ THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 391 The past century has been full of blessing, for from the very beginning this has been one of the great parishes of tiie land. Under its successive Rectors it has stood in the forefront of progress, of fearless search for the truth, of real spirituality. Its life has been characteristic of the various phases of theological and social thought for one hmidred years. It had its part in the building up of the city and the founding of its great future under Dr. Milnor: it took its i>]ace in the van of the Evangelical Move- ment which typified the middle of the nineteenth century, under the splen- did leadership of Dr. Tyng: it led to the movement for the Institutional Church, as exj^ressed in the variety of its activities, the Catholicity of its woi'sliip and the freedom of its sittings, an ambition to realize the ' brother- hood of man ' that lias been an inspiration to the American Church under Dr. Rainsford. During all this period the effectiveness of the work of this Parish has been made possible by its Laity, and especially by those men who have served with such unselfislmess and devotion as its Wardens and Vestrymen. It is therefore natural in contemiilating our Hundredth Birthday that we should not only rejoice because of the manifest blessings of God in this place, but that we should also wish to definitely record their names and commemorate those now gone to their rest, who saw the opportunity in the past and grasped it for their God. After careful consideration we have reached the conclusion to build a Chapel, in grateful memory of the years that have been and in com- memoration of the former Wardens and Vestrymen of St. George's Parish. This building is to be erected on the site of the house immediately adjoin- ing the Church to the north on Rutherford Place. It will cost, including the purchase of the property, about a Hundred Thousand Dollars: it will cover about 2.800 square feet and will seat a Hundred and Seventy-five Persons. It is intended that the names of W'ardens and Vesti-ymen who have worked so eagerly for the ]\Iaster through all these years will be inscribed upon its walls. The need of this building has been constantly felt by all of us who have held Services in the Church. It is impossible to make our smaller Services mean what they should in so large a building. This Chapel, if it is built, will be used every day of tlte year. In it will be conducted all the weekly Services and the small Communion Seindces. It will be a place for many Weddings and Funerals which cannot possibly fill the great St. George's and it will add very really to our spiritual efficiency. It cannot, however, be built without very real sacrifice: in the first place, on the part of those who wish to commemorate their own fore- fathers: and in the second place, on the part of all to whom this place has been a source of comfort and joy these many years. Some of you no longer go to old St. George's because the times have changed, but you can easily look back to the period when it meant a great deal in your life. Because of those days we ask you to contribute to this Memorial. Some of you may not be particularly interested in the form which our gift of thanksgiving has taken. We ask you to trust the wis- dom of those who really know the present needs of the Parish and this is what we pai'ticularly desire in order to increase our usefulness at this time. Some of you who receive this letter have much still to be thankful for because of your connection here, and it is through you joarticularly that 392 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH we hope to raise this large sum, for it would seem that anything less would be hardly adequate as an exj^ression of present feelings. We do not, however, want this Chapel to be built by a few. If it is to mean -what it should, it must be representative of all of you. If your gift must necessarily be small do not hesitate to give it, for its value is in pro- portion to the sacrifice you have made in giving it. This is an extraordinary occasion and demands the extraordinary from you. Will you not lift yourselves above your past capacity on the inspiration of a Century? Remembering tliat this is a time for gratitude and not the day to ask to know how little, but to strive to know how much. With the earnest prayer that when you think over the many years that have been, you will be moved to great things in your minds and hearts, We are faithfully yours, Hugh Birckhead, Rector J. PiERPONT Morgan R. Fulton Cutting , ^ Wm. Foulke \ C^ommittee on Charles S. Brown ( ^^^^ ^""^ ^^^P^' William E. Curtis John Reichert, Secretary As the one hundredth year of St. George's parish life is drawing to its close the condition of the parish may be summed up in the following statistics as of date April 1, 1911 : THE PLANT The Church, Stuy^'esant Square; the Rectory, 209 East Sixteenth Street; Memorial House, 203 to 207 East Sixteenth Street; Deaconess House, 208 and 210 East Sixteenth Street; Seaside Cottages (3), Rockaway Park, Long Island; Boys' Industrial Trade School, 505 East Sixteenth Street; Camp Rainsford, Blackball, Connecticut; Memorial Chapel, Rutherford Place. The parish also has control of St. George's Bed in ' Stony Wold Sana- torium,' an Endowed Child's Bed in the New York Infirmary, Livingston Place, and owns a plot in the New York Bay Cemetery in Hudson County, New Jersej'. ENDOWMENTS Church Endowment FMni^.— Apartment-house Nos. 173, 175, and 177 Third Avenue, value $80,000; business i^roperty No. 146 Chambers Street, value $75,000 ; bond investments, par value, $310,000 ; total Church Endow- ment Fund, $465,000. Net income from Church Endowment Fund, $20,002.96. Endowment Fund. — Deaconess House, $8,210. Endowment Fund. — St. George's Branch, Ladies' Auxiliary, Foreign Mission Society, $3,239.70. Endowment Fund. — Seaside Cottage, Rockaway Park, Long Island (Frederick Danne Bequest), $13,726. Endowment Fund. — Camp Rainsford, Blackball, Connecticut, $1,000. Endowment Fund. — Spencer Bequest for chapel work, $5,000. THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 393 CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS Sunday-school. — Scholars, 1,161; teachers and officers, 158; total, 1,319. Parish Activities. — Men's Club and Athletic Club, 450; Girls' Friendly Society, 818; Married Women's Society, 257; Happy Hour Club, 89; Mothers' Meeting, 185; King's Daughters, 191; Battalion, 220; Boys' In- dustrial Trade School, 311; Saturday-morning School (boys and girls), 432; free circulating library; ushers, 15, choir, 163; chancel committee, 16; church decoration eommitteej 15; Deaconess House committee, 13; neighborhood work among foreigners; and a summer school imder the auspices of the Federation of Churches. Parish Belief Work. — Carried on through the instrumentality of the Poor Fund derived from Church collections, subscriptions, and donations; the Rector's Fund; Tuberculosis Committee numbering 25; the Women's Industrial Society of fifteen ladies giving work to the poor women of the parish. There was disbursed through these agencies during the year ending April 1, 1911, $9,468. Fresh-air Work. — During the summer of 1911 at the Rockaway cottages there were accommodated 635 mothers and children for a week and 70, in- cluding fathers, for two weeks. At Camp Rainsford 215 boys spent a fortnight. A large number of girls were placed in the various vacation houses and day trips were arranged for others. The total cost of this work will approximate $7,500. Missionary Work: Foreign, Domestic, Etc. — St. George's Missionary Society consisting of the Church Branch, Laymen's Missionary Movement, Women's Branch, Sunday-school Branch, city Mission Branch, Girls' Friendly Branch, King's Daughters Branch, Church Periodical Branch, Total collected during the past year, $11,966.35, not including Missionary boxes valued at $851.77. PAROCHIAIi STATISTICS Individuals on record, 7,794; Communicants, 5,384. For the year ending April 1, 1911 : Baptisms, 136 ; Confirmations, 133 ; Marriages, 69 ; Burials, 96; total number communicating during the year, 13,059; services held on Sunday's and week-days, 745. The treasurer's report shows total receipts for the year $113,468.51, of which there was derived from plate collections $2,460.33; envelopes, $18,885.20 ; income from endowment, $20,002.96 ; for account of Memorial House and Parish Missions, $13,197.95; on account of Deaconess House, $5,760.08; for Diocesan and other extra parochial objects, $1,080.25; for General Missions, $11,966.25 ; for Seaside Fund, $4,834.55 ; for Poor Fund, $1,973.84; for Rector's Fund, $5,637.27; for increase of the endowment, $3,155.05 ; for extra expense of evening services, $1,031.25 ; for purchase of property. No. 4 Rutherford Place, $12,658.34; for new Chapel Fund, $5,514.61 ; for deficit, $5,000. The payments were for Church account, $37,004.67; for Memorial House account, $14,327.63; for Deaconess House account, $5,760.08; for Parish Missions, $4,655; for interest on trust funds, $1,020; for Diocesan and other extra parochial objects, $1,997.35; for Domestic and Foreign Mis- sions, $30,841.94; for Seaside Fund, $4,834.55; for Poor Fimd, $1,973.84; for Rector's Fund, $5,637.27; for Sinking Fund, $1,000; for increase of endowment (invested), $2,153.05; for extra appropriations, $2,686.29; for 394 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH purchase of site of new Chapel, $13,096.92; for new Chapel Fund (deposit to credit of) $5,514.61, leaving a balance to the new year of $1,181.95. This history may fitly close with the rector's view of '' the promise of the future for St. George's " as he describes it in the year book of 1911 and what he says as to the outlook for the Church : In November we are to hold the Hundredth Amiiversary Celebration to dedicate the new Chapel and, please God, to consecrate ourselves anew, as a Parish, to the great and permanent task of uplift through contact wliich is ours. You will receive thi'ough other channels the knowledge of the details of what we plan to do on this occasion. I would dwell on its significance here. This is the end of an era, and wliile we look back with thankfulness for what has been, we must also look foi-ward with faith and hope to what is to be. The problem which lies before us is the gi'eat American problem — E plurihus unum — how to bind together into one great sympathetic unity the various, vastly differing ingTedients of our American life. The Declaration of Independence added a new chapter to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in so far as it dared to assert and believe that if men WERE FREE THEY WOULD BE BROTHERS. It makes little difference that the present jjopulation of the country, with its conflicting elements ' from every kind and kindred and nations from afar,' Avas vmdreamed of by the men who framed the Constitution. The principle remains the same — the hope of the country has not changed, the God who inspired it is the Father of all. It is the Church's business primarily to make this Fatherhood real, for without it Brotherhood is impossible. It is peculiarly the task of the Pi'otestant Churches, unencumbered by imperial tradition, to practice as well as to preach the Divine Paternity. This, it seems to me, is exactly the problem which confronts St. George's. We have had in our history three different congregations, each gathered together by the personality and leadersliip of our three iirincipal Rectors. The first worshiped in the Beekman Street edifice and was characteristic of the growing city of that day. The second lived in the new and fashionable suburb of which Stuyvesant Square was a part ; and after they had moved away the third congregation was collected together largely from the German resi- dents of the same vicinage. The work in each case was a neighborhood work and each group was the result of a new personality and a new emphasis. The Germans in their turn are giving place to Italians, Hun- garians, and Jews, so that now but one-fourth of the members of this Parish live near their church. There is no vacuum in New York; when one family moves out another family moves in, and if anything there are more people in need of wliat we have to offer in our church to-day than ever before. They are not Episcopalians, many of them are not Protestants, some of them are not Christians, and it is going to take a very strong emphasis on God as the Father of all to cairy out what seems to me the obvious task of brother- hood which lies before this place. There are many members of this parish who do not wish to see this duty, who resent the thought of the intrusion of any alien element into our privileges; and if any such propaganda is started there will be loss in the number of the membership of St. George's. One thing we must insist upon is reality. Only the real is worthy of con- THE BIRCKHEAD RECTORSHIP 395 sideration and prayer. It is not right for people who have been greatly- benefited by years of contact, and because of that very uplift have been enterprising enough to move to a better environment for their children, to retain a monopoly of what has been and should be a neighborhood privilege. I would not lose one single real member of this parish if I could help it ; but there is a long list of names that have become for us meaningless, and it is our first business to clean house and find out who is who; to connect, by every effort, those people who live at great distances from us with the Churches in their own neighborhood and then to turn our faces frankly and steadfastly to the immediate need. It will take wisdom and tact to preser^^e what is valuable and actual in the East Side membership of St. George's of to-day and yet minister to the even greater need that lies without the walls. Both these things must be done. Again, it may be necessaiy to place in a secondary position the task of religious instruction and worship. Most of these neighboi-s of ours could not understand our idea of God and our method of approch to Him; to expect them to do so would be to disregard history. On the other hand, we have many things which they need, and we can help them through the breadth of our inheritance more really than any other organization in this particular part of New York. It has been the custom of Protestant Churches, too often, to turn aside from the encroachment of the slums in order to presence their social life and preference. We faced this thirty years ago, and because Ave did not tura away from the greater opportunity and gi-eater risk we were blessed with a new birth in reality and con- secration. St. George's means what it does to you and me because of the East Side and what the East Side has meant to us as an interpretation of our own thought about God. I believe the call has come again to make an even greater sacrifice of our own preference and to teach the city and country the position which the Church alone can take in teaching the inclusiveness which Fatherhood implies and Brotherhood demands. Life is a vocabularv^ — with difficulty and often with reluctance we leam each new word as it comes. On the very last page of the book tliere are two final meanings to be learned. One is God, as a loving and intensely inter- ested Father of All men, and the other is the word Everybody. It will take centuries to break down the various units of selfislmess which con- stitute the story of race, family, tribe, nation, church; but they must all go at last when ' with one heart and one soul united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, with one mind and one mouth ' we glorify the God who made us different from one another, that we might be united through our love for Him. This is the future which I see before this place, and it will require the loyal support and interest of all those who have made the work of the past possible. Whoever takes it in hand must be given fi'eedom to cany out the vision as he sees it, the means, which will leave him unencumbered with petty considerations, to insist upon the big principles involved, and, above all, the belief of those who call themselves members of the congregation. The effectiveness of any organization is commensurate "with the far-sightedness, consecration, and ability of its head. You cannot separate this individual from the cause which he represents: the fortunes of the v/hole fabric rise and fall because of him and not in spite of him. If he is not fit for his task it is kindness to him to dissolve the i^artnership ; but until this has taken place, he needs, 396 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH he deserves, and has the right to demand the concentrated good-will and prayers of all who wish his organization well. It is my earnest prayer that there may be raised up in this place a great personality and that poAver may be given to liim, not only from above, but from all those who call themselves St. George's, to create the broader spirit of a newer time and to fashion a plan which shall bring out a deejDer spirituality and a greater inclusiveness in the century that lies before us. With this thought in mind I urge upon you all the daily repetition of this prayer: Lord God, Father of us all, who hast led us by Thy hand to the threshold of a new century of our life, we lift our hearts in gratitude to Thee for Thy mercies of the past. And here, oiu' God, we dedicate ourselves anew to Thee and Thy service. Put into the heart of each one of us such a love toward Thee that we may love our neighbors as ourselves — a love that leaps the boundaries of race or color or speech — that knows no dis- tinction of class, that reaches out a saving hand even unto the least of these Thy brethi-en. Fill our lives with the single motive of service — and use us, Lord — use us for Thine own purposes just as Thou wilt and when and where, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. PART II BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCHES APPENDICES THE RECTOES THE REV. JOHN KEWLEY, M.D. John Kewley was born in England about 1770 of Roman Cath- olic parents. He was educated across the Channel at St. Omer, where a Roman Catholic college for British youth was located, and later at Douay, which contains a Roman Catholic university founded by Philip II. in 1562 and a noted seminary for English priests. He spent some time successively at the universities of Lon- don, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, at the last named receiving the de- gree of doctor of medicine. He was at this period of his life, as he claimed, " a sincere professor of the Roman Catholic religion and continued so till a more free intercourse with the world led me into a state of apathy respecting religion." In the next glimpse ob- tainable of him in his somewhat erratic career we find that he had drifted to one of the West India islands where he was practising medicine. He is said to have joined " Lady Huntington's per- suasion " and preached somewhat among that body and the Metho- dists. We next learn of him as residing in Cumberland, Maryland, and assisting in the organization of Emmanuel parish, April 11, 1803, of which he was elected registrar. He at once officiated as lay reader and was sent as a delegate to the ensuing diocesan con- vention. The vestry furthermore recommended him to the Bishop and Standing Committee as a candidate for Hol}^ Orders. He was ordered deacon June 19, 1803, by the Right Rev. Thomas J. Claggett in St. Paul's Church, Prince George County, the clergymen assisting in the service being the Rev. Henry Lyon Davis and the Rev. Walter Delany Addison. He was ordained priest by the same bishop in St. Peter's Church, Baltimore, the priests assisting in the laying on of hands being the Rev. John Coleman and the Rev. George Dashiell. His appointment as minister of the parish dates from January 1, 1803, at a salary of one hundred pounds and his resignation as rector took effect January 1, 1805. His next rectorship was in Chester Parish, Kent County, Maryland. At the annual convention of the diocese Dr. Kewley was the preacher on Tuesday in Whitsun week, 400 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH June, 1806. His theme was the Sacred Mirxistry, and the following extract from his sermon which was published in the Churchman's Magazine is of interest in view of the attitude which he later as- sumed toward the Orders of the Protestant Episcopal Church : That we, my reverend brethren, are in possession of a ministry instituted by Christ and His Apostles is what I conceive no Protestant either of the Episcopalian or Presbyterian denominations will deny, we having derived our orders from the British bishops, who are the acknowledged bishops of a Church and nation which took special care at the Refoi'mation to pre- sence that episcopal succession which she received with the Christian re- ligion. This is a fact which is proved by the most authentic records. He also published an inquiry into the validity of the Methodist Episcopacy, addressing it to the Rev. Mr. Asbury. During his residence in Maryland, in addition to a faithful dis- charge of his parochial duties, Dr. Kewley did effective ndssionary work in various outlying districts. In 1809 he removed to Connecticut to become rector of Christ Church, Middletown. The Rev. Dr. E. E. Beardsley, in his History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, writes: '* For nearly four years he was one of the most active and influential presbyters in the diocese. He was an eloquent and evangelical preacher, who gained a wide popularity and impressed his hearers in all places with a conviction of his entire earnestness." He was honored with the confidence of his brethren, being chosen both a member of the Standing Committee and a delegate to the General Convention. A noteworthy fact was his influence upon the life of John Prentiss Kewley Henshaw, who became in 1843 the first Bishop of Rhode Island. He was a native of Middletown, born June 13, 1792, but while he was quite a child his father removed to Middlebury, Ver- mont. After he had graduated from Middlebury College in 1808 and been admitted to Harvard University his mind was first deeply and permanently impressed by the truths of religion on the occasion of a visit to his native place, where the Rev. Dr. Kewley was then ministering with great energy and acceptance. By him he was baptized and in token of a grateful and affectionate respect adopted Kewley as a part of his baptismal name. The Rev. Dr. Daniel Henshaw, son of the Bishop, writes of this circumstance : It may not be uninteresting for you to know that my father bore the name of Kewley before he or his family knew anything of the Rev. Dr. Kewley. My grandfather had a bachelor friend in England who requested, on hear- ing of the birth of my father, that the boy should be named Kewley, after him, for that was his name. My father was not baptized in his infancy. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 401 In some way this English friend, Kewley, displeased the family, or at least my father, for he when a mere child took it into his head that he would no longer be called Kewley. The family were amused, to say the least, by the child's course, and thenceforward, until his baptism by Dr. Kewley, who seems to have been in no way connected with the other Mr. Kewley, the ' K ' was dropped from his name. It was resumed at that time out of regard for one to whom he was indebted, imder God, for many spiritual blessings. The affectionate relations which existed between Dr. Kewley and Mr. Henshaw is attested by the tone of a letter written by the former to the latter, the original of which is in the archives of St. George's Church, dated Middletown, December 13, 1812, recounting the con- siderations and circumstances which led him to accept the call to St. George's. Another letter, of which the original is also in the archives, written on the eve of Mr. Henshaw 's ordination which took place in June, 1813, after Dr. Kewley had become rector of St. George's, contains items of interest which warrant its repro- duction : Dear Sir: ^^"^ York, 22 April, 1813. I rec'd yours of the 29th ult. and shall endeavor, should the packet pass from here to Newport, to be present at your Ordmation, but on condition that on your return with me to New York you will remain with me at least two Sundays, as Mr. Brady, my assistant minister, wishes to take a short journey, and the services of our church are too heavy for one clergyman. Indeed, on tliis condition I will take the joui-ney by land if the i^ackets do not go. Our services are, during winter, three sermons on Sundays and a lecture on Thursday evenings. The lecture on Thursday is to be con- tinued during summer, except for a few weeks during the veiy warm weather. I have seen all the clergy here and am, apparently at least, on good terms with them all. My Institution was on the 25th ult., Mr. Brady's took place at the same time. I am much jileased with him and believe him truly pious and Evangelical. Bishop Hobart acted as in- stituting minister. Rev. S. F. Jarvis officiated at Morning Prayer and Dr. R. C. Moore preached; most of the other clergy were present. I am told that the eongi'egations are much larger since I came than has ever been known in this church. Indeed, the church is pretty well filled, and I believe a good proportion of the congTegation are truly pious people. Mr. Chandler is here; no plan is formed respecting his future destination. He is studying in some measure under my direction, but not being yet fixed in apartments of my own, which I shall not be till the beginning of next month, I do not see liim as often as I could wish. I do not think his senti- ments respecting doctrines are much changed, nor do I wish them to be. Mr. Noble, I imagine you know, is at Middletown and, as I hear, gives considerable satisfaction. Let me hear from you as soon as you can after receiving this, for on your answer must depend my visit to Bristol. I have not preached out of St. George's Church but once, at St. Paul's, since I have been in this city, but am to i^reach at Grace Church on Sunday after next. 26 402 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH "With beseeching God to prepare you by His grace for the office inta which you are about to enter, and to render your ministry highly in- strumental to His Glory, your own happiness and salvation and that of your hearers, I conclude and subscribe myself, Yours affectionately, John Kewley. Mr. John P. K. Henshaw, Marblehead, Mass. Dr. Kewley closed his acceptable and useful ministry in Middle- town on the 10th of March, 1813, when he delivered a valedictory discourse which was published at the congregation's request. He at once entered upon the duties of the rectorship of St. George's and ministered to the edification and acceptance of the congregation. That he should have so commended himself to the people, while at the same time planning to renew his allegiance to the Church of Eome, is difficult to understand. Pending his trip abroad in 1814^ he had expressed himself to Bishop Hobart in a letter as uncertain whether he would return, and to the vestr}^ he had written " that circumstances might occur after my arrival in England which would induce me to remain there permanently." But he returned, re- entered on his duties and continued to officiate, even after his resig- nation and the election of his successor, until the summer of 1816 when he sailed for Europe and disappeared from view. His letter to the Bishop (recorded in this history) was an unfeigned surprise to his best friends. It is small wonder that a strong revulsion in their feelings toward and estimate of liira should be engendered. Opinions differed widely. The Church Historian of Connecticut records : Many have believed that while acting in our communion he was but a Jesuit in the disguise of Protestantism. It is certain that while in Con- necticut he tampered Avith one or two of the theological students at the Episcopal Academy and advocated the duty of celibacy in the clergy with all the zeal of a cloistered bachelor in the Middle Ages. On the other hand. Dr. W. B. Sprague, in his Anrials of the American Pulpit, wrote : There was much that Avas mysterious in respect to the change; but those who knew him best are said to have given him credit for sincerity. It is a singular circumstance that, though he never made a secret of his havings been educated in the Church of Rome, he had never shown either in public or private the slightest leaning toward the tenets of that Church. He is represented as having been a man of great meekness and suavity, untiring- in the discharge of his holy functions, and fervent and effective in his preaching. Any authentic information as to his after life or when and where BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 403 he died, all efforts to secure have failed. The only thing quite cer- tain is that, as he proposed, he rejoined the Church of Rome. A sermon preached in Middletown he published, under the title " Messiah, the Physician of Souls," and another delivered on the occasion of the Institution of the Rev. Henry Whitloek as assistant minister of Trinity Church, New Haven, August 29, 1811. A few of his sermons or lectures in manuscript are preserved in the archives of St. George's Church. THE REV. JAMES MILNOR, D.D. James Milnor was born in the city of Philadelphia on the 20th of June, 1773. His parents, William and Anna (Brientnall) Milnor, were by birth and education members of the Society of Friends. His father was originally bred to the handicraft of a cooper; but developing talents for other pursuits, he soon engaged in trade and at the period which introduced the Revolution was extensively con- cerned in a fishery, acting at the same time as factor to Colonel George "Washington, of Mount Vernon, with whom he had joint interests and whose confidence he largely enjoyed. At the opening of the Revolution, despite his Quaker principles, he was strongly inclined to enter the army and actually applied for a commission, but unexpected circumstances forced him to withdraw the applica- tion. He was, however, throughout the struggle a firm friend to the American cause and was able in various ways to render it efficient servnce, in consequence of which he was " read out of meeting." Young Milnor received the rudiments of his education at a gram- mar school in his native city and at an early age entered the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. He was distinguished in his youth as ever after for kindliness of disposition and soundness of judgment. After entering the university his father's resources became somewhat straitened, and being unwilling to cause him any embarrassment he resolved to close prematurely his collegiate course. He accordingly left the university and commenced the study of law under the direction of Mr. Howell, an eminent Quaker lawyer of Philadelphia. He continued with Mr. Howell until 1793 when Mr. Howell fell a victim to the epidemic of yellow fever. He then entered the office of Mr. Rawle with whom he completed the usual course of legal study preparatory to admission to the bar. In the spring of 1794 he was admitted as an attorney of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Montgomery. He therefore began the practice 404 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of law just on the eve of reaching his legal majority. His first settlement as a legal practitioner was at Norristown, and though so young he soon established a satisfactory practice. Early in 1797 he returned to Philadelphia and soon enjoyed large and growing opportunities in the business of his profession. In December, 1797, he associated himself with other respectable young gentlemen of the city to form the " Resolution Fire Company " composed of sixty members, who honored Mr. Milnor with the office of president. He considered the fire department a most important institution and took pride in promoting its efficiency. The yellow fever ravaged Philadelphia in the summer of 1798 with desolating violence. His father's family sought refuge near Darby and he himself, retiring to Norristown, became engaged there as counsel in an important ease in which he was successful, thereby enhancing his legal reputa- tion. But a far more important outcome of his stay in Norristown was the intimate relation which sprung up between him and a daugh- ter of Mr. Henry Pawling. For soon thereafter, February 28, 1799, Miss Eleanor Pawling became his wife, a lady every way worthy of his respect and affection, to whom he was deeply attached and with whom he lived most happily till the day of his death. Their union was blessed with seven children, two of whom died in infancy, the other five surviving him. Until the time of his marriage, Mr. Milnor lived as he had been educated, a Quaker, but as his wife was an Episcopalian and he was married by an ordained clergyman of that Church " a hireling minister " he was in due form " read out of meeting " by this form of disownment: James Milnor, of this city, attorney at law, who had a birthright among us the people called Quakers, disregarding the order of our discipline, hath accomplished his marriage, with the assistance of a hireling minister, to a woman not professing with us; and, in his dress and address, deviated from that plainness and moderation consistent with our religious profession ; for which deviations he hath been treated with, but without the desired effect. "We therefore no longer consider him a memlier of our religious society; nevertheless, desire he may become duly sensible of his errors and seek to be restored. But they were evidently unwilling to lose a man whose general life was so irreproachable and who was so rapidly rising to influence in his native city. That they sincerely desired his restoration is evident from the fact that a committee was appointed to " treat " with him, which proposed to reinstate him on some slight acknowl- edgment of error. He received their proposal courteously, but BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 405 facetiously replied that it was " rather too much to ask of a man whose honeymoon was scarcely ended and that he must decline. ' ' Mr. Milnor began in 1798 the practice of recording notes of his daily life and of public occurrences, coupled with his reflections thereon — a practice which he found most pleasing and profitable. The first entry in this diary revealed his purpose, maintained throughout his whole career, never to incur a debt which he had not the means to discharge and under all circumstances to live within his income, whatever it might be. Starting with such prin- ciples, it is not surprising that he was blessed with an accumulating fortune. His legal practice fostered the cultivation of those busi- ness habits which were of utmost value to him in his later life. His strict integrity and the universal confidence which he inspired won for him the honorable epithet of '* the honest lawyer." At one time he was prosecuting a claim against that distinguished Phila- delphia merchant, Stephen Girard, to find himself thwarted by every obstacle which immense wealth and influence could interpose. But when at last a judgment for the plaintiff was secured Mr. Girard observed, as he handed Mr. Milnor a check for the amount awarded : " You have proved yourself, sir, a lawyer who will never desert a client. If I had not an attorney whom I very much respect, you would be my man." His standing as a la\vyer was not only based upon his character for honesty and fidelity, but upon his prudent caution and sound judgment in forming opinions and his decided promptness and energy of action. His industry was untiring, and his diligence in business and in study, his punctuality in meeting engagements, and his strict adherence to method all contributed to his marked professional success. Moreover, he was characterized by great amiability of disposition and suavity of manner which won him hosts of friends. In October, 1805, Mr. Milnor was elected a member of the Select Council of Philadelphia to fill a two years' vacancy, having already served a term as Common Councilman in 1800. In 1807 he was re- elected for three years to the Select Council and in 1808 was made president of that body. In October, 1810, he was elected to Con- gress as a member of the House of Representatives from the city and county of Philadelphia, the only successful Federalist candidate in what was then a Democratic constituency. He soon became a highly active and influential member, although as a decided Federalist he was in the minority party. He opposed the War of 1812 with Great Britain with much zeal and ability. At one of his speeches. May,, 1812, Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House, took offense and chal- 406 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH lenged him to a duel, which challenge Mr. Milnor courageously and dignifiedly declined. His three years' Congressional service closed March 4, 1813. It was during the last term of his career in Congress that the great spiritual change came over him which gave such new direction to his life. He had been thoroughly a man of the world, and, though never chargeable with any moral delinquency, was fond of fashion- able society, the theater, and worldly gaieties and was governed by the maxims and the spirit of the world rather than by those of religion. Personally popular and everywhere welcomed, warm and generous in his friendships, he was incorruptibly high-minded in his business and political life, inspired by truest patriotism, and gifted with no little sagacity in the philosophy of politics and the conduct of affairs, but he had been up to this time without any true appre- ciation or real experience of personal religion. He had attended worship in the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, but in the fall of 1809, wearying of Calvinistic teaching, he transferred his allegiance to St. James' Episcopal Church and was a respectful hearer of sermons, reflecting upon their contents and writing out from memory their substance in his diary. He was elected vestry- man soon after taking a pew in St. James' and became considerably engaged in the secular affairs of the parish. He served as a lay delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention in 1811 and in May of the same year was sent as a representative of Pennsylvania to the Gen- eral Convention of the Church which met in New Haven. On his way to New Haven he spent a Sunday in New York, where he met and had a pleasant interview with Dr. John Henry Hobart, whom in a letter to his wife he styles ' ' one of my earliest and most intimate friends. ' ' They had been school-boys together. Dr. Hobart was then bishop-elect of the Diocese of New York. How little did either of them forecast the relations which in after years they would sustain to each other. Meanwhile his interest in religion grew apace. A correspondence with a lifelong friend, whose own recent experience of the grace of God impelled him to seek earnestly Mr. Milnor 's conversion, con- tributed to shape the latter 's thoughts and feelings in the right direction. The preaching of the Eev. Dr. Pilmore at St. Paul's and that of Bishop White and his assistants. Dr. Abercrombie and the Rev. Jackson Kemper in St. James', awakened thoughts and senti- ments in him which were productive of results. In a letter to the latter addressed to him " confidentially as a friend and most seriously and respectfully as an ambassador of God and one of BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 407 those appointed to minister in holy things " he says in February, 1813 : Religion has, in a vague and unsettled manner, affected my mind oc- casionally from my earliest recollection. Sometimes it has warmed and animated my heart. Sometimes I have been involved in speculations calcu- lated to lessen its effect as the governing principle and rule of life and conduct; and sometimes, by subtracting from the peculiar doctrines of Christianitj'', I have weakened its divine authority and made it a mere system of morality, which the human mind, limited as it is, might have been competent to frame without the intervention of the wisdom of the Most High or the sufferings and death of His blessed Son. In the providence of God, I have had my mind drawn to this interesting subject in a way which I have never before experienced. After a brief account of the progress of the spiritual change which had been wrought in him he ventures to propose that he present himself for Confirmation and the reception of the Supper of the Lord on the first convenient opportunity after his return from Washington to Philadelphia and requests Mr. Kemper's counsel and -assistance as to his future course. As the close of his Congressional term approached his anxiety to get out of political life became more intense, for he was sick of the unprincipled demagoguism and corruption which charac- terized so much of it. He dreaded to go back to legal practice be- cause he shrunk from the temptation to " make the worse appear the better reason " and the apparent necessity of sometimes ad- vocating or defending an unrighteous cause. His final decision to devote the remainder of his life to the work of the sacred ministry was reached soon after his return to Phila- delphia, for on the 3d of April he called on Bishop White and ac- quainted him with his determination to relinquish the profession of the law and with the views which he entertained of entering on the study of divinity and applied through him to the Standing Com- mittee of the Diocese for admission as a candidate for Holy Orders. He then arranged his temporal affairs with a view to retirement into the country for the more quiet prosecution of his studies and on June 2d removed his family to Norristown. Here, under the bishop 's license, he assumed the labors of a lay reader in St. John's parish. Thus Norristown, which gave him his beloved life partner and which was the scene of his earliest practice of the law, became his earliest field in the service of the gospel. Among those who were surprised and interested in Mr. Milnor's resolution to enter the ministry was John Randolph, of Roanoke, 408 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH who in Congress had been favorably impressed by the representative from Philadelphia. He wrote to a friend under date June 2, 1813 : " "What you tell me of Milnor is quite unexpected. He was one of the last men I should have expected to take Orders ; not so much on account of his quitting a lucrative profession as from his fondness for a gay life. I am not sure but that it is the safest path. The responsibility is awful — it is tremendous ! ' ' His own views on the subject are expressed in the following letter to his friend Bishop Hobart preserved in the Hobart MSS. : Philadelphia, May 6, 1814. R. Rev'd & Dear Sir: I return you many thanks for your kind letter by our friend Mr. Kemper and entirely concur in your elevated opinion of the purity of the doctrines and the excellency of the order and worship of our Church. A clear conviction of the entire conformity of both to scripture and to primitive usage induced me to become an Episcopalian and subsequent examination has strengthened and confirmed my first impressions. The determination to become an humble advocate of our blessed religion agreeably to the tenets and ritual of a Church built upon the foundation of Christ and His Apostles, although the result of decided apprehension of duty, has been a matter of much more difficulty. The extended range of study which it opens and the increased responsibility connected with an entrance upon the duties of the ministiy, compared with my personal qualifications for the midertaking either on the score of knowledge or of grace, sometimes fill my mind with the most discouraging fears. The affectionate terms in which you have been pleased to express your good wishes towards me are well calculated to assist in allaying them, for nothing can be a more inspiring incentive to duty and exertion in a beginner than the countenance and friendship of a veteran in similar pursuits. And your letter affords me the animating assurance of an interest in the regards of one whose honor- able rank in the Church does not more distinguish him than his superior talents and virtues. Be assured, my dear sir, that your good wishes are highly acceptable and that I shall consider it a favor of no small value to be remembered in your prayers. Accept mine for the preservation of your health and a long continuance of your usefulness to the cause of religion and the Church. I rejoice in the pleasing hope of soon seeing you in our city and remain with great respect and esteem. Very truly yours, James Milnor. Bight Eevd. Doctor Hohart. It is worthy of note as showing the esteem in which he was held and the value set upon his prospective labors that very soon after his intended change of profession became known he was urgently invited to accept the charge of two of the most important churches in the South — one in Baltimore and one in Richmond. But de- clining both he reserved himself, in accordance with Bishop White's BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 409 desire, for service under him in the united churches of Christ Church, St. Peter's, and St. James of which he was the rector. His duties as lay reader at Norristown were of unexpectedly short duration, being interrupted by a serious illness which attacked first himself and then Mrs. Milnor. On their recovery they decided to return to the city, where late in the fall he resumed his theological studies. In the following year, being forty-one years of age, he was ad- mitted to the diaconate by Bishop White in St. James' Church August 14, 1814, and was advanced to the priesthood by the same bishop in the same church August 27, 1815. Plis first sermon was preached in St. Peter's Church on the afternoon of the day in which he was ordained on the text, " I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." On the 21st of December following he was unanimously elected by the vestry a minister of the united churches in Phila- delphia, which position he accepted and whose duties he diligently discharged until his removal to New York. " His brief ministry in Philadelphia," writes his friend Bishop Henshaw, " was marked with the same fearless exposition of the doctrines of the Gospel, the same earnest enforcement of the duties of practical godliness, the same burning love for souls and laborioTis effort for their salvation by which it was ever characterized in after life and in other spheres. It was attended with an important influence in elevating the stand- ard of piety in the parish with which he was specially connected and in strengthening the cause of truth and godliness in the com- munity at large." Early in 1816 he was made aware of a movement in St. George's Church, New York, looking to his future rectorship of that parish. At first he was but little disposed to listen to the overtures, but finally becoming satisfied it was his duty to accept the call he parted with his Philadelphia charge with great reluctance and was in- stituted rector by his old friend Bishop Hobart September 30, 1816. A reviewer of his Memoir in the Church Review of April, 1849, says : From this time, during the thirty years which elapsed before his decease, the Christian and ministerial life of Dr. Milnor was 'a spectacle to the world'; and surely, in its leadino^ features and in its noble results, it was a lovely and interesting one. We doubt not that angels, as well as good men, might contemplate it with adrairation and delight. Although, owing to peculiar influences and cii'cumstances of the times, he was seldom called to any of those posts of honor or trust in the gift of the diocese to which his age, talents, character, and station might have seemed to entitle him, yet as an humble but venerated presbyter he faithfully applied himself to the appropriate duties of his diocesan relationships. Uniformly respecting 410 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH episcopal authority, cheerfully rendering canonical obedience, and earnestly desiring the harmony and prosperity of the body to which he belonged — • but ever ready to vindicate the rights of conscience and enjoy the freedom which the Church allows — he silently and unofficially exerted an influence which was widely and jjermanently felt in the affairs of the diocese. His honorary degree of doctor of divinity was received from the University of Pennsylvania in 1819. His published discourses were: A Sermon preached in St. George's Church in the city of New York on a public day of Thanksgiving appointed by His Excellency, De Witt Clinton, Gov- ernor of the State of New York, 1817 : A Sermon occasioned by the death of His Excellency, De Witt Clinton, late Governor of the State of New York, preached at St. George's Church, New York, 1828; Two Sermons in the National Preacher, 1836; A Charitable Judgment of the Opinions and Conduct of Others recommended, being the last sermon preached by the author in St. George's Church, 1845. The testimonials to the character and services of Dr. Milnor re- ceived by the vestry and directed to be entered on their minutes (see page 159) are too voluminous to be inserted here. Extracts only from them can be given. That of the clergy of New York and Brooklyn attested by Thomas Lyell, chairman, and Benjamin I. Haight, secretary, records : We delight to recognize in the character of the brother whose loss we deplore a rare and beautiful combination of those virtues which are calcu- lated to win love and inspire confidence while they command reverence and respect — the uniform consistancy with which he illustrated in his life the heavenly precepts he so earnestly taught; the judicious intrepidity with which he contended for what he believed to be essentially true; the liberty he was ever willing to concede to others of judging for themselves in things doubtful; the boundless charity which led liim to love all men and to hope for all things in the frail and the erring; his serene and ever cheerful temper, the soothing tenderness of his manner, his attractive and gentlemanly bearing, and his conciliating spirit; the freeness with which he was perpetually dispensing of the abimdance with which God had blessed him to feed the hungry and to clothe the destitute; the assiduity with which he labored even to the last hours of his life to sustain institutions for the relief of human wretchedness, for dispelling the darkness of igno- rance, for reclaiming the sinful and to ennoble the debased. The tribute of the American Tract Society, with which he had been officially connected during the twenty years of its existence, said: Dr. Milnor's mental endowments, in their singularly happy combination, his exemplary piety, purity of life, benevolence, charity, and usefulness BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 411 had invested him Avith a wide-spread and constantly gi-owing influence and weight of character which is the lot of veiy few ever to attain. His praise is in all the Churches, and perhaps no other man at the present time could have been taken from us more universally and deeply lamented. * A Prince and great man has fallen in Israel.' The Foreign Committee of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society placed on record: We cherish a high appreciation of the sacrifices, the revered subject of these resolutions made in the holy cause in which we are engaged, when at an advanced period of life, with precarious health and before the cause of Foreign Missions had won the regard of the Chui-ch m general, he con- sented to take the office of secretary and to submit to the continued exposure and fatigi;e of a traveling agency; and we can trace back to his cheerfid and honorable advocacy of this cause at a most critical moment some of the most important elements of its future success and to his disinterested faithful and persevering zeal, his talents and influence, the present flouiish- ing state of this benignant undertaking. The Council of the University of the City of New York resolved : That we cherish the highest regard for the memoiy of the Rev. Dr. Milnor as a man of distinguished intelligence, purity of manner, and in- tegrity of character, as a minister of the gospel whose liberality, activity, and usefulness will long be remembered in the Christian Church and as a patron of learning and science who was among the earliest friends and supporters, not only of this University, but also of other institutions which are now spreading abroad the means of knowledge in our city and our land. The Hon. R. H. Walworth, L.L.D., Chancellor of the State of New York, wrote of him : Though there Avas nothing in his preaching that had the semblance of an attempt to appear gi-eat, yet there was a vein of excellent sense and sound scriptural instruction, together with a winning kindliness of manner and a deep apparent solicitude for the salvation of his hearers and the honor of his Master, that could hardly fail to command an earnest at- tention. Although entirely fearless in condemning and opposing what he considered dangerous error in whatever form it might appear, he sought rather to convince by argument than to overwhelm by denunciation. I be- lieve that his manner of presenting truth to the minds of his hearers was always persuasive. He generally made them feel that he was deeply and heartily interested in his own message; and that he preached the terrors of the law, not less than the unsearchable riches of Christ, in perfect love. The same delightful spirit of conciliation which he breathed in the pulpit he manifested in all his intercourse with his people and with society at large, sustaining under all circumstances the character of a perfect Chris- tian gentleman. 412 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH The Bishop of Massachusetts, Dr. Manton Eastburn, who had been in earlier life a communicant of St. George's, in an article in the Episcopal Observer wrote: Who that knew liim can ever forget the good humor and frankness of his ruddy countenance when mingling as a brother with his brethren? From his face and from liis tong-ue there was a perennial flow of those ehaiities which sweeten life. No dark distrast and concealment lowered upon his brow; and the transparent freeness of his eminently social nature banished all distrust from others. As his years increased this happy blend- ing of the two qualities of firmness and love was more and more developed. It seemed as if the nearer he api^roached the close of his pilgrimage the more softened and mellow he became. How many bright and cheerful scenes during the latter part of his life now arise before my memory, which served at the time of their occurrence and now serve to convince me that he was, perhaps, the richest specimen to be found among us of a Christian gentle- man ! His manners were not that mere exterior polish which is the effect of adventitious circumstances. They were the result and the index of a heart, which, naturally generous, had by the grace of God been warmed into that sunny and genial state of affection which sheds upon all who come within its influence beams of benignity and gladness. THE EEV. STEPHEN H. TYNG, D.D. Stephen Higginson Tyng was born of distinguished New Eng- land ancestry in Newburyport, Massachusetts, March 1, 1800. His parents were the Hon. Dudley Atkins Tyng and Sarah Higginson. He was baptized by Dr. Edward Bass, first Bishop of Massachusetts, in St. Paul 's Church, Newburyport, of which he was then rector, and made his first communion in the same church nineteen years later; and also two years subsequently preached in it his first Sunday ser- mon after ordination. This church was therefore always associated in his mind with cherished memories. The family in 1805 removed to Boston. In the following year he was sent to a boarding-school in Quincy where he remained five years. The family church in Boston was Trinity, a plain wooden structure built in 1735, of which the Rev. Dr. Gardiner was rector, to whom young Tyng recited his catechism in the vestry-room. In 1811 he was sent for a year to Phillips Academy at Andover and found much blessing in the spiritual atmosphere created by the neighboring seminary recently established. But the most profitable year of his school life was the last, spent in a private boarding-school in Brighton near Boston kept by Dr. Benjamin Allen, a distin- guished teacher, whose personal interest in his pupils secured their BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 413 proficiency in study and their grateful attachment to himself. He entered Harvard at thirteen years of age in a class of eighty-six, among whom were George Bancroft and Caleb Gushing. The fam- ily had meanwhile moved to Gambridge, that Stephen and his brother Dudley might live at home while studying in college. Dur- ing his Junior year he was confirmed by Bishop Griswold in the Gambridge Church. The two years after graduation were passed in Boston in the employ of S. G. Perkins & Company, a large East India firm, where Mr. Tyng acquired business habits and experience of commercial methods and matters which proved invaluable in his after life. He left the counting-house in August, 1819, impelled by the con- viction of a call to seek the sacred ministry. He went to live in Bristol and pursued the study of theolog}^ under the eye and guid- ance of the venerable Bishop Griswold, a man whose scholarly at- tainments, simplicity of character, and unaffected godliness left an indelible impress upon his candidates for orders. The Bishop taught him pastoral theology by taking him upon his rounds of visits to the poor and to the prayer-meetings which he so helpfully con- ducted. When absent on his visitations special responsibilities de- volved upon his students as lay readers, and Mr. Tyng had every opportunity to gain experience in parish work and in extemporane- ous speech. A wonderful revival of religion took place in Bristol and the surrounding country early in 1820, and the active part which he was privileged to take in it proved of incalculable value in his practical and spiritual preparation for his future work. His father wishing him to prosecute his further studies with the Rev. Dr. Jarvis of St. Paul's Church, he returned to Boston and the Bishop gave him charge as a lay reader of the little church in Quincy. But the close of the year found him once more in Bristol teaching in the academy for self-support while finishing his studies. His ordination took place in St. Michael's Church after examina- tion by the Bishop and the Rev. Dr. Jarvis, who kindly came from Boston to preach on the occasion. No parish opening appearing in Bishop Griswold 's diocese, he started for New York, where he was cordially received by Dr. Wainwright of Grace Church, by Bffehop Hobart, and by Dr. Milnor. He preached for him in St. George's, and, taking letters from the rector to various brethren further south, he reached the District of Columbia in whose three cities there were five churches with earnest rectors of the Evangelical type — ^William Hawley in St. John's, "Washington, Dr. William H. Wilmer and Mr. Oliver Norris in Alexandria, and in Georgetown Charles P. 414 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Mcllvaine and Walter D. Addison. The last named, rector of St. John's, resigned through failing health and nominated Mr. Tyng as his successor. He was at once elected and accepted the position and was received with general cordiality by the influential and intelligent people of the congregation. While repairs upon the church were being made during the summer months he journeyed back to Bristol to claim the daughter of the bishop for his wife, and they were married August 5th ; and after visiting in Boston and Newburyport reached Georgetown in September. After a two years' ministry in Georgetown he accepted a call to Queen Anne's Parish in Prince George's County, Maryland, at Easter, 1823. It was at this period that the Alexandria Seminary came into being in the lecture-room of St. Paul's Church, the Rev. Reuel Keith with Dr. Wilmer and Mr. Norris constituting the faculty. With the steps which resulted in its establishment Mr. Tyng was closely identified and always remained among its loyal and devoted friends. After six years' ministry in this country parish, involving extended missionary tours on horseback, he accepted the rectorship of St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, one of the most venerable of the city churches, in May, 1829. His success in the rectorship was immediate and marked. The old church building, however, which had been erected in 1760 was very uncomfortable and the rector proposed a renewing and remodeling of the building for the convenience of the increasing work. The vestry acquiesced in the plans proposed, but some of the older members of the congregation regarded them as little short of sacrilege. On the completion of the work the renewed edifice was consecrated by Bishop White in January, 1831. The Sunday-school work had been for years a feature in St. Paul 's, and the increased accommodations now secured made practicable its increased efficiency. After three years of happy and efficient work the rector was bereaved of his devoted and accomplished wife in the spring of 1832. In July of the following year he was united in marriage by Bishop White to the second daughter of his esteemed friend, Thomas Mitchell, who was spared to be the loving helpful partner of his joys and sorrows through the remainder of his life. Upon coming to Philadelphia he at once engaged in active and energetic support of the various forms of benevolent and religious effort, both those identified with his own church and those which included Christians of other names. He was especially interested in the aims and methods of the American Sunday School Union and was its powerful advocate and supporter. He was zealous for BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 415 the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, and in 1830 was elected one of its Board of Directors, and in 1833 was appointed on its Executive Committee. His position as a pronounced Evangelical was promptly assumed and unflinchingly maintained. St. Paul's was the original Evangelical Church in Philadelphia. Others had later been established of which St. Andrew's on Eighth Street was the largest and most popular. Tenth Street was the western boun- dary of settled population in those days. But with faith in the future a number of influential people from different parishes organ- ized the Church of the Epiphany, and in the autumn of 1833 invited Mr. Tyng to become its rector. This new responsibility he accepted with the intention of continuing for the present his services in St. Paul's. But the vestry of that church deeming this plan prejudicial to the interests of their corporation requested his resignation of the rectorship with which request he reluctantly complied. The corner-stone of the Epiphany was laid by Bishop "White March 24, 1834, and public worship was begun in the finished basement in the following August, and on October 24th the church was consecrated. There were occasions when great difficulty and discouragement at- tended the new enterprise. The liberality of its promoters was taxed to the utmost. But united effort and devotion to the work of es- tablishing a strong center of influence in support of evangelical principles secured the end in view. Bishop Thomas M. Clark in his Beminiscences thus speaks of the rector of the Epiphany: It was in the prime of his most vigorous daj^s that he entered uj^on the bold experiment of starting a new enteriDrise in what was then the outskirts of the city and with nothing but the probabilities of the future to lean upon. The triumph of this bold movement was very complete, and the Church of the Epiphany became the center of a mighty religious influence and was constantly thronged by a multitude who. attracted to the church at fii'st by their admiration of his fiery eloquence, after a wlule were led, by the power of the gospel truth which he exjjounded to them, to become the faithful followers of Jesus. Dr. Tyng never had his own way more entirely than he did wliile he was in charge of the Church of the Epiphany, and this absolute freedom was a very important factor in his career. He was a man who must be allowed to build after his own pattern ; he must be his own architect and choose his own tools and work after his own fashion. He had a great deal of self-conf]dence and this was one secret of his success. Behind all this there existed the dominating element of a deep, abiding, all-absorbing spiritual earnestness. The gospel of Christ was ever\'thing to him; he was never troubled with any theoretical doubts and never for a moment seemed to question his own intimate and close personal relation to the Saviour; he lived in habitual communion with Him, and it was the one gi'eat object of his life to bring souls to Christ. 416 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH In addition to his unremitting labors in his parish he was a regular contributor to the columns of the Episcopal Recorder, for so many years the organ of the evangelical party, and in 1838, in association with the Rev. Drs. John A. Clark and William Suddards, assumed the editorial control. The honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him in 1834 by the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia ; but in 1851 Harvard, his Alma Mater, honored her distinguished son in the bestowment of the same degree. A severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism in the fall of 1839 laid him aside from active work from November to ^March, but a journey on horse- back to the White Sulphur Springs of Virginia completed his restoration to health. The necessity of increased seating capacity in the Church of the Epiphany being apparent, the vestry decided to introduce side gal- leries. The rector took advantage of the temporary closing of the church to sail for Europe April 1, 1842, with credentials from the Board of ]\Iissions, the American Bible Society, the American Tract Society, and the American Sunday School Union as a delegate to the May anniversaries of the kindred societies in London. A series of letters recording his impressions and comments were published in the Episcopal Recorder and later in book form under the title Recol- lections of England. Meanwhile the Tractarian Movement had convulsed the Church. The Carey Ordination was an incident in which the candidate, a graduate of the General Theological Seminary, was ordered deacon by Bishop Onderdonk in New York City against the private and public protest of the Eev. Drs. Smith and Anthon on the ground of his holding the Tractarian ^iews. The stand which these men took was unqualifiedly supported and commended by Dr. Tyng, but, on the other hand, he stood apart from those whose views he shared and with whom he habitually acted in justifying the Bishop on technical grounds in proceeding with the ordination. The heat of controversy over this matter was barely moderating when the repu- tation and usefulness of his brother, the Bishop of Pennsylvania, was so sadly impaired by rumors charging him Avith intemperate habits that at his diocesan convention in ^Iq.j, 18-44, the ten senior presbji:ers, Dr. Tyng being of the number, were deputed to present to the Bishop a solemn remonstrance signed by sixty-eight of the clergy. He thereupon sent his resignation of the episcopal office to the Standing Committee and a special convention was held September 6, 1844, to consider the proper course to be pursued. Dr. Tyng was the preacher at the opening service and sought to BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 417 allay the intense feeling and party spirit whieli existed by a dis- course upon the text " Sirs, ye are brethren." The election of a successor to Bishop Onderdonk was closely contested at the conven- tion held in April, 1845. Dr. Tyng had been nominated and came very near election, but after the second ballot he withdrew his name and on the seventh ballot Dr. Alonzo Potter was elected. The call to St. George's had meanwhile been presented to him, which he accepted in IMay, 1845, to enter upon the duties of this new position on the first of June. Dr. Tyng's active rectorship of St. George's extended over a period of thirty-three eventful years, and upon his retirement in 1878 he became its Rector Emeritus. During this time, through the lib- erality of his vestry, he was privileged to make four trips to Europe in the spring of 1847, 1853, 1857, and 1872. Engrossed as he was with the cares and duties of his parish work, he yet found time to champion with voice and pen many a cause which appealed to his sympathy and interest. To TJie Independent he contributed a series of familiar letters on Sunday-school work which were subsequently published in a little book under the title Forty Years' Experience in Sunday-schools. These were followed by a series of weekly papers on " The Prodigal Son " or " The Lost' One Found." Upon the lamented death of the Rev. Dr. Henry Anthon, rector of St. Mark's Church, New York, whom he had assisted in editing The Protestant Churchman, the representative paper of the evangelical party, the entire responsibility of conducting that paper devolved on him — a labor which he sustained without pecuniary return for several years. In the ' ' May Anniversaries ' ' of the American Bible Society, Ameri- can Tract Society, American Sunday-school Union, and other union societies, so long held in the old Broadway Tabernacle, he was always a prominent figure and ever welcome as an eloquent and impressive speaker. It was truly said of him : "While faithful and sueeessful as a pastor to an uncommon degree, he exerted an influence far beyond the bounds of his parish and made his power felt in almost evexy department of Christian ]3hilanthi-opy and benevolence. Of a broad, catholic spirit, with intense convictions "of the efficacy of the gospel of Christ for the redemption of lost and suffering humanity, and with unsurpassed, if it Tvas not miequaled, power to enforce his convictions upon all who came withui the sound of liis voice his ser^-iees were not restricted to the Church of his love, but were freely given to all branches of the household of faith. So quick and responsive was his sympathy for eveiw well-ordered effort to bring men nearer to Christ, and so ardent and zealous and effective were his appeals for those engaged in these efforts, that he was regarded as the staunch and eloquent advocate 27 418 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH of evei-y deserving cause of benevolence and reform, and no orator upon their jjlatform was more eloquent than be. He impressed bis peculiar personality upon every occasion. Of com- manding presence, resembling a general at tbe bead of bis army ratber tban tbe jjastor of a quiet Hock, and witb a facility and fluency of ex- temporaneous utterance that never besitated for a word, and tbat tbe most littiug word, and witb rare felicity of tbougbt and illustration, witb liery, impassioned, magnetic eloquence swaying an audience at bis will. Dr. Tyng will ever bold a place in tbe memories of bis favored auditors as among tbe most gifted, persuasive, cogent, and irresistible orators of our day. The Eev. Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler, himself in the front rank of New York's pulpit orators, wrote of him: He was, in my judgment, tbe prince of platform speakers. His ready and rapid utterance, bis bearty enthusiasm, bis courageous style of speech, and his fervent projectile power of reaching tbe hearts of his audience gave him this undisputed supremacy. One evening a complimentary recej^tion was given to John B. Gough in Niblo's Garden Hall. A large number of eminent speakers participated. After Henry Ward Beecber and I had hnisbed our brief addresses we took a seat over by tbe wall and listened to Dr. Tyng, who was in one of his happiest moods. While he was speaking 1 whispered to Mr. Beecber, ' Is not tbat superb platf orming ?' Beecber replied: 'Yes, it is indeed. He is tbe only man I am afraid of. I never want to speak after him, and if I speak first, then when be gets up I wish I bad not spoken at aU.' Some of the rest of us felt just as Mr. Beecber did. Tbe printed reports of liis popular addresses do him no adequate justice. He spoke too rapidly for tbe average rejjorter, and no pen or paper could transfer tbe electric voice or jjowerful elocution of tbe orator. He was always the man to be beard and not to be read. His personal magnetism was wonderful. I coimt it to have been a constant inspu-ation to have heard him so often and a blessed privilege to have enjoyed his intimate friendship. Bishop Clark's tribute to him is equally appreciative and force- ful: On tbe platform in certain resjjects he bad no superior. It never ap- peared to make the slightest difference whether be bad been able to prepare himself by days of study or was called to speak without a moment's prepa- ration. The promjjtness with which he launched himself into a speech and the spontaneousness of his utterance were verj^ characteristic of him. From the moment that be opened bis mouth tbe words seemed to come of themselves clean, clear-cut, and sparkling, gliding out so rapidly that it sometimes appeared as if they must outrun the thought tbat gave them their impulse. The sentences of one of his offhand sj^eeches would often assume tbe same protracted, elaborate form which characterizes Barrow's discourses, and the wonder was bow such eomiDlicated periods could be framed without any previous study. I once ventured to ask him if he BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 419 never forgot the beginning: of one of these long sentences before he came to the conclusion, and he said that this was often the case and then he added, ' I just talk on for a while until everybody else has forgotten ; after wliich I can finish the sentence as I please.' It is not to be inferred from this that he ever failed to make a most distmct and definite impression. Amid all the rich j^rofusion of words and interlacing of sentences the thought stood out sharp and clear. He had a marvelous magnetic power over an audience. There was something behind the argument and even behind the earnestness by which the argiiment was expressed which gave him a peculiar power, and if he had been bred to the bar there are very few lawyers in the land who could have coped with him. I remember a gi'eat public meeting where he was assigned his place as the last speaker of the evening. Before his time came the audience, wearied by the lateness of the hour and the efforts of listening to a series of dull addresses, was fast dropping away, and when the clock struck ten I Avhispered to him, ' It will not be possible to keep these people any longer, and if I were you I would not try to do it.' ' We will see about that/ he replied, and just as the last speaker closed the Doctor sprang to his feet and with half a dozen lightning words arrested the receding tide of men and women and held them all spellbound to the end; for no one seemed able to move from his place after the electric fire of the Doctor's eloquence had touched his soul. A man of Dr. Tyng's uncompromising convictions and bold utter- ances was naturally subjected to much criticism and abuse. The Churchman, which was then distinctively the organ of the High- Church party and other papers advocating the same views, were bitter and relentless in their attacks upon him. One editorial, under the caption " An Erratic and Unruly Presbyter," called forth an answer from The hidependent which was at once sarcastic and hu- morous, closing with the remark : ' ' We agree with The Churchman that we are bound to believe ' that Dr. Tyng's unaccountable con- duct will be so overruled by Divine Providence as in the end to be of service to the Church.' We are quite sure that * the Church ' needs just the service that Dr. Tyng is rendering. Would that all the ministers of Christ were such prophets and that His Spirit were upon them all. ' ' Though Dr. Tyng was a typical low churchman, Bishop Mcllvaine once said of him, " When the Church is attacked he is like a ther- mometer plunged in boiling water shooting up at once to the highest point. ' ' But he was very apprehensive for the future of the Church in view of the growth of sacramentarian doctrine. The Rev. Dr. W. W. Newton when a boy was visiting in St. George 's rectory with his father, the Rev. Dr. Richard Newton, of Philadelphia, and he narrates, in his charming recent book Yesterdays with the Fathers,, that Dr. Tyng, " walking vigorously up and down the room and 420 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH ; snapping his fingers at rhythmic intervals, exclaimed: ' Oh, Rich- ard! Richard! What is to become of the Church when we are gone!' " The Churchmanship, however, of both these distinguished pres- byters was proof against all efforts to enlist their influence and co- operation in favor of the " Cummins Schism " which gave birth to the Reformed Episcopal Church. Dr. Tyng always felt full confidence in his own methods of pre- senting truth. It is related of him that whenever he allowed a stranger to occupy his pulpit, which was very seldom, his own sermon on the following Sunday was sure to be unusually pro- nounced. When asked a reason for this he replied, " I always find it expedient and wise to resort to a spiritual alterative after a stranger has occupied my pulpit. ' ' A mild-mannered parishioner once took the liberty of saying to him that " his people would be much gratified if he would restrain his temper a little " to be met with the ready reply, " My dear sir, 1 have restrained more temper in half an hour than you ever did in your whole life." Some one kindly observing that he could ac- count for these occasional ebullitions of feeling because he knew how much quicksilver there was in the doctor's veins for which his ancestors were responsible, he promptly replied : ' ' Don't call it quick- silver, call it sin; that is what it is. But no one knows how I struggle and pray and fight to keep my temper in subjection." Once in St. George's while Dr. Tyng was preaching, a restless listener near the pulpit was constantly consulting his watch. The doctor who was not famed for patience paused for a moment and exclaimed, " When the gentleman sitting in front of me stops fidget- ing with his watch I will continue my sermon. ' ' The Rev. Dr. E. 0. Flagg once met a friend who attended a church whose minister prophesied smooth things " speaking peaceably unto Jerusalem." He asked him if he still belonged to the same parish and received for answer : ' ' No, I became tired of monotonous, irrelevant platitudes and I now go where the Gospel trumpet blows with no uncertain sound, where I am not flattered into the idea that I am a saint when I know that for the most part I am a sinner. My clergyman is the Rev. Dr. Stephen II. Tyng. ' ' The Rev. Dr. Cuyler, in his eighty-eighth year, had kindly con- sented to dictate for this history some reminiscences of Dr. Tyng for whom he cherished a warm admiration and with whom he was intimate for many years, but only eight days before his death penned with his own hand the following regret : BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 421 Brooklyn^ February 18, 1909. Dear Sir: I am suffering- from such a scA-ere breakdown in health to-day that it will be impossible for me to dictate my reminiscences of my eloquent and beloved friend. Dr. Tyng. Regi-etting this most deeply, Yours in haste, sincerely, Theodork L. Cutler. Dr. Tyng was a speaker rather than a writer, but the columns of the Episcopal Recorder of Philadelphia, the Protestant Church- man of New York, The Independent, and other papers bear witness to the virility and effectiveness of his printed speech. The following works from his pen were published in book form: Lectures on the Law and the Gospel, Guide to Confirmation, The Israel of God, Recollections of England, Christ is All, Christian Titles, Fellowship ivith Christ, The Rich Kinsman, The Captive Orphan, Forty Years' Experience in Sunday-schools, The Spencers, The Feast Enjoyed. Dr. Tyng's resignation of the rectorship of St. George's took effect May 1, 1878, and his remaining years were quietly spent in the retirement of his Irvington home until on the 3d of September, 1885, at the advanced age of eighty-five years seven months and three days " he fell asleep in Jesus " and " was not, for God took him." Among the tributes to his memory, in addition to those already given in the history, was that of the Evangelical Knowledge Society to the administration of whose affairs he had largely contributed by his executive skill and energy. It closes with these words : To the cause of Evangelical truth, Dr. Tyng committed himself at the commencement of his religious life and continued the firm and mifaltering supporter of the same to the end. He lived to see its principles ^ondicated and the liberty for which it contended fully established. Of the charac- teristics of this remarkable man and of his most successful ministry we need not here speak, but we deem it both a duty and a privilege to place on record our appreciation of the signal and long-continued sendees he rendered to the society as well as to the cause of truth and righteousness in the world. The Evangelical Education Society placed this upon its records : His ministerial labors were prosecuted with untiring energy for more than half a century. In the simplicity of his views of gospel tiiith, and in the faithfulness and poAver Avith which he presented the same, he was a model minister eminently worthy of the imitation of all who enter that office. He seemed to come fully up to the sketch which St. Paul gave of himself when he said, ' Neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.' 422 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Science and philosophy and the modern developments of different branches of human learning were kej^t i:)ace with by him and were made use of to illustrate the great truths of revelation, but were never allowed to take the place of those truths. His determination, like that of the great apostle of the Gentiles, was ' to know nothing else among men save Jesus Christ and Him cnicified.' And here he stands out as an example to all oiu* younger brethren in the ministry. From the beginning to the end of his long ministry ' the truth as it is in Jesus ' was all that he had to tell about in his public ministrations. He was an example of undaunted courage, of untiring energ\', and of unfailing faithfulness in the discharge of all the duties of his high office. We may well thank God for the life and labors of such a man, and pray that all who enter on the work of the ministry may have gi-ace to * follow him as he followed Christ.' THE REV. WALTER W. WILLIAMS, D.D. Walter Wheeler Williams was born in Norfolk, Virginia, May 4, 1834. His parents were John Williams and Martha Yucher Newton Armistead. His early education began at the Norfolk Academy, from which he went to the Virginia Military Academy, where he took the regu- lar course from 1850 to 1855, graduating at the head of a large class. He then spent three years in study at the University of Virginia, and was an instructor there at the outbreak of the Civil War. He served throughout the war as a soldier in the Confederate army, and subsequently studied for the Ministry in the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. He was ordered deacon, July 2, 1858, by Bishop Meade. From 1860 to 1866 he was rector of the church in Leesburg, Virginia, and from 1866 to 1876 held the rectorship of Christ Church, George- town, D. C. He was called to be associate rector of St. George's in April, 1876, and accepted the position to take effect May 29th, to assume its active duties on October 1st. Upon Dr. Tyng's resignation he was elected rector to assume the duties May 1, 1878. He resigned in April, 1881, to accept the rectorship of Christ Church, Baltimore, Md., which position he relinquished through failing health in 1891. There were three permanent results of his rectorship in Christ Church worthy of special mention. First, the erection and paying for during his rectorship of a handsome rectory; second, the estab- lishment of a free kindergarten at Fells Point Mission, which has been in successful operation for nearly twenty-five years ; and third. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 423 the organization of an envelope fund on the basis of a weekly pledge for the support of the church. Dr. Williams had a singularly well-poised mind. As a counselor and adviser he was always safe, quiet, and unobstrusive. Bishop Eandolph, who was with him in the seminary, testified strongly of his consecration to his work and undeviating steadiness of purpose. In all his fields of labor he left among those to whom he ministered the same impression of earnest Christian faith and life. The last few years of his life were passed under peculiar trials, which those nearest to him knew best how to appreciate, and in and through which his manly Christian character showed in a way not soon to be forgotten or its effect lost. '' No one who watched his life, as it ripened through those last solemn months, can ever forget or lose the lesson of humility, patience, faith, hope, and holiest love which it so clearly taught." Bishop Paret said of him: " He possessed deep devotedness and strong positiveness. High scholarly attainments and great modesty were closely blended in his life — a life which for many years was burdened by sorrows which im- printed on his character a wonderful sweetness." Soon after his resignation of the rectorship of Christ Church, Baltimore, he died at Sudbrook Park, Md., June 29, 1892. THE REV. WILLIAM S. EAINSFORD, D.D. William Stephen Rainsford was born in Dublin October 30, 1850. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Marcus Rainsford, at that time chaplain of the Hospital for the Blind in Dublin, and Louisa Anne Dixon, daughter of the Rev. Stephen Dixon, incumbent of Dungarvan in the south of Ireland. On his removal from Dublin his father became Vicar of Dundalk in northeast Ireland and chap- lain to the Earl of Roden, a sturdy and staunch Protestant Christian, and here in the old red brick vicarage were born his other seven chil- dren. With an income not exceeding $1,500 a year it was no easy matter to provide food, clothing, and education for so large a family, but the mother of the household was exceptionally capable and " worked miracles." The early life of Mr. Rainsford was therefore spent in Dundalk, which was beautifully situated and in which his strong love of nature was developed. Whenever he could get a holiday he was off to the mountains. His fishing-rod was his delight, and at thirteen years of age his father gave him a fowling piece with which he hunted rabbits and other small game. His school life 424 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH was hard and unhappy. The masters were harsh and his school- fellows inclined to bully him, for he was thin and tall and shy. But his home training in the Bible he never forgot and it proved of in- calculable value in his after life. His father had become a noted preacher. He was not learned, but he knew his Bible and was elo- quent and was one of the first exponents of the evangelical movement which swept over Ireland in the great revival of 1859. When William was fifteen his father sent him to a boarding-school in Shropshire, England, which had a great religious reputation, but where the boy learned nothing and found " the whole atmosphere unreal, un- scholarly, and stultifying to the last degree. It was the unhappiest time of my life. I look back to it with the keenest possible dissatis- faction; it was physical, moral, and intellectual death." When his father was called, in 1866, to take charge of St. John's Church, Belgrave Square, London, he left this ' ' abominable school ' ' and re- joined his family. He soon became interested in his school work at Kensington, but in the following year got wet through in attending an Oxford-Cambridge race which resulted in serious lung trouble. The doctors insisted on a change of air and on the beautiful estate of his father's friend, Lord Farnham in the north of Ireland, he got back to the free life of the country which he loved, fishing, hunting, climbing. But the trouble was deep-seated, and on his return the doctor told his father that the boy had not six months to live and that his only chance was to go to southern France. Kind friends provided means and off he went, and he got well and strong and in six months came back to face the serious question of what his life work was to be. His hopes and inclinations tended toward the army in which on both his father's and mother's side his forbears had been officers. He set to work with earnestness and with a tutor to remedy the incompleteness of his desultory education. The East Side London problem was in 1867 attracting much at- tention and through some of his titled friends young Rainsford came to be much interested in it. The movement was at first in character purely religious, the social side was as yet undeveloped. With the intent, however, of relieving a little the pressure of distress arising from the appalling poverty the East Side Committee decided to colonize 800 emigrants in Canada, and Herbert Watney, the son of a rich brewer, who was working in the East London field with much enthusiasm, was deputed with Mr. Eainsford, whose sister he had married, to select the families and conduct them to their new Cana- dian home. This settlement work having been successfully accomplished, Mr. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 425 Eainsford proposed to his brother-in-law that they should go West and shoot buffalo and see the country on both sides of the line. They journeyed extensively on horseback across the Rockies, encountered many dangers, experienced thrilling adventures, and reached Van- couver's Island on the Pacific coast. On his return to England, in 1S69, he settled down to student work. One day his father asked him : ' ' Will, have you made up your mind what you want to be? The desire of my heart is that you should be a clergyman." He answered, " Daddy, if you will send me to Cambridge I will be a clergyman. ' ' And so his life plan was determined. His years at Cambridge were, however, not over- well improved. He was an inconspicuous figure there. His witness of himself is : " I was not enough of a scholar. When I left Cam- bridge I knew almost nothing of theology ; I simply knew the bible as my mother had taught it to me." He graduated from St. John's College in 1872 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. During his residence in Cambridge he had kept in touch with the East London work and had acquired some reputation as an evan- gelistic speaker. After his ordination a curacy was offered him in Norwich, a city in the center of the shoe trade which was at that time in a depressed condition and the state of religion was corre- spondingly low. There were forty-eight churches in the city, but the masses were neglected. How to reach the poor and discontented population was the question which the young curate propounded to himself. On Saturdays when people gathered in the market square he stood there ringing a great bell and when he got a crowd around him preached. He sought co-operation from young men in this street preaching, assigning districts to them, and they all preached in the old style of evangelical address, urging upon their hearers personal conviction of sin, conscious conversion to God which they caUed the new birth, the love of Jesus, and salvation as deliverance from hell-fire. Religious interest was excited, and after Henry Varley, a well-known evangelist, had preached for ten days in St. Andrew's Hall, holding two thousand people, he said to the young curate, ' ' Rainsf ord, you must continue ' these meetings Sunday night." " I can't think of it," he answered. But the evangelist insisted. " You've got to do it. These people are hungry and must be fed." " So help me, God, I'll try," he said. So for two years he preached to congregations of between one and two thousand peo- ple every Sunday night. But this was a small portion of his Sunday duty. The routine of the parish was early communion at 8 ; Sunday- 42G HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH school at 9.30; service at 11, when the curate often preached, as the rector was not strong; service at 4 p.m., with sermon by the curate, and another service in the evening, after which he went to St. Andrew's Hall to speak again. It was a strenuous life, but there were gratifying spiritual results of which the city long experienced the blessing. Meanwhile toward the end of his second year in Norwich he be- came deeply troubled over infant baptism ; and at last finding him- self unable to reconcile the language of the baptismal office with the doctrine he was preaching, that by conversion only men become sons of God — thus failing to discriminate between such conversion and the new birth in baptism — he went to his bishop proposing to resign his Letter of Orders. But that good man gave wise and wholesome counsel insisting upon a two years' delay. Young Rainsford ac- quiesced and while still in a state of mental perturbation an invita- tion came to him, quite providentially, to take charge for the summer of the Church of the Holy Trinity, New York, whose rector, the Rev. Dr. S. H. Tyng, Jr., was in great need of rest. He gladly welcomed this opportunity for an absolute change of environment, though his heart was sick and sad at leaving all his loving friends behind to go alone into a foreign land. He reached New York June 10, 1876, and learned he was expected to preach twice each Sunday in the church and every night in the Gospel Tent at Thirty-fourth Street and Broadway. His protesta- tion of inability to meet such large requirements were overruled by Dr. Tyng and for three months, depressed and lonely as he felt in the extreme of summer heat, he did the work required. Then he broke down. But convalescing from the illness he went off with a guide for a ten days' sojourn in the woods of Maine and came back feeling vigorous again. Mr. Rainsford 's success in the tent work suggested the holding of parochial missions as his best line of labor. Bishop Horatio Potter gave him a cordial and appreciative letter which opened many doors of opportunity to him. His first parochial mission was held in Baltimore. He afterward conducted them in Philadelphia, "Washington. Richmond, New Orleans, Louisville, San- dusky, and some other places. After two years thus spent an urgent call to London, Canada, resulted in his holding there one of the most successful missions in his whole experience. A tremendous wave of religious excitement was sweeping over Canada and one which left large and permanent results. From London ]\Ir. Rainsford was summoned to Toronto to conduct a mission in St. James' Cathedral, and from the outset there was evidence of the Divine Spirit's work- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 427 ing powerfully on the hearts and consciences of men. Crowds thronged the church, many could not get in. Hundreds remained for counsel on the all-absorbing theme of personal religion. At the close of the mission, which had been prolonged to three weeks and the missioner felt preached out and exhausted, there was an insistent demand that he remain to preach twice on each Sunday and once during the week. The rector gladly availed himself of the situation to achieve a much-desired visit to England and left Mr. Rainsford in charge. At the end of four months he was completely used up and on the rector's return sailed for home for a protracted rest. During the six months which then transpired, and while still pon- dering about his future, he was united in marriage in 1878 with Miss Emily Alma, daughter of Frederick Green, Esq., of Princess Gardens, London. When the appeal came to him from Toronto to return and take the assistant rectorship with the assurance of succession to the rector- ship, the rector being old and feeble, his wife assented and they went. Enthusiastic crowds awaited him, but he was soon to learn the dif- ference between preaching as a successful missioner on a few leading themes and that expected of a parish minister based on a broader range of truth and life. The torturing feeling came upon him that he had preached all that he knew. He studied, but his reading did not fit in with his past methods of thought and expression. He was in intellectual trouble. He had been preaching that belief in Christ would make men children of God, but now it seemed to him that if God were not their Father believing it could not make that the fact, and if men are indeed children of God the fact would not be altered whether they believe it or not. His mental struggles with such difficulties robbed his preaching of its power. His congrega- tions fell away, but light at last came to him from the Story of the Prodigal on which he had so often preached. As a new revelation the truth was clear to him that the sinning son came back from the far country because he urns a son, he had come to himself, his true, real, better self. And so he preached the old familiar story from the new standpoint of discovered truth. He studied Robertson and drank in his teaching as only a man parched with thirst can drink. Old truths took on new forms, new life. He began to feel he had something to say once more. People came back to church. The light had come to him and his old confidence in preaching what he thor- oughl}^ believed returned. To thoroughly regain his poise he went off for a glorious holiday of nine weeks in the Rocky Mountains. While he was gone the call 428 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH came from St. George's Church, but when he learned of it on his ipturn he said: " I cannot take it. I cannot go anywhere. I must not leave here." But it was ordered otherwise. The rector who was also dean died suddenly. Succession to the rectorship had been pledged to him when be came to be associate rector. Promptly and gladly was the pledge redeemed; he was elected rector. But the new Bishop of Toronto, standing upon the letter of the canon, re- fused his confirmation of the election because it had been had with- out his previous approval. The protestations of the congregation availed nothing; the bishop would not budge from his position. In this trying posture of affairs the second invitation to St. George's came, and much as Mr. Rainsford wished to stay and do the work for which plans had been forming in his mind he recognized the providential leading of events and became in January, 1883, the rector of St. George 's Church. The honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was bestowed upon Mr. Rainsford in 1886 by Trinity College, Hartford. His resignation of St. George's Church in 1905 was sent from Cairo, Egypt. Upon his return from Africa he spent considerable time in trav- eling in Europe. In the spring of 1908 he made a second trip to Africa, hunting big game in British East Africa and Uganda, returning to Paris in January, 1909. He traveled with his own caravan and killed lions, elephants, and hippopotami. On his return he said : I am very well. For one who seeks rest there is nothing like life in the open air in a distant country. I thorouglily enjoyed the seeneiy, probably the most beautiful in Africa, and was gi'eatly interested in the life and sport of the country and in several almost unknown tribes I encountered. I am not a scientist, but I have brought back copious notes of what I saw of African flora and fauna. In 1909 he published The Land and the Lion, giving a graphic and thrilling account of his adventures. His other literary works were Sermons Preached in St. George's, 1887; Good Friday Medita- tions, 1901 ; Reasonableness of Faith, 1902. During the winter of 1910 and 1911 he delivered the " Baldwin Lectures " in Ann Arbor before the University of Michigan. His home is now in Ridgefield, Connecticut. A few brief published references to Dr. Rainsford and his work may fitly close this sketch. The New York World said of him : A giant among men, he made St, George's a giant among churches. Under Dr. Rainsford's administration, St. George's has come to hold a BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 429 leading place among exponents of the institutional church idea — an idea purely of American evolution. The Richmond Times-Despatch : It will come as a distress to his friends everywhere to know that Dr. Rainsford has so overworked himself that he felt called upon to resign his charge. His example while at the head of St. George's has been in the highest degree encouraging and inspiring, 23erhaps, more than that of any other pastor in New York. Dr. Rainsford has made his church a vital force in the life of the community which it serves and in so doing he set a new standard on the value of the church as a social force. The Brooklyn Eagle : That the ideal of the working rather than the preaching pastor is more common to-day is due as much to the example of this consecrated man as to any other one force. Dr. Rainsford has turned St. George's, a church with wealthy vestrymen and supporters, into a parish home for working families. He has preached the gospel to the poor. If the rich also heard him it was because they went where the poor were for the privilege. If all the churches of this city for the past fifty years had been conducted as St. George's has been conducted we should have heard very little of class distinctions in church and the problem of the ' unchurched masses ' would never have arisen. Jacob Riis in an article, ' ' Religion by Human Touch ' ' : Dr. Rainsford is big of stature as of heart and mind. He stands con- siderably above six feet in his stockings. He loves a joke and used to tell with keen relish of the procession of ragamuffins he found trailing him on First Avenue when he first came here chanting to an accompani- ment of tin pans and impi'ovised cymbals, ' Won't he be a comfort to his mother when he grows up.' The Rev. Dr. Samuel D. McConneU in a letter : I wish I could contribute some special ' incident ' or recollection of Rainsford, but I have nothing but the memory of a long friendship with one of the biggest, bravest, godliest, and most ' contagious ' men who ever lived. THE REV. HUGH BIRCKHBAD, D.D. Hugh Birckhead was born in Newport, Rhode Island, Septem- ber 7, 1876, his parents being William Hunter Birckhead, M.D., and Sarah Gibbs King. He was prepared for college at St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire, where he spent the years from 1891 to 1895. He graduated at Columbia College in 1889 with the degree of B.A. His theological education was secured at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduating in 1902. He was ordered deacon June 10, 1902, in 430 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Trinity Church, Newport, Ehode Island, by Bishop W. N. McVickar and ordained priest June 7, 1903, in the Cathedral Crypt, New York City, by Bishop H. C. Potter. He became curate in St. George's Church in 1902, was made minister-in-charge in 1905 during the absence of Dr. Rainsford, and was elected rector in February, 1906. He was united in marriage with Miss Caroline Minturn Hall June 9, 1909, the Bishop of New York performing the ceremony in St. George's Church. A son, Christopher Birckhead, was born to them in June, 1910. He received the honorary degree of M.A. from his Alma Mater in 1906 and that of Doctor of Divinity from Trinity College, Hart- ford, in 1910. During his rectorship, in addition to his onerous parochial duties, he has kept in touch with other churches, institutions, and social workers and was one of the founders of The Gramercy Neighborhood Association which is proving a force for the betterment of local social conditions. Dr. Birckhead is devoting himself with the utmost earnestness to carrying on the plans and work of his predecessor, and the spirit with which he is doing it is shown by the following words with which he closed his first sermon as rector of St. George 's : It has been our greatest privilege iu this Chvu-eli to know one who was a gTeat personality, and we have come to him gladly and often and we have been warmed and fed. We have been inspired and directed until the habit of this presence in our lives has become part of life itself until this turning to a certain face for inspiration and guidance has become an unconscious act, until back into our minds and hearts there has grown up a feeling of reliance far greater than we knew. We have learaed to form our idea of God; we have been helped to understand the spirit of Jesus Christ; we have been given a great vision of the possibility of our own Lives; and our first thought this morning is one of thankfulness to God that one man could mean so much to thousands. In the Providence of God that gi'eat personality has been withdrawn, and for the moment we stand at the dividing of the ways uncertain and irresolute. Shall we go back to the old Uves which we lived so carelessly and easily and comfortably before we knew him? Shall we go back as so many others are doing without comment or reproach and sink into selfish retirement? If that is to be so, then the labor of our great leader has indeed been in vain and we are like the man of whom the apostle tells us who looked once into the glass of life and saw what he might be and then went away and straightway forgot what manner of man he was. Dear friends, in this old church this morning you cannot go back. You realize too well the meaning of your lives, the meaning of God, the meaning of this place in this community, beeaiise you know you must go on, be- cause you have once had the vision you can never forget. The work of this Church is infinitely more than the work of one personabty. The work BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 431 of this Church has become of vital importance to this land of ours. The task that lies before us is so clear that we cannot avoid it. And if we could look down upon this congTegation with the eye of God we would be thankful for the clearness with which we see what we must do. There is no one man who can carry on this work. It is the duty and the privilege of all of us, of all those who have come here year after year, Sunday after Sunday, and into whose hearts has sunk the message of this pulpit. It wiU be your greatest jirivilege and your most sacred task to carry on tliis work for its own sake and for the sake of the man who created it, with the help of God. There are times when it is mere weakness to avoid the personal and when the strongest word that can be spoken is the word ' I.' And I should be shirking a great opportunity if I did not tell you plainly this morning what I consider to be my place in this task of continuing the work of St. George's. It has been very hard for me to see plainly the duty, and yet in contemplating my call to tliis parish I have been gniided by three considerations. In the first place, you know most of you how fully I share with you your love and your admiration for Dr. Rainsford. Many of you have known him longer than I have, but few of you have known him so well. That man has stood in the place of my own father to me for the last eight years. That has been my first consideration. Secondly, I feel with you very keenly that if this work is to continue as it has been carried on in the past it must continue along the lines which Dr. Rainsford has laid down, and it will be my chief duty to perpetuate his ideas, his methods, and his spirit in this work. Lastly, I recognize your call — for I feel from the liundreds of letters I have received that it must be yours — as the call of God Himself, and if from mere personal considerations I were to refuse it I should be gTiilty at once of moral cowardice and dis- loyalty to the vows of my ordination. It is the call of God and He will give the power and the strength to answer it. Men and women of St. George's, I am going to give my life to this work and I know that you will stand by me. Let us begin this new era in the history of this parish on our knees. Let us pray. WARDENS AND VESTRYMEN Gerrit Huybert Van Wagenen, Warden 1811-1821; b. New York, Jan. 21, 1753; m. March 11, 1783, Sarah Brinckerhoff. He was 2d lieutenant in CoL McDougal's regiment of New York State troops; left New York in August, 1775, with part of the regiment for Canada, was at the storming of Quebec in the column of Gen. Montgomery. Was in Canada till May, 1776, when he returned to New York in charge of some prisoners whom he had been ordered to take to Philadelphia. Returned from Philadelphia, and hearing that the British were about to land on Long Island he went over and offered his services to Gen. Sullivan. Sent out to reconnoiter, 432 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH he was taken by the British and held prisoner about twenty-two months and was then exchanged and appointed commissary with the pay and rations of a major. He continued in the commissary department about three years, being stationed most of the time at Fishkill and West Point. After the war, continued to reside at 5 Beekman Slip (now 33 Fulton Street) carrying on the hardware business in partnership with his father. He removed in 1821 to Oxford, Chenango Co., N. Y., where he died November 20, 1835. He had been a vestryman of Trinity Church, New York, from 1808 to 1811. Harry Peters, Warden 1811-1823; b. Hempstead, L. I., Nov. 23, 1753 ; d. New York, Dec. 27, 1827 ; buried in his vault in church- yard of St. Paul's Chapel; s. Valentine Hewlett and Ruth (Smith) Peters; m. 1st at Hempstead, June 25, 1776, Magdalena Duryea; 2d, Oct. 13, 1807, Catharina Brinckerhoff. He was a Tory and served as an officer in the British forces, and in consequence nearly lost his lands after the war. However, he became Eepresentative from Queen's County in the State Assembly for the session of 1794. He later engaged in business in the city of New York. He lived on Warren Street, Broadway, and Lispenard Street. He was buried in his vault in the yard of St. Paul's Chapel. Robert Wardell, Vestryman 1811-1812 and 1816-1837; b. Shrewsbury, N. J.; d. Astoria, N. Y., and is buried in St. George's churchyard, Astoria; m. Lavinia Woods, of Morristown, N. J. In mercantile life. John Onderdonk, M.D., Vestryman 1811-1812; b. August 22, 1763; d. August 23, 1832; s. Hendrick and Phebe (Treadwell) Onderdonk; m. 1st Elizabeth Fargie, March 14, 1784; 2d Deborah Ustick, March 13, 1788. He studied medicine under Dr. Carlton and was president of the Medical Society of the County of New Y''ork and a very well-known physician. Dr. John Onderdonk was the father of the two Bishops Onderdonk of New York and Pennsylvania. Isaac Carow, Vestryman 1811-1812 and 1813-1823; Warden 1823-1825 ; b. Island of St. Croix, W. I., March 29, 1778 ; d. New York City, Sept. 3, 1850; s. Isaac Guereau, of New Y^'ork, and Ann (Cooper) Guereau, of St. Kitts, W. I. Educated at St. Croix; m. New York, July 31, 1803, Eliza Morratt. He was a shipping merchant. %.- GKRRIT H. VAN WAGENEN HARRY PETERS JOHN OMDERDONK ISAAC CAROW EDWARD W. LATGHT ISAAC LATTREXCE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 433 Edward W. Laight, Vestryman 1811-1816; b. New York, 1773; d. New York, 1852; s. William and Frances (Sackett) Laiglit. Was educated at King's College, N. Y., and admitted to N. Y. Bar in 1796; m. 1st Elizabeth Golden in 1785 at New York; 2d Ann Elliott Huger, of Charleston, S. C. Was a lawyer by profession ; president of the Eagle Fire Co. of N. Y. from 1816 to 1845 ; vestryman of Trinity Church 1811-1812 and 1818-1845 and warden 1845-1851; a governor of the Society of the New York Hospital and a general in the State militia. John Greene, Vestryman 1811-1812. Isaac Lawrence, Vestryman 1811-1816; b. 1768; d. July 12, 1841; s. William and Ann (Brinckerhoff) Lawrence; ed. Princeton College; m. Cornelia Beach, daughter of Rev. Dr. Abraham Beach, of Trinity Parish, New York. Had intended to become a lawyer, but went into business because of poor health with his brother John in 1795. A merchant on a large scale. Was president of the U. S. Branch Bank from 1817 to 1836. Francis Dominick, Vestryman 1811-1816; b. in France; d. in New York, May 16, 1822; buried in the family vault in St. Paul's churchyard. Family name was Dominique ; on coming to New York with his brother George they changed it to Dominick; m. 1st Mar- guerite Blanchard; 2d Ann Huisler, 1779. Lived at 31 Cherry Street; was a large owner of real estate; vestryman of Trinity Church 1795-1811. Cornelius Schermerhorn, Vestryman 1811-1820; b. New York, 1750; s. John and Sarah (Cannon) Schermerhorn; m. Rebecca Roe, of Woodbridge, N. J. Was captain in the privateer service during the Revolution; was concerned in a line of packets between New York and Charleston. Brought the remains of Gen. Montgomery from Charleston to New York. Also captain of the Grand Turk in 1781. Said to have been a man of " vast size and extraordinary strength. ' ' Quintin Millen, Vestryman 1812-1813 ; m. Amy Millen, by whom he had sons Hugh and John and one daughter, Jean. In his will he makes the following bequest : " I give and bequeath the Pew No. 51 in the middle aisle of St. George's Church unto the heirs of the late John Jones of this city, Ship Chandler, after the death of my wife Amy Millen should she survive me." 28 434 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH William Ustick, Vestryman 1812-1816 ; m. Trinity Church, New York, Sarah Hartshorne, of Shrewsbury, N. J, "Was engaged in business as City Weigher. One of his sisters was married to Dr. John Onderdonk. Robert Bogardus, Vestryman 1812-1816. A lawyer and dealer in real estate. He was colonel of the 41st Eegiment U. S. Infantry, commanding the American troops at Fort Lewis, New Utrecht, L. I. Was a director in the Franklin Bank, which was established in 1818; grand marshal on the occasion of the obsequies of President Harrison in New York in 1841. Was buried in the Marble Cemetery on Second Street, New York. Donald Malcom, Vestryman 1812-1816 ; m. Ermina Delves. Was. a merchant ; in 1817 removed to Brooklyn and he and his wife were communicants of St. Ann's Church. In the quaint records of the old Volunteer Fire Department of the city of New York there is this item: " June 21, 1811. Excuse of D. Malcom for absence: ' He then stated that at the time he heard the alarm he was in White Street with Mrs. Malcom — that they were about starting for home at the time of the alarm — that he hurreyed as fast as possible — that before he got to his house the alarm subsided.' It was then moved that he be fined 75/100 and carreyed." James De Lancey Walton, Vestryman 1816-1821 ; Warden 1821- 1835; b. 1762; d. at 326 Pearl Street, the old " Walton House,'' New York, Nov. 21, 1834; s. William and Mary (De Lancey) Walton, eldest daughter of Lieut.-Governor and Chief-Justice James De Lancey. Was in no business or profession. Remained unmarried. He inherited the celebrated Walton mansion in 1806 and was the last inheritor to live in it. In his boyhood days this neighborhood was called St. George's Square, afterward and now Franklin Square. Jacob Lorillard, Vestryman 1816-1817 ; b. New York, 1774. Was a prominent leather merchant. His brothers were the well-known tobacco merchants. Was a trustee of the General Theological Semi- nary; Warden of St. Andrew's Church, Harlem; Vestryman of Trinity Church 1826-1839 and President of the Mechanics' Bank. Edmund Morewood, Vestryman 1816-1825; Warden 1825-1829; b. Salford, Lancashire, England, May 11, 1770; d. Stamford, Conn.^ Sept. 17, 1861; s. Andrew and Helen (Baker) Morewood; ed. Man- CORXELIUS SCHERMERHORN JACOB LORILLARD JAMES DE LANCET WALTON EDMUND MOREWOOD DAVID R. LAMBERT BIOGKAPHICAL SKETCHES 435 Chester, England, Grammar School ; m. 1st New York, June 11, 1803, Jane Glover; 2d New York, Nov. 18. 1805, Sarah Eliza Walton. Merchant and ship-owner; member St. George's Society, 1790; Di- rector American Insurance Co., 1816; Senior Warden St. John's, Stamford, 1845-6. It was said of him in The Old Merchants of Netv York City, by Walter Barrett : He had a country seat at Love Lane, what is now Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets. He was famous in field sports — shooting, fisliing, etc., and was a most remarkable pedestrian. Even in his old age he might be seen in his black spencer pacing oft' his fifteen or twenty miles. He died in Sept., 1861, at Stamford, Conn., the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. Ferguson, where he had spent the last twenty years of his life. His funeral was attended by all classes of citizens, the stores being closed out of respect to his memory. He was a pure man without an enemy in the world. David Rogers Lambert, Vestryman 1816-1817; b. Dec. 6, 1772, Norwalk, Conn. ; d. New York, June 3, 1825 ; s. David and Susannah (Rogers) Lambert. Was a prominent merchant in New York; noted for public spirit and generosity. Member Society of the N. Y. Hospital. Joseph Warren Brackett, Vestryman 1816-1820 ; b. Lee, N. H., August 10, 1775; d. New York, March 30, 1826 (at 99 Beekman Street) ; s. Lieut. Joseph Brackett, whose family was of Welsh and English extraction; ed. Lee, N. H., and Dartmouth College, where he became a classmate and lifelong friend of Daniel Webster; m. New York, Nov. 21, 1808, Charlotte Wiggins, of this city, double cousin and adopted sister of Rev. Dr. Wm. Berrian, of Trinity Parish. Was a prominent lawyer with offices in John and Pearl streets and later at 99 Beekman Street, Was very earnest in Church work and in private benevolence; Alderman under Mayor De Witt Clinton and held some rank in the city militia; a founder of the New England Society in 1805, also its secretary and counsel. His ode, " Hail, Sons of the Pilgrims," was sung by that society during many years ; member of the N. Y. Historical Society. Thomas Lawrance, Vestryman 1817-3826; b. April 18, 1785; d. New York Nov. 3, 1848; s. Thomas and Eleanor (Earle) Law- rance; m. New York, July 21, 1812, Margaret Ireland. Was a member of the Society of the New York Hospital. James Moody Hoyt, Vestryman 1817-1823 ; b. Weymouth, N. S., Jan. 25, 1789; d. Norwalk, Conn., Aug. 5, 1854; s. Jesse and Mary 436 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Hoyt; m. New York, May 12, 1814, Mary Nesbitt, daughter of Dr. Samuel Nesbitt. Came to this city when about seventeen years of age; was in business here for over fifty years; an influential and prominent merchant ; a man of strict integrity and Christian probity. Some of his sons continue the business handed down by their father. Gerardus a. Cooper, M.D., Vestryman 1820-1823; b. 1788; d. New York, Aug. 3, 1832 ; m. Anne L. Cooper ; graduated from Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons 1811 in the first class graduating from that institution; appointed a Fellow in the same year. Was physician to New York City Dispensary; member of the Smallpox Committee; secretary of the Medical Society of the County of New York. Hubert Van Wagenen, Vestryman 1820-1829; Warden 1829- 1837; b. New York (No. 5. Beekman Slip), Feb. 3, 1785; d. Pough- keepie, N. Y., Oct. 31, 1852; s. Gerrit H. and Sarah (Brinckerhoff) Van Wagenen ; ed. private schools of city ; graduated from Columbia CoUege; m. Eed Hook, Dutchess Co., N. Y., March 20, 1808, Mary Wheeler, daughter of Dr. William and Elizabeth (Smith) Wheeler, For many years was engaged in the hardware business at the cor- ner of Queen (Pearl) Street and Beekman Slip; removed to Pough- keepsie in 1837; was a governor of the Society of the New ITork Hospital. Thomas Bloodgood, Vestryman 1821-1837; Warden 1837-1844; b. Flushing, L. I. ; d. New Y''ork, 1843 ; was married twice ; his sec- ond wife was a Miss Parsons of Flushing. Was engaged in business as a wine merchant and was also agent for the Bloodgood nurseries of Flushing. Oliver Hewlett Hicks, Vestryman 1823-1826; b. Eockaway, L. I., June 30, 1781; d. N. Y. City of cholera, Sept. 17, 1832; s. Stephen and Mary (Hewlett) Hicks ; m. 1800 Julia Bush, daughter of Samuel and Anne (Quintard) Bush of Greenwich, Conn. Was an importer from 1800 to 1819 at 88 South Street; secretary of Fulton Fire Insurance Co., cashier of Fulton Bank, and president of Farmers' Fire Insurance and Loan Co. He was vestryman, warden, and treasurer of St. Michael's Church from 1807 to 1815; sold his pew in St. George's for $500 in 1826 and united with the new St. Thomas' Church, John Stearns, M.D., Vestr^-man 1823-1835 ; Warden 1835-1848 ; b. Wilbraham, IMass., May 16, 1770; d. N. Y". City, March 18, 1848; JOSEPH W. BRACKETT THOMAS LAWRANCE HUBERT VAN WAGENEN OLIVER H. HICKS JOHN STEARNS JOHN ANTHON BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 437 s. John and Elizabeth (Willis) Stearns; m. Waterford, N. Y., Sally Ketchum, daughter of Col. Hezekiah Ketchum ; ed. at Yale ; gradu- ated in 1789; studied medicine with Dr. Sergeant of Stockbridge; attended lectures University of Penn. 1792-3, but did not receive the doctorate till 1812, when the Regents of the University of New York conferred on him the honorary degree of M.D. He settled first in Waterford, N. Y., but upon his election to the Senate of New York in 1809 removed to Albany, where he remained till 1819, when he removed to New York City, where he became famous in the medical profession. He died from blood poisoning after per- forming an operation. He was a philosopher and scholar and a great student of the Bible. Was a Trustee of the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons; a founder of the American Tract Society; first president of the Academy of Medicine, New York; president of the State Medical Society, and was largely interested in the Institution for the Benefit of the Deaf and Dumb. He was the first to make the medical profession acquainted with the medical properties of Secale Cornutum or ergot. Author of several pam- phlets, one on " The Philosophy of the Mind." John Anthon, Vestryman 1823-1827: m. a daughter of John Hone, of New York, and was a prominent lawyer; delivered an addi'ess before the Washington and Hamilton societies at Washing- ton Hall on July 4, 1812, which was celebrated in that year with unusual display and patriotic sentiment. Thomas S. Townsend, Vestryman 1825-1828 ; Warden 1832-1833 ; b. Flushing, L. I., Sept. 14, 1771; d. N. Y. City, Jan. 11, 1834; s. Richard and Rosetta Townsend; m. N, Y. City, Feb, 28, 1797, Margaret Nostrand. Was a merchant in the city. James A. Burtus, Vestryman 1826-1844; Warden 1844-1846; b. Newton, L. I., Nov. 2, 1788 ; d. N. Y. City, May 13, 1871 ; s. Peter and Martha (Denton) Burtus; m. 1st Rachel K. Burtus, widow of his brother Samuel, about 1822 ; 2d New York, June 1, 1830, Jane Branson. Was a bookseller, stationer, and dealer in uncurrent money and a director of the Franklin Bank, established in 1818. William Shatzel, Vestryman 1826-1832; Warden 1833-1839,- b. March 11, 1774 ; d. 82 Beekman Street, N. Y., Nov., 1848 ; m. Elsie Hall. Was a Cordwainer and Street Inspector. He was a man of fervent piety and has left many volumes of closely written matter 438 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH in the form of essays upon various portions of the Scriptures and upon various themes of religious thought. They breathe an intensely pious spirit. They are all written in a clear, beautiful hand and indexed, and are a model of neatness throughout. John Henry Hill, Vestryman 1827-1829 ; b. New York, Sept. 11, 1791 ; d. Athens, Greece, July 1, 1882 ; m. New York, April 26, 1821, Frances Maria Mulligan. Graduated from Columbia College and studied for the ministry at Alexandria, Va., from 1829, to 1830. Had been a merchant in N. Y., but left commercial life in 1829. iWas appointed Missionary to Greece in 1830, becoming the associate of the Rev. Mr. Robertson, our first Missionary to that country. In Greece Dr. Hill became a very well-known educator. At Athens he and his wife established a girls' school, which has been a potent force in the educational uplift of many women of the higher classes. On his death at Athens the Greek government, in recognition of his educational work among the women of Athens, buried him with the honors of a taxiarch, and the Athenian municipality erected a monument to his memory. Honorary degrees were conferred on him by Harvard and Columbia, D.D., LL.D. Jeremiah H. Taylor, Vestryman 1828-1832 ; b. Middle Haddam, Conn., Feb. 3, 1797 ; d. Portland, Conn., Oct. 10, 1882 ; s. Col. Jere- miah and Lucy Taylor ; m. 1st Roda Ward, May 14, 1818 ; 2d Sarah J. Brainerd, Nov. 25, 1847. Was educated in Conn, and N. Y. institu- tions. A business man in New York; was very active in the earli- est Sunday-school work of St. George 's ; in later life built a chapel in Portland, Conn., in which he officiated as lay reader until within two years of his death. A devout and earnest Christian worker. Published in 1860 Sketches of the Religious Experience and Labors of a Layman. Was superintendent of the colored part of a branch Sunday-school of the N. Y. Sunday-school Union in Duane Street, in which branch St. George's was largely interested. He was also connected with many charitable, educational, and public institutions. Went voluntarily to preach to and nurse the sick and wounded in the Civil War. Brittain Lawrence Woolley, Vestrjinan 1829-1848; b. N. Y. City Jan. 20, 1787 ; d. Brooklyn, N. Y., August 20, 1849 ; s. Thomas and Rachel H. Woolley; m. St. Paul's Church, N. Y. City, 1812, Susan Rooke, daughter of Capt. John Rooke; ed. private schools in N. Y. City. Was an importer of tea. A trustee of the Institution THQTMAS S. TOWNSEND JOHN H. HILL ll^^' JEKEMIAH H. TAYLOR BRITTAIN- L. TVOOLLEY JOHN NOBLE JAMES I. HOYT BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 439 for the Deaf and Dumb; director N. Y. Bible and Prayer Book Society; a prominent and influential member of St. George's. John W. Mulligan, Vestryman 1829-1832 ; b. N. Y. City April 13, 1774; d. N. Y. City Jan. 19, 1862; s. Hercules and Elizabetb (Saunders) Mulligan; m. 1790 Elizabeth Winter, of Louisville, Ky. ; graduate of Columbia College. Admitted an attorney in the Su- preme Court of the State May 4, 1795; had a large practice; was a prominent, public-spirited, and popular man ; was Assistant Alder- man for the Third Ward from 1806 to 1809 and Surrogate of the County in 1810. One of his daughters married the Rev. Dr. John Henry Hill, who settled in Athens, Greece. Mr. Mulligan later went to Greece, servdng as U. S. Consul at Athens for many years. Baron Steuben, whose secretary he had been, died in 1794, leaving a will containing this clause : " To John W. Mulligan I bequeath the whole of my library, maps and charts and the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars to complete it. ' ' John Noble, Vestryman 1832-1834 ; b. Yorkshire, England, April, 1771 ; d. New York, Oct. 18, 1853 ; m. Woodbridge, N. J., Lucia, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Azel Roe. Was an importer of wines; member of the St. George's Society. James I. Hoyt, Vestryman 1832-1841; b. Norwalk, Conn., Dec. 20, 1782 ; d. N. Y. City, Nov. 14, 1858 ; s. Isaac and Mary (Raymond) Hoyt ; m. Stamford, Conn., 1807, Susan Benedict, daughter of William Benedict. Mr. Hoyt was in mercantile business for many years in the city with his cousin, Goold Hoyt. William Whitlock, Jr., Vestryman 1835-1846; Warden 1846- 1863; b. New York, Jan. 23, 1791; d. N. Y. City, July 11, 1875; s. William and Sarah (Morrell) Whitlock; m. Oct. 28, 1818, Eliza Haight Scott, daughter of John Van der Spiegel Scott, of Athens, N. Y. Was a well-known merchant in New York of the highest char- acter and standing ; for many years engaged in business with France and other countries and owner of a line of packet ships running between New York and Havre, favorites of the traveling public until steam drove sailing-vessels out of the business. One of these ships was in 1824 placed at the disposal of General Lafayette and brought him to this city on that memorable visit at Mr. WTiitlock's expense. Was a director in the Bank of America for many years; also a director, treasurer, and vice-president of the American Bible So- 440 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH ciety; member of the Society of the New York Hospital. Took a deep interest in benevolent and religious institutions generally; interested in polities, but was never a candidate for office. Was awarded a warrant for 160 acres of land for military service in the militia during the War of 1812, part of the time in one of the harbor forts. A certificate dated July 1, 1814, states that he served as soldier for seven years in the Eleventh Regiment of Artillery in the city of New York. Besides being vestryman and warden, Mr. Whitlock was for a series of years treasurer of St. George's Church, and in that capacity rendered most important service in its financial affairs, particularly in carrying its finances through the business troubles contingent upon the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1848, which occurred at the time when the present church building was under construction. Although his own busi- ness with France was seriously affected by the crisis and his losses were heavy, he met the liabilities of the Church by large personal advances of money, thus preventing the sacrificing of investments at the low prices then current. The vestry presented him with Pew No. 127, the use of which he gave to the church during his life- time ; afterward it was surrendered to the church. He was a merchant of singularly incorruptible integrity and extraordinary sagacity, and in every relation of life did justice, loved mercy, and walked humbly with his God. Frederick A. Tracy, Vestryman 1835-1839; b. Norwich, Conn., Oct. 23, 1789 ; d. New York, Jan. 14, 1843 ; s. Frederick and Deborah (Thomas) Tracy; m. March 13, 1813, Eliza Ripley. Was a Stock Exchange broker ; superintendent of the white department of Duane Street Sunday-school, in which St. George's was largely concerned; member of the Bible Society and member of the Society of the New Y''ork Hospital, Stewart Brown, Vestryman 1837-1841 ; b. Baltimore, Jan. 4, 1802; d. N. Y. City, Jan. 30, 1880; s. Stewart and Sarah (Harman) Brown; m. N. Y. City, May 6, 1830, Mary Ann Abbott; educated in Baltimore and became one of the principal partners in the bank- ing-house of Brown Brothers & Co., of New York. Barrett's Old Merchants of New York City says: The main partners, James and Stewart, are the most modest and un- assuming- of our citizens. There is no show or parade with them. James never rides except in a one-horse coupe. Stewart never rides except in an omnibus. He walks quick, one hand behind the small of his back, and carries a little cane. WILLIAM WHITI.OCK. JR. FREDERICK A. TRACY STEWART BROWN FREDERICK S. WINSTON Rrr-HARD B. BROWK ANDREW M. ARCULARIUS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 441 He was one of the Board of Managers of the New York Associa- tion for Improving the Condition of the Poor ; was a thoughtful and generous giver and deeply interested in the Evangelical Societies of the Church and in the Virginia Theological Seminary. Frederick Seymour Winston, Vestryman 1837-1848; Warden 1848-1855; b. Utica, N. Y., Oct. 14, 1806; d. Fernandina, Fla., March 27, 1885; s. Frederick and Susan (Seymour) Winston; m. N. Y, City, 1833, Lucy Ann Cotton. Was given a common school training and spent his youth on a farm in Utica. Coming to N. Y. City when twenty-years old, he became a clerk for Halsted, Haines & Co., dry-goods merchants, then junior partner in that firm, and later engaged in the same line of business under his own name. In 1846 he was chosen a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Co. In June, 1853, Mr, Winston was elected president of the company, and devoted his energies to the new position with signal success, remaining its president until his death. Was vice-president of American Bible Society ; an incorporator and trustee of the Shelter- ing Arms; member of the New York Sabbath Committee and of the Foreign Missionary Committee of the Church, in which latter capacity he rendered long and valuable service; was interested in the Aural and Ophthalmic Institute of New York. While deeply concerned in practically all Church work, he was especially active in the Sunday-school, having been superintendent of that of old St. George's in Beekman Street. His services were invaluable to Dr. Tyng and St. George's during the whole period of removal from Beekman Street and establishment in Stuyvesant Square. Thatcher Tucker, Vestryman 1839-1843 ; b. Milton, Mass., July 20, 1788 ; d. Montclair, N. J., October, 1868 ; s. Samuel and Abigail (Vose) Tucker; m. Cornish, N. H., 1825, Louisa Higginson Brown; ed. Milton Academy, Milton, Mass. Was a commission merchant. Original member of the American Institute and Mercantile Library. Richard Bowen Brown, Vestryman 1839-1840; b. Foster (a suburb of Providence), R. I., April 13, 1797; d. N. Y. City, Jan. 8, I860; s. Allen and Mahala (Bowen) Brown; m. 1st Middlebury, Vt., Charlotte Bissell; 2d Caroline E., daughter of Chas. Piatt Rogers, of N. Y. City ; ed. at Middlebury College, Vt. In business was connected with the firm of Brown & Hone, Importers, New York ; was president of the Mercantile Library for five years, 1827- 1831. By his high intelligence and untiring devotion to its inter- 442 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH ests he was the means of commending the Mercantile Library to the attention of men of letters and men of influence in the community ; and it is to his exertions, perhaps, more than to those of any other person that the erection of the first Clinton Hall was due. He was a man of very extensive reading, of rare modesty, and died sincerely lamented by all who were familiar with his worth, integrity, and usefulness. Thomas L. Callender, Vestryman 1840-1850; d. N. Y. March, 1850 ; m. New York Nov. 4, 1833, Hetty Judah. He was a merchant. On the death of Mr. Callender the Vestry put on record their " grateful remembrance of the fidelity, patience, and unobtrusive Christian character of their late associate, Thomas L. Callender, for many years connected with the corporation of this church in the prosperity of which he manifested the liveliest interest. ' ' Andrew M. Arcularius, Vestryman 1841-1846; b. N. Y. City, Oct. 26, 1786; d. N. Y. City, March 27, 1867; s. Philip Jacob and Elizabeth (Grim) Arcularius; m. New London, Conn., April 23, 1827, Eliza Lucretia Saltonstall, daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Lanphier) Saltonstall. Was a merchant under the firm name of Arcularius & Bonnett. Adolphus Lane, Vestryman 1841-1855 ; Warden 1855-1871 ; b. Livingston Manor, N. Y., April 3, 1796; d. N. Y. City, Feb., 1876; s. Jonathan and Sylvia (Ketchum) Lane; m. N. Y. City, August, 1824, Jane Maria Stearns, only daughter of Dr. John Stearns; ed. academy at Red Hook, N. Y. His father was quite a scholar and taught his six boys Latin at home. Was a prominent dry-goods merchant. Served in War of 1812. Was for many years a teacher in St. George's Sunday-school and much respected and beloved. During the last six years of his life he was a helpless sufferer through having been run over by a heavily laden wagon in Broadway. When St. George's Church was building, the architect, Mr. Eidlitz, often consulted him and frequently acted on his sug- gestions. Samuel M. Cornell, Vestryman 1843-1860; b. Wliite Plains, N. Y., Dec. 25, 1806; d. CatskiU, N. Y., Jan. 17, 1883; s. Elijah and Mary (Willis) Cornell; m. 1st New Bedford, Mass., 1832, Eveline J. Howland; 2d N. Y. City, 1858, Jane L. Gardiner, of Troy, N. Y. ; was educated in New York and afterward continued "^Pr 4SL ADOLPIIUS LANK HIRAM KETCHUM SAMUEL M. CORNELL HENRY ANSTICE *-fl5%- JOSEPH LAWRENCE JACOB LE ROY BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 443 his father's hardware business until about 1870. Was a Director in Mutual Life Insurance Co. for many years, Felix A. Huntington, Vestryman 1844-1847; b. Norwich, Conn., 1789; d. Brooklyn, N. Y., 1862; s. Felix and Anna (Perkins) Hunt- ington; m. 1811, Frances Snow. Moved from Norwich, Conn., to this city, 1825. Importing merchant of prominence and good stand- ing. He made some eleven trips to Europe in the space of a dozen years. In 1849 retired from business and moved to Brooklyn, where he was one of the founders of the Church of the Redeemer and its senior warden from the organization of the parish until his death in 1862. Hiram Ketchum, Vestryman 1846-1848 ; b. Stillwater, now Malta, Saratoga Co., N. Y., May 16, 1793; d. Riverdale, Westchester Co., N. Y., Sept. 16, 1870; s. Amos and Arabella (Landon) Ketchum; m. Thompson, Conn., Feb. 18, 1827, Ann, daughter of Rev. Daniel Dow; came to this city in 1809 and was licensed to practice in the Supreme Court of the State of N. Y., May, 1815. He identified him- self largely with most of the social, political, religious, and literary movements of the day. His most famous law trial was that of Bishop Onderdonk, in which he appeared for the prosecution. He was a warm partisan of the Silver Grey Whig party, though he never held any public office. Henry Anstice, Vestryman 1846-1854; b. South Petherton, Somerset, England, Nov. 12, 1807; d. Yonkers, N. Y., May 21, 1897; s. John and Mary (Selby) Anstice; m. New London, Conn,, Oct. 10, 1838, Mary Saltonstall, daughter of Nathaniel Saltonstall and Mary Lanphier. Received his education in English schools and came to New York in 1827. His earlier business career was with the publishing firm of Betts & Anstice in Broadway, opposite St. Paul's Chapel, but in 1835 he established himself as a stationer and law blank publisher at Nassau and Cedar streets. Removed his residence to Yonkers in 1854 and retired from active business some j^ears before his death. Was a teacher in St. George's Sunday- school and rendered efficient service as chairman of the committees on pews and music during the constructive period of settling the congregation in the new St. George's Church. Jacob Le Roy, Vestryman 1848-1854; b. N. Y. City, Nov. 27, 1794 ; d. Fairfield, Conn., Feb. 4, 1868 ; s. Herman Le Roy ; m, 1st 444 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Charlotte Downes Otis, May 20, 1822; 2d Charlotte Otis Downes, Dec. 15, 1853. Was engaged in business as shipping merchant. Joseph Lawrence, Vestryman 1847-1863; b. Flushing, Oct. 3, 1797; d. N. Y. City, June 11, 1865; s. Henry and Harriet (Van Wyck) Lawrence; m. N. Y. City, Nov. 14, 1823, Rosetta Townsend, daughter of Thomas S. Townsend. Was educated at Flushing, L. I. He was a merchant; president of the Bank of the State of New York; treasurer of the city of New York; president of the United States Trust Company upon its formation in April, 1853, holding that position with much distinction until compelled by ill health to resign May, 1865, and for many years was a director in the New York Deaf and Dumb Asylum. Peter G. Arcularius, Vestryman 1848-1858 ; b. N. Y. City, Feb. 3, 1790 ; d. N. Y. City, March 18, 1858 ; s. Philip Jacob and Elizabeth (Grim) Arcularius; m. New London, Conn., April 17, 1826, Augusta Saltonstall. He was a merchant in the city. Was deeply concerned in the welfare of St. George's, and was one of the building com- mittee of the new church. Samuel Hopkins, Vestryman 1848-1866; Warden 1866-1873; b. N. Y. City, Nov. 2, 1809 ; d. Catskill, N. Y., Jan. 9, 1882 ; s. Free- man and Phebe (Davis) Hopkins; m. Troy, N. Y., Susan Elizabeth Gardner. Was educated in N. Y. City and engaged in business as an iron merchant. He was connected with the Seaman's Mission and the Society for Improving the Condition of the Poor, and was a teacher in St. George's Sunday-school. William K. Strong, Vestryman 1850-1860; b. Duanesburgh, N. Y., April 30, 1805; d. N. Y. City, March 16, 1867; s. Josiah and Martha (Green) Strong; m. 1st N. Y., Sarah Ann Van Gieson; 2d Feb. 4, 1846, Helen Mary Hart, of Rochester, N. Y. ; ed. in Duanes- burgh and N. Y. Was a wool merchant. Pres. of Bank of Geneva, N. Y., where he had large country place ; Director of Bank of Amer- ica, N. Y. City, for eight years. Was instrumental in organizing Bank of North America and was its vice-president. In the Chamber of Commerce served on its most important committees; member of the N. Y. Historical Society. Was vice-president and an organizer of the Union League Club of N. Y. City; trustee Mutual Life In- surance Co. ; a director in American Bible Society ; member of National Academy of Fine Arts. He was at Alexandria in Egypt 0^ »9 ^inf^ 1^^ PETER G. ARCULARIUS SAMUEL HOPKIXS WILLIAM K. STRONG ROSS W. WOOD '':^iS^ ^^, CHARLES TRACY HORACE WEBSTER BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 445 when the attack was made on Fort Sumter, and hurried to Paris, organized an American banquet, and raised money with which he bought arms for the national government and shipped them home at once. On his return he made patriotic addresses and soon entered the army. Receiving a commission from President Lincoln as brigadier-general of volunteers Sept. 28, 1861, he was assigned to duty first in Missouri, later in the East, drilling and forwarding troops; and then in St. Louis on Military Commission and General Court Martial. Honorably discharged Oct. 30, 1863. His health was broken by severe service. Ross "Wyman Wood, Vestryman 1854-1869; b. Dracut, Mass., July 19, 1795; d. N. Y. City, April, 1880; s. Daniel and Hannah (Baron) Woods; m. Albany, Jan. 1, 1826, Anna Dunn; ed. at Dracut and Boston, Mass. Was a tea merchant in New York City and a member of New York Historical Society, Mr. Wood was a boyhood and lifelong friend of Rev. Dr. Tyng. Charles Tracy, Vestryman 1854-1871; Warden 1871-1885; b. Whitesborough, N. Y., Jan. 10, 1810; d. N. Y. City, March 14, 1885 ; m. Louisa Kirkland ; graduated at Yale College and entered the profession of law and became one of the leading members of the New York Bar. He was a member of the city Board of Education, the Bible Society, the De Witt Dispensary, the Mission to Seamen. At the Diocesan Convention following his decease the Bishop said : Mr. Charles Tracy was often heard on this floor and won here the hearty respect of those from whom he most widely differed. His excellent knowl- edge of parliamentary usage, his readiness as a debater, his clear and acute legal mind, made him one of the most helpful and influential laymen who ever arose ui^on this floor. His direct integrity, his upright life, his warm sympathies made him a power outside of it wherever he was heard and known. To say that we shall miss him, especially here, is feebly to indicate the void which has been made by his dejDarture. Horace Webster, LL.D., Vestryman 1855-1865. He was the first president of the Free Academy on the corner of Twenty-third Street and Lexington Avenue founded in 1848, the first institution established in the country for the purpose of extending a college education free of charge to the pupils of the public schools. In 1854 the Legislature passed a law endowing the institution with power to confer upon its graduates the usual collegiate degrees in the Arts and Sciences. In 1866 the Legislature changed the name to that of " The College of the City of New York " and conferred 446 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH on the institution all the powers and privileges of a college. Dr. Webster remained its president for twenty-one years till July 21, 1869. Percy R. Pyne, Vestryman 1858-1869; b. England, March 8, 1820; d. Rome, Italy, Feb. 14, 1895; s. Thomas and Anna (Riving- ton) Pyne; m. at St. George's Church, New York, March 15, 1855, Albertina Shelton Taylor. Was educated at Christ's Hospital School, England, and after graduation became a member of the firm of Moses Taylor & Co. from 1841 to 1891. He was president of the National City Bank, vice-president of the D. L. & W. R. R. Co., director of the Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Co., the Consolidated Gas Co., the Western Union Telegraph Co., the Chicago & Northwestern R. R. Co., the Central Trust Co., and the New Jersey Zinc Co. Was vice-president of St. Luke's Hospital, trustee American Museum of Natural History, trustee Y. M. C. A., etc. William A. Haines, Vestryman 1860-1871; b. Elizabeth, N. J., Oct. 21, 1822; d. Palatka, Fla., March 5, 1880; buried from St. George's; s. Richard Townley and Maria W. (Johnson) Haines; m. N. Y. City, Feb. 19, 1845, Emily Somers Stagg, daughter of John P. Stagg; ed. at Williamstown, Mass., and University of New Y^'ork. Senior partner of Halsted, Haines & Co., dry-goods merchants, until his death, 1880. Connected with many of the Church and charitable institutions of his day; also member of the Chamber of Commerce, Academy of Sciences, trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Co., etc. The originator and one of the incorporators and trustees of the American Museum of Natural History and chairman of its Executive Committee until his death. One of the leading conchologists of the world, his collections of shells being the largest private collection in this country. Gideon Pott, Vestryman 1860-1862; b. N. Y^ City, Dec, 1818; d. North Hatley, Canada, Aug. 7, 1897; s. Gideon and Margaret (Saidler) Pott; m. St. George's Church, Feb. 9, 1854, to Katharine Augusta Newbold Le Roy. Was educated in N. Y, City and engaged in the brokerage business. George Crary Satterlee, Vestryman 1862-1872; b. Ballston, N. Y., Nov. 10, 1799 ; d. Bar Harbor, Me., Aug. 7, 1872 ; s. Samuel and Prudence (Rathbone) Satterlee; m. N. Y. City, March 19, 1833, ,/*» 1^. '"*(!^)»f* PERCY R. PYNE WILLIAM : A. HAINE! iT -.P9 ^j^ V GIDEON POTT GEORGE C. SATTERLEE WILLIAM L. JENKINS WILLIAM ALEX. SMITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 447 Mary Le Roy Livingston, daughter of Daniel Livingston, of Oakhill Manor-on-the-Hudson. Was educated at Ballston, N. Y., and at the age of fifteen came to the city, and went into the business of his brothers Samuel and John R. Satterlee, importers of dry-goods. In 1850 he organized the Washington Fire Insurance Co. and remained its president until his death. William L. Jenkins, Vestryman 1863-1868; b. N. Y. City, Oct. 9, 1806; d. N. Y. City, Sept. 26, 1903; s. Silvanus and Hannah Jenkins; m. N. Y. City, March 11, 1839, Esther F. Shotwell. Was educated in this city and was president of the ' ' Bank of America. ' ' An incorporator and treasurer of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Geographical Society, and New York Historical Society. William Alexander Smith, Vestryman 1865-1868 ; b. Pottstown, Pa., Sept. 9, 1820; d. May 31, 1911, Nyack, N. Y.; s. Robert Hobart and Mary (Potts) Smith; m. 1st in Pennsylvania, Nora Mary, d. of Rev. Dr. Levi Bull ; 2d Feb. 3, 1863, Margaret Jones, d. of George Jones. His education was obtained at private schools in Phila- delphia, Pa., and Princeton, N. J. ; entered the banking and broker- age business, from which he retired in 1897. He was president of the New York Stock Exchange from 1866 to 1867 and was a member of that body for more than sixty years. Was treasurer of the Parochial Fund of the Diocese of New York, an incorporator of the Sheltering Arms, and a vice-president of St. Luke's Hospital. WiLLLiM TiLDEN Blodgett, Vestryman 1866-1876; b. N. Y. State; d. N. Y. City, Nov. 4, 1875. Came to N. Y. City in 1838 and was a well-known merchant, and prominent in the public life of this city. Was a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History and was one of the foremost in establishing it. Also an organizer of the Union League Club ; one of the main figures of the great Sanitary Fair during the Civil War. In his love of art and intense devotion to it he was most prominent. He was a founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first chairman of its Executive Committee, and subsequently its first vice-president. Its Bulletin of Feb., 1906, says: It is not only for his work in the Museum that the cause of American Art is under lasting obligations to Mr. Blodgett. With few advantages for early education and no youthful associations to direct his attention to pictures, his own natural refinement and keen perception of the beautiful 448 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH induced him to cultivate their study; and when Providence, which does not always see fit to add to a taste for such pursuits the means of its gratification, was pleased to give him wealth he found its most delightful employment in the encouragement of Art. David Dows, Vestryman 1868-1873 ; Warden 1873-1890 ; b. Charl- ton, Saratoga County, N. Y., Nov. 16, 1814; d. N. Y. City, March 30, 1890; s. Eleazar and Linda (Wright) Dows; m. N. Y. City, Feb. 5, 1852, Margaret Esther, daughter of Horatio Worcester; ed. in public school and from 1832 to 1885 was a commission mer- chant in this city. John Pieepont Morgan, Vestryman 1868-1885; Warden 1885 to date; b. Hartford, Conn., April 17, 1837; s. Junius Spencer and Juliet (Pierpont) Morgan; m. (in 1861^ 1st Amelia Sturges (d. 1862) and 2d May 31, 1865, Frances Louisa Tracy, daughter of Charles Tracy. Was educated in Hartford schools, the English High School, Boston, and studied for two years at the University of Gottingen, Germany. Began his long and successful business career in banking-house of Duncan, Sherman & Co. in 1857; is now senior partner of Morgan, Grenfell & Co., of London, and head of the firm of J. P. Morgan & Co., successors to Drexel, Morgan & Co., N. Y. Distinguished as an art connoisseur and bibliophile. His private collection of books, manuscripts, paintings, and oh jets d'art is priceless, and he has made large and valuable gifts to the Metro- politan Museum of Art, of which he is president, and to the Ameri- can Museum of Natural History, of which he is vice-president, and to the public library. Is much interested in yachting and was for three years Commodore of the N. Y. Yacht Club and built the Columbia to defend the America's Cup. The affairs of St. George's Church are to him of prime importance and command his constant personal attention. His munilicent gifts to the parish are referred to in the narrative as essential details of St. George's history. His benefactions to general educational, philanthropic, and religious institutions have been princely and many. Mr. Morgan has been a delegate from St. George's Church to the Diocesan Convention since 1870 and a delegate to the General Convention since 1886, in which body he is a member of a number of the most important com- mittees and commissions. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Yale University in 1908 and by Harvard University in 1910. David Jay Ely, Vestryman 1869-1876; b. Lyme, Conn., May 6, 1816; d. N. Y. City, Feb. 27, 1877; s. Richard and Mary (Peck) WrLLIAJI T. BLODGKTT DAVID DOWS J. PIERPONT MORGAN DAVID J. ELY HARVET SPEXCER HENRY P. MARSHALL BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 449 Ely: m. Massillon, Ohio, 1847, Caroline Duncan Wheeler; ed. at Windsor, Conn., and other preparatory schools; was a successful merchant. Endowed the chair of Ecclesiastical History in Griswold College, Iowa, with $20,000, and made large contributions to the endowment of the American Church Missionary Society. Harvey Spencer, Vestryman 1869-1888; b. N. Y. City Jan. 20, 1832; d. Bryn Mawr, Pa., July 15, 1898; s. Harvey and Fanny (Sharpe) Spencer; m. Brooklyn, N. Y., Nov. 15, 1855, Sophia Matilda Edwards. After completing his education at the Fair- child School, Flushing, L. I., he engaged in business as a merchant. Was a Fellow of the National Academy of Design. Henry P. Marshall, Vestryman 1871-1889 ; b. Woodbury, Conn., Feb. 17, 1814; d. N. Y. City, Nov. 17, 1888; s. John Parret and Julia (Perry) Marshall; m. New York, Nov. 18, 1840, Cornelia E. Conrad. Was educated in Woodbury, engaged in business in New York for sixteen years, and was an officer in the Seamen's Bank for Savings from that time until his death. A trustee of the American Tract Society, of the Church Missionary Society for Seamen; a member of the Bible Society, of the Prison Association and of the Historical Society. In 1838 was U. S. Consul at Muscat, Arabia. His grandfather, John Rutgers Marshall, was first rector of St. Paul's, Woodbury, Conn., and in his house, March 23, 1782, the Convocation was held at which Samuel Seabury was nominated as first Bishop of the American Church. John Noble Stearns, Vestryman 1871-1890 ; Warden 1890-1907 ; b. Warren Street, N. Y. City, Jan. 22, 1831 ; d. N. Y. City, March 14, 1907; s. Henry Ketchum and Sarah (Cannon) Stearns; m. N. Y. City, April 26, 1855, Alice Anne, daughter of Elisha Bloomer; ed. N. Y. City at Trinity School. He was the pioneer silk manufacturer of America, and president of the Stearns Silk Manufacturing Co., with mills in many cities in this country. A member of the Chamber of Commerce, president of the Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge, life member of the American Bible Society, member of the executive board of the American Tract Society, of the board of managers of St. Luke's Hospital, of the board of managers of the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled Children, of the Numismatic and Archaeological Society, founder of St. Christopher's Home in Dobbs Ferry, and one of the organizers of the Christian Home for Intemperate Men in N. Y. City 29 450 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH J. Mason McJimsey, Vestryman 1872-1876; b. Albany, N. Y., J une 21, 1812 ; d. Warwick, N. Y. John Dunn Wood, Vestryman 1873-1886 ; b. N. Y. City, Oct. 5, 1837 ; d. N. Y. City, Feb. 12, 1900 ; s. Ross Wyman and Anna Wood ; m. N. Y. City, Dec. 10, 1868, Alice Riggs Colgate; ed. at the Churchill School in Sing Sing-on-Hudson and Yale College. Com- menced business in East India trade, at one time living in Singa- pore. Later he was in the wool business and in carpet manufactur- ing, being a partner in the firm of E. S. Higgins & Co. until he retired from business some years before he died. Mason Young, Vestryman 1876-1878; b. Brooklyn, N. Y., May 6, 1838; d. N. Y. City, March 29, 1906; s. Henry and Anne (Mason) Young; m. N. Y. City, Dec. 10, 1862, Louise Hulburt. Was fitted for college at Sach's School, N. Y. City; traveled abroad for several years after, studying in Berlin, Rome, and Madrid; entered Yale University in 1857, graduating in the class of 1860 ; then entered Columbia College Law School. Was a prominent lawyer. In 1871 was secretary of the Woolsey Fund of Yale University, and member of the Yale Corporation from 1873 to 1884. Fellow in perpetuity of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. William H. Philips, Vestryman 1876-1878; b. N. Y. City, Oct. 3. 1832 ; d. Great Barrington, Mass., June 30, 1899 ; s. Samuel and Eliza (Soper) Philips; m. N. Y. City, Jan. 9, 1856, Susan Eliza- beth Dimon. Educated at Rye Academy, N. Y., and engaged in commercial business in N. Y. City from 1850 to 1890. Treasurer of the Produce Exchange ; president of the Norfolk Southern R. R. Co. ; director of the Shoe & Leather Bank, N. Y. City ; superintend- ent " Bread of Life " Mission, St. George's Church. Robert Winthrop, Vestryman 1876-1877; b. N. Y. City, Aug. ]8, 1833; d. N. Y. City, Nov. 18, 1892; s. Thomas Charles and Georgiana Maria (Kane) Winthrop ; m. June 23, 1859, Kate W. Taylor, daughter of Moses Taylor^ of New York; ed. in private schools in N. Y. State, afterward entering the banking business. Was the founder of the banking-house of Robert Winthrop & Co. W. Gayer Dominick, Vestryman 1877-1878 ; b. Chicago, 111., Jan. 14, 1845; d. Quogue, L. I., Aug. 31, 1895; s. William Francis and Lydia Gardner (Wells) Dominick; m. N. Y. City, March 11, 1874, JOHN NOBLE STEARls'S J. MASON MCJIMSEY JOHN D. WOOD 3IAS0X YOUNG WILLIAM H. PHILIPS ROBERT WINTHROP BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 451 Anne De Witt Marshall. After completing his education at the Churchill Military Academy, Sing Sing, N. Y., became the senior partner of the Stock Exchange firm of Dominick & Dickerman. Member of the Advisory Board of the Y. W. C. A.; was actively engaged in Mission work in St. George's East Side chapels; life member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and one of the Board of Managers of the Huguenot Society. William Edmond Curtis, Vestryman 1878-1880; b. Watertown, Litchfield Co., Conn., Sept. 28, 1823 ; d. at the same place July 6, 1880; s. Holbrook and Elizabeth (Edmond) Curtis; m. Waterbury, Conn., Sept. 2, 1851, Mary A. Scovill, daughter of William Henry and Eunice (Davies) Scovill; ed. at Episcopal Academy, Cheshire, Conn., and Trinity College, Hartford, Conn, (class of 1843), which later conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. Was a lawyer and member of the Bar of N. Y. and Conn. Judge of Su- perior Court in 1871 ; selected as Chief Judge in 1876, which office he held at his death. He was a trustee of Trinity College, Hartford, and connected with many other institutions; member N. Y, City Board of Education from 1858-1860 and its president to 1865, and rendered valuable service in the care of the public schools; member of American Geographical Society; vice-president of N. Y. His- torical Society and member of New England Society. James Banks Reynolds, M.D., Vestryman 1878-1883; b. N. Y. City, April 8, 1833 ; d. Eye, N. Y. ; s. William E. and Anna (Regan) Reynolds; m. 1st N. Y. City, Emilie Van Buren in 1864 (died 1872) ; 2d her sister in 1874; ed. in N. Y. by private tutors and studied abroad. Took up the study of medicine under Dr. Willard Parker, graduating from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1856; served regular term at Bellevue Hospital ; went to Europe in 1858, studying there for two years. At the outbreak of the rebellion Dr. Reynolds became assistant surgeon of tlie 71st Regiment, N. G. N. Y., which was ordered on duty at the old navy -yard, Wash- ington, D. C. Later on served with this same regiment as surgeon. After the war, resumed practice in New York and became prominent in the profession; was especially proficient in diseases of children and had much to do with the N. Y. Foundling Asylum. Was mem- ber of the N. Y. Medical Society; Academy of Medicine, N. Y. ; Pathological Society; Physicians' Mutual Aid Society; and the N. y[ Obstetrical Society, of which he was one of the founders. 452 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Theodore H. Mead, Vestryman 1878-1882 ; b. N. Y. City, Jan. 1, 1837; s. Enoch M. and Elizabeth Mudge (Hoe) Mead; m. Dec. 3, 1863, Anna E., daughter of Lawrence Johnson, of Phila., Pa. ; ed. at home and in common schools; entered the office of R. Hoe & Co., printing-press manufacturers, at the age of seventeen and for thirty years was a partner in that firm. Samuel Henry St. John, Vestryman 1882-1885 ; b. Walton, N. Y., July 31, 1814 ; d. N. Y. City, April 29, 1893 ; s. John T. and Mary (Stockton) St. John; m. N. Y. City, Sept. 28, 1840, Emily White Leavens; ed. at schools in Walton, N. Y., and New Canaan, Conn. Was a merchant in Mobile, Ala,, and in N. Y. City, and retired from business at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. William H. Schieffelin, Vestryman 1883-1896; b. N. Y. City, Aug. 20, 1836 ; d. N. Y. City, 1895 ; s. Samuel Bradhurst and Lucretia Schieffelin; m. Bedford, N. Y., Oct. 15, 1863, Mary Jay, daughter of John Jay. After finishing his education at the University of N. Y. became senior partner in the wholesale drug firm of W. H. Schieffelin & Co., 1865 to 1895. Served in the Civil War during the Peninsular Campaign as Major in the First N. Y. Mounted Rifles; was a trustee of N. Y. Orthopedic Hospital and Dispensary and a member of N. Y. Historical Society. Robert Fulton Cutting, Vestryman 1883-1907; Warden 1907 to date; b. N. Y. City, June 27, 1852; s. Fulton and Justine (Bay- ard) Cutting; m. 1st, 1875, Nathalie C. P. Schenck, daughter of Rev. Noah Hunt Schenck, D.D. (died 1876) ; 2d, 1883, Helen Suydam. Graduated from Columbia University, class of 1871, is a financier and interested in real estate ; pres. Association for Improving Con- dition of Poor ; pres. N. Y. Trade School ; trustee Cooper Institute ; trustee McAuley Water Street Mission; director American Museum Natural History, etc. Was an organizer of the Citizens' Union in 1897 and its president and leader until Dec, 1908. He has re- ceived the honorary degree of LL.D. from Columbia University, and has been appointed chairman of the Committee of Arrange- ments for the meeting of the General Convention in New York October, 1913. William H. Tailer, Vestryman 1885-1890; b. N. Y., June 20, 1842 ; d. Lenox, Mass., July 15, 1905 ; s. Edward Neufville and Anne Amelia (Bogert) Tailer; m. St. Peter's Church, Westchester, Sept. \V. GAYER DOMINICK WILLIAM E. CUKTIS JAMES B. REYNOLDS THEODORE H. MEAD SAMUEL H. ST. JOHN WILLIAM H. SCHIEFFELIN BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 453 22, 1868, Maria C. Watson; ed. Columbia Grammar School and Columbia University, N. Y. Was a merchant. Charles Edward Tracy, Vestryman, 1885-1896; b. Utica, N. Y., July 11, 1845; d. Colorado Springs Jan. 22, 1896; s, Charles and Louisa (Kirkland) Tracy; m. 1st Helen Dawson, May, 1878 (died Dec, 1878) ; 2d April, 1886, Jenny Bigelow. Graduated from Col- lege of the City of N. Y. (then free academy) in 1865, spent eighteen months at the University of Bonn, Germany, and six months in Geneva. Was a la\y>'er, member of the Bar Association, and of the firm of Bangs, Stetson, Tracy & MacVeagle. Connected with Lying- in Hospital and Seamen's Mission. Frederic H. Betts, Vestryman 1886-1905; b. Newburgh, N. Y., March 8, 1843 ; d. N. Y. City,*Nov. 11, 1905 ; s. Frederic J. and Mary (Ward) Betts; m. N. Y. City, Oct., 1867, Louise Holbrook; Yale University B.A., 1864, LL.D. 1901, Columbia LL.D. 1866. En- tered the profession of law, was counsel Insurance Department State of N. Y. 1872-1873, lecturer Yale Law School 1873-1884, member of Metropolitan ]\Iuseum of Art and of Museum of Natural History. John King, Vestryman 1888-1892; b. Baltimore, Md., April 24, 1832; d. Beaulieu, France, March 17, 1897; s. John and Hester (Stauffer) King; m. Aug. 20, 1867, Mary Frances Jackson; ed. in Baltimore and was vice-president of Baltimore & Ohio R. R. and president of the Erie R. R. William Lanman Bl^ll, Vestryman 1889-1895; b. N. Y. City, 1845; s. Frederic and Mary (Huntington) Bull; m. N. Y., 1871, Sara Newton, daughter of Henry Rossiter Worthington. Gradu- ated from the College of City of N. Y. 1865. Partner in Edward Sweet & Co., bankers and brokers. Twice president of N. Y. Stock Exchange. Henry W. Munroe, Vestryman 1890-1893 and 1895 to date; b. Paris, France, Dec. 4, 1859; s. John and Marian (Hall) Munroe; m. Lenox, Mass., Oct. 1, 1885, Alice Kneeland; ed. partly in Ger- many and Harvard University, class 1882. He is a banker. Treas- urer of the Cathedral League of the Diocese of N. Y, and of the Church Club. Wager Swayne, Vestryman 1890-1899 ; b. Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 10, 1834 ; d. N. Y. City, Dec. 18, 1902 ; s. Noah Haynes and Sarah 454 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Ann (Wager) Swayne; m. Louisville, Ky., Dec. 22, 1868, Ellen Harris ; prepared for college in Columbus and graduated from Yale College in June, 1856, and in 1859 graduated from Cincinnati, Ohio, Law School. In 1859 was admitted to the Bar in Columbus, prac- ticing there until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he raised the 43d Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he was commissioned Major Aug. 31, 1861 ; Colonel in 1862. He took part in the marches and battles of the Atlanta campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea, and received a serious wound at Salkahatchie, S. C, which resulted in the loss of his right leg. For conspicuous gallantry was breveted Brigadier-General in March and Major-General in June, 1865; was mustered out of service Sept. 1 , 1 867 ; subsequently served as Com- missioner of the Freedmen's Bureau in Alabama; was active in organizing a common-school system, establishing high schools in the more important cities as well as public schools and Talladega Col- lege for negroes. In this work he was engaged until July 1, 1870, when, at his own request, he was placed upon the retired list of the regular army to which he had been transferred, and resumed the practice of law at Toledo, Ohio. Kenyon College conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. in 1879. In 1880 removed to N. Y. City, where he continued his legal practice until his death on December 18, 1902. He was buried in Arlington Cemetery, Washington, D. C. Was president of the American Cliurch Missionary Society and a director of the American Tract Society. William Foulke, Vestryman 1892 to date; b. N. Y. City, June 28, 1847; s. William and Mary Elizabeth (Fish) Foulke; grandson of Joseph and Charlotte (Brion) Foulke. Is unmarried. Educated in N. Y. City. Is trustee Home for the Destitute Blind, vice-presi- dent N. Y. Dispensary, treasurer Washington Square Home for Friendless Girls. Mr. Foulke was elected treasurer of the Ameri- can Bible Society in 1886, which position he still holds, as well as that of treasurer of St. George's Church, Seth Low, LL.D., Vestryman 1893 to date; b. Brooklyn, N. Y., Jan. 18, 1850; s. Abiel Abbott and Ellen Almira (Dow) Low; m. Boston, Mass., Dec. 9, 1880, Anne Wrae Scollay Curtis ; ed. Juvenile High School 1857-1862, Polytechnic Institute 1862-66, Columbia College class of '70. Clerk with A. A. Low & Bros., in trade with the Orient 1870-1875, partner 1875-1888. Mr. Low was Mayor of Brooklyn 1882-1885, Mayor of New York 1901-1903 ; dele- gate from U. S. to first Conference of Peace at The Hague 1899; R. FULTON CUTTING "WILLIAM IT. TAILER CHARLES EDWARD TRACY FREDERIC H. BETTS i-»j*^ JOHN KING WILLIAM LANMAN BULL BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 455 president of Columbia University 1890-1901, and has been president of the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities, the National Civic Federa- tion, the Archffiologieal Society of America, and the Geographical Society of N. Y. He received the degree of LL.D. from Amherst 1889, University of N. Y., University of Pa., Harvard and Trinity 1890, Princeton 1896, Yale 1901. William Jay Schieffelin, Vestryman 1896-1906 ; b. N. Y. City, April 14, 1866; s. "William Henry and Mary (Jay) Schieffelin; m. N. Y., Feb. 5, 1891, Maria Louisa Shepard; ed. Trinity School, Tivoli, Columbia College School of Mines 1887 ; Munich University, 1889, Ph.D. Chemist for Schieffelin & Co. 1889, member of firm 1890, vice-president of corporation 1903, president 1906 ; trustee of Hampton Institute, of Muskogee Institute ; president of the Arm- strong Association, manager the American Bible Society, president American Church Missionary Society, Municipal Civil Service Com- mission 1896, captain and regimental adjutant 12th N. Y. Volunteers Spanish War 1898, president Citizens' Union 1908. Fellow of the London Chemical Society, member American Chemical Society, So- ciety of Chemical Industry. Henry H. Pike, Vestryman 1896 to date; b. Halifax, N. S.; s. Thomas William and Annie (Leonard) Pike; m. London, On- tario, Oct. 23, 1883, Edith Roe; ed. St. John, N. B. Is a West India merchant. Entered the Sunday-school work of St. George's in 1883 and has devoted himself to it with great fidelity and suc- cess. He became superintendent of the school in succession to Mr. R. F. Cutting in 1890, which position he still occupies. John Seely Ward, Vestryman 1896 to date; b. Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 20, 1859; s. John Seely and Harriet Sarah (Foster) Ward; m. N. Y., Oct. 7, 1885, Madeline McLean; ed. at St. Paul's School, Concord, N. H. ; Columbia College, class 1882 ; Columbia Law School, class 1883. Is a lawyer. Vice-pres. N. Y. Juvenile Asylum, vice-pres. Association for Improving Condition of Poor, treasurer Prison Association of N. Y., trustee or director of Seaman's Church Institute, Society of St. Johnland, etc. James W. Markoe, M.D., Vestryman 1899 to date; b. N. Y., July 19, 1862; s. Thomas M. and Charlotte A. (How) Markoe; m. Nov. 22, 1894, Mrs. Annette Butler Wetmore; ed. St. Paul's School; Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons 1885; Frauenklink, Munich, 1887. 456 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Has been in practice since 1889, medical director and attending- surgeon to Lying-in Hospital since 1890, and has been house surgeon, resident surgeon, first resident physician, and attending physician of other well-known hospitals. Charles S. Brown, Vestryman 1905 to date; b. March 19, 1851^ N. Y. City; s. Lewis B. and Emma (Manning) Brown; m. N. Y. City, June 3, 1880, Lucy N. Barnes. After finishing his education in the College of the City of N. Y. entered the real estate business. Mr. Brown is a Governor of the New Y^ork Hospital. Joseph Wright Harriman, Vestryman Jan. 8, 1907, to date^ b. Belleville, N. J., Jan. 31, 1867; s. Juo. Neilson and Elizabeth Grange (Hancox) Harriman; m. Jersey City, N. J., Nov. 21, 1891, Augusta Barney; ed. at Charlier Institute, N. Y., and Stevens In- stitute, Hoboken, N. J. Entered the banking business U. S. Na- tional Bank, N. Y''. City, 1884-1894; Merchants' National Bank, 1894—1902 ; Harriman & Co., Bankers, 1902. President of Harriman National Bank; president of trustees Cheshire School, Cheshire, Conn. William Edmond Curtis, Vestryman 1907 to date ; b. N. Y. City, June 2, 1855; s. William Edmond and Mary Ann (Scovill) Curtis; ed. Columbia Grammar School; Watertown Academy; Trinity Col- lege, Hartford, Conn. ; Columbia College Law School. Is a lawyer and unmarried; trustee of Trinity College, from which he received the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1902 ; member of Managing Board N. Y. Throat, Nose, and Lung Hospital ; life member N. Y. Historical Society and American Geographical Society, and chairman of the Co-operating Committee of Laymen's Missionary Movement of the Diocese of New Y^'ork. He was assistant secretary, U. S. Treasury, 3893-1897 and member of N. Y. Aqueduct Commission 1902-1905. ASSISTANT MINISTEES Rev. John Brady, First Assistant Minister of St. George's 1811- 1816 ; was ordained deacon by Bp. Hobart in 1811, serving before the first rector was called, and continuing as Dr. Kewley's assistant. Was advanced to the priesthood by Bp. Hobart in St. George's in 1812. His first wife died in Jan., 1815, and a year later he was married by the bishop in St. George's Church, Jan. 23, 1816, to Mrs. Hannah Reynolds, who survived him. Died Sept. 22, 1822 ; rector HEXRY W. HON ROE WAGER SWAYNE WILLIAM FOULKE SETH LOW WILLIAM JAY SCHIEFFELIN IT. H. PIKE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 457 of William and Mary and St. Andrew's parishes, St. Mary's County, Md. Rev. J. W. Cooke, Assistant Minister 1835-1843 ; was a native of Rhode Island; graduated at Brown University and the General Theological Seminary; ordained by Bishop Griswold; officiated at Lonsdale, R. I. ; assistant to Rev. Dr. Milnor in St. George 's ; Rector of St. Michael's, Bristol, R. I.; and was appointed, 1850, Secretary and General Agent of the Committee for Foreign Missions. In March, 1853, he sailed for AspinwaU to examine that place, and Panama with a view to Missionary operations. While on the Isthmus he was attacked with dysentery and obliged to return, and died in New York April 12, 1853. Rev. Pierre Paris Irving ; b. New York ; graduated from Colum- bia College 1824; engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1836 was ad- mitted to Holy Orders. His first charge was Trinity, Geneva, N. Y. He then became Secretary of the Foreign Committee of the Board of Missions. His service in St. George's was begun in 1843 and con- tinued as occasion served till the close of Dr. Milnor 's life. In 1849 he accepted the rectorship of Christ Church, New Brighton, which he held for twenty-six years. Died Sept. 10, 1878, aged seventy-two. Rev. Dudley Atkins Tyng, b. Prince George's Co., Md., Jan. 14, 1825; ed. University of Pennsylvania 1839-1843; Alexandria Seminary, 1846 ; deacon by Bp. Meade, July 9, 1846 ; Assistant Min- ister St. George's, 1846; Rector successively Charlestown, Va. ; Cincinnati, Ohio; Church of Epiphany, Philadelphia, Pa.; Church of the Covenant, Philadelphia. Died April 19, 1858. Rev. William Yorke Rooker, ordered deacon by Bp. Moore of Va., July 18, 1841, in St. George's Ch., Fredericksburg; assisted Dr. Tyng in 1847-8. Later left the country. Rev. Calvin C. Wolcott, b. Williamsburg, Mass., April 27, 1787 ; d. N. Y. City, Jan. 21, 1861 ; m. Danvers, Mass., Sept. 4, 1811, Sally Garchier; ed. Phillips' Academy, Andover, Mass., Aug., 1809-11; theological studies with Rev. S. H. Tyng under direction of Bp. A. V. Griswold, by whom he was ordained in 1818. First parish, Hanover, Mass., from 1818-1834 ; Rector Christ Ch., Quincy, Mass. ; Agt. Am. Bible Society (owing to ill health and needing open-air exercise) 1828-9. Dee. 12, 1850, called (while at Winchester, Va.) 458 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH to be assistant minister of St. George's. Resigned in 1859. Funeral at St. George's conducted by Dr. Tyng. Rev. Norman W. Camp, deacon, Sept. 18, 1839, by Bp. Hopkins ; Assistant in St. George's, 1853. Rev. Heman Dyer, D.D. ; b. at Shaftsbury, Vt., Sept. 24, 1810 ; d. July 29, 1900; ed. Kenyon College, A.B., 1833; Deacon 1835 and Priest 1836 by Bp. Mcllvaine. For some years missionary in Ohio ; principal of classical school for boys at Pittsburgh 1840-1843, pro- fessor of Western University of Pennsylvania 1843-1844, and presi- dent of same 1844-1849 ; clerical representative of the American Sunday School Union 1849-1854; rector Church of the Saviour, Philadelphia, Pa.; curate St. George's 1854-1859 and Sept., 1862, to June, 1863, and at Church of the Ascension, New York, 1864-1885 ; corresponding secretary and general agent of the Evangelical Knowledge Society 1854r-1900 ; corresponding secretary of the American Church Missionary Society; member of the Board of Missions 1868-1900; trustee of the General Theological Seminary, of the American Church Building Fund Commission, and of St. Luke's Hospital; actively connected with the Philadelphia Divinity School, the Church Congress, and many other Church institutions; member of the Indian, Freedmen's, and Mexican Commissions of the General Convention ; author of The Voice of the Lord upon the Waters, The Records of an Active Life, etc. ; for many years editor of The Parish Visitor and of The Episcopal Quarterly Review. In 1862 he declined to accept his election as Bishop of Kansas. He died in his ninetieth year, leaving an enviable record of notable personal influence and singular efficiency. Rev. Wilbur Fisk Paddock, D.D. ; b. Cazenovia, N. Y., Nov. 27, 1831 ; d. June 11, 1903, Denver, Col. ; ed. Hamilton College 1853 (degrees of B.A., M.A., D.D.) and Alexandria Theological Semi- nary; deacon, July 1, 1859, by Bp. Meade; priest in following year; m. Phila., 1871, Mary L. Badger. Held clerical positions at St. George's, New York, as assistant 1859-60; Rector St. Paul's, Cleve- land, Ohio, 1860-63 and St. Andrew's, Phila., 1863-1901. Rev. Cornelius Winter Bolton; b. Bath, Eng., June 3, 1819; d. Pelham, N. Y., Aug. 28, 1906; m. Greenbush, N. Y., Sept. 11, 1856, Cornelia Van Rensselaer; ed. Theological Seminary, Alex- andria, Va. ; deacon March 21, 1847, by Bp. Johns of Va. ; priest JOHN SEELT WAKD JAMES W. MARKOE CHARLES S. BROWK JOSEPH WRIGHT HARRIMAN WILLIAM EDMOXD CURTIS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 459 April 16, 1848 ; Rector Church of the Redeemer, Pelham, 1847-1850 ; Christ Church, Baltimore, 1850-1855, and Church of Mediator, South Yonkers, N. Y., 1855-1859; Assistant Minister St. George's 1859-1865. After serving St. Mark's, Newcastle, N. Y., St. John's, Pleasantville, N. Y., and Calvary, Round Hill, Conn., he returned to his old church in Pelham, 1880, in which he served until his death. Rev. James Edv^ard Homans; b. May 21, 1833, Chittenango, N. Y. ; d. Manhasset, N. Y., Aug. 2, 1882 ; m. N. Y., Nov. 12, 1861, Susan Maria Tyng, d. of Rev. Dr. Tyng; ed. Kenyon College; A.B. 1857, A.M. 1860. Member Evangelical Knowledge Society; American Bible Society. Asst. Minister of St. George's July, 1860, to May, 1861 ; previously connected with the parish from 1845-1855 as scholar and teacher in the Sunday-school. First person baptized in Church edifice on Stuyvesant Square, April 5, 1849; Rector, Rah- way, N. J.; St. John's Church, Cincinnati, Ohio; Mediator, N. Y. City; Christ Ch., Manhasset, L. I. Rev. Charles Schramm, Ph.D., D.D. ; b. Westphalia, Germany, March 11, 1810; d. Nordhausen Oct. 17, 1888; m. Ida Johana Burg- graf, Grandenz, Germany, 1840. Doctor of Philosophy, Theology, and Philology. Deacon March 6, 1859, by Bp. H. Potter ; in charge St. George's Chapel 1859 (German, East Fourteenth Street), till 1868, when he took work in the West ; about 1875 returned to Ger- many, where he died. Rev. Stephen Higginson Tyng, Jr., D.D. ; b. Phila. June 28, 1839 ; d. Paris Nov. 17, 1898 ; m. Ch. of the Ascension, N. Y., Dec. 16, 1863, Frances R. Tappan; graduate of Williams College 1858 from which later received Doctorate of Divinity ; Theological Semi- nary of Va. ; deacon May 8, 1861; priest Sept. 11, 1863; assistant minister of St. George's 1861-1862; rector of the Mediator, N. Y., from 1862-64; founder and rector of Church of the Holy Trinity, N. Y. City, 1865-1881. Sometime chaplain of 12th New York Vol- unteers ; editor of The Working Church and the Christian at Work. Author of The Square of Life, 1876 ; He will Come, 1877 ; The Peo- ple's Pulpit, 1877. Resided in Paris, engaged in life-insurance busi- ness until his death in 1898. Rev. William T. Sabine, D.D.; b. Oct. 16, 1838, N. Y. City; m. N. Y. City, 1868, Maria Therese Schieffelin; ed. at the Thayer School; Columbia College, class '59; General Theological Seminary, 460 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH N. Y. ; New York University, D.D. ; Deacon, Bp. H. Potter, 1862 ; Rector of Church of the Covenant, Phila., Pa. ; assistant minister of St. George's, June to Oct., 1863; Rector Church of the Atonement, N. Y., 1866-72 ; deposed, 1875 ; pastor First Ref . Epis. Church, N. Y. City, 1874-1905; Bishop N. Y. & Phila. Synod, Ref. Epis. Church 1902. Rev. Tapping R. Chipman; b. Middlebury, Vt., Feb. 9, 1811; d. White Plains, N. Y., Jan. 1, 1865. Graduated at General Theological Seminary in 1838 ; officiated in Brockport, Leroy, and East Bloom- field, W. N. Y. ; Astoria, N. Y. ; Christ Church, Detroit, Mich. ; was Rector of the Church of the Reconciliation, N. Y. City; assistant minister in St. George's Parish from Feb. 1 to Nov. 1, 1864. Rev. Uriah Tracy Tracy, Deacon by Bp. H. Potter, June 2, 1859 ; priest I860; assistant Church of the Ascension, N. Y., 1859-60; rector, Bay Ridge, N. Y., 1860-65 ; assistant to Dr. Tyng from Feb. to Aug. 1865; rector of St. Paul's Church, Yonkers, 1866 to- 1869; assistant Church of the Holy Trinity and teacher in House of Evan- gelists, established by that Church, 1869-71 ; Rector Church of Reformation and Epiphany, N. Y. City. He also did missionary work in New Mexico and in Long Island, and from 1898-1907 was Chaplain of the Church Charity Foundation, Brooklyn. Rev. Brockholst Morgan ; b. N. Y. City., Dec. 26, 1843 ; m. New York, Sept. 10, 1865, Mary Rutgers, educated in France, Germany, and England; " Divinity Scholar " and " Prize Man," King's Col- lege, London; also " As.sociate of King's College " and " Associate in Arts," Oxford University. Chaplain for ten years of the " Sons of the Revolution," N. Y. State. Assistant ndnister of St. George's Aug. 1, 1865 to 1866; rector of St. Stephen's, Millburn, N. J., 1867; of St. Mark's, Chicago, 111., 1872; of St. Peter's, Port Chester, N. Y., 1879 ; assistant minister St. Mark's, N. Y. City, 1879 to 1889 ; super- intendent N. Y. City Mission Society 1889-1899 ; assistant minister St. John's, Elizabeth, N. J., 1901-19il. Rev. Christopher S. Stephenson; b. in Bermuda; ordained in this country July 10, 1864, by Bp. H. Potter. In charge of St. George's Mission Chapel Dec. 21, 1865, to May, 1871. Right Rev. William Neilson McVickar, D.D., LL.D. ; b. N. Y. City, Oct. 19, 1843 ; d. June 28, 1910, Pride's Crossing, Mass. Un- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 461 married. Educated in private schools; Columbia College (A.B, 1865), Phila. Divinity School, and General Theological Seminary; deacon Feb. 10, 1867, by Bp. H. Potter; priest July, 1868. Received honorary degrees, D.D., Kenyon, 1885 ; Univ. of Pa., 1888 ; Columbia, 1898, LL.D. ; Brown Univ., 1904. Assistant minister of St. George's 1867 to 1868 ; rector of Holy Trinity, Harlem, N. Y., from 1868 to 1875 ; rector of Holy Trinity, Phila., Pa., 1875 to 1898 ; Bp. Coadj. of Rhode Island, Jan. 27, 1898 ; Bishop Sept. 7, 1903-1910. Rev. Morris Ashurst Tyng; ed. private schools in New York City, Williams College, A.B., 1861 ; was ordained deacon Nov. 13, 1868, by Bp. H. Potter, and became assistant in St. George's Nov., 1868, to Sept. 20, 1870, when he left to assume duties of the pro- fessorship in Gambler to which he had been appointed. He was deposed from the ministry in 1880, and has since followed the pro- fession of law. Rev. J. C. Fleischhacker ; b. in Germany in 1829; d. of pneu- monia, N. Y. City, Feb. 15, 1886, Educated for the ministry, spent several years in preaching in his own country, after which he went to Jerusalem, and was there with Bishop Gobat for nine years, de- voting his time to missionary work. Came to this country and was for nine years assistant to the Rev. Dr. Tyng in the German Mission Chapel work, April 18, 1869, to May, 1878. For the next few years he held no regular position, but devoted his labors to missionary work among the people of his own nationality, and also assisted the Rev. IVIr. French in his labors on Blackwell's Island. Rev. Joseph Eastburn Brown; b. Nov. 7, 1833, at Phila., Pa.; m. Grace Ch., Phila., Pa., June 7, 1864, Rose A. Clanges. Was educated at Phila. Divinity School and Theological Seminary, Va., and ordained Deacon Oct. 15, 1863, by Bp. A. Potter; assistant minister of St. George's June 1, 1871, to Dec, 1874, with duty at the Chapel of Free Grace; connected himself with the Reformed Epis. Ch. and was deposed in 1875. Was rector Grace Ch., George- town, D. C, and is now rector of St. Paul's R. E. Church, Moncton, N. B., Canada. Rev. John Crockar White ; b. White Plains, N. Y., Oct., 1833 ; ed. at Phila. Divinity School, 1858-1860. Deacon Sept. 16, 1858, by Bp. Bowman of Pa.; was assistant in St. George's from May to Nov., 1871 ; served in Grace Church, Phila. ; Christ Church, Dover, 462 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Delaware; St. Paul's, Newburyport, Mass; St. John's, Cleveland, Ohio, 1872-1882; and was rector of St. Andrew's, Pittsburgh, 1882- 1907. Died April 23, 1908. Eev. Nathaniel Ellsworth Cornwall ; b. Fairfield, Conn., Aug. 5, 1842 ; m. Aug. 3, 1882, Emily Meeker Cady ; ed. Columbia College, A.B. 1862, M.A. 1865; taught a private school in N. Y. City in 1863-1882; assistant St. George's 1871 ; assistant Church of the Holy Communion, N. Y. City, 1871-1875 ; Christ Church, Bay Ridge, N. Y., 1876-1880 ; St. John the Evangelist, N. Y. City, 1881-1883 ; Holy Trinity, Harlem, 1883-1886; Eector of St. Paul's, Medina, Ohio, 1886-1888; AU Saints', Cleveland, Ohio, 1888-1892; Christ Church, Stratford, Conn., 1892. He was chaplain of the Conn. Society Sons of the Revolution 1895-1897, and president Conn. Alumni Associa- tion of Columbia University 1907. Rev. Matson Meier-Smith, D.D.; b. New York State, 1826; d. Philadelphia March 26, 1887 ; ed. Columbia College and Union Theo- logical Seminary. After serving in the Presbyterian Ministry was convinced of the superior claims of the Episcopal Church and was ordained by Bp. Eastburn. Rector St. John's, Hartford, Conn., and of Trinity Church, Newark, N. J. Subsequently filled chair of Pastoral Theology in Philadelphia Divinity School for fifteen years ; funeral in St. James' Church, Philadelphia, March 29, 1887. Rev. Edward W. Peet, D.D.; b. Feb. 19, 1804; Bridgeport, Conn. ; d. Aug. 17, 1882, Cromwell, Conn. ; m. Sarah Creighton, daughter of Hon. William Creighton, of ChiUicothe, Ohio, June 30, 1834. Educated at Yale College and General Theological Seminary, N. Y. ; deacon by Bishop Brownell in Bridgeport, Sept. 2, 1827 ; priest by Bishop Moore in Richmond, Va., Dec. 25, 1828. Received degree of D.D. from Kenyon College in 1859. "Was assistant min- ister of St. George's, March, 1873-1879. From 1827 to 1828 he engaged in ministerial duties in King George County, Va., and from 1830 to 1833 was rector of St. John's Church in Richmond in that State. From 1838 to 1841 he was Rector of St. Paul's Church, ChiUicothe, Ohio. In 1843 organized and became the first rector of St. Paul's Church, Rahway, N. J., where he remained until 1855, when he removed to Des Moines, Iowa, where he founded St. Paul's Church in that place. In 1866 he resigned Des Moines and accepted a call to St. Paul's, Holyoke, Mass., where he remained until Janu- ary, 1872. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 463 Eev. Robert Mollan, Assistant IMinister in St. George's, 1875; had been previously Rector of St. John's Church, Cornwall, N. Y., from Jan., 1874, to May, 1874. Rev. Axselan Buchanan ; b. Louisville, Ky. ; d. May 18, 1901. Educated Louisville schools and Alexandria Theological Seminary; deacon June 24, 1870; priest, 1871; missionary in Central Ky. ; Trinity Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1872; St. John's, Bayonne, N. J. Chapel of Free Grace, St. George's Church, N. T., Feb. 1, 1876, to May, 1878 ; Moundsville and Wellsburg, W. Va. ; Jamestown, N. D. ; Knoxville, Tenn. ; Hanover Co., Va. ; St. Peter's, Louisville, Ky. Rev. J. Rice Taylor; b. Cambria, N. Y., in 1818; d. Saugatuck, Mich., June 19, 1900. Graduated from Kenj^on College in 1842; studied at General Theological Seminary and at Gambler; ordained to the diaconate Aug. 24, 1844, by Bp. ]\lcllvaine and priest in 1856. Ministered consecutively at Milan, Ohio ; Newport, Ky. ; Mt. Vernon, Ohio; Allegan, Mich.; St. Paul's Mission, East Cleveland; Grand Haven, Mich.; Holland, Mich.; St. George's Chapel, New York, from Nov., 1878, to May, 1879 ; Atlantic City, N. J. ; Poultney, Vt. ; Grand Rapids, Mich; and St. Barnabas' Chapel, New York. From 1890 until his death h^ lived in retirement at Saugatuck, Mich. Rev. Joshua Newton Perkins; b. N. Y. City, 1840; m. St. Al- bans, Vt., 1868, Mary E. Sowles; minister of Emmanuel Church, Great River, 1877; assistant St. Ann's, Brooklyn, N. Y., 1878-1879; assistant minister of St. George's from July 1, 1879, to Aug. 15, 1882; assistant minister Church of the Incarnation 1882-1895, In charge of Christ Church, Bellport, L. I., 1899-1902. Secretary of American Church Building Fund Commission 1895 to date. Rev. Hugh Maguire ; b. Easky, Sligo Co., Ireland, April 26, 1844 ; m. Hanover, N. J., Maria Hancock; ed. in Kenyon College 1871 and Union Theological Seminarj% N. Y. After service as a Presbyterian minister he was ordered deacon, June 4, 1882, by Bp. H. Potter, and priest, 1883, by Bp. Randolph. "Was in charge of St. George's in 1882; rector St. Stephen's, Baltimore, Md., 1883; Church of Our Saviour, Brookhm, N. Y., 1884-1892 ; missionary of N. Y. P. E. City Mission Society, 1892-1902. Now residing at Orbisonia, Pa. Rev. Ralph L. Brydges; b. Sept. 21, 1856, Cheltenham, Glouces- tershire, England; m. at Toronto, Ont., Canada, Oct. 7, 1886, Flor- 464 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH ence C. Jarvis; ed. at Cheltenham Grammar School; Univ. of Tor- onto and Wycliffe College, Toronto; Columbia Univ. 1897. Or- dained Sept. 25, 1881, He served St. James' Cathedral, Toronto, as curate 1881-83; was assistant in St. George's Church, N. Y., 1883-84; rector All Saints' Memorial Church, Lakewood, N. J., 1885-93; rector St. Mark's Church, Islip, L. I., 1893-1908; assistant rector St. James' Church, N. Y. City, 1908-1910; associate pastor All Souls' Anthon Memorial Church, N. Y. City, 1911. Rev. E. F. Miles, M.D. ; deacon, Aug. 28, 1881, by Bp. J. A. Pad- dock; assistant minister in St. George's, 1883-1884. Rev. Lindsay Parker; b. Dublin, Ireland, Dec. 25, 1848; ed. Wesley an Connexional School, Dublin ; Belfast, M. E. College ; New York University, M.A., Ph.D. ; m. at Darien, Conn., Dec. 10, 1874, Frances A. Reed. Ordained deacon Dec. 9, 1883, by Bp. H. C. Potter and priest 1884. Assistant at St. George's, 1883-1886; rector St. Peter's Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1886. Rev. Henry Wilson ; b. Peterborough, Canada ; d. Atlanta, Ga. ; m. 1st Maggie Mockridge; 2d Bessie Breakenridge, St. Thomas' Church, Belleville, Canada, 1870. Curate St. George's Cath., Kings- ton, Canada; chaplain to Archbishop Lewis of Ontario, Canada; curate St. George's Church, New York, 1884-1891; president Sea- men's Association, New York; chaplain to Magdalen House, New York; field superintendent of the Christian and Missionary Al- liance. Right Rev. Charles S gadding, D.D. ; b. Toronto, Canada, Nov. 25, 1861; m. 1st Toronto, Millie D. Donaldson; 2d Toledo, Ohio, Mary R. Pomeroy; ed. Trinity College, Toronto; assistant minister at St. George's and Stanton Street Chapel, 1886-1890; rector Grace Church, Middletown, N. Y., 1890-1 ; rector Trinity Church, Toledo, Ohio, 1891-1896; rector Emmanuel Church, La Grange, 111., 1896- 1906; Bishop of Oregon, consecrated Sept. 29, 1906. Rev. Wm. Edgar Nies ; b. Newark, N. J., Feb. 18, 1858 ; m. N. Y. City, July 21, 1895, Marie T. R. Graham ; Harvard B.A., and Cam- bridge Divinity School B.D. ; deacon, June 2, 1886, by Bp. B. H. Pad- dock; priest, June 5, 1887, by Bp. H. C. Potter; curate St. George's Church, 1886-1887; missionary in Montana; missionary of Cathedral at Garden City, L. I.; rector St. Stephen's Church, Port Washing- ton, L. I. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 465 Eev. Richard Eathbone Graham; b. Dublin, Ireland, Jan. 26, I860; m. Providence, R. I., Oct. 15, 1908, Isabel Homer Pegram; ed. Dublin Univ.; B.A. 1882, M.A. 1887; assistant, Kells and Armagh, Ireland; assistant minister in St. George's, 1887-1889; in charge St. Paul's, Poughkeepsie ; assistant Christ Church, Balti- more ; rector Good Shepherd, Columbus, Ohio ; director associate mission, Cincinnati, Ohio; rector St. John's, Elkhart, Ind. ; rector St. Paul's, Wickford, R. I. Rev. William T. Crocker ; b. Sept. 9, 1862, Fitchburg, Mass. ; Harvard, 1884, B.A.; 1885 M.A. ; curate St. George's, 1888-1890; minister-in-charge St. Mary's for Sailors, East Boston, Mass., 1891- 1903 ; rector Epiphany, N. Y., 1903 to date. Rev. Edward Campion Acheson ; b. April 11, 1859 ; m. Toronto, June 8, 1892, Eleanor Goodeham; ed. Wyclift'e CoUege and Uni- versity College, Toronto, and University of N. Y. ; curate All Saints ', Toronto; St. George's, N. Y., 1889-1892; rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Middletown, Conn., since 1892. Rev. George Nattress; b. Toronto, Canada, April 14, 1856; m. N. Y. City, Nov. 20, 1894, Fannie Burchard Yale ; B.D. of the Univ. of Trinity College, Toronto; curate Holy Trinity Church, Toronto; assist, minister St. George's, N. Y., 1890; rector Church of the Mediator, Kingsbridge, N. Y. ; curate Emmanuel Church, Boston; rector St. Andrew's, Wellesley, Mass. Rev. Frank Elmer Edwards ; b. near Columbus, Ohio ; ed. Dart- mouth College and Cambridge Divinity School; deacon, Sept. 20, 1888, by Bp. Dudley; priest, Oct. 6, 1889, by Bp. H. C. Potter; assistant in St. George's 1889-1890. Rev. Theodore Sedgwick; b. Aug. 2, 1863, Stockbridge, Mass.; m. St. Paul, Minn., May 4, 1903, Mary Aspinwall Bend; Harvard B.A. ; Berkeley Divinity School; deacon, June 6, 1890, by Bp. B. H. Paddock; priest, June 11, 1891, by Bp. John Williams; assistant St. George's 1890-1894; rector St. John's, Williamstown, Mass., 1894-1900; rector Church of St. John the Evangelist, St. Paul, Minn., 1900-1911 ; rector Calvary Church, N. Y., 1911. Rev. Ernest de F. Miel ; b. San Francisco, Cal., March 7, 1868 ; m. N. Y. City, June, 1893, Marion Scribner, daughter of G. Hilton 30 466 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Scribner; ed. Episcopal Academy, Phila. ; Trinity College, Hart- ford; Univ. of Pa., Phila., B.A. 1888: Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Conn. ; S.T.B. from Univ. of Pa., 1891 ; M.A., Univ. of Pa., 1892. Assistant at St. George's, New York, 1891-1893; rector Trinity Church, Hartford, 1893 to- date. Eev. John Franklin Carter; b. Orange, N. J., Oct. 21, 1864 j m. Alice Schermerhorn Henry, Orange, N. J., June 7, 1893 ; ed. Yale, B.A., 1888 ; Union Seminary (two years) ; Cambridge, Theo- logical School, S.T.B., 1891 ; deacon, Feb. 7, 1892, by Bp. Worthing- ton; priest. May 28, 1893, by Bp. H. C. Potter: assistant minister St. George's, N. Y., 1891-1893; rector St. Mark's, Fall River, Mass., Nov., 1893, to Aug., 1900; rector St. John's, Williamstown, Mass., Sept., 1900, to date. Rev. John Neher Lewis, Jr. ; b. Annandale, N. Y., Jan. 18, 1869 ; m. St. George's, New York, June 5, 1894, Mary Newell Stone; ed. public schools and St. Stephen's College; B.A., "Williams College, 1889 ; Berkeley Divinity School 1892 ; deacon, June 8, 1892, by Bp. "Williams; priest, May 24, 1893; assistant minister St. George's Church, New Y^ork, 1892-1894; rector Grace Church, Honesdale, Pa., 1894-1897; dean Christ Church Cathedral, Lexington, Ky., 1897-1900 ; deputy to General Convention, 1898 ; associate rector St, John's, "Waterbury, Conn.; rector St. John's, "Waterbury, Conn., to date. Rev. William Whiting Davis; b. N. Y. City, Oct. 7, 1859; m. Brooklyn, N. Y., Sarah Antoinette Sprague; A.M., Amherst College, in 1882; deacon, Dec. 23, 1883, and priest, Dec. 20, 1885, by Bp. Littlejohn; curate St. Luke's, Brooklyn, 1883-5; rector St. Luke's, San Francisco, Cal., 1885-1892; curate St. George's, New York, 1892-3 ; rector Christ Church, East Orange, N. J., 1893-1906 ; curate Transfiguration, New Y^ork, 1906; rector Church of Redeemer, New Y^ork, 1907 ; vicar St. Mary the Virgin, Chappaqua, N. Y^., 1910 to date. Rev, Arthur Herbert Locke; b. Sept, 25, 1852; m. Glen Falls, N. Y^,, Sept. 11, 1895, Mary Daly ; ed. Newton, Harvard, 1873, and Berlin M.A. ; deacon, Dec. 8, 1876, by Bp. Neely ; rector Camden, Me.; assistant St. Luke's Cathedral, Portland, Me.; ministered in Saranac, N. Y. ; St. George's Mission, Stanton Street, 1893-1894; Fort Edward, N. Y. ; St. Paul's, Grand Rapids; Trinity, Hudson, Mich.; and St. James', Grosse He, Mich. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 467 Rev. John Robert Atkinson; b. Oct. 21, 1865, N. Y. City; m. Honesdale, Pa., June 16, 1897, Carlotta Dorflinger; ed. in public and private schools, N. Y. City; St. Stephen's College, B.A., 1895; General Theological Seminary, B.D., 1893; deacon. May 28, 1893, by Bp. H. C. Potter ; priest, May 20, 1894; curate St. George's, 1893- 95; curate Christ Church, East Orange, 1895-6; curate Calvary Church 1896 ; rector Trinity Church, Elizabeth, 1896-1910. Rev. Frank H. Nelson; b. Hartford, Conn., Sept. 6, 1869; m. Montclair, N. J., June 6, 1907, Mary Eaton; ed. St. Paul's School, Concord, N. H., 1883-1886; Hobart B.A., 1890; deacon. May 19, 1894, by Bp. Coxe; priest, 1897, by Bp. H. C. Potter; assistant in St. George's, New York, 1894-1899; and Christ Church, Cin- cinnati, Ohio, May, 1899, to May, 1900 ; rector Christ Church, Cin- cinnati, May, 1900, to date. Rev. Arthur Nelson Taft; b. Brooklyn, N. Y., Aug. 23, 1868; m. Oct. 29, 1901, Amy Gordon Torrance; Williams College A.B., 1890; Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass., B.D., 1894; deacon, June 20, 1894, by Bp. Lawrence; priest, June 8, 1895, by Bp. H. C. Potter; assistant St. George's, New York, 1894-1900; rector St. Stephen's Church, Colorado Springs, 1900 to date. Rev. "Willl\m H. Garth ; b. Montreal, Canada, Sept. 8, 1868 ; m. in St. George's, N. Y. City, June 1, 1903, Mrs. Irene E. (Ransom) Trask. Graduate of McGill University, B.A., 1889 ; Montreal Dio- cesan Theological College, 1891; assistant minister St. Matthew's, Montreal, 1891-4; assistant minister St. George's, New York, 1894— 8; rector Church of the Ascension, Wakefield, R. I., 1898-1902; rector St. Michael's, Naugatuck, Conn., 1902-1908; rector St. Mark's, Islip, L. I., 1908 to date. Rev. Alexis William Stein ; b. N. Y. City, Aug. 31, 1871; d. Saranac Lake, N. Y., Aug. 16, 1910; m. in St. George's Church, N. Y. City, Jan. 14, 1903, Mabel Bonner. Graduated at Columbia University, B.A., 1891, and at the General Theological Seminary, B.D., 1893 ; deacon. May 28, 1893, by Bp. Potter ; priest, 1897, by Bp. Capers; assistant St. Peter's Church, Baltimore; assistant St. George's, New York, 1895-1898; rector Christ Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec, 1898, to Feb., 1900. Ill health compelled a stay in Colorado. Rector, Lake Placid, Oct., 1902, to Oct., 1903; became again curate in St. George's, 1903-1904; rector Christ Church, Fitch- 468 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH burg, 1904 to June, 1906. His health again failing went to Saranac, N. Y., where he resided until his death in 1910. Eev. George Robinson Hazard ; b. May 14, 1869 ; ed. Newport, R. I., public schools; B.A., Brown University, 1894, M.A. 1896; Cambridge Theological School, B.D., 1898; deacon, 1898, by Bp. McVickar; priest, 1899, by Bp. Potter; curate St. George's, 1898- 1900; vicar St. Mark's Church, Southborough, iVIass., 1900-1905; rector Church of the Holy Spirit, Mattepan, Mass., 1905-1907; rector Grace Church, Manchester, N. H., 1907 to date. Rev. Samuel Tyler ; b. Minneapolis, Minn., March 11, 1871 ; Yale, B.A., 1895; Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, B.D., 1898; deacon, 1898, by Bishop Lawrence; priest, 1900, by Bp. Potter; assistant minister St. George's, New York, 1898-1901; rector Church of the Advent, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1901, to date. Rev. Ezra Palmer Gould; b. Boston, Feb. 27, 1841; d. White Lake, N. Y., Aug. 22, 1900; ed. at Boston Latin School; Harvard University, graduating 1861. In the autumn of that year he en- listed in the army and served during the Civil War, his regiment being mustered out July 30, 1865. In June, 1868, entered the Baptist ministry and subsequently became Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Newton Theol. Seminary, Mass. Having been received into the Church and ordered deacon by Bp. Whitaker, Jan. 15, 1890 (priest by the same bishop, Feb. 18, 1891), he was ap- pointed Professor of New Testament Literature and Learning in the Philadelphia Divinity School, and held this position until 1898, when he resigned. Assistant minister in St. George's Church, New York, from 1899 to 1900. Rev. Holmes Whitmore ; b. June 21, 1873, at Quincy, 111. Har- vard, A.B., 1895, A.M., 1899; Cambridge Theological School, B.D., 1898 ; deacon, 1898, by Bp. Lawrence ; priest, 1899 ; assistant minister St. George's Church, New York, 1899-1902; rector Christ Church, Dayton, Ohio, 1902; now rector of St. Paul's, JMilwaukee, Wis. Rev. Egisto Fabbri Chauncet; b. Paris, Nov. 29, ]874; m. N. Y. City, April 20, 1904, Edith L. Taft; ed. Groton School, Harvard University, and Cambridge Theological School; assistant minister St. George's, New York, 1900-1904; associate minister Church of Holy Trinity, Brooklyn, 1904-06; now rector St. Mark's Church, Mt. Kisco, N. Y. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 469 Rev. Philemon Fowler Sturges; b. Utica, N. Y., Nov. 3, 1875; m. N. Y. City, June 4, 1902, Maria Nott Potter, daughter of Rev. Dr. Eliphalet N. Potter, by the Rev. W. S. Rainsford, D.D. Was educated at Hobart College; Yale University, B.A., 1896; and the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass., B.D., 1900. Assist- ant at St. George's Church, July 1, 1900, to Feb. 1, 1903; rector of St. Peter's Church, Morristown, N. J., Feb. 1, 1903, to date. Rev. Donald Mayo Brookman; b. London, Eng,, 1874; m. in California, 1903, Catherine Yeagell. Educated at Episcopal Theo- logical School, Cambridge, Mass., B.D., 1900; deacon, 1900; and priest, 1901, by Bp. Barker; assistant minister at St. George's, New York, 1901-1902, and Christ Church, Dayton, Ohio ; rector All Saints', Palo Alto, Cal. Rev, Hugh Birckhead, assistant minister of St. George's Church, N. Y., from 1902 to 1905 ; minister-in-charge from 1905 to 1906 ; rector from 1906 to date. (See biographical sketches of rectors.) Rev. William Satterlee Packer; b. Baltimore, Md., Sept. 13, 1876 ; m. Sept, 8, 1905, at Waltham, Mass., Mary Gertrude Frost ; ed, Yale University, B.A., 1898 ; Episcopal Theological School, Cam- bridge, B.D., 1901 ; deacon by Bp. Lawrence in 1901, and priest in 1902 by Bp. Burgess ; curate Holy Trinity, Brooklyn, 1901 ; assist- ant minister St. George's, New York, 1902 to 1903; associate to rector of Church of the Advent, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1903 to 1906; vicar St, Mary's, East Boston, 1906 to date. Rev. Henry Hatch Dent Sterrett; b. Coudersport, Pa., Jan, 25, 1880. Received degree B.A. from Columbian University, Wash- ington, D. C, 1898, and from Harvard University B.A. in 1899, and M.A. in 1900; B.D. in 1903 from Cambridge Episcopal Theological School ; deacon in 1903 and priest in 1904 by Bp. Satterlee ; assistant at St. George's, New York, from July, 1903, to July, 1906; curate Trinity Church, New Haven, Oct., 1906, Rev. WILLLA.M Edgar McCord; b. Rosemond, 111., Sept. 19, 1858 m. in 1906 Zelia Isabelle Hicks ; ed. Blackburn College, M.A., 1885 Union Theological Seminary, N. Y., 1896; deacon, Feb. 24, 1902 priest, Nov. 30, 1903, by Bp. Vincent; head worker of Union Settle- ment, N. Y., 1895-1901 ; chaplain 7th Regiment, N. G. N. Y., 1901 ; asst. St. Paul's, Cincinnati, and St. Paul's, Cleveland, 1902; asst. 470 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH St. George's, New York, 1903-1905; now rector All Saints, Bay- side, L. I. Rev. Albert Ransom Parker; b. Aug. 11, 1875, Ogdensburg N. Y. ; ed. public school, Ogdensburg; Shattuck School, Faribault Minn; Williams College, 1901; Episcopal Theological School, Cam bridge, 1904; deacon, 1904, by Bp. Lawrence; priest, 1905, by Bp Greer; curate St. George's, New York, 1904-5, and Church of the Holy Trinity, N. Y^, 1905-6; rector St. John's, Duluth, 1906-10 now rector St. Paul's Church, Gardner, Mass. Rev. Alan McLean Taylor; b. Sidney, Ohio, March 1, 1878 ed. Phillips Academy, Yale University, B.A., 1902 ; Episcopal Theo- logical School, Cambridge, B.D., 1905; deacon by Bp. Lawrence in 1905 and priest in 1906 by the same bishop; curate St. George's, New York, 1905-1908 ; rector Church of the Holy Spirit, Mattapan Square, Boston, 1908. Rev. Charles Conant Harriman; b. June 2, 1776, Somerville, Mass.; m. in St. Ann's Church, Morrisania, N. Y., Nov. 25, 1908, Edith Lee Wells; ed. Boston Latin School; Harvard University, B.A., 1897; Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, B.D., 1905. On June 7, 1905, ordered deacon by Bp. Lawrence, and ordained priest Dec. 24, 1905, by Bp. Greer; assistant in St. George's, New York, from 1905 to 1907; rector St. Ann's, Morrisania, N. Y., in 1907. Rev. Maxwell W. Rice; b. Aug. 1, 1882, Williamstown, Mass.; ed. Lawrenceville School, 1899; Williams', 1903, A.B. ; Cambridge Theological School, 1906, B.D. ; deacon by Bp. Lawrence in 1906, and priest in 1907 by Bp. Greer; from 1906 to 1908 curate in St. George's, New Y''ork; St. Andrew's Associate Mission, Salt Lake City, in 1908. Rev. Thomas Bond Holland ; b. Sept. 27, 1872, St. Louis, Mo. ; ed. Smith Academy; University of Michigan; Washington Uni- versity; General Theological Seminary; member N. Y''. Churchmen's Association and Trenton Clericus; deacon, 1906, by Bp. Tuttle; priest, 1907, by Bp. Greer; assistant minister in St. George's, New York, 1906-1909; rector St. Michael's Church, Trenton. N. J., 1909. Rev. Malbone Hunter Birckhead; b. Newport, R. I., May 10, 1879; ed. Groton School; Harvard University, A.B., 1902; Cam- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 471 bridge Theological School, B.D., 1906 ; deacon in 1906, and priest in 1907 by Bp. Lawrence; curate of St George's, New York, from 1907 to 1909; master at Groton School and assistant at St. John's Chapel, 1909-1911. Rev. James Godfrey "Wilson, Jr. ; b. Boston, May 30, 1882 ; m. at Baltimore, Md., Oct. 9, 1909, Catherine Thomson; ed. Barnard and Trinity Schools, N. Y. City ; Franklin College ; Dresden ; Hobart College; General Theological Seminary; deacon in 1908 and priest in 1909 by Bp. Greer; curate at St. George's, 1908-1909; assistant Christ Church, Detroit, 1909. Rev. Edward Francis Wilcox; ordered deacon by Bp. Lines, May 31, 1908, and ordained priest by Bp. Millspaugh, May 30, 1909 ; from 1908 to 1910 assistant in St. George's, N. Y. ; archdeacon of the district of Salina, 1910-1911; rector of St. John's Church, Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1911. Rev. William Joseph Scarlett ; b. Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 3, 1883 ; Harvard, A.B., 1905; Episcopal Theological School, B.D., 1907; deacon by Bp. Lawrence, June 2, 1909 ; priest by Bp. Lines, May 16, 1910; assistant St. George's Church, 1909 to date. Rev. James Steedman Holland; b. at St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 27, 1872 ; graduate General Theological Seminary ; deacon in 1909 by Bp. Greer, and priest, 1910, by Bp. Partridge; assistant minister of St. George's, New York, 1909-1910; pastor St. Bartholomew's Parish House Chapel, 1910. Rev. Arthur Silver Payzant; b. Dartmouth, N. S., March 7, 1884; m. Aug. 16, 1910, at St. Matthew's Church, Deep Brook, N. S., Mary P. Payson ; ed. at Dalhousie University, Halifax, N. S. ; B.A. 1905, and M.A., 1906 ; Cambridge Divinity School, B.D., 1909 ; deacon by Bp. Worrell, 1908, and priest by Bp. Courtney, 1909 ; assistant minister at St. George's, New York, July, 1909, to June, 1910; priest-in-charge and vicar of Trinity Memorial, Erie, Pa., July, 1910, to May, 1911 ; rector of same church May, 1911, the congrega- tion at that time becoming an independent parish. Rev. Gerald Arthur Cunningham; b. Jan. 27, 1886, at West- field, Mass. ; ed. Taft School, Watertown ; Trinity College, Hartford ; General Theological Seminary; ordered deacon by Bp. Brewster in 1910; curate in St. George's, New York, 1910. 472 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Rev. George Edward Norton ; b. Hallowell, Me., March. 28, 1881 ; ed. "Williston Seminary; Amherst College; Episcopal Theological Seminary, Cambridge; ordered deacon by Bp. Lawrence, 1910; as- sistant in St. George's, New York, July ], 1910. Rev. John Frank Scott ; b. Fitchburg, Mass., 1886; B.A. of Harvard University, 1907, and B.D. of the Cambridge Divinity School, 1910; ordered deacon by Bp. Vinton in 1910; curate St. George's, New York, 1910. Rev. Robert Barnes McKay ; b. Feb. 12, 1886, at Phila., Pa.; ed. University of Pa.; B.A., 1908; Philadelphia Divinity School, 1911; assistant minister in St. George's, New Y^'ork, 1911. The portraits in the foregoing pages, together with other illustrations appearing in this book, were reproduced from the collection which hangs in the clergy parlor of the parish building of St. George's Church. The origin of the collection is explained in the following memorandum from the records: New York, February 14, 1907. We, the Rector, Wardens, and Vestrymen of St. George's Church in the City of New York, wish to put on record our sincere appreciation of the remarkable efforts of Mr. John Reichert, clerk of the Vestry of this Parish, in collecting the portraits of the past and present Rectors, Assistant Ministers, Wardens, and Vestrymen of this Parish. Such portraits are of great interest in showing the place which St. George's Parish has held in the life of this city in the past, and we believe that they will be a great inspiration to all those who in the future may hold i^ositions of trust in St. George's, encouraging them to maintain the high standard of efficiency and honor which has always characterized its career in the past. APPENDICES I WARDENS AND VESTRYMEN WARDENS Gerrit H. Van Wagenen 1811-1821 Harry Peters 1811-1823 J. De Lancey Walton 1821-1835 Isaac Carow 1823-1825 Edmund Morewood 1825-1829 Hubert Van Wagenen 1829-1837 John Stearns, M.D 1835-1848 Thomas Bloodgood 1837-1844 James A. Burtus 1844-1846 William Whitloek, Jr 1846-1863 Frederick S. Winston 1848-1855 Adolphus Lane 1855-1871 Joseph Lawrence 1863-1866 Samuel Hopkins 1866-1873 Charles Tracy 1871-1885 David Dows 1873-1890 John Pierpont Morgan, LL.D 1885- John Noble Stearns 1890-1907 R. Fulton Cutting, LL.D 1907- VESTRYMEN Robert Wardell J 1811-1812 [ 1816-1837 John Onderdonk, M.D 1811-1812 Isaac Carow j 1811-1812 (Warden) \ 1813-1823 Edward W. Laight 1811-1816 John Greene 1811-1812 474 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Isaac Lawrence 1811-1816 Francis Dominick 1811-1816 Cornelius Sehermerhorn 1811-1820 Quintin Millen 1812-1813 William Ustick 1812-1816 Kobert Bogardus 1812-1816 Donald Malcolm 1812-1816 J. De Lancey Walton (Warden) 1816-1821 Jacob Lorillard 1816-1817 Edmund Morewood (Warden) 1816-1825 David R. Lambert 1816-1817 Joseph W. Brackett 1816-1820 Thomas Lawrance 1817-1826 James M. Hoyt 1817-1823 Gerardus A. Cooper, M.D 1820-1823 Hubert Van Wagenen (Warden) 1820-1829 Thomas Bloodgood (Warden) 1821-1837 Oliver H. Hicks 1823-1826 John Stearns, M.D (Warden) 1823-1835 John Anthon 1823-1827 m, o rr ^ j 1825-1828 Thomas S. Townsend < .. oooi oqo James A. Burtus (Warden) 1826-1844 William Shatzell i ,^??J"^?J^ ( 1833-1839 John H. Hill (Later D.D., LL.D.) 1827-1829 Jeremiah H. Taylor 1828-1832 Brittain L. Woolley 1829-1848 John W. Mulligan 1829-1832 John Noble 1832-1834 James I. Hoyt 1832-1841 William Whitlock, Jr (Warden) 1835-1846 Frederick A. Tracy 1835-1839 Stewart Brown 1837-1841 Frederick S. Winston (Warden) 1837-1848 Thatcher Tucker 1839-1843 Richard B. Brown 1839-1840 Thomas L. Callender 1840-1850 Andrew M. Arcularius 1841-1846 Adolphus Lane (Warden) 1841-1855 Samuel M. Cornell 1843-1860 Felix A. Huntington 1844^1847 APPENDICES 475 Hiram Ketchum 1846-1848 Henry Anstice 1846-1854 Joseph Lawrence (Warden) 1847-1863 Jacob Le Koy 1848-1854 Peter G. Arcularius 1848-1858 Samuel Hopkins (Warden) 1848-1866 William K. Strong (Gen.) 1850-1860 Ross W. Wood 1854-1869 Charles Tracy (Warden) 1854-1871 Horace Webster, LL.D 1855-1865 Percy R. Pyne 1858-1869 William A. Haines 1860-1871 Gideon Pott 1860-1862 George C. Satterlee ' 1862-1872 WiUiam L. Jenkins 1863-1868 William Alex. Smith 1865-1868 William T. Blodgett 1866-1876 David Dows (Warden) 1868-1873 John Pierpont Morgan, LL.D (Warden) 1868-1885 David J. Ely 1869-1876 Harvey Spencer 1869-1888 Henry P. Marshall 1871-1889 John Noble Stearns (Warden) 1871-1890 J. Mason McJimsey 1872-1876 John D. Wood 1873-1886 Mason Yoimg 1876-1878 William H. Philips 1876-1878 Robert Winthrop 1876-1877 W. Gayer Dominick 1877-1878 William E. Curtis, LL.D. (Judge) 1878-1880 James B. Reynolds, M.D 1878-1883 Theodore H. Mead 1878-1882 Samuel H. St. John 1882-1885 William H. Schieffelin 1883-1896 R. Fulton Cutting, LL.D (Warden) 1883-1907 William H. Tailer 1885-1890 Charles Edward Tracy 1885-1896 Frederic H. Betts, LL.D 1886-1905 John King 1888-1892 William Lanman Bull 1889-1895 Henry W. Munroe i 1890-1893 [ 1895- 476 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Wager Swayne (Gen.) 1890-1899 William Foulke 1892- Seth Low, LL.D 1893- Wm. Jay Schieffelin 1896-1906 Henry H. Pike 1896- John Seely Ward 1896- James W. Markoe, M.D 1899- Charles S. Brown 1905- Joseph Wright Harriman 1907- William Edmond Curtis, LL.D 1907- II ASSISTANT MINISTERS Rev. John Brady 1811-1816 Rev. J. W. Cooke 1835-1843 Rev. Pierre P. Irving 1843 Rev. Dudley A. Tyng 1846 Rev. Wm. Yorke Rooker 1847-1848 Rev. Calvin C. Woleott 1851-1859 Rev. Norman W. Camp 1853 Rev. Heman Dyer, D.D 1854-1859 Rev. Wilbur Fisk Paddock, D.D 1859-1860 Rev. C. W. Bolton 1859-1865 Rev. J. E. Homans 1860-1861 Rev. Charles Schramm, D.D 1859-1868 Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., D.D 1861-1862 Rev. Wm. T. Sabine, D.D 1863 Rev. Tapping R. Chipman 1864 Rev. Uriah T. Tracy 1865 Rev. Brockholst Morgan 1865-1866 Rev. C. S. Stephenson 1865-1871 Rev. Wm. N. McVickar, D.D. (Bishop 1898) 1868 Rev. Morris A. Tyng 1868-1870 Rev. J. C. Fleischhacker 1869-1878 Rev. J. Eastburn Brown 1871-1874 Rev. J. Crockar White 1871 Rev. N. E. Cornwall 1871 Rev. Matson Meier-Smith, D.D 1872 Rev. Edward W. Peet, D.D 1873-1879 Rev. Robert MoUan 1875-1876 APPENDICES 477 Eev. Anselan Buchanan 1876-1878 Rev. J. Rice Taylor 1878-1879 Rev. J. Newton Perkins 1879-1882 Rev. Hugh Maguire 1882 Rev. R. L. Brydges 1883-1884 Rev. E. F. Miles, M.D 1883-1884 Rev. Lindsay Parker 1883-1886 Rev. Henry Wilson, D.D 1884-1891 Rev. Charles Scadding, D.D. (Bishop 1906) 1886-1890 Rev. Wm. E. Nies 1886-1887 Rev. Richard R. Graham 1887-1889 Rev. W. T. Crocker 1888-1890 Rev. E. Campion Acheson 1889-1892 Rev. George Nattress 1890 Rev. F. E. Edwards 1889-1890 Rev. Theodore Sedgwick 1890-1894 Rev. Ernest de F. Miel 1891-1893 Rev. J. Franklin Carter 1891-1893 Rev. John N. Lewis, Jr 1892-1894 Rev. William W. Davis 1892-1893 Rev. Arthur H. Locke 1893-1894 Rev. John R. Atkinson 1893-1895 Rev. Frank H. Nelson 1894-1899 Rev Arthur N. Taft 1894-1900 Rev. Wm. H. Garth 1894-1898 Rev. Alexis W. Stein i 1895-1898 1 1903-1904 Rev. George R. Hazard 1898-1900 Rev. Samuel Tyler 1898-1901 Rev. Ezra P. Gould 1899-1900 Rev. Holmes Whitmore 1899-1902 Rev. Egisto F. Chauncey 1900-1904 Rev. Philemon F. Sturges 1900-1903 Rev. D. M. Brookman 1901-1902 Rev. Hugh Birckhead, D.D. (Rector 1905) 1902-1905 Rev. Wm. S. Packer 1902-1903 Rev. H. H. D. Sterrett 1903-1906 Rev. Wm. E. McCord 1903-1905 Rev. Albert R. Parker 1904-1905 Rev. A. McLean Taylor 1905-1908 Rev. C. C. Harriman 1905-1907 Rev. Maxwell W. Rice ,1906-1908 478 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Rev. Thomas B. Holland 1906-1909 Eev. Malbone H. Birckhead 1907-1909 Rev. James Godfrey Wilson, Jr 1908-1909 Rev. Edward Francis Wilcox 1908-1910 Rev. William Joseph Scarlett 1909-1911 Rev. James Steedman Holland 1909-1910 Rev. Arthur Silver Payzant 1909-1910 Rev. Gerald Arthur Cunningham 1910- Rev. George Edward Norton 1910- Rev. John Frank Scott 1910- Rev. Robert Barnes McKay 1911- III CLERKS OF THE VESTRY Edward W. Laight 1811-1816 Joseph W. Brackett 1816-1820 Hubert Van Wagenen 1820 Gerardus A. Cooper 1820-1823 Oliver H. Hicks 1823-1826 Thomas Bloodgood 1826-1837 Frederick S. Winston 1837-1848 Samuel M. Cornell 1848-1860 Gideon Pott 1860-1862 Samuel Hopkins 1862-1871 Henry P. Marshall 1871-1876 Wm. H. Philips 1876-1878 Theodore H. Mead 1878-1882 John D. Wood 1882-1884 AVm. H. Schieffelin 1884-1886 Frederic H. Betts 1886-1905 John Reichert 1905- IV TREASURERS Gerrit H. Van Wagenen 1811-1816 Harry Peters 1816-1820 APPENDICES 479 Hubert Van Wagenen 1820-1837 James A. Burtus 1837-1846 William Whitloek, Jr 1846-1863 William A. Haines 1863-1870 David J. Ely 1870-1876 Henry P. Marshall 1876-1888 J. Pierpont Morgan 1888-1891 W. Lanman Bull 1891-1892 Henry W. Munroe 1892-1893 William Foulke 1893- ORGANISTS Peter Erben 1811-1815 Mr. Tavlor 1815-1816 T TT Q • . 11 i 1816-1819 James H. Swindell ^ .. ooo-i n^R George Clark 1819-1820 Thomas Hall 1821-1823 Richard L. Williams 1827-1830 William Yucho 1830-1834 William Henry Milnor 1834-1847 Henry Greatorex 1849-1850 Henry Dibble 1851 John Zundel 1853-1854 George F. Bristow 1855-1859 William A. King 1860-1861 Henry W. A. Beale 1861 Theron W. Touner 1862 W. Francis Williams 1863-1876 S. Austin Pearce, Mus. Doe 1876-1877 W. H. Pratt 1877-1879 Burdett Mason 1879 S. N. Penfield 1882-1883 Julius G. Bierck 1883-1888 William S. Chester 1888-1900 E. B. Kinney, Jr 1900-1904 Homer Norris 1904- 480 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH VI PARISH CLERKS Jacob Leonard 1811-1817 John Phillips 1818-1825 Benjamin Barnett 1826 Jarvis B. Curtis 1827-1829 E. W. Morse Easter, 1830, to May, 1830 Wm. A. Jones 1830-1831 Solomon Warriner, Jr 1834-1847 VII SEXTONS John Purely 1811-1816 Nicholas Anderson 1816-1828 John Rose 1828-1833 Daniel Miller 1833-1837 George E. Townley 1837-1840 Thomas Dugan 1840-1858 George Briarly 1858-1884 E. H. Torry 1884-1885 James A. Pudney 1885-1886 Richard Hanlon 1886-1894 H. R. Dieckman 1894-1895 H. W. Chapman 1895-1908 John C. Tiedeman 1909- ASSISTANT SEXTONS ( 1828-1830 Charles Willets ) 1834-1835 ( 1838-1848 John Peterson 1830-1831 Daniel Miller (Sexton) 1831-1833 Charles Ford 1835-1836 George E. Townley (Sexton) 1836-1837 Thomas Dugan, Jr 1848 John Mulvany 1849-1850 George Briarly (Sexton) 1851-1858 Robert Riley 1871- APPENDICES 481 VIII DEACONESSES AND OTHER WOMEN WORKERS (rainsford and birckhead periods) Miss Harriet H. Patten 1883-1898 Mrs. E. F. Miles 1883-1884 Miss A. R. Russell 1883-1888 Sister Georgette 1884-1885 Miss Sarah H. Hicks 1884-1887 Miss Anita Burt 1884-1885 Miss Shepherd 1884-1885 Mrs. M. W. Smith 1885-1886 Miss Frances R. Smith 1885-1886 Miss Harriet Goldie 1885-1886 Mrs. F. Burrill 1886-1887 Miss J. E. Forneret (Deaconess in 1887) 1886-1899 Miss Clara H. Simpson (Deaconess in 1892) 1887-1908 Miss M. A. Bolman 1888-1890 Miss Cornelia Ellsworth Marshall 1889-1908 Miss Sara J. Elliott 1890-1891 Miss Hildegarde von Brockdorff (Deaconess in 1892) 1891-1899 Miss E. A. Bays 1892- Miss Mildred Pegram 1892-1893 Miss Julia Percy Miel 1892-1893 Dr. Ethel D. Brown 1892- Miss Sarah F. Brown (Deaconess in 1894) 1892-1894 Miss LiUian Keyes 1894-1897 Miss Virginia C. Young (Deaconess in 1904) 1897- Deaconess Edith L. Taft 1899-1903 Miss Georgia L. Wilkie (Deaconess in 1904) 1899-1907 Miss S. M. Stewart 1899-1900 Miss Eliza W. Beard 1902-1904 Miss Mabel P. Schmidt 1903-1904 Miss Sada Tomlinson 1903-1907 Miss E. R. Tomkins 1904-1908 Miss Belle Tiffany 1904-1905 Dr. Pauline Root 1905 Miss Elizabeth B. Colles 1906-1908 Miss Alice MacLellan 1907-1908 Deaconess M. A. Pennock 1907-1908 482 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Miss H. G. EUs 1907-1908 Miss Katherine AUis 1907-1909 Deaconess Mabel Hobart 1908-1909 Mrs. William N. Drumm 1908- Miss Louisa G. Freeland 1908- Miss Clara Porter 1909-1910 Miss Eleanor Brown 1909-1910 Deaconess Pauline L. Neidhardt 1909-1911 Miss Sallie W. Hovey 1909-1910 Miss Alice H. Peavey 1910- Miss Anna M. Thompson 1910- Deaconess Margaret S. Peet 1910-1911 Miss Jean McGregor 1910-1911 Miss Mary Harriman 1911- IX INVENTORY CHURCH PLATE, MEMORIAL WINDOWS, TABLETS, ETC. 1 large-sized Paten; inscription, " St. George's Church a.d. 1812," with seal of Church. 2 Bread Plates; inscription, " St. George's Church, New York, A.D. 1812," with seal of Church. 2 large Silver Flagons ; inscription, * ' St. George 's Church, New York, A.D. 1812," with seal of Church. 2 extra large Silver Chalices; inscription, " St. George's Church, New York, A.D. 1812." 1 Plated Silver large-sized Paten. 1 Silver perforated Spoon; inscription, " St. George's Church." 2 small Silver Cups; inscription, " St. George's Church, New York, 1862." 1 extra large-sized Paten; inscription, " St. George's Church, New York, a.d. 1864," with seal of Church. 2 large Silver Flagons ; inscription, ' ' St. George 's Church, New York, A.D. 1898," with seal of Church, " In Memory of the Rev. John Livingston Willard, given by his Daughter Mary Livingston Willard." 1 extra large Silver Flagon; inscription, " Given by Mary Liv- ingston "Willard in Memory of her father, John Livingston Willard. ' ' APPENDICES 483 6 large Silver Chalices; inscription, " St. George's Church, New York," with seal of Church, " In Memory of Louise "Wetmore, Easter, 1898." 1 small Silver Flagon; inscription, " In Memory of Mary E. Baxter, Easter, 1898." 1 small Bread Plate in memory of Mary E. Baxter, Easter, 1898. 6 large Sterling Silver Collection Plates; inscription, " St. George 's Church, New York, ' ' with seal of Church ; 5 marked 1812, 1 marked 1886. 1 Alms Basin; inscription, " St. George's Church, New York," with seal of Church. 4 medium size Plated Collection Plates ; inscription, ' ' St. George 's Church, New York." 2 small size Plated Collection Plates; inscription, " St. George's Church, New York. ' ' 2 Silver-plated Vases; inscription, " Easter, 1887. Presented by Louise H. Betts (I. H. S.), St. George's Church." 5 Memorial Windows in Chancel of Church. (See p. 236.) 2 Memorial Windows in Choir-room; inscription No. 1, " In Lov- ing Memory of Georgie T, Manning, entered into Life February 23, A.D. 1894." Inscription No. 2: " For all the saints who from their Labors rest Who thee by Faith before the world confessed Thy name Jesus be forever blessed, Allelvia." Tablet; inscription, " In Loving Memory of John Noble Stearns, 1831-1907. Vestryman for 19 years. Junior Warden for 17 years. Beloved of God and Men Whose Memory is Blessed. ' ' Tablet; inscription, " In memoriam Frederic Henry Betts, March 8, 1843, Nov. 11, 1905. Vestryman of this Parish for 18 years." Tablet ; inscription, ' ' To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Sidel Chester. Born Dec. 7, 1865. Died Feb. 22, 1900. By bearing, devotion, and conspicuous ability he greatly helped the people to worship God." Tablet ; inscription, ' ' In Memory of Katherine Livingston Waldo Tucker, 1864-1899. The Souls of the saints who followed the foot- steps of Christ Rejoice in Heaven, and for as much as they loved Him they shall reign with Him forever. ' ' Inscription on inside cover of present Prayer-book on Holy Table, " In Memoriam of Frederic H. Betts, Nov. 11, 1905." Inscription on inside of old Prayer-book formerly used for Holy 484 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Table, '' Presented by J. Pierpont Morgan, Senior Warden of St. George's Church, New York, Jan., 1894." Inscription in present Bible on Reading-desk, St. George's Mission Chapel, " In Memoriam Dorothea Shedel. Died in her 85tli year, Mch. 18, 1863." Inside rear cover of book, St. George's German Mission Church, *' In Memoriam Dorothea Shedel. Died in her 85th, Mch. 18, 1863." Inscription under Bust of Dr. Milnor: " Sacred to the Memory of James Milnor, D.D. Born June 20, 1773. Died April 8, 1845. Rector of St. George's Church from Sept. 30, 1816, to his death. His Labors were abundant not only in the parish, but in all Religious Philanthropic and Charitable work Throughout the City, and his Death was deplored as a Public loss. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." Inscription under Bust of Dr. Tyng: " Sacred to the Memory of Stephen Higginson Tyng, D.D. Born March 1, 1800. Died Sep- tember 4, 1885. Rector of St. George's Church from May 1, 1845, to May 1, 1878. Rector Emeritus from May 1, 1878, to his Death. A Man of God Full of the Holy Ghost of Faith and of Power looking for that Blessed Hope and the Glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. ' ' Bust of Dr. Rainsford in the Sunday-school room. COMMUNICANT LIST, AUGUST, 1822 The original of this list is in the handwriting of Rev. Dr. Milnor; s. standing for spinster, nx. for wife of, w. for widow. Charles W. Abrams (Clerk), Beza E. Bliss, Counsellor at Law. Julianna Abrams, wife of Ch. W. Betsy Bliss, ux. B. E. B. Jane Ann Adams, s. Mary M. Bliss, s. Sarah Avery, w. William Byranck, Ship Carpenter. John Anthon, Counsellor at Law. Frances Byranck, ux. W. B. Judith Anthon, ux. Jno. A. Catharine Bosthwick, ux. Benj. B. Rebecca Allen, s. Rachel Bloodgood, ux. Jno. B. Elizabeth Aymar, ux. J. D. A. Samuel A. Burtus, Booksellei*. Jemima Allen. Rachel Burtus, ux. S. A. B., since Guy Carleton Bayley, M.D. ux. Jas. A. B. Grace Bayley, ux. G. C. B. Mrs. Barfe, w. Anne Barnes, s. Robert C. Barfe, Mei'chant. H. N. Bush, Merchant. Pho?be Barfe. ux. R. C. B. Hannah Bush, ux. H. N. B. Hannah Butler, w. Mary Beadel, ux. Jos. W. B. Maria Brodie, ux. Wm. B. B. APPENDICES 485 Polly Beach, w. Faniiv Beach, s., since ns. James Ladd. Catharine Beach, s. Caroline Beach, s. Elizabeth Budd, w. Tamer Budd, s. Mary Bumham. Charity Bartow, s. Maria Bartow, s. Clara Anna Bartow, w. Robert S. Bartow, Auctioneer. Susan, w, of R. S. Bartow. Susan R. Bartow, s. Robert Bartow, Bookseller. George A. Bartow, Bookseller. Maiy Ann Bartow, s. Jane BartoAv, s. Mary Barnes. Col'd woman. Harris Blood, Merchant. Harriet Blood, ux. H. B. Thomas Bloodgood, Wine Merchant. Anna Bloodgood, ux. of T. B. Jane Bogart. Colored woman. Julian na Blag'ge, s. Joseph Warren Brackett, Counsellor at Law. Charlotte Brackett, ux. J. W. B. Eliza Bonner, s. Emma Beers, s. Mr. Britton. Mrs. Brane. Elizabeth I. Barr, s. George F. Bunce, Printer. Susanna Bunce, w. Caroline A. Bunce, s. Cornelia Bunce, s. Ann Bunce, s. Eliza Bunce. Maria Banyer, w. Susan Bradshaw, ux. Jas. B. John C. Brown, House Carpenter. Jacobina Blount, w. George Belden, Merchant. Anne C. Benjamin, s. John Bristed, Counsellor at Law. Magdalen Bristed. ux. Jno. B. Josephine Baxter, s. Joanna Baxter, s. Sarah Baxter, s. Catharine Baxter, s. Mary Brunn, ux. And'w B. Ann Butler, s. Mary Ann Braman, ux. B. Joseph D. Beers, Merchant. Mary Beers, ux. J. D. B. Leveritt Bush, Student of Divinity, Samuel Beck, Lieut. U. S. Navy. Hannah Brooks, w. Jane Bowden, ux. And'w B. Lucinda Bonfils, ux. Sauveur I. B. William Burridge, Merchant. — Burridge, ux; Wm. B. Dinah Barnes, Col'd woman. Hannah Bronson, w. Isaac Carow, Merchant. Elizabeth Carow, ux. I. C. Jolni Chambers. Gerardus A. Cooper, M.D. Sarah IMargaretta Crommeline, s. Jane Clussman, ux. Geo. H. C. Eliza Cooper, s. John Clarke, Gentleman. Mary Clarke, ux. Jno C. Ann Cadle, s. Anne Collister, s. Esther Cannon, ux. C. George Caines, Counsellor at Law. Ann Louisa Caines, s. Thomas Collister, Gent. William Coxe. James D. Clifford. George Cleveland, Merchant. Frederick Clai-ke, Hatter. Lucy Charter, ux. Geo. C. Helen Cropsey, w. Susanna Carr, ux. Jno. P. C. Susan Cleveland, s. Samuel C. Cleveland. Catharine Cooper, w. Alletta Cooper, s. Ellen Campbell, s. Nicholas Cisco, Col'd man. Charles Constantine, Copper plate printer. — Conner, w. William Rodman Cooke. — Crommeline, w. Mai-A' Cotten. s. Elizabeth Cooke, ux. Geo. W. C. Justina Collister, s. Maiy Cadle, ux. Cornelius C. Anne L. Cooper, ux. Dr. Geo. A. C. Georgianna Cooke, ux. Wm. R. C. 486 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Walton M. Curtis. Sarah C. Cleveland, s. Lucy Cotten, s. Francis Dominick, Gent. Margaret E. Dominick, s. Ralph Duncan, Auctioneer. Jane Duncan, ux. R. D. Sarah Dixon. Olivia Devonshire, Col'd woman. Eleanor Dunlap, w. Elizabeth Deleno, ux. Capt. Thos. D. Lucretia Dixon, Col'd woman. Ann Dominick, s. Robert Disney. William Dennis, Col'd man. Frances Dongan, w. Henrietta Dicks, s. H. W. Dueachet, M.D. George Dominick, Gent. Mrs. Dale, w. Ann Dorothy Ducaehet, ux. Dr. H. W. D. Margaret E. Dominick, Jr., s. Ann Maria Dominick, s. Heni-y B. Davis, Counsellor at Law. Thomas Egenton, Millstone-maker. Jane Egenton, ux. T. E. Since T. E.'s death, ux. Peter Morris. James Wallace Eastbum, Student in Divinity. Effingham L. Embree, Merchant. Manton Eastbum, Student in Di- vinity. Charlotte Eastburn, s. Ann Ebbets, ux. Dan'l E. E. Joshua Fisher, M.D. Sally Forsyth. Ann Magdalena Fowler, w. of Pexil F. Mary Fowler, w. Margaret Francis, Colored woman. Eliza Flanagan, s. Samuel B. Ferguson, Currier. Philip Flagler. Sarah Gage, ux. S. G. Ann Goodrich, ux. Charles G. Mary Gilford, s. Horatio Gillet. Augustus W. Gillet. Erastus Goodwin, Merchant Tailor. Mary Griswold, ux. Zech G. Ann Glover, s. Elizabeth Gainey, s. Martha Glover, s. Stephen Gorham, Merchant. — Gainer, ux. W. Gainer. Martha C. Gilliat, w. Frederick A. Guion. Ann Glover, ux. John G., Jr. — Goodrich, s. Oliver H. Hicks, Merchant. Ann Hunt, w. Hetty Hunt, s. Benjamin Hicks. Lilies Harriot, w. Sarah Heffernan, w. Sarah Heffernan, Jr., s. Benjamin Halsted, Gent. Elizabeth Halsted, s. Susan Halsted, s. Elizabeth Huthwaite, w. — Harrison, s. Henry Hoffman, Merchant. Plenry I. Hagiier. James M. Hoyt, Merchant. Mary Hoyt, ux. James M. H. Sarah Harris, w. Sarah Maria Hacker, s. Wealthy Hopkins, w. Elizabeth Handy, Col'd woman. Catharine Henry, s. Alice Mary Haight, ux. Gilbert H. Maria Hill, s. Sarah Halsted, s. Charlotte Halsted, ux. Matthias H. John H. Hill, Merchant. John A. Hicks. Marv Hamilton, w. Catharine B. Hall. Sarah Hawley, ux, Wm. H. Eliza Hoffman, s. Matthias Halsted. Eliza Huthwaite, s. Margaret Hedden, w. Susan Hoyt, iix. James I. H. Rebecca Caroline Hamilton, ux. Rich. D. H. Eliza Ann Hamilton, s. Elizabeth Hoffman, ux. Henry H. Mary Ann Hiller, s. eTane Hall, s. Maria Hubbard, s. Philo Hillyer. Merchant. — Hillyer, ux. Philo H. APPENDICES 487 James Hill (col'd boy). Mrs. Hotehkiss, w. Ann Maria Hall, s. Mrs. Hall, ux. Mr. Hall, Spruce St. Euphemia Hyer, s. Isabella, Col'd woman. Sarah Johnston, w. Mary Jackways, ux. Capt. Jackways. Harriet Jennings. Elizabeth Johnson. Rebecca Jedwyn, ux. J. Amelia Ann JaiTis, s. Huldah Jarvis, ux. Samuel J. Sarah L. Jay, s. Legi'and Jai-vis. Catharine Jones, s. Nancy Jamieson, Col'd woman. David Johnston, Col'd man. Ann Jones, s. John Jonas, Gardener. Mrs. Jonas, ux. John J. — Jennings, ux. Thos. J. Mary Ann Jones, w. Jacob Sieman Jackson, Cordwainer. Eliza Jenkins, s. Joseph Kissam, Merchant. Hannah Kissam, ux. Jos. K. Mary Kissam. Catharine Keams, w. Eleanor Kip, ux. John K. Phoebe Kissam, ux. James K. Maria C. Kip, s. George B. King, Engraver. Hezekia Ketchum, Gent. John Kirens. Eliza Ketchimi, s. Jacob Leonard, Boat-builder. Catharine Leonard, ux. Jacob L. Charlotte Leonard, w. Maria Ledyard, ux. Peter V. L. Sarah Leonard, s. Jacob Lorillard, Currier. Margaretta A. Lorillard, ux. Jacob L. William Longdon, Merchant. Catharine Lyons, w. Eleanor Lawrence, w. Augusta M. Lawrence, ux. "Watson E. Sophia Laycroft, w. Thomas Lawrance, Merchant. Isaac Lawrence, Merchant. Cornelia, ux. Isaac L. Margaret Lawrence, ux. Thomas L. L. — Little, s. James Ladd, Watch-maker. William Lonzada. Eliza E. Livingston, w. Frances H. Livingston, w. Maria Longworth, ux. Thomas L. Mrs. Little, ux. Jonathan L., Esq. James Mihior, Rector of St. George's, elected to that office July 10, 1816. Eleanor Mihior, ux. James M. Jane Mowatt, ux. John M. Edmund Morewood, Merchant. Sarah E. Morewood, ux. Ed M. Donald Malcolm, Merchant. Ermina D. Malcolm, ux. Donald M. Quintin Millen, Gent. Mrs. Millen, ux. Quintin M. Margaretta Mann, w. Elizabeth Morris, w. Catharine Mitchell, ux. Walker M. John F. Miller, Cooper. Susanna McClean, s. Rachel Maynard, ux. Tyler M. Ann Marsh. Mary McCormick, w. Charlotte M. Munger, w. Sarah Murray, Col'd woman. Betty Meredith, w. Ann Mount, s. Clarina Louisa Mumford, ux. M. Walker Mitchell, Gent. Eliza Munger, s. Eliza Ann Mason, s. Eliza McLellan, s. William H. Mitchell, Student in Divinity. Charles McEuen, Counsellor at Law. Sarah McEuen, ux. C. McEuen. Frances McNamara, w. Frances Maria Mulligan, s. Elizabeth Mason, ux. Jno. F. M. IMai-y Miller, w. Charlotte Miranda, Col'd woman. Catharine M. McEuen, s. Rachel Moffatt, w. Sarah Sophia Morrison, s. Elizabeth Norwood, ux. And'w N. Elizabeth Newport, Col'd woman. Ann Newell, w. Esther Nicloi, w. Theodosia Needham, w. Nancy Niel, Col'd woman. 488 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Luoia Noble, ux, Jno. N. James Oram, Printer. Elizabeth Oram, s. Harry Peters, Gent. Mary Pelletreau, s. Ann Pelletreau, s. Jane Panton, w. Eliza E. Parker, s. John 1. Post, Upholsterer. John Purdy. Elizabeth Polock, w. Charlotte Pratt, w. Hylah Prince, w. Edward C. Priest, Merchant. Eliza M. Priest, ux. Edw. C. P. Ann Price, ux. Joseph P. Mary Perrott, ux. James P. Elizabeth Peacock, ux. Henry P. Frederick W. Porter, Merchant. Susan Post, ux. Gerardus P. Elizabeth Peshine, w. Catharine Post, s. Deborah Louisa Post, s. Frederick Tomlinson Peet, Merchant. John Phillips, Clk. of St. George's. Joseph Pettit, Merchant. Emma Pettit, ux. Jos. P. Margaret Pugh. Maria Parker, CoFd woman. William Preston. Eriphale Penau. — Piatt, M.D. — Piatt, ux. Dr. Pratt. Catharine PhilliiDs, ux. Jno. P. Sarah Patton, s. Ann Peters, ux. Jno. P. Manuel Prestana. Mrs. Prestana. Sarah Parsons, w. Harriet Peck, s. Elizabeth Peet, ux. Fred T. P. William Peshine. Mary Robins, w. — Ryder, w. Deborah Rhinelander, w. Mary Eliza Roach, s. Mary Roorbach, w. Charity Robinson, ux. .Jno. R. Mary Rollinson, ux. Wm. R. Eliza Rollinson, s. Ann Raymond, w. Mary Rauvau, w. Sophia Roorbach. Charles Henry Robertson. Eleanor Rose, ux. Jno. Rose. William Ricketts, Merchant. William Rollinson, Engraver. Elizabeth Rutledge, w. Charles Reed, Colored man. Chloe Robinson, Colored woman. John Rose, House Carpenter. Margaret Reynolds, w. — Ritter, w. Peter R. Roach. Mary Saunders, w. Sarah Shackerly, s. Sarah Sprainger, w. George P. Shipman, Merchant. •Joseph P. Shelton. — Shelton, ux. Jos. P. S. Mai-y T. Smith, ux. Thos. H. S. Lydia Starr, w. Rebecca Schermerhora, ux. Cor- nelius S. Hagar Simpson, Col'd woman. ]\Iary Sherwood, w. William H. Smith, Custom H. oflficer. Eleanor N. Smith, ux. Wm. H. S. Maiy Stansbury, w. Mary Summers, s. Julia Emraerson Sewell, s. Sarah Sewell, s. Margaret W. Sayre, ux. Nathan S. Sarah Smith, ux. John T. S. Elizabeth Saunders, Col'd woman. Caroline Slidell, s. Hannah Sturtevant, w. Jennet Shepherd, ux. Jno. S. — Sherry, Merchant. — Sherry, ux. S. Charity Smith, Col'd woman. Cornelius Schermerhom, Merchant. Simon Schermerhorn. David Stansbury, Mason. — Stretch, s. Ann Scriba, w. Joseph Sands, Merchant. Elijah Spragaie. Elizabeth Stretch, w. — Shatzell, ux. Will'm S. Mary Stone, s. William Sparrow. Sarah Sherbourne, s. John Stearns, M.D. APPENDICES 489 — Sampson, ux. Wm Sampson. Cath. Ann Sampson, s. — Stearns, ux. of Dr. Steams. William Sbatzell Cordwainer. — Spencer, ux. Mark S. Bathsheba Thorne, w. Lueretia Tousey, w. Jeremiah H. Taylor, Merchant. Lcetitia F. Todd. Dire Tenbroeck, Counsellor at Law. Cornelia Tenbroeck, ux. Dire. John Thomas. Catharine ThrogTnorton, s. Eliza C. Tillinghast, ux. T. Sarah Tompkins, & Joseph Tlirogmorton. Charles W. Taylor, Merchant. Cornelia Taylor, ux. Chas. W. T. Han-iet Tousej', s. Ann Eliza Tousey, s. Khoda W. TavloV, ux. Jerem. H. T. Fitch W. Taylor. Julia Ann Thompson, s. Eliza Thompson, w. Lucinda Towusend, w. John Tredway, Flour Merchant, Nancy Tredway, ux. John T. Emmeline I. Taylor, s. Helen Eliza Thompson, s. Sally C. Thompson, s. William Ustick, City Weigher. Ann Ustick, s. Thomas S. Underbill. Gerritt H. Van Wagenen, Merchant. Sarah Van Wagenen, ux. Gerrit, H. V. Catharine Voss, w. Mary Van Wagenen, ux, Hubert v! w. Hubert Van Wagenen, Merchant. !Mary Vermyllia, ux. V. Sarah Van Wagenen, Jr., s. James D. Walton, Gent. Mar\' Walton, s. Sarah Weed. Ruth Weeks, s. Frances H. Williamson, ux. Dr. LeW^ Eiehard M. White, Merchant. .James Welling, Merchant. Beniamin Wells. Rachel Wishart, ux. D. W. Ann Wright, s. Maria Whetten, ux. Capt. Jno. W. Uzziah Wenman, Merchant Taylor. Ann Wenman, ux. Uzziah W. Polly Wilson, s. Nancy Wilson, s. Maria Willis, w. — Ward, ux. Oliver D. W. Charles S. White, Silversmith. Sophia Williams, s. William H. Ward, Merchant. Eliza Ward. ux. Stephen W. Esther White, ux. Samuel W. George M. Wilson, Merchant. Mary Ward. ux. Moses W. Eliza Winthrop. William Wliite, Silversmith. Solomon White, Colored man. James D. Wallace, Merchant. Susan Matilda Whetten, s. Cath. Maria Wheeler, ux. Heze- kiah W. Elizabeth Wentwath, w. Sally Ann Wardle, s. Catharine Watson, s. Eliza Welling, ux. James W. Eliza Waters, ux. T. I. Waters. Susan Woolley, ux. Brittain L. W. Effingham W. WallgTove, Merchant Tailor. Samuel White, Silversmith. Soi^hia Ann White, s. Maria Waud, ux. M. Waud. Jacob Walton. Sarah Walton, ux. Jacob W. Martha W. Willis, s. — WallgTove, ux. Eff. W. W. Ruth Young, s. -John Young, Glass-cutter. Margaret Young, ux. John Y. 490 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH XI COMMUNICANTS IN 1845-1868 Out of the list of communicants found by Dr. Tyng in April, 1845, the following twenty-five persons only remained April, 1868 : Samuel M. Cornell. Wm. Whitloek, Jr. Adolphus Lane. Mrs. Jane M. Lane. Mrs. Elisa M. Priest. Frances B. Priest. Maria M. Priest. Louisa Priest. Mrs. Ann Gillet. Mrs. Maria M. Cook. Mrs. Eliza A. Arcularius. Mrs. George St. John. Mrs. Caroline E. Brown. Mrs. Hester Huestis. John McLaren. Mrs. Ellen McLaren. Mrs. Benj. Farrington. Mrs. David L. Sayre. Mary L. Everdell. Mrs. Maria Bonnett. Mrs. Jane Valentine. Mrs. D. H. Brooks. Peter Morris. Susan Needham. Catherine Morgan. XII PARISHIONERS IN 1846 The original of this list is in Volume II. of the Vestry Records in the handwriting of Frederick S. Winston, clerk of the vestry. Mrs. Stephen Holt, 85 Beekman. A. Wyekoff, 87 P.eekman. W. Shatzel, 87 Beekman. Mrs. Knapp, 119 Beekman. Mrs. Babcock, 76 Beekman. R. B. Cumen, 76 Beekman. J. N. Sayre, 70 Beekman. C. F. Bradley, 66 Beekman. Mrs. Bolan, 75 Beekman. E. C. Boughton, 53 Beekman. J. Hunt, 50 Beekman. Mrs. Kimberley, 50 Beekman. Mrs. Huestis, 49 Beekman. Mrs. Cornwall, 21 Beekman. Mrs. Storm, 19 Beekman. Wm. Gale, 36 Beekman. N. S. West, 36 Beekman. S. H. Fleetwood, 45 Beekman. B. R. Barlow, 48 Cliff. Mrs. Burroughs, 28 Cliff. — Stevens, 25 Cliff. Geo. L. Cook, 23 Cliff. H. C. Minor, 20 Cliff. A. F. Egerton, 48 Fulton. Wm. Everdell, 104 Fulton. P. H. Kingsland, 197 Fulton. APPENDICES 491 Samuel Gilford, 126 William. Doct. Gilford, 126 William. Jos, Mitchell, 52 William. Mrs. Ashfield, 198 William. Mr. BuiT, 88 Pearl. H. Wanger, 2.5 Pearl. — Miller, 380 Pearl. — Bliss, 300 Pearl. — Wilson, 341 Pearl. Geo. F. Bunce, 321 Pearl. John Robbins, Pearl. John Stewart, Jr., State. — Hannenan, 3 Morris. G. Curtis, 7 Greenwich. J. Dibble, 47 Greenwich. Dr. J. Wheeler, 29 Greenwich. James Knight, 300 Greenwich. — Houghton, 314 Greenwich. S. S. Bliss, 295 Greenwich. Eli Kirk, 505 Greenwich. Thos. B. Lippitt, 696 Greenwich. David Clarkson, 31 Broadway. Misses Clarkson, 33 Broadway. G. St. John, 37 Broadway. S. K. St. John, 37 Broadway. J. Havin, 37 Broadway. Thos. Walke, 72 Broadway. N. Hayden, 48 Broadway. Thos. Dugan, 470 Broadway. Wm. Irving, 110 Liberty. Hon. Chandler Ellis, Howard Hotei. S. A. Faidkner, 32 Dey. S. M. Lent, 50 Dey. B. L. Woolley, 40 Vesey. Dwight Woodbiuy, 38 Vesey. Miss Baxter, 22 Vesey. Miss Maynard, 22 Vesey. — Vinton, 22 Vesey. — Baldwin, 22 Vesey. — Callahan, 22 Vesey. — King, 22 Vesey. A. K. Strong, Aster House. Mrs. Clarke, 55 Ann. G. S. Wai-eham, 55 Ann. A. M. Tredwell, 52 Vesey. H. Waterman, 42 Vesey. P. Mallett, 12 Cortlandt. Mary Stewart, 13 John. Jas. Van Nostrand, 27 Barclay. T. M. Clark, 45 Barclay. Ch. T. Seymour, 47 Barclay. Dan'l Morgan, 47 Barclay. Dr. Thos. F.' Cock, 15 Murray. Mrs. Cock, 15 Murray. J. Cowing, 7 Murray. Miss Ross, 37 Murray. P. G. Arcularius, 79 Warren. J. C. Booth. 35 Murray. Miss Haines, 68 Warren. Mrs. Rossiter, 42 Warren. John Antlion, 36 Warren. Mrs. Hopkins. 78 Warren. 492 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Mrs. Baker, 6 Warren. Mrs. Smith, 6 Warren. Simeon Draper, 10 Warren. Ogden Haggerty, 8 Warren. Robt. Lewin, Park PI. House. N. Rutgers, 1G3 Chambers. Jas. H. Braine, 156 Chambers. R. Slocum, 129 Chambers. H. Peck, 120 Chambers. F. S. Winston, 117 Chambers. G. M. Hanners, 12 Chambers. Miss FoUansbee, 101 Chambers. G. Babcoek, 37 Chambers. Miss Mitchell, 17 Park Place. J. S. Pendleton, American Hotel. C. A. Shepherd, American Hotel. Jas. R. Ware, American Hotel. F. Whitney, 46 CHflf. J. B. Cunningham, 84 West. — Farrell, 110 West P>'dway. Henry An slice, 119 Franklin. N. Merrill, 91 Franklin. F. A. Huntington, 44 Franklin. T. L. Callender, 46 Franklin. P. R. Bonnett, 25 North Moore. Mrs. Anderson, 97 North Moore. Miss E. Beers, 127 Hudson. Dr. Green, 165 Hudson. Jas. C. Lawrence, 126 Hudson. A. Walker, ll.S Hudson. Mrs. Tracy, 18 Beach. W. Whitlock, Jr., 32 Beach. Jno. C. Hamilton, 28 Beach. ■ — Aymar, 26 Varick. John McLaren, 5 Walker. R. W. Newman, Atheneum Hotel. — Marshall, Atheneum Hotel. — Munroe, Atheneum Hotel. F. Brown, 39 Franklin. — Beach, 52 York, Jersey City. Jas. M. Hoyt, Essex, Jersey City. Josiah Kendall, 37 N. of 5th Avenue. R. B. Brown. 216 22d St. Louis Pignolet, 222 22d St. Mrs. Sarah Seaton, 105 w. 13th. Wm. J. Masterton, 77 12th. Jas. D. Fitch, M.D., 15 Stuyvesant Place. — ]\Ierwin, 94 Clinton Place. Sam'l M. Cornell, 182 10th St. — Caldwell, 184 10th St. — Merritt, New York Hotel. A. M. Arcularius, 49 St. Mark's PI. S. Warriner, 15 Hammond St. Israel Russel, 37 Gt. Jones. — Mullen, 499 Houston. John L. Norwood, 79 Bleecker. — Bane, 25 5th St. Albert Southmayd, 49 Amity. Mrs. Racliel H. Thurston, 7 Bond. Fred H. Trowbridge, 135 Prince. Wm. S. Wilson, 16 Varick Place. Mrs. Maria Neville, 48 Hammersly. APPENDICES 493 Mrs. Catherine Yeoman, 140 Sullivan. David L. Savre, 114 Sullivan. — Rogers, 1.53 Wooster. — Stearns. 459 Broome. F. A. Priest, 34 Dominicli. Chas. F. Bnnner, 33 Mercer. Mrs. Elisabeth Micheon, 23 Wooster. Eliza Needham, 85 Green. Adolphus Lane, 25 Green. — Leonard, 76 Charlton. Jos. Lawrence, 199 Eighth St. Thos. M. Adriauee, 10 Second St. Miss Dunham, 307 Houston. W. R. Golding, Chatham. Jared L. Moore, 112 Chatham. Jas. W. Dominick, 146 E. Broadway. Francis Dominick, 156 E. Broadway. Sophia Roorbach, 102 E. Broadway. Miss Cosis. 169 E. Broadway. A. Bnckham, 73 Pitt. Abraham G. Valentine, 187 Henry. — Frazer, 221 Madison. Miss Price. 119 Madison. Miss Patton, 167 Madison. Miss Seaman, 75 Madison. John D. Abrams, 78 Madison. Channcev Ives. 34 V, "Madison. Alfred Underbill, M.D., 3 Madison. — Smith. 86 Madison. — Williams, 209 Madison. TSr. R. Bnnce, 5 Madison. — Scott, 175 ^Madison. Hiram Ketehum, 10 Rutgers. Dan'l H. Brooks, 37 Rutgers. Mrs. Maria A. Brush, 55 Henry. Geo. C. Morgan, 44 Pike. Jas. A. Burtus, 81 Munroe. Jas. W. Dominick, 5 Market. Andrew Hume, 84 Bayard. Dr. John Steams, 84 White. — Scatev. 121 White. — Kerr, 45 White. E. Smith. 172 Elm. — Lacroix, 73 Roosevelt. Mrs. Ann Gillett, 20 Oliver. James Dominick, 20 Oliver. John Bobbins, Pearl. — Wilson, 341 Pearl. — Bonner, 821 Pearl. — Bliss. 300 Pearl. — Biren, 471 Pearl. — Miller, 880 Pearl. Mrs. Julia A. Folwell, 72 Frankfort. P. A. Hanford. 10 Cherry. Samuel Rvckman, 18 Cherry. — Moii'is, 90 Elm. Peter Morris, 37 City Hall Place. Simeon Kingsley, 174 E. Broadway. Jolm Buckmaster, 108 E. Broadway. Mrs. Jane Anderson, 512 Broome. Mrs. Sarah C. Stearns, 86 White. Mrs. Hathorn, 72 Frankfort. 494 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH — Williams, 8 Rose. Oliver B. Tweedy, 37 Rose. — Russel, 58 Market. Mrs. Brown, 80 Beekman. Abraham CargiU, 232 Water. Edw. A. Saunders, 45 Charlton. Mrs. Jane Willis, 54 Pike. Edmund DaiTow, 231 E. Broadway. XIII INCUMBENTS OF ST. GEORGE'S SCHOLARSHIP It is much to be regi-etted that no sufficient data are in existence from which to compile an approximately comjilete list of the many young men of St. George's Church who have entered the sacred Ministry, and a partial list would be so unsatisfactory that it is not attempted. The following named, however, Avere students at the General Theological Seminary as in- cumbents of the St. George's Scholarship: Benjamin W. Stone 1837-38 Archibald Claudius McElroy 1840-41 Isaac G. Hubbard 1843-44 Michael Scofield 1844-45 Stephen Chipman Thrall ... 1849-50 Josiah Mulford Hedges .... 1850-53 Otto Sievers-Barten 1853-55 Franklin Samuel Rising .... 1858-59 Henry Yates Satterlee 1865-66 Isaac Van Winkle 1866-68 Hamilton Lee 1871-72 Zina Doty 1872-73 WilHam H. .Jones 1877-78 William Bamford Burrows. .1878-79 Joseph Carter Acomb 1879-80 John Herbert Edwards 1880-82 George Deming Wright 1882-85 Adolph Martin Lewish 1885-86 Albert William Manifold. . .1886-87 George Henry Young 1887-88 .John Chas. Stephenson 1888-91 Frederick Henry Farrar 1891-92 Nehemiah D. Van Syckel. . .1891-92 Andrew Ellsworth Dunham 1892-93 John Keble Burleson 1892-93 St. Clair Hester 1892-93 Elias Boudinot Stockton 1893-94 William Russell McKim 1894-95 Herbert Lee Gaylord 1895-97 George Francis Langdon. . .1897-99 Charles Lewis Gomph 1901-02 Jolm Creighton Seagle 1901-02 William Henry Standring. .1902-04 Floyd Baker Van Keuren. . .1904-07 James Steedman Holland. . .1907-09 Gerald Arthur Cunningham 1909-10 Emmons Parkman Burrill. .1910-11 APPENDICES 495 XIV THE CHAPEL FUND SUBSCRIBERS TO THE PURCHASE OF NO. 4 RUTHERFORD PLACE (1910) J. Pierpont Morgan. R. Fulton Cutting. J. W. Markoe. Charles S. Brown. John Seely Ward. William Edmond Curtis. H. H. Pike. William Foulke. Henry W. Munroe. SUBSCRIBERS TO THE CHAPEL BUILDING FUND (To Oct. 1, 1811) Mr. W. C. Ahrens. Rev. Henry Anstice. Miss H. D. Atterbury. Mrs. L. B. Atterbui-y. Miss Ella S. Beale. Mrs. S. J. Bensel. Mrs. Frederic H. Betts. Mrs. Wm. H. Birckhead. Mrs. L. Bobling. Mr. George T. Bonner. Miss Mary E. Braekett. Dr. Ethel D. Brown. Miss M. A. Stewart Brown. Mr. W. Lanman Bull. Mrs. Jemima Chalmers. Mrs. E. A. S. Clarke. Miss Louise Clarke. Mrs. John H. Cole. Mrs. Thomas G, Cook. Miss Elizabeth Curtis. Mr. F. Kingsbury Curtis. Miss Mary A. Curtis. Mrs. Hy. T. Davis. Mrs. Loekwood de Forest. Mr. Bayard Dominick. Mr. Geo. F. Dominick. Mrs. Wm. Gayer Dominick. Mr. Tracy Dows. Mrs. Carroll Dunham. Mrs. Herman Ellis. Miss S. V. R. Erving. The Misses Faris. Mrs. Helen Ferner. Miss Elizabeth D. Ferguson. Mr. Henrv Ferguson. Mrs. H. R. Freeland. • Miss L. G. Freeland. G. F. S. Embroideiy Class. Mr. Jas. T. Gardiner. Mrs. C. F. Gardner. Mrs. Wm. T. Gibb. Mr. F. L. Gould. Miss Edith Gourlie. Miss Eliza C. Gourlie. Mr. and Mrs. John Greenough. Mrs. W. P. Hamilton. Mrs. Harman. Mrs. Hy. P. Havens. The Misses Havens. Mr. James E. Heath. Mrs. P. J. Heilmann. Miss Emilie M. Heiser. Mr. John J. Heiser. Miss R. M. Heiser. Mrs. E. C. Henderson. Miss M. W. Henderson. Mrs. Christian A. Herter. Rev. Wm. Cleveland Hicks. Mrs. Richard M. Hoe. Miss Constance Holt. Mrs. Geo. C. Holt. Miss Sylvia Holt. 496 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Miss Clotilde S. Hyatt. Mrs, Augustus L. Hyde. Mr. J. Morgan Jones. Miss Julia G. Keim. Mr. David KeiDpel. Mrs. Frederick Ke^Dpel. Dr. F. P. Kinnicutt. Miss Helen L. Knight. Mr. Woleott G. Lane. Mrs. Effingham Lawrence. Mrs. J. T. Leavitt. Miss Margaret D. Leverich. Hon. Seth Low. Mrs. Seth Low. Mrs. G. C. W. Lowrey. Miss Janet H. MacLaren. Miss M. McK. Mr. H. H. Man. Mrs. M. A. Manly. Mrs. Henry A. Mather. Mrs. EdAvard F. Mathews. Miss Charlotte McCosh, Miss Margaret McKenna. Miss B. F. Marshall. Miss C. E. Marshall. Miss J. P. Marshall. Mr. A. W. Miller. Miss Emily C. Miner. Mrs. Frank B. Miriek. Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan. Mrs. J. Pierpont Morgan. Mr. J. P. Morgan, Jr. Mrs. J. P. Morgan, Jr. Miss K. T. Moore. Miss Bessie M. Morrow. Mothers' Meeting. Miss Isabelle W. Munroe. Miss Edith Notman. Miss Helen W. Oreutt. Mr. Thos. B. Peck. Mr. Edmund Penfold. Mr. H. H. Pierce. Miss Grace H. Potter. Mr. Theodore H. Price. R. Percy Pyne, Family of. Mr. William Raueh. Mr. and Mrs. John Reichert. The Misses Reynolds. Miss Harriet B. Robb, Estate of. Mr. Thos. Robins. Miss Ella E. Russell. Mr. Jolm W. Russell. Mrs. Geo. B. Satterlee. Mr. Herbert L. Satterlee. Mrs. H. L. Satterlee. Miss E. H, Schenkberg. Mrs. W. H. Schieffelin. Miss Annie Sing. Mrs. E. T. Smith. Miss M. E. Smith Miss A. F. Spofford. Mrs. J. Noble Stearns. Dr. M. Allen Starr. Mrs. Campbell Steward. Miss Anna H. Swan. Miss A. M. A. Thornton. Miss A. M. Thurston. Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Tiedeman. Mrs. Dexter Tiffany. Miss Louise G. Tower. Mr. Donald C. Townsend. Miss Virginia C. Townsend. Miss Anne Tracy. Mrs. Charles E. Tracy. Miss Helen D. Tracy. Miss Mary L. Van Wagenen. Mr. H. C". von Post. Miss M. V. Wallis. Mr. Allen Wardwell. Miss Lena A. Weber. Miss Mathilde E. Weber. Mrs. and Misses Weidenfeld. Mr. Wm. H. Wheelock. Mrs, George C. Wilde. Miss J. C, Wilde. Mrs. B. Wilson. Miss Sophia Tracy Wilson. Mr. G. Owen Winston. Mr. Benjamin Winter. Miss Mary R. Winters. Mr. Pierre Jay Wurts. Miss V. C. Young. '-"^A- M^ ^^^l^iMn^^. ^ MEMORIAL CHAPEL, 1911 INDEX Abbott, Lyman, Rev. Dr., 348; letter of regret, 358. Acheson, E. C, Rev., 324, 465. Aitken, W. H. M. H., Rev., missioner, 305. Albertis, J. A., choir-master, 295. Alexandria Theological Seminary, 414, 220; closed during war, 224. American Bible Society, 116, 121, 128, 237. American Church Missionary Society, 135; organization of and distinctive principles, 218; auxiliary to Board, of Missions, 220. American Sunday-school Union, 116. American Tract Society, 116, 119, 129, 159, 237. Anderson, Nicholas, sexton, legacy to church, 109. Andros, Edmond, Governor, 10; im- prisoned, 10. Anstiee, Henry, 175, 178, 192, 196, 206, 443. Anstiee, Henry, Rev. Dr., 389. Anthon, Henry, Rev. Dr., 145, 156. Anthon, John, 437. Arcularius, Andrew M., 236, 442. Arcularius, Peter G., 175, 177, 206; death of and tribute of Vestry, 208; 236, 444. Assistant ministers, reunion of, 345. Atkinson, John R., Rev., 467. Auclminty, Samuel, assistant in Trin- ity, 21; special duty in St. George's, 25; catechizing of negroes, 30; elected rector of Trinity, 30; re- tired from duty, 33; died, 34. Babcock, Francis M., 234. Baker, Stephen, 388. Balch, L. P. W., Rev. Dr., 156, 185. Barclay, Henry, rector of Trinity, 21 ; death of, 30. Battalion Club, 329, 354. Beach, Abraham, Rev., 40, 41. Bedell, G. T., Rt. Rev. Dr., 156, 185, 263, 265, 305. 32 Bell, presented by T. H. Smith, 91, 92; to be rung at all fire alarms, 106; later hung in Fourteenth Street Chapel, now in rectory yard, 93; ringing complained of, 343. Bellomont, Earl of. Governor, hostility of to Church, 16. Beneficences of St. George's, 101. Benjamin, William H., Rev. Dr., 267. Berrian, William, Rev. Dr., 156, 180, 185; "Facts against Fancy," 216. Betts, F. H., 342, 345, 363, 453. Bequests, 109, 151, 339, 381, 392. Bierck, J. G., organist, 295, 303, 317. Birckhead, Hugh, Rev. Dr., minis- ter-in-charge, 362 ; elected rector, 365; letter of acceptance, 370; mar- riage, 384; biographical sketch, 429, 469. Birckhead, Malbone H., Rev., 470. Blackball, camp at, 371. Blesch, Otto, architect, 168, 207. Blodgett, William T., 234, 241, 246; death of, 251; 447. Bloodgood, Thomas, 102, 436. Bogardus, Everardus, Domine, 3. Bogardus, Robert, 434. Bolman, M. A., Miss, 316. Bolton, C. W., Rev., assistant, 225, 226, 227, 458. Bowden, John, Rev., 32, 35; sei'vice in St. George's, his generous behavior, its later reward, 56. Boys' Club, 296, 328. Brackett, J. W., 77, 435. Bradford, William, first printer, 20. Bradish, Luther, Hon., 176. Brady, John, Rev., minister-in-charge, 55,' 56, 57, 59; instituted, 61: con- troversy with Dr. Kewley, 64; in charge in rector's absence, 68 ; resig- nation of, 71; sketch of, 456. Briggs, C. A., Rev. Dr., 340. Bristow, G€orge F., organist, 196. Brooks, Arthur, Rev., 279, 285. Brotherhood of St. Andrew, conven- tion of, 316; withdrawal of topic 498 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH from programme, protest of St. George's, 340. Brown, Charles S., 392, 456. Brown, J. Eastburn, Rev., 242, 461. Bro^vn, Richard B., 441. Brown, Stewart, 149, 440. Brookman, Donald M., Rev., 469. Brydges, Ralph L., Rev., 283, 355, 463. Buchanan, Anselan, Rev., 228, 272, 463. Bull, Amos, schoolmaster, 35. Bull, W. L., 322, 453. Burtus, James A., 154, 156, 167, 437. Butler, Nicholas Murray, Pres., 345, 358. Callender, Thomas L., 175, 206, 442. Cambreling, Stephen, 176. Cambridge Divinity School, 372. Camp, N. W., Rev., 197, 458. Camp Rainsford, 372, 381, 386. Canfield, J. H., Prof., 348. Carey, ordination, 145, 416. Carow, Isaac, 54, 92, 98, 432. Carter, John F., Rev., 466. Cemetery, Greenwood, proposition of declined, 149. Cemetery, N. Y. Bay, St. George's lots in, 352. Cemetery, Trinity, purchased, 149. Centennial Celebration; history to be published, 389 j general plan for, 390. Centennial History of the Dioc. of N. Y., extract from, 309. Chancel furniture given to St. Mary^s Church, Manhattanville, 103. Chancel, improvements in, 103. Chandeliers, of old St. George's, given to St. Paul's Church, Oxford, 70. Chanting, directions of vestry regard- ing, 58. Chapel of the Bread of Life, begin- nings of, 227; building erected. Fourteenth Street, for joint use with th,e German Mission, 227, 228; great growth of work, various agencies, 228, 272; suggestion of sale, 273; sale directed, 274; ob- jections to removal of school to Six- teenth Street, 274; transfer of some members, sale consummated, 275. Chapel of Free Grace, Nineteenth Street, erected, consecrated, 226; German mission in, 226, 272 ; pro- posal to sell, 275, 281 ; services ter- minated, 282; sale of, 286; pews in St. George's provided for members of chapel, 284. Chapel of Living Waters, 227. Chapel (German Mission), ground bought, new building. Fourteenth Street, 243; work abandoned, 272. Charity School, founded, 26; succes- sive schoolmasters, building erected, destroyed by iire, rebuilt, annual collections for support, 26; an- nouncements in papers, 27; incor- porated, reorganized, name changed to Trinity School, 27; collection for, 35. Chase, Carlton, Rt. Rev., 168; conse- crated St. George's, 185. Chase, Philander, Rt. Rev., 145; founder of Gambler and Kenyon, 146. Chauncey, Egisto F., Rev., 468. Chester, W. S., organist, 317, 328. Children's Service, 325. Chipman, Tapping R., Rev., 225, 460. Choir-room, enlarged, 328. Cholera in New York, 132. Choristers trained from congregation, 353. Christian Commission, during war, in- terest of St. George's in, 222. Christian Unity, Dr. Milnor's last ser- mon, 158. Church, first structure, 3. Church in the fort, 3, 4; alternate ser- vices of Dutch and English, 9; aban- doned by Dutch congregation, 12; pulled down, rebuilt, secularized, re- fitted, destroyed by fire, 12. Churches, in 1811, 45. Church du Saint Esprit, 45; hospi- tality to St. George's, 62; thanks returned, 70. Church of England in New York, royal instructions as to its estab- lishment, 11; reluctance of assem- bly to provide maintenance, 12; li- cense to purchase land, 14; man- agers of the aft'airs of. Act of In- corporation, Trinity Church, 15. Church of the Epiphany, 310. Church of Holy Evangelists, 132; old St. George's conveyed to, on condi- tions noted, 192; unreasonable de- mands on Trinity Church, corpora- tion dissolved, 212. Church of the Incarnation, hospitality tendered to after its fire, 285. Church of the Redemption, use of ten- dered, 235. INDEX 499 Church of the Reformation. 310. Churchyard, enlargement of, 56; addi- tion of Burling property, 64. Citizens Union, co-operation with, 344. City Mission Society, Dr. Milnor made life member, 105; incorpor- ated, 131 ; work in Vandewater Street; protest of St. George's, 131; managers named by vestry, 149. City mission work of St. George's, monograph describing, 225. Civil War, loyalty of rector, 221 ; atti- tude of St. George's financially, 223 ; rector's sermon on Christian Loyal- ty, 222; draft riots in New York, close of struggle, national thanks- giving. President Lincoln murdered, 222; sermon bv Dr. Tyng, 223. Clark. A. Corning, 294. Clark, Thomas M., Rt. Rev., called as assistant, 171; social aspects of re- ligion in St. George's, 327. Clerical Annuity Society, 133. Clergy, at Revolvition, chiefly royal- ists, but many patriots, 32; suf- ferings of, 33. Clergy House, 293. Clerical Staff, 325, 374. Cliff Street, widening, opposed and de- feated, 102. Clinton, De Witt, 46, 54; death of, 106; request of Common Council to appropriately notice, 106; Bp. Ho- bart declined, sermon by Dr. ^lilnor, 107. Clock, procured for tower, 93, 148; in new St. George's, 236. Collegiate idea of pastors in common, 26. Collister, Thomas, sexton, petition of, 36; granted. 37. Colonies, English, plan for consolida- tion of, 10; condition of the Church in, 32. Colve, Anthony, Governor, 9. Common Prayer, standard book of, presented to Church, 338. Confirmations, in St. George's, 41, 324. Contributions, diocesan attempt to dictate, 239; protest of St. George's, 240. Cooke, James W., Rev., 138, 148; sec- retary of Foreign Committee, 150; rector at Bristol, R. I., 150; sketch of, 457. Cooke, W. H., Rev., 277. Cooper, Gerardus A., 98, 436. Cooper, Myles. president King's Col- lege, 28;" fled at Revolution, 33. Cornbury, Lord, Governor, friendly to Church, 17. Cornell, Samuel, M., 175, 178, 206, 442. Cornwall, N. E., Rev., 462. Corporate life, sense of in St. George's, 367. Crane, Theodore, 234. Creeds, Dr. Rainsford on, 360. Crocker, William T., Rev., 465. Crommelin, Robert, architect of Chapel, 23; offer of clock for Chapel, 29. Cunningham, Gerald A., Rev., 471. Curtis, William E., Hon., 276; death of, 277: sketch of, 451. Curtis, William Edmond, 388, 392, 436. Cutting, R. F., 322, 323, 324, 329, 342, 345, 355, 356, 365, 392, 452. Daily Advertiser, extract from, 39. Danne, Frederick, bequest, 381. Davis, William W., Rev., 466. Dawson, W. J., Rev. Dr., missioner, 379. Deaconess House, provided, 316; re- moval, 326 ; endowment for, 839, 343 ; permanent building presented, and dedicated, 351; use of roof gar- den, 386. Deaconess, Miss J. E., Forneret order- ed, 308; Miss Clara H. Simpson, Miss H. von Brockdorff, 326. De Vries, David, 3. Dibble, Henry, organist, 196. Diocesan Journals of N. Y., reprint of, 130. Dix, Morgan, Rev. Dr., 267, 269, 278, 279. Doane, George W., Rt. Rev., 134. Doane, W. C, Rt. Rev., 355. Domestic and Foreign Missionary So- ciety, 116, 118; Green Bay mission, 133; reorganization in 1835, Dr. Milnor's agency therein, 134. Dominick, Francis, 54, 433. Dominick, W. G., 272, 450. Dongan. Thomas, Governor, 10. Dorr, Benjamin, Rev. Dr., 135. Dows, David, 252, 260, 262, 271, 273, 276. 281, 294, 299; Mrs., bequest of, 371; 448. Dramatic and Literary Society, 354. Dugan, Thomas, sexton, 178. Dutch (Reformed Church), 3, 4, 9; new church on Garden Street, 12; 500 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH incorporated, 13; cordial relations with Episcopalians, 36. Dyer, Heman, Rev. Dr., tribute to Dr. Tyng, 195; assistant minister, 197; resignation, 208 ; descriptions of Dr. Tvng, 209, 210, 211; again assistant, 224; on free St. George's, 309; sketch of, 458. Eastburn, J. W., monument to mem- ory of, 94. Eastburn, Manton, Et. Rev., 151. Easton, Charles J., 234. Eccleston, J. Houston, Rev. Dr., elec- ted rector, declined, 285. Edwards, Frank E., Rev., 465. Edwards, A. H. P., Mrs., 294. Eidlitz, Leopold, architect, 168, 205, 207, 234, 237, 242, 243, 293. Ely, David J., 448. Emery, M. L. and H. G., architects, 360. Emott, James, Judge, opinion of as to title, 244. Employment Society, 354. Endo-wment, lots for deeded by Trinity, 57 ; additional lots, 04 ; to be main- tained as a definite policy, 191; gift for, 311; need of larger, 320; steps taken to increase, 322; new build- ing on Third Avenue property, 339 ; statement of, 339; further growth, 343. Envelope System, 293, 306, 308, 316. Erben, Henry, organ-builder, 196. Erben, Peter, organist, 54. Evangelical Education Societv, organ- ized, 220. Evangelical Knowledge Society, 217, 220. Evangelical Principles, 86, 163, 214, 221; Bp. Potter's pastoral of 1865, 238. Evangelical Societies. 217. Executive Committee, of vestry, created, 244, 291. Festival, St. George's Day, 381. Financial Statement, 286. Fleischhacker, J. C. Rev., German Mission, 227, 242, 271, 272, 461. Fletcher, Benjamin, Governor, 11; ef- forts in behalf of Church of Eng- land, 12. Forneret, J. E., deaconess, 308. Fort, erected, 2 : church in the, 3. Foulke, W. D., Hon., 348. Foulke, William, 342, 348, 392, 454. Freedmen's Relief Association, Dr. Tyng President of, 222. Freeland, Louise G., 377. French Church in New York, 9, 11. Fresh-air work, 297, 318, 354, 371, 381; bungalows built, 386. Gambier and Kenyon College, 116; Milnor Professorship therein, 146; Lectures bv Dr. Tvng at. 224. Garth, William H., Rev., 467. Gazette, The, first newspaper, 19; ex- tracts from, 25, 27, 32, 35, 40, 69. General Convention in St. George's, 277, 318. General Thanksgiving, practice respect- ing, 318. General Theological Seminary, 142; laying of corner-stone, 143; St. George's Scholarship created, Dr. Milnor a trustee, 143 ; parish col- lections for, 143; scholarship room furnished, pew in St. George's as- signed to students, 144, 220; incum- bents of scholarship, 494. Gilder, Jeannette, 301. Girls' Friendiv Society, 297. Gladden, Washington, Rev. Dr., 348. Gordon, John, Chaplain, 10. Gould, Ezra P., Rev., 468. Government, Municipal, first, 5. Graham, Richard R., Rev., 465. Grand Prix, awarded, 375. Greatorex, Henry, organist, 178. Greene, John, 54, 433. Greer, D. H., Rt. Rev., 355, 384. Greenough, John, 323: Mrs., 388. Griswold, Alexander Y., Rt. Rev., con- secrated, 214, 238. Guarantee Fund, 288, 306. Haight, Beni'amin I., Rev. Dr., 185. Haines, William A., 213, 234, 276, 446. Hall, Caroline M., marriage, 384. Hanlon, Richard, sexton, 339. Harison, William H., 187. Harriman, Charles C, Rev., 470. Harriman, Joseph W., 436. Hawks, Francis L., Rev. Dr., his- toriographer, 116, 185. Hazard, George R., Rev., 468. Helping Hand, 228, 354. Henderson, Elizabeth R., legacy, 339. Henderson, ^latthew H., services ren- dered, 115: called to Newark, 121; appreciation of vestry, 122. Henshaw, J. P. K., Rt. Rev., 134, 400. INDEX 501 Herron, Gteorge D., professor, 348. Hicks, O. H., 436. Hildreth, William, schoolmaster, 26; report to S. P. G., 35. Hill. John H., Eev. Dr., 88, 438. History of American Episcopal Church, Bp. Perry, extracts from, 145. Hobart, John Henry, Rt. Eev., assist- ant minister, 40; assistant bishop, 41 ; controversy with Cave Jones, 47; Hobart MSS., 66, 81; consecra- tion of, 214; letters, 84, 85, 107; misunderstanding of Dr. Milnor, 122; letter of Dr. M., 124; death of, 127. Hodges, George, Rev. Dr., 316, 367, 368. Holland, James S., Rev., 471. Holland, Thomas B., Rev., 470. Homans, James E., Rev., 211, 459. Hopkins. Samuel, 175, 190, 191, 206, 229, 444. Horse-mill, first place of worship, 3. Hoyt, James I., 149, 439. Hoyt. James M., 435. Huddleston, William, schoolmaster, 26. Hudson and Fulton commemoration, 381. Hunt-er, Governor, antipathy of to Rector Vesey. 19. Huntington, Felix A.. 175, 443. Huntington, W. R., Rev. Dr., 355. Income, and Expenses, statements of, 9.5, 286. Independent, The, Dr. Tyng's views on rights of Freedmen expressed in, 222. Industrial School, 296. Inglis. Charles, assistant minister, 30; closed church and chapels, 1776, re- port to S. P. G., 33 ; elected rector, 34; resigned, 37; bishop of Xova Scotia, portrait of received, 150. Institutional Church, Administration of (the book), 316, 375; gold medal awarded. 377; should be carefully developed, 368. Intolerance. Religious, in Xew Amster- dam, 5. 6. Irving Hall, services in after fire, 233, 234; occupied by Sunday-school, 307. Ir\Mng. Pierre P.. assistant minister, 150',' 158, 165: sketch of, 457. Ives, Benjamin Silliman, Rt. Rev., 220. Jans, Anneke. marriage of daughter, 4. Jardine, George & Son, builders of organ, 241, 303. Jarv'is, S. F., Rev., suggested for rector- ship, 55. Jennev, Robert, chaplain, 19. Jenkins, William L., 213, 447. Johnson, Samuel, first president King's College, 27. Jones, Cave, assistant minister, 40; Hobart-Jones controversy, 46. Jones, William A., parish clerk, 112. Ketchttm, Hiram, 175, 374, 443. Kewley, John, Rev. Dr., elected rector, 59; instituted, 61; controversy with Mr. Brady, 64; appeal to the bishop, 66; visit to Europe, 67; resignation of, 73; letter to vestry, 81; to Bp. Hobart, 82; St. George's surprise and indignation, a rejwrted incident, 83; sketch of, 399. Kieft, William. Director, 3. King, Gt€orge Gordon, 388. King, John, 453. King, William A., organist, 197. King's College, founded, site given by Trinity, condition of grant, its be-* ginnings, 27; corner-stone laid, first commencement, first graduate Samuel Provoost, commencements regularly held in St. George's, inter- est in shown in England, broad spirit of its management, 28. King's Daughters, 334. King's Farm, title of Church to, at- tacked, 17. Kitchen Garden Class, 296. Knox-Little, Canon, 279. Krankbesoeckers, with colonists, 2. Laight, Edward W., 54, 433. Lambert, D. R., 435. Lane. Adolphus. 175. 196, 206, 229, 240: death of, 252; 373, 442. Lane. Wolcott G., 371, 381. Laiuiitz. Robert E., artist of bust of Dr. Milnor. 160. Lawrance, Thomas, 53, 435. Lawrence, Isaac, 54. 433. Lawrence, Joseph, 175, 191, 206, 213, 229, 236. 444. Laymen's Missionary Movement, 388. Lav Readers, set apart, 311. Lee, Alfred, Rt. Rev., 168, 265, 267. Leisler. Jacob, acting-governor, 11. Leonard, Jacob, parish clerk, 54. 502 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Le Roy, Jacob. 175, 206, 443. Lewis, John, Rev., 466. Lewis, William H., Rev., 176, 177. Lindley, J. Bryant, 301. Locke, A. H., Rev., 329, 466. Lorillard, Jacob, 434. Lovelace, Francis, Governor, 9. Low, Seth, 342, 345, 355, 365, 388, 454. Lutherans, Attempt to form a Church, 5; first church building, 11. Mackay-Smith, Alexander, Rt. Rev., 279 317 359. Magui're, Hugh, Rev., 287, 463. Malcolm, Donald, 434. Manhattan Island, First Settlement, 2. Markoe, James W., M. D., 455. Marshall, Cornelia E., 377. Marshall, F. P., 272. Marshall, Henry P., 252, 280, 449. Marston, Charles Dallas, Rev., called to associate rectorship, declined, 247. Mason, Burdett, organist, 276. Matlack, R. C, Rev., criticism by, 306. May Anniversaries, 114, 417. Mav, Cornells Jacobsen, Director, 2. McConnell, S. D., Rev. Dr., 355. MeCord, William E., Rev., 469. Mcllvaine, Charles P., Rt. Rev., 99, 104, 134, 151, 168, 210. McJimsey, J. M., 450. McKay, Robert B., Rev., 472. McLaren, H. M., 282. McVickar, W. N., Rt. Rev., assistant, 241, 400. Mead, Theodore H., 273, 452. Meade, William, Rt. Rev., 168, 218. Meier-Smith, Matson, Rev. Dr., 244, 462. Memorial Chapel, projected, property purchased, 390; subscribers to, 495. Memorial House, offer to build, 304; building begun, 307; dedicated, 311; tribute to Charles Tracy, 313; de- scription of, 315; improvements in, 323; new organ, 325; pen picture of. 331; rector's anniversary recep- tion in, 355. Memorials of Dr. Milnor and Dr. Tyng, 304. Men's Club, 332, 354. Mercury, New York, extracts from, 28, 29. 30, 31. IMichaelius, Jonas, first minister, 3. Miel, Ernest de F., Rev., 465. Miles, E. F., Rev., M.D., 295, 310, 464. Millen, Quintin, 433. Miller, John, Chaplain, 12 ; claim of to the " Living of New York," 13. Milnor, James, Rev. Dr., invitation to St. George's, 77; formal call, 78; Sunday in St. George's, 79 ; accept- ance of call, 80 ; instituted, 85 ; char- acterization of his ministry, 86; ill- ness of, 99 ; achievements of his ministry, 99; extra parochial criti- cisms, 100; serious illness, 104; re- covery, letters to friends, 105; fall from Flushing stage, 106; mission to England, ll4; accident to, 118; impressions of his visit, 119; mis- understanding by Bp. Hobart of one address, letter showing his friendly relations with, 127; Identification with Union Societies, 128; mission to Green Bay, 133; secretary Foreign Committee, 135; interest in Genl. Theol. Sem'y., 144; serious illness, 151 ; witness at Onderdonk trial, 152; last engagements and decease, 155; public obsequies, 156; action of vestry, 157; tributes to, 155, 159; interment in chancel vault, 157; monument and bust executed and erected, 160; destroyed and re- placed, 161, 185; biographical sketch, 403; tributes to, 410. Milnor Professorship of Divinity in Gambler, 146; incumbents thereof, 147. Milnor, W. H., organist, 112, 168. Minuit, Peter, Director, 2. Mission, Advent, 305; pre-Lent, 379. Mission Chapels, first planned, 204; trustees to manage, 226 ; supported by parochial offerings, 226 ; attend- ants at not parish voters, 242 (see Chapels) ; supported by church collections, 317. Mission, in Avenue A., 225, 300, 301, 310, 342. Missionary Society, The Church is the, suggested by Dr. Milnor, 134. Missionary Thank Offering, 372. Missions, Board of, division of work under two committees, 135. Mollan, Robert, Rev., 228, 463. Montgomerie Ward, inhabitants of offer site for chapel, 23. Moore, Benjamin. Rt. Rev., assistant minister, 32 ; elected rector, 37 ; de- clined to act, 39; re-elected rector. INDEX 503 40; consecrated bishop, 40; incapaci- tated for duty, 41. Moore, Mrs. J. A., gift of doors, 361. Moore, Richard Channing, Rt. Rev., consecration of, 214. Morewood, Edmund, 434. Morgan, Brockholst, Rev., 225, 460. Morgan, J. Pierpont, 234, 246, 252, 260, 262, 271, 273, 276, 281, 283, 287, 288, 294, 299, 311, 318, 320, 323, 342, 345, 355, 363, 371, 388, 392, 448. Morgan, W. Fellowes, 388. Morse, E. W., parish clerk. 111; pro- test against his engagement, 112. Mulligan, John W., 439. Mulvaney. John, ass't sexton, 178. Munroe,'H. W., 342, 453. Music, vicissitudes of, 110, 178, 196, 275, 276. MusicaJ services, special, 277, 372, 380. Nattress, George, Rev., 465. Neau, Elias, catechist among the slaves, 29. Negroes, free school for children of, Elias Neau's labors among, 29; efforts in their behalf, 30. Neilson, W. H., 234. Nelson, F. H., Rev., 355, 467. New Amsterdam, civic troubles of, 8; claimed by Great Britain, 8 ; expe- dition against, 8 ; surrender of, 9 ; concessions to Dutch, in capitula- tion, 9 ; retaken by Dutch, 9 ; second surrender to British, 10. New York, named, 1664, 9; Washing- ington entered, 1776, 33; entry of British troops, 34; evacuation, 37; condition of described, 37 ; public thanksgiving proclaimed and ob- served, 38; description of in 1811, population, type of house, city hall, 41; its park, trade, post-office, hours of business, 42; its streets, light, water, social life, fashions, 43 ; cus- toms and manners, taverns, con- veniences, public institutions, bene- volent and social organizations, 44; its newspapers, college, theater, churches, important happenings of the year, 45 ; population in 1840, 149. Newman, John Henry, Rev. Dr., 220. Newspaper, first in New York, 19. Newton. Richard, Rev. Dr., 199, 267. Nichols, Richard, Governor, 8. Nicholson, Francis, Lieutenant-Gover- nor, 1 1 . Nies, William Edgar, Rev., 464. Noble, John, 373, 439. Norris, Homer, organist, 372. Norton, George E., Rev., 472. Offertory Basin, 323. Ogilvie, John, Rev. Dr., assistant minister, 30; death of, 32. Onderdonk, B. T. Rt. Rev., trial and suspension of, 152; attended St. George's, 210. Onderdonk, John, 54, 432. Oratorio Society rendered special mu- sic, 277. Organ, first in Trinity Church, 20; first in St. George's, 91 ; subscrip- tion for new organ, 95 ; built by Thomas Hall, 98 ; lecture-room organ, 148 ; organ in new church, 196; after fire, old organ from Beek- man St. set up; 236; new organ and case, 241; blown by steam, 274; chancel organ projected, 282, 293, 295 ; completed, .303 ; repairs to large, 372; south-side organ, 385. Organists, 54, 112. Organizations for Work, 228, 230, 296; unification of. 344. Oxford Tracts, 145. Packer, William S., Rev., 469. Paddock, John A., Rev. Dr., 279. Paddock. W. F., Rev. Dr., assistant minister, 211, 458. Parish Clerks, one " deficient in psalm- ody," 37, 54, 112. Parker, Albert R., Rev., 470. Parker, Cortlandt, 238. Parker, Lindsay, Rev., 298, 302, 307, 345, 355, 464"^, Parochial Statistics, 198, 230, 242, 249, 298, 303, 319, 330, 343, 352, 353, 374, 378, 392. Party Feeling, intense, 214; improved conditions, 215; result of Oxford Movement, 220. Payzant, Arthur S., Rev., 471. Pearce, S. Austin, organist, 255. Peet, Edward W., Rev. Dr., 462. Penfield, S. N. organist, 282. Perkins, J. Newton, Rev.. 275, 276. 279, 282, 283, 284, 285, 287, 463. Peters, Harry, 54, 78, 432. Pews, in chapel, letting of. 24; sale of pews in rebuilt Chvirch, 69 ; set apart for indigent communicants, 103; sale 504 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH and rental in new Church, 179 property rights in, determined, 236 valuation of in rebuilt Church, 237 declared free, 293; obtaining sur- renders of, 294. Phelps, Dodge & Co., purchasers of old St. George's, 214, 245. Philadelphia Divinity School, 220; or- ganized, 224. Philips, W. H., 228, 272, 274, 294, 450. Pike, H. H., 324, 342, 388, 455. Plate, Communion, given by Trinity, 55 ; inventory of, at present time, 482. Political Reform, interest in, 344, 345. Popular evening services, 279, 343. Portraits, of bishops and rector, order- ed bv vestry, 106. Pott, Gideon, '446. Potts, William, 345. Potter, Alonzo, Rt. Rev., 168, 220. Potter, Henrv C, Rt. Rev.. 267, 270, 279, .303, 308, 311, 323, 355, 376. Potter, Horatio. Rt. Rev., Provisional Bishop. 216; 226, 227, 235; Pastoral against practices of evangelical clergy, 238. Praver Book, distribution of by E. K. Sl, 218. Preaching, Lectures on. Dr. Tyng's, 223 ; at Gambler, in Philadelphia, 224. Problems, under new conditions, 382. Property, granted to Trinity Church described, 17; its title to attacked, 38. Property, of St. George's, scheduled and showing revenue, 95, 97, 286. Protestant Episcopal Clerical Associa- tion, 109 : opposition to by Bp. Hobart, 110. Protestant Episcopal Church, steps in the organization of, 38. Protestant Episcopal Missionary So- ciety, 129. Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Union, 129. Protestant Episcopal Tract Society, 129. Provoost, Samuel, Rt. Rev., assistant minister, 31; elected rector, 38; Dr. Dix's tribute to, 39 ; elected bishop, consecrated, first ordination, 39 ; re- signed rectorship and bishopric, 40; 238. Purdy. John, sexton, 54. Pyne', Percy R., 213, 234, 446. Quakers, Persecution of, 6. Rainsford, W. S., Rev. Dr., called to rectorship, 287; call renewed, 288; conditions named and accepted, 288, 289; his view of the situation, 297; description of him, 299 ; incidents, 300, 301; mission in Detroit, 305; address in Philadelphia, 306; char- acterization of, 310; illness and re- covery, 317; ministry' criticized as too humanitarian, 326; loving-cup to, 346; twentieth anniversary, 354; loving-cup presented, 355 ; address at anniversaiy, 356; criticized for Philadelphia statements, 358 ; break- down in health, 362; letter of resig- nation, 363; action of vestry, 364; brief review of how he met- changed conditions, 365-7 ; tribute of Presi- dent Roosevelt, 376; biographical sketch, 423: tributes to, 428, 429. Records of parish, stolen and recov- ered, 101. Rectory, need of expressed, 56; com- pleted, 69; addition to, 91; rectory in Sixteenth Street, 192, 291, 294. Refugees, I'ovalists, worshiping in City Hall, 37. ' Reichert, John, 316, 355; elected clerk, 361, 392, 472. Religious Libertv, guaranteed to all, 10. Revnolds, James B., M.D., 275, 287, 451. Rice, Maxwell W., Rev., 470. Rockawav Beach property, 318, 371, 386; diagram of, 387. Rooker, William Y., Rev., 457. Roosevelt, Theodore, tribute to Dr. Rainsford, 376. Sabine, William T., Rev. Dr., assist- ant minister, 224, 225, 459. Saloon question. Dr. Rainsford on, 332-336. Sandford, John, gift of sketch of ruins after fire, 109. Satterlee, George C. 240, 374, 446. Scadding, Charles, Rt. Rev., 310, 464. Scale, H. W. A., organist, 197. Scarlett, William Joseph, Rev., 471. Schenck, X. H., Rev. Dr., 279. Schermerhorn, Cornelius, 54, 373, 433. Schieffelin, W. H., 294, 339, 452. Schieffelin, W. J., 342, 345, 455. Schramm, Charles, Rev. Dr., assistant. 226, 227; resigned, 242; sketch of^ 459. Scott, John F., Rev., 472. INDEX 505 Seal of Corporation, 54; stolen, re- produced, 101. Sedgwick, Theodore. Rev., 355, 465. Services, schedule of. 296. Sextons, 36, 54, 112, 480. Shackleford, John W., Eev. Dr., 279. Shajpe, Chaplain, 20. Shatzel, William, 149, 437. Sheddell, Dorothy, Mrs., 236. Sherred, Jacob, architect of St. George's, 64; legacy to G. T. S., 142. Simpson, Clara H., deaconess, 316, 326, 377. Slaves, condition of described, 29. Sloughter, Henry, Governor, 11. Smith, John Cotton, Rev Dr., 279. Smith, Thomas H.. donor of bell, 91. Smith, William Alexander, 234. 447. Smith, William, father of chanting, 58. Social intercourse of young people, 354. Social Salvation, stressed, 327, 328, 338. Society, for Relief of Widows and Children of Clergymen, organized, 31. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel chartered, its noble work in this country, 18. Spanish-American War, enlistments for, 347. Sparrow. William, Rev. Dr., witness to Dr. IVIilnor, 130. Spencer. Harvey, 246, 252, 271, 275, 276, 281. 283", 285, 299, 449. Spencer, Mrs. Cath. L., legacy for mission chapel work, 392. Spires completed, 205; damage to, 243; repaired, later taken down, 316. St. George's Chapel, initiative action regarding, 22; lots selected, plan adopted, 23; description of gifts to, letting of pews in, formal opening described, 24; its history and inter- ests interwoven with those of Trin- ity, 26; use of offered to Dutch con- gregation, 35 ; courtesy acknowl- edged, 36; steeple repaired, 37; Bp. Provoost's first ordination in, 39; Bp. Moore's first ordination in, 41 ; first confirmation in, 41 ; general conditions under which its independ- ent life began, 41 ; action of Trinity Vestry, 49; questions as to condi- tions of independence, 50; Trinity's answers, 51; certificate of the con- gregation, 52; act of incorporation, 53. St. George's Chapel, Free Church of, 212. St. George's Church, first meeting of vestry, 54 ; parish meeting, salary of rector fixed, 55 ; Church received into union with Convention, 57 ; parish meeting on rectorship, 59; Dr. Kewley rector, 60; destroyed by fire, 61 ; contemporaneous accounts, services in Church du Saint Esprit, 02 ; rebuilding by Trinity, 63 ; con- secrated, 68; sale of pews, 69; de- scription of rebuilt church, 69; de- tailed arrangements, 70; galleries erected, 94; interest in Union So- cieties, 128; loyalty to diocesan ob- ligations, 129: spiritual conditions in, 130; missionary spirit of, 133; trend of population up-to^vn, 149, 153; plan for chapel up-town, 154; memorial to Trinity, 160; plan for St. George's future, opposition there- to, 166; sites for new church con- sidered, 167 ; gift of plot tendered by P. G. Stuyvesant, 168; building plans adopted, 168; comer - stone laid, 168; schedule of property, 169, 170; services held at Eighth Street and Astor Place, 169; removed to Chapel of University of New York, 171; new Sunday-school building, 171; plan of making the new edifice the parish church opposed, 172, 173; detailed plan of rector, 173; decisive vestry election, 175; action of vestry on Woolley incident, 175; report of Diocesan Commission, 177; last meeting in Beekman Street vestry- room, first in new St. George's, open- ing service, 178; embarrassed by conditions on property granted by Trinity Church, efforts to secure re- lease, 181; opposition from Beek- man Street people, 182; extended negotiations, final settlement, 188; consecration of Church. 185; lots sold to pay for building, 189; financial condition, 191: erection of spires, 205; inscribed mural tab- lets on completion of edifice, 206; distinctive features of new structure, 207; old St. George's conveyed to Church of Holy Evangelists, 192; proposal by it to sell building, 211; services maintained therein by Trin- ity under name of Free Church of 506 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH St. George's Chapel, 212; negotia- tions with Trinity and final disposi- tion of property, 213; removals up- town, 229, 231; burning of Church, 232; steps for rebuilding, 233; reopening, consecration, report of building committee, 235; special gifts to, 237; chancel decorated and extensive repairs, 242; decreasing revenues, 245; project for new church up-town, 245; sites examined, 246; reduction of expenditure, 247; waning prosperity, 252; permanent assistant called, 252; necessity of re- trenchment, 253; resignation of rector, 258; Dr. Williams elected, 260; diminishing resources, abridg- ment of mission work, 271; renewal of proposal to move, 276, 280; free church plan adopted, 293; growth of parish, 303 ; liquidation of indebted- ness, 307; declination of Avenue C mission work, 308 ; election changes under State law, 341 ; thorough re- pairs, 348; difficulties of environ- ment, 350; material improvements in structure, 360; changes in neigh- borhood, 378; outlook for future, 394. St. George's Church Missionary So- ciety, created with branches, 361 ; woman's branch, 388. St. George's Chronicle, 302, 305, 334. St. George's Herald, 302. St. John, Samuel H., 452. St. Paul's Chapel, opened, 31. Stamp Act, agitation over, 30, Stanton Street Mission, 310; change in management, 323 ; pro-cathedral, deeded to City Mission, 329. Stearns, John, M.D., 102, 104, 149, 154, 156, 158, 167, 175; death of Dr. Stearns and resolutions of vestry, 177; 206, 372, 436. Stearns, John N., 252, 253, 271, 274, 275, 276, 281, 285, 287, 288, 294, 299, 323, 342; death of, 373; 449. Steen, John F., Rev., 243. Stein, Alexis W., Rev., 467. Stephens, Rev. Mr., Missioner, 305. Stephenson, C. S., Rev., 225, 227, 242, 243, 460. Sterrett, Henry H. D., Rev., 469. Stone, Benjamin W., Rev. Dr., 144. Stone, John S., Rev. Dr., characteriza- tion of Dr. Milnor, 86, 134; com- ment on Gen'l Theol. Sem'y, 144; tributes to Dr. Milnor, 155, 156, 218 Strong, William K., 206, 236, 444. Sturges, P. F., Rev., 469. Stuyvesant, Peter, Director, 5; intol- erance of, 5-7. Stuyvesant, Peter G., donor of site, 167, 244. Sunday-school Building, erected by vestry, opened, 89; new building. Sixteenth Street, completed, 184; addition to, 294. Sunday-school Work, emphasis on, 87; its inception and development, 88, 89; in Dr. Tyng's time, 199; growth of, 200; the magic lantern, 201; the Bible, the text-book. 202; the an- niversaries, 203 ; inculcation of be- nevolence, 204; growth of, 295; graded lessons, 324; instruction for teachers, 353. Swallow, S. C. Rev., 348. Swayne, Wager, Gen., 342, 345, 453. Swindell, James H., organist, 111. Taft, Arthur N., Rev., 467. Tailer, W. H., 294, 452. Taylor, Alan M., Rev., 470. Taylor, Jeremiah H., pioneer layman in St. George's Simday-school work, 88, 438. Tavlor, J. Rice, Rev., 274, 463. Tee-to-tum, 329. Tenement-house reform. Dr. Rainsford on, 337. Thanksgiving Day, celebration of, 30. The Outlook on S't. George's, 349. Theological education, 142, 372. Thompson, Hugh Miller, Rt. Rev., 324. Title to land on Stuyvesant Square, 244. Titus, James H., 182. Toleration, Religious, none under the Dutch, 4. ToAvnsend, Thomas S., 437. Tracy, Charles, 206, 213, 238, 240, 244, 245, 252, 253, 260, 262, 283, 285, 290, 294, 299, 313, 4^5. Tracy, Charles Edward, 304, 322, 323, 342, 453. Tracy, F. A., 236, 440. Tracy, Uriah T., Rev., 225, 460. Trade School. 328; permanent build- ing provided, 363. Trades - unions. Dr. Rainsford on, thanks of to, 349. Trinity Church, incorporated, land INDEX 507 granted to, Mr. Vesey inducted into rectorship, opening service in, 15; previous occupation of Dutch Church, 16; description of Queen Anne's gift to, 16; grant of three pieces of land to by roj^al patent, 17 ; condition of parish described, 18; enlargement of edifice, 20; description of structure, 20 ; official report of forty-nine years, 21; Chapel of Ease to be built, 22; St. George's completed, 24; closed on Declaration of Independence, 33; reopened on occupation of city by British troops, 34; destroyed by fire, disastrous results, 34; rebuilt, 39; pews at auction, consecration of building, growth and prosperity, 40; Hobart-Jones controversy, 46; its settlement, 47 ; action toward sepa- ration of St. George's, 49; answers to St. George's questions, 50; agree- ment to separation, 52; rebuilt St. George's, 63; conveyance of lots for endov/ment, 57, 64; memorial to re- garding up-town chapel, 154, 159; appeal to secure release of condi- tions on St. George's property, 181; protracted negotiations, 185; articles of agreement, 188; sympathy ex- pressed on burning of St. George's, 234; bicentennial of. Dr. Rainsford's address, 346. Trinity School, successor of Charity School, 27; St. George's Scholarships in, 149. Tryon, William, Governor, gift to St. G«orge's, 32. Tuberculosis class, 385. Tucker, Thatcher, 149, 441. Tyler, Samuel, Rev., 468. Tyng, Dudley Atkins, Rev., 169, 208, 457. Tyng, James H., Rev., 185. Tyng, Morris A., Rev., 241, 461. Tyng, Stephen H.. Rev. Dr., 134, 156; call to rectorship, 162; first sermon, 163; exhausting labors, trip to Eu- rope, 170: his plan for St. George's stated, 173, 174; the Woolley inci- dent, 175; routine of his ministry, 194; trip to Europe, 195; trip to Europe. 207 ; vindication of St. George's against Dr. Berrian, 217; sermons during Civil War, 221; in- vitations to speAk on public ques- tions, 222; trip to Europe, 224; country home at Irvington, 230; 20 year's summary of work, 230; 25th anniversary, 242; trip to Europe, 243; 30th anniversary discourse, 248; seriously ill, suggestion of resignation, 256; correspondence re- garding, 257 ; resignation accepted, 258; last meeting with vestry, 259; elected Rector-emeritus, farewell sermon, 257; retirement, 263; resi- dence in Lexington Avenue, 264; home in Irvington, his death, action of vestry, 265 ; funeral service, 267 ; interment, 269; tributes to, 266-270; gratitude of. to vestry, 280; sketch of, 412; tributes and incidents, 417- 422; biography of, 459. Tyng, Stephen H., Jr., Rev., assistant minister, 201 ; trial of, and admoni- tion, 238, 264. Union Societies, co-operation in, 128. University of the City of New York, 159. Ustick, William, 434. Valentine, Abraham G., 236. Van Twiller, Wouter, Director, 3. Van Wagenen, Gerrit H., 54; chant- ing incident, 58; 77, 78, 148, 431. Van Wagenen, Hubert, 102, 436. Vaults in churchyard, list of owners, 71. Verhulst. William, Director, 2. Vesey, William, elected rector, 13, 14; to England for ordination, 14; honorary degree received, inducted into rectorship, 15; Commissary of Bishop of ' London, 19; death of, 21. Vestry, (City), elected; favored call- ing a dissenting minister, superseded by new vestry, unsatisfactory action, another election of, 13. Visitations, house to house, 348. Voluntary Principle, in giving and worship, 214, 239. Von Brockdorff, H., deaconess, 326. Wainwright, Jonathan M., Rt. Rev., 109, 156, 185, 210; Provisional Bishop, 215. Waldron, Anna, Mrs., legacy, 151. Walker, Edward and Sophia Ann, 236. Walloons, first settlers, 2. Walter, William H., Rev., services in St. George's, 152. Walton, James De Lancey, chanting incident. 58 ; owner of Walton House, 59; 92, 434. Ward, J. Seely, 342, 455. 508 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Warden, Eobert, 5S, 59, 432. Warriner, Solomon, 112. Webster, Horace, 206, 445. West India Company, Organized, 2. Wetmore, James, Rev., 30. Wetmore, V. E., 307, 324. White, J. Crockar, Rev., 243, 461. White, William, Rt. Rev., 39; letter to Mr. Milnor, 80, 84; death of, 141, 238. Whitehouse, H. J. Rev. Dr., 156, 176, 177. Whiting, Marshall, services in St. George's, 133. Whitmore, Holmes, Rev., 468. Whittingham, W. R., Rt. Rev., 210. Whitlock, William, Jr., 149, 154, 162, 167, 171, 175; whole cost of new Church advanced bv, 180, 191, 206; death of, 251; sketch of, 439. Wilcox, Edward F., Rev., 471. Williams, John, Rt. Rev., 311. Williams, W. F., organist, 241, 242. Williams, Walter W., Rev. Dr., asso- ciate rector, 252, 254, 255; services assigned, 255 ; elected rector, 260 ; resignation, 282; 311; sketch of, 422. Williston, Ralph, Rev., services in St. George's, 85. Wills, C. J., Stanton Street Mission, 323; death of, 329. Wilson, Frances L., bequest of, 381. Wilson, Henry, Rev. Dr., 301, 302, 317, 325, 464. Wilson, James G., Rev., 471. Winston, Frederick S., 154, 156, 162, 167, 187, 190, 191, 196, 206, 441. Winthrop, Robert, 450. Wolcott. Calvin C, Rev., 194, 198, 225, 226, 457. Wolley, Charles, chaplain, 10. Woman's Auxiliary, endowment, 339, 343. Wood, John D., 285, 299, 450. Wood, Ross W., 206; death of, 277; 445. Woolley. B. L., 102, 149, 154, 156, 158, 167, 174, 175, 177, 438. Working-men, lectures to, 348. Young, Mason, 450. Young People's Association, 297. Yucho, William, organist, 111. ZuNDEL, John, organist, 196. THE END / UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 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