Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

4

sumed we have refused to receive correction! Woe be to us, if mercy does not soften the heart which remains unsubdued by calamity! May we know better the way of the Lord, and the judgment of our God!

In our last number, page 372, our readers were promised for the present number an abstract of the proceedings of the last Convention of the Church in this diocess. The printing of those proceedings being yet unfinished, our abstract is necessarily deferred; but in the mean time we insert the address of Bishop

Hobart to the Convention.

Address delivered to the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New-York, in St. Paul's Church, Troy, on Tuesday, October 15, 1822, by the Right Rev. John H. Hobart, D.D. Bishop of said Church.

Brethren of the Clergy and Laity,

IMMEDIATELY af er the meeting of the last Convention, on the 18th Sunday after Trinity, October 21, I held an ordination in St. Paul's Chapel, NewYork, and admitted William B. Thomas to the holy order of deacons, and the Rev. Marcus A. Perry, deacon, missionary at Unadilla, Otsego county, and parts adjacent, to the holy order of priests. Mr. Thomas has, since his ordination, officiated at Fishkill, Dutchess county, and occasionally in some other vacant congregations.

On the 23d Sunday after Trinity, November 25, in St. John's Chapel, in the city of New-York, I admitted Mr. Algernon S. Hollister to the order of deacons. Mr. Hollister soon after entered on duty as a missionary in the town of Trenton, in Oneida county, where a small number of individuals, whose meritorious exertions I noticed in my address of the former year, had organized an Episcopal congregation, and, with much difficulty, through the want of pecuniary means, have succeeded in nearly completing a place of worship. It ought to be kept in mind, that, in many instances, new congregations have been organized, and edifices for worship erected, by a very few individuals, whose pious zeal has manifested itself in contributions and exertions

more than ordinary, and deserving of the highest commendation. This has been remarkably the case with the congregation at Trenton. It has been made a missionary station, though the funds did not admit of fixing the salary of Mr. Hollister at a higher sum than one hundred dollars per annum.

I have to notice the destruction, by fire, in the month of December, of the Church of St. Philip's, New-York, appropriated to the people of colour. This congregation was increasing in numbers, in piety, and in attachment to the sober and orderly worship of our Church, under the ministrations of Mr. Peter Williams, jun. one of their own colour, who had been recently admitted to deacons' orders. Happily, the building was insured; and the insurance money, with some additional contributions, for which, the congregation being generally in low circumstances, they must trust to public beneficence, will enable them to erect a structure of brick, instead of the one of wood, which was consumed. The building is nearly completed, and it will give me great pleasure to see assembled in it the decent and devout congregation whom I have often witnessed in the former edifice. There is every prospect that the spiritual condition of the people of colour, belonging to our communion, in the city of New-York, will be essentially improved by this arrangement of their forming a distinct congregation, under the judicious, zealous, and prudent ministrations of their present pastor.

On Friday, December 21, being the festival of St. Thomas, in St. Michael's Church, Bloomingdale, I admitted the Rev. Wm. Richmond, deacon, the officiating minister of that church and St. James's, to the order of priests.

On Wednesday, the 6th of March, in Trinity Church, New-York, I admitted the Rev.Wm.H.De Lancey, deacon, minister of St. Thomas's Church, Mamaroneck, Westchester county, to the order of priests. Mr. De Lancey was soon after appointed assistant minister to the RightRev. rector of the united churches, Christ Church, St. Peter's, and St. James's, Philadelphia, and has removed to that city.

In the month of March, it gave me great pleasure to lay, with suitable religious solemnities, the corner stone of a new building for the parish of Christ Church, in the city of New-York. This congregation, one of the first organized in that city since the revolutionary war, and which, for several years, has been under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Lyell, have worshipped in a building in Annstreet, which requiring very extensive repairs, the parish resolved to erect a new edifice in a more eligible site, and in a style of greater taste and convenience. The Episcopal churches in New-York have hitherto been erected, either wholly or in great part, at the expense of the vestry of Trinity Church. The condition of the funds of that corporation has compelled them to withhold those liberal grants, by which, in various parts of the state, the congregations and the clergy, previously to the period of my Episcopal administration, were aided. This circumstance, though of course retarding the progress of our church, and operating unfortunately in many cases, has not prevented the formation of new congregations, and the erection of new churches, under cir cumstances which, from the comparatively small number of the individuals composing the congregations, require great effort, great zeal, and great pecuniary liberality. But no new congregations, and no new churches had, as yet, been organized and erected in the city of New-York, independently of the bounty of Trinity Church. The parish of Christ Church has the credit of setting the example of a parish in that city resolved to erect a building, the expense of which will amount to twenty-five thousand dollars, entirely on their own responsibility. This, indeed, is doing no more than what has been done, in many instances, by other denominations of Christians. It is earnestly to be desired, that the numerous, respectable, and wealthy Episcopalians of NewYork would cease to depend on a bounty which it is now impossible should be extended, and would meet the demands of the increasing population of the city, and imitate the spirited efforts of other religious communities in erecting new churches.

The ordinance of confirmation was

administered in the ehurches in the city of New-York as follows :

The fourth Sunday in Lent, March 17, a. m. in Trinity Church, 54 confirmed; p. m. in Zion Church, 120 confirmed; on the following Sunday, the 24th, in St. Paul's Chapel, a. m. 71 confirmed; on the next Sunday, the 31st, a. m. at Grace Church, 49 confirmed; p. m. at St. John's Chapel, 77 confirmed; on the third Sunday after Easter, April 25, at St. George's Church, 97 confirmed; the following Sunday, at Christ Church, 45 confirmed; and the next Sunday, at St. Stephen's Church, 130 confirmed; on Sunday, June 2d, at St. Mark's Church, 19 confirmed.

On Wednesday, May 1, the festival of St. Philip and St. James, I held an ordination in Trinity Church, NewYork, and admitted Alonzo P. Potter, at that time tutor in Union College, Schenectady, to the order of deacons. This gentleman has since been elected professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in that institution.

On Ascension-day, the 16th of May, I consecrated to the service of Almighty God, the new church of St. Luke's, in the city of New-York; having the pleasure, on this occasion, of the attendance and participation in the services of the Right Rev. Bishop Brownell, of Connecticut. This church is situated in that part of the city of New-York which is called Greenwich. The building is a neat and commodious edifice, of moderate dimensions. The desk, the pulpit, and the chancel are constructed with great judgment and taste; and the chancel is so elevated in front of the former, that the congregation may see with convenience all the services performed there. The congregation of St. Luke's was organized about two years since, and has been gradually increasing under the services of its rector, from thirty families to more than double that nunber. The lay gentlemen who associated for the building of this church deserve great credit for their zealous and persevering exertions; and it is much to be desired that their example should beimitated by others, and that new churches might thus be erected in other parts of the city where they are much needed. On the next day, Friday, at an ordi

nation in St. John's Chapel, New-York, Manton Eastburn, of that city, was admitted to the order of deacons.

On the following Sunday, in the afternoon, confirmation was administered in St. Luke's Church to 33 persons.

In the month of June I held confirmation in St. Peter's Church, Westchester, and confirmed 11 persons; and in Trinity Church, New-Rochelle, and confirmed 16 persons.

On the 27th of June last, I held an ordination in St. James's Church, Goshen, Orange county, and admitted the Rev. James P. Cotter, deacon, the officiating minister of that church and St. Andrew's, Coldenham, to the order of priests. On the next day I performed divine service in this latter church, in the morning, and, in the afternoon, at the village of Montgomery.

On the sixth Sunday after Trinity, the 14th of July, in St. George's Church, Flushing, the rite of confirmation was administered to 60 persons. On the next day, Monday, I consecrated the new church in Jamaica, Long-Island, which the respectable congregation of Grace Church, in that village, one of the oldest in the state, had erected on the site of their former edifice. The church is remarkably neat and handsome; and the chancel, the desk, and the pulpit, are so conveniently arranged as to accommodate all the worshippers with a full view of the chancel. In this part of the church the Episcopal solemnities, and some of the most interesting parochial offices are celebrated; and yet, in almost all the old churches, and in many of the new ones, it is so low, or otherwise so placed, as to be concealed from the great body of the congregation. It would be very desirable that this defect should be remedied; and I am gratified to find, in several of the new churches, that the chancel is elevated, and placed in full view of the congrega

tion.

On the 9th Sunday after Trinity, August 4, in St. John's Church, NewYork, I admitted Thomas K. Peck, Levi S. Ives, and William S. Irving, who had pursued their theological studies in the diocesan seminary in that city, and the two latter, subsequently, in the general institution, to the holy

order of deacons. And it gives me pleasure to mention, that these gentlemen immediately entered on their duties in the western parts of the state. Mr. Peck, as missionary at Onondaga, in the place of Mr. Wilcox, whose health required his removal; Mr. Ives, at Batavia; and Mr. Irving, as officiating minister at Le Roy, both in the county of Genesee.

I had made arrangements for per forming various Episcopal acts in the congregations in the northern part of the state, in the Black River and St. Lawrence country, and to the westward, but have been prevented by a dispensation of Providence, in an illness of some weeks continuance, from which I have just recovered.

In addition to the particulars already mentioned, the following are to be no ticed:

In consequence of the establishment of the general theological seminary in the city of New-York, this diocess has received the valuable accession of the Rev. Dr. Turner, and the Rev. Dr. Wilson, professors in that institution.

The Rev. Mr. Pardee has removed to Oswego, from the missionary station at Manlius, Onondaga county, which is now filled by the Rev. Mr. Dyer, from the diocess of Connecticut. The Rev. Lawson Carter has taken the missionary station at Ogdensburgh. The Rev. Mr. Shaw has removed to the diocess of Maryland; and the congregation at Sacket's-Harbour, where he officiated, is now supplied by the occasional services of the Rev. Mr. Rogers, the missionary at Turin. The Rev. Phineas L. Whipple, deacon, officiates as missionary at Fairfield, Herkimer county; and the Rev. Moses Burt, deacon, at Granville and Hampton, Washington county, in the place of the Rev. Mr. Jewett, long the active missionary in those places, who has removed to the diocess of Connecticut. The Rev. Ravaud Kearney has resigned the charge of the church at New-Rochelle, and the Rev. Lewis P. Bayard that of Eastchester, and the latter gentleman is now the rector of the church at New-Rochelle. The Rev. Charles W. Hamilton has resigned the charge of the church at Duanesburgh, and the Rev. Mr. Phinney officiates in a congregation recently organized at Ithaca, at the head of the Cayuga lake, in the county of Tompkins. The Rev. Nathaniel Huse has resumed the charge of the churches at Richfield and Paris, and the Rev. Amos G. Baldwin officiates as missionary at Sandy-Hill, and some other places.

I have also to record the admission, this day, to the order of deacons, of Richard Bury and William L. Johnson. The following are candidates for orders:-George M. Robinson, Eleazar Williams, Roosevelt.Johnson, Augustus G. Danby, David Osborne, Henry N. Hotchkiss, Seth W. Beardsley, Richard Salmon, Orsimus H. Smith, Marvin Cady, W. W. Botswic, Edward K. Fowler, Augustus L. Converse, Burton H. Hecox, W. C. Meade, Samuel Morse, Edward Neufville, jun. Henry W. Duchachet, Cornelius R. Duffie, Lewis Bixly, William R. Whittingham. There are several preparing for orders in the academy at Geneva, and elsewhere, who are not yet admitted candidates for orders.

At the last Convention a resolution was passed, pledging the Convention to concur in any plan for consolidating the diocesan seminary with any general seminary established by the General Convention in the state of New-York, on certain conditions; and with the provision that the terms should be approved by the Bishop of the diocess, and the clerical and lay delegates to the General Convention; and also by the trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Theological Education Society in the state of New-York, or the board of managers acting under their authority. The plan of consolidation in the constitution of a general seminary, permanently established in the state of New-York, which was adopted by the General Convention, has received the approbation specified in the resolution of the last Convention, and the seminary has gone into operation in the city of New-York, and a branch school at Geneva. It may be proper, as a matter of form, that this Convention, agreeably to the pledge given by the last Convention, should concur in the plan of consolidation.

This arrangement was the result of a happy spirit of compromise, which

animated the deliberations of the Gene ral Convention. Its adoption called forth the liveliest emotions of pleasure in the members. They cherished the persuasion that the plan of the general seminary then adopted, would unite the efforts of all parts of the Church in its support, and that it would thus assume an importance worthy of the high station which our Church occupies; and not only furnish her with a ministry of learning, piety, and zeal, but also greatly contribute to secure her purity, unity, and peace. It is most earnestly to be desired that no circumstances may occur to disappoint these gratifying expectations, and that Episcopalians generally, viewing this institution as one of the most powerful instruments, under God, of extending our Church, and of thus advancing the interests of pure religion, may afford it that liberal support which will be essential to its extensive and permanent dignity, prosperity, and usefulness.

As connected with this subject, it is with the highest gratification that I inform you of the incorporation of a college at Geneva, in this state. With the exception of Columbia College, which, eminently useful and respectable as it is, must, from obvious circumstances, accommodate almost solely the citizens of New-York, the colleges of this state are under the management of non-Epis copalians. Extending our views to the other states of the Union, the numerous colleges that are established in various parts, with increasing funds and influence, are, with one or two exceptions, under the same control. The fact is an alarming one, and were it not for the very peculiar circumstances of depression and difficulty under which she has laboured, and which rendered all her exertions necessary for providing the means essential to her existence, would be a disgraceful one to our Church. The union between science and religion, and their reciprocal influences, are so intimate and powerful, that no religious community can flourish where that union is not recognized, and that influence maintained in literary institutions and colleges subject to its paramount control. There is no instance of any universities or colleges in the Christian world, in which some religious denomination has not directly or indirectly predominating influence. The causes of this may be traced to the intimate union between science and religion, and to principles deeply seated in human nature. And it is believed that no universities or colleges, whatever may be their professions, will long be managed on any other footing. But, without digressing into these general views, it is surely obvious that episcopalians, in common with other Christian denominations, ought to have colleges in which their candidates for orders may receive preparatory instruction, and in which they may have an opportunity of educating their sons under circumstances most favourable to their being confirmed in those principles and views of religious truth, maintained by the church of which they are members.

An eminently favourable opportunity of obtaining a college of this description is now afforded. The regents of the university in this state, recognizing the right of all religious denominations to colleges of their own; and viewing, in the competition thus excited, results highly favourable to the general interests of science, have, with great liberality, granted conditional charters for two colleges, one at Ithaca, and the other at Geneva: the former of which, it is understood, will be under Methodist influence, and the latter, under that of our own church. Not that there is to be exacted any religious test for office, or any exclusion from the benefit of these institutions of those of other denominations, or any restraint imposed on the religious principles of the students, or any obstacles presented to their worshipping where they may think proper. But it is presumed that, without infringing on the rights or privileges of others, these institutions will be managed as other institutions are, with an especial reference to the interests of those religious denominations who have the principal control over them.

In my address at the last convention, I took the liberty to allude to the eminent advantages of Geneva as the site of a literary institution, and I much question whether, in any part of the

VOL. VII.

continent, a place can be found, uniting so many advantages for a college which is to accommodate episcopalians generally. Central in its situation in reference to the western and atlantic states; immediately contiguous to the canal, the great water communication between them; in a country that is destined to be the garden of America, affording from its soil the richest products, and in its numerous lakes and diversified surface, the most interesting and picturesque views, the healthy village of Geneva unites all the local requisites for the site of a literary institution. Our church has now an opportunity of obtaining a college that may be made, in all respects, to answer her wishes; and much is it to be desired that episcopalians, laying aside all local jealousies and partialities, should unite their liberal and zealous efforts in the establishment of an institution that will be honourable to their church, and productive of incalculable and lasting benefit. It is believed that the institution may be so organized as to present powerful inducements to general support.

A Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society was organized at the last General Convention, and is recommended to the patronage of the members of our church; and so far as may be compatible with the claims of this diocess, where there is so extensive a field for missionary exertions, I trust this patronage will be extended. I should much fear, however, that any plan of constant and permanent operation, such as the constituting of auxiliary societies, would essentially interfere with the missionary system of this diocess, which has been so successful in its operation, and to which we are indebted for the organization of many new congregations, and for the resuscitation of some which were nearly extinct. In order to increase the missionary fund, the last convention provided, by a canon, for the formation of parochial associations, or societies; and it is hardly to be expected that our parishes would liberally support more than one association or society for missionary purposes, or if constituted, that they would not materially interfere with each

2

1

« AnteriorContinua »