HISTORICAL SERMON

Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, October 21, 1897.

HISTORICAL SERMON

PREACHED BY REV. AMOS WATKINS, OCT. 17, 1897.

Upon the Occasion of the Observance of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the Founding or Grace Episcopal Church in Cortland, N. Y.

   It is now more than fifty years ago since a few churchmen and churchwomen of Cortland were holding the first services of our church in this village in the building "known as the Universalist church." It was a beginning, the day of very small things, and the supporters of that early movement must have appreciated the force of the old saying, "Every beginning in difficult." They were as yet unorganized; they were without that feeling of life and strength which comes from organization with a greater central life; we may surely sympathize with them if they had some doubt of their movement having life enough in it for permanence and growth.

   The minutes of the first meeting called to organize the church in this village show that it was held July 7, 1847; that there was "some discussion as to the propriety of organizing a church according to law at this time," and that without taking further action, the meeting adjourned to meet at the same place on July 17. On that date the adjourned meeting was held, and, "some doubt still existing in the minds of some of the persons in attendance as to the propriety of organizing a church according to law," an adjournment was had to Aug. 28. It was at this third meeting attended by twelve gentlemen that the first definite step was taken when it was on motion

   Resolved, That the persons here present do proceed to incorporate themselves as a religious society in communion with the Protestant Episcopal church in the United States of America, and that the said church and congregation be known in law by the name and title of "The Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of Grace church in the town of Cortlandville in the county of Cortland."

   The meeting then proceeded to choose two wardens and eight vestrymen. At the same meeting a certificate of incorporation was directed to be prepared. That document was accordingly drawn up by E. Maxwell Leal, who moved the resolution to incorporate, and he writes: "It having been referred to me to prepare a certificate of incorporation containing the proceedings of the meeting heretofore recorded in this book, I did on the 10th day of September, 1847, make out such certificate, which was afterwards signed by Wm. H. Shankland, the chairman of the last meeting, and by Lyman Reynolds and the undersigned, and was witnessed by Harvey S. Brown and Hiram Crandall; and the same being afterwards acknowledged by the said Wm. H. Shankland, Lyman Reynolds and the undersigned according to law, I presented it to the clerk of the county of Cortland, by whom it was duly recorded in his office on the 14th day of October, 1847, from which time the corporation of Grace church of Cortlandville dates its existence."

    Thus far the book of records which I have been reading the last few days deals with the minutes and with the results of the proceedings of that first meeting of July 7, adjourned to July 17, again adjourned to Aug. 28, 1847. Minutes are apt to be dry reading. They are plain, prosaic, I might almost say, cold-blooded statements. They have a single admirable purpose. That purpose is to preserve such a record as will show that proceedings were regular, and that the steps taken were orderly and legal. It would in many cases perhaps obscure and defeat that necessary end if the minutes of meetings should, besides stating the order and results of business, attempt also to hand down to the curious or to the sympathetic eyes of future readers a transcript of the feelings and emotions of the participants therein. Yet those sentimental features are not always quite kept out even from these dry business records. "After some discussion as to the propriety of organizing a church according to law at this time" and "some doubts still existing in the minds of some of the persons present as to the propriety of organizing a church according to law." Such phrases as these, though no more than enough to account for the adjournment which was taken, hardly conceal the presence and the working of fears and cautions on the one part, of hopes, resolutions, enthusiasms on the other. Face to face with an important and to some extent, a decisive step these differences of temperament and feeling always appear, and they are reflected even in the matter of fact pages of a book of minutes.

   From the date Oct. 14, 1847, the book contains, not the minutes of a meeting called to organize, but the records of the vestry of Grace church of Cortlandville. It says little, of course, about the "something attempted, something done," month after month, year after year by the worshipers and workers of the church. On Aug. 10, 1848, the clerk of the vestry procured the record of the organization of the church from the clerk of Cortland county with his certificate of its having been duly recorded endorsed thereon, and forwarded the same to the Right Rev. Wm. H. DeLancey, bishop, for the purpose of having the church received into the convention of the diocese of western New York.

   The next date I wish to refer to is Oct. 16, 1858. During the ten years or more up to that time the congregation had worshiped in several church edifices or other buildings—in the courthouse, for instance, or in the old academy, or in the Universalist, or Methodist, or Baptist church. The Easter elections had been duly held, and delegates to the diocesan convention yearly chosen. In the minutes of a meeting held Oct. 16, 1858, is another of those passages which record something of livelier interest than the steps of business proceedings, which give a hint and glimpse of struggles and self denial, and reveal somewhat of the life and growth which ten years had brought to pass. I quote verbatim from the records 1858, Oct. 16:

   At a meeting of the vestry this day held at the office of J. A. Schermerhorn,

it having heretofore been resolved to erect a church building, and endeavors having been made to obtain the means necessary thereto, Horace Dibble senior warden presiding, appointed as building committee: Josiah P. Ingraham, William O. Barnard, James A. Schermerhorn.

   J. A. SCHERMERHORN, Clerk.

   It has been my duty to pronounce the hopeful glorious words of the "Service for the Burial of the Dead" over the bodies of two members of that first building committee. Josiah P. Ingraham was buried here in January, 1894 and Wm. O. Barnard but a few weeks ago, the 30th of August. I hold in my hand the original subscription list. Many of the surnames are still heard among us, others are spoken only when some of the older residents of the village fall into reminiscent vein.

   Names on the original subscription list, the heading of which is in the handwriting of the late Jonathan Hubbard: Jonathan Hubbard, J. A. Schermerhorn, Zal Fairchild, J. P. Ingraham, Hiram Crandall, D. M. Henriques, Wm. O. Barnard, Horace Dibble, W. E. Lewis, Mrs. A. M. Hawk, J. D. Robinson, John Rose, W. H. Warren, Wm. H. DeLancey, Dr. M. Frank, Calvin L. Hathaway, Ellen Beldin, Joseph Reynolds, W. W. Fanning, Horace Baker, Orrin Welch, Daniel Bradford, Mrs. P. H. Benedict, W. W. Demming, Arabella H. Welch, L. C. Allis, P. D. Cornwall, Elijah Hubbard, Theodore Cornwell, A. Gallagher, S. G. Hathaway, H. L. Green, J. A. Graham, H. P. Goodrich, C. C. Taylor, Charles Foster, Mrs. Wheeler, Loren F. Tompson, O. N. Doud, Allen B. Smith, S. E. Welch, H. O. Jewett, G. N. Copeland, Harriet Welch, P. B. Davis, J. C. Pomeroy.

   On Dec. 21, 1859, the vestry acknowledged the gift of a communion service from Messrs. Horace and Hamilton White of Syracuse, and of a set of church books from Andrew Dickson of New York, all former residents of the village of Cortland. The church building must have been finished about this time, for shortly afterwards, March 12, I860, the vestry for the first time paid insurance on the church building and furniture. Bishop DeLancey consecrated the edifice July 13, 1860, services having been held in it for some months previous.  

   The business records of the parish bear testimony, all the more forcible for being unimpassioned and impartial, to an important fact to which I have more than once, in times past, called your attention. It is a fact which ought to illumine for us all our view of duty. It is a fact which, I do not hesitate to say, ought to deal a death blow to all the narrowness of parochialism, and make us resolve not to circumscribe our church life by the bounds and needs of our own parish, but rather that as we share in, so we will also contribute to the life and strength of the diocese, to the life and strength of a national church.

   I read in the records of the vestry at this period that they looked to the stipend from the mission board of the diocese to help pay the expenses of the parish. If this was so as late as 1860 it was certainly so in the earlier days of its existence. Nor did this aid cease at that time. As late as 1872 the same state of things existed as in 1860. So that I am sure I shall not overstate the benefit that this parish has received from the board of missions, if I say that for more than twenty-five years that board gave to the vestry, the guardians of the business interests of the parish, substantial and most welcome assistance. When that aid was at length withdrawn there were, no doubt in some hearts, fears as to the future welfare of the parish. No matter when such support may be taken away, it will seem to some that they lose it at the worst time. But the parish has shown that it can maintain its life and efficiency without a stipend from the board of missions of the diocese.

   But I must go a great deal further than that. It is a cynical, contemptuous view of gratitude which defines it as "the sense of favors to come," and along with the expectation of further advantage, parts also with the obligation of gratitude itself. We ought never to forget that, but for the missions of the diocese, the struggle of this parish years ago would have been harder than it was, and have seemed much more hopeless than it did. As those missions helped us in time past so ought we now to help maintain and enlarge their efficiency that, year by year they may do for others as once they did for us. Look at this subject fairly, my friends, as Christians and churchmen, and you will not fail to agree with me that the relation to the board of missions which this parish ought now to sustain, the relation of helper, is a more blessed and sacred relation than the former one, of beneficiary.

   Understand me, I am not in the least complaining. Today were an ill time for jarring themes. I am only taking advantage of this opportunity to put before you, from a clear and attractive point of view, what seems to me our duty in the matter of diocesan missions, that we may all realize it personally, vividly, and do it more helpfully in the future than we have done in the past of our parochial life.

   In 1868 the vestry elected delegates to the primary convention of the new diocese of Central New York which had in hand the important work of choosing a bishop. Wm. H. Crane, Wm. H. Shankland, and Chas. Turner were the representatives of the parish at that convention.

   To the first annual convention of the diocese, held in June, 1869, Horace Dibble and Charles Parker were chosen delegates. In 1871 H. B. Hubbard was for the first time chosen by the vestry to be the treasurer of the parish, a difficult and delicate position to which the qualifications of the incumbent are so admirably adjusted, that in the course of rather more than a quarter of a century, I believe no competitor or objector has ever arisen to oppose Mr. Hubbard's reelection.

   At a meeting on April 29, 1873, the vestry resolved to buy a Hook & Hastings organ, and appointed Mr. A. Mahan, elected on the vestry at the Easter meeting just before, a committee to make the purchase. A few days later it was

   "Resolved, That the church be extended about three feet east to make room for the organ, and that Mr. Hooker, Mr. Mahan and Mr. Benjamin be appointed a committee to make the necessary improvements and alterations."

   It would take too long for me to review at any length the proceedings of the vestry during the last twenty-four or twenty-five years. The church building needed now and again to be repaired, and committees were appointed under whose direction repairs were done from time to time. The records show, however, that the vestry were not in favor of spending much money on repairing the first building. In April 1886 it was

   ''Resolved, That the rector appoint a committee (of which the rector shall be a member ex officio) whose duty it shall be to canvass for subscriptions towards erecting a new and more commodious church edifice."

   The appointed members of that committee were gentlemen well known to us all: Mr. Webb, Mr. Mager and Mr. Hubbard. The land on which the old building stood had been long ago generously given by William R. Randall, A. R. Huntington and Wilhelmina Randall and the conveyance is dated March 27, 1860. At the time when the committee named above were soliciting subscriptions for a new building, Mrs. M. Linda Miller, moved thereto no doubt by her own love of the church and by the remembrance of the devotion of her father and mother to the parish of Grace church in its earlier days, added to the old lot a piece of land on the south 15 ft. by 50 ft.

   It was a little more than twelve months after the subscription committee began its arduous but successful labors that, at a vestry meeting held April 25, 1887, on motion of Mr. G. L. Warren it was

   "Resolved, That the Rev. Mr. Arthur, and Messrs. Hubbard, Benjamin, Mahan, and Mager be the building committee."

   Just before that time, Easter day, April 10, the old building had been deconsecrated by formal sentence of Bishop Huntington, who on April 12, 1888, consecrated the present building to the worship and service of Almighty God.

   It will not be necessary for me t o continue this imperfect review beyond that happy event in the history of the parish. But there are some things I have not yet touched on in this sketch, to which let me now refer. Over and over again the records of the vestry speak with thankfulness of generous and timely assistance given them by the ladies of the parish. A sewing society was very early formed by the women of Grace church and such an organization, whether sewing society or guild by name has done much good in the past, and has deserved the gratitude of the whole parish. I trust that as hitherto, so henceforward patient, well-directed energy will be the mark of that organization, and that the crown of usefulness and good works will be theirs in the future as it has been in the past.

   The Young People's society, of comparatively recent organization, has done much to win the esteem and gratitude of vestry and people.

   For many years the congregation enjoyed the advantage of a quartet choir who assisted the services of the church with music or unusual excellence at very little expense to the parish. The present chorus choir has deserved in the eighteen months since its first appearance the gratitude of the congregation for its faithfulness and efficiency.

   I have taken no text for this review sermon. Had I chosen one expressive of my own feelings as I have read the records of the half century gone, it would have been the words of the prophet Samuel—"Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." If, while finding the grounds of thankfulness in the past, I had thought well only to use it as a moment's resting place before together we turn our faces to the coming years, I should have bid you think of St. Paul's review and St. Paul's resolve—"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I press toward the mark."

   So we, after we have considered the past, should be able to draw from it a lesson for the future. Shall it not be the lesson of St. Paul's rule, "I press toward the mark?" We have not done all we might have done hitherto, and for those of us who have done the most there is still something we can do "with all our might."

   In different departments of church work more might be done if these were really esteemed as of any great value. Take, for instance, the Sunday-school. Parents and sponsors themselves often do not take care to teach the children those "things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul's health." If they delegate that precious duty to the Sunday-school they should at least see to it that the children attend regularly and should interest themselves in their progress and behavior. The St. Agnes guild, again, is an organization which deserves the practical sympathy and support of the parish, especially of the mothers of girls up to 12 or 14 years of age. It is entirely missionary in its work, and its members learn while young that the church calls upon its members for helpfulness and self-denial.

   Or, looking at the worship rather than the work of the church there is here a high mark to be reached, more regularity, and the more earnest participation of a greater number in prayer, and praise, and the sacrament of the holy communion. And still pressing on, think of Christ, not changing like the work nor passing away as will the worship of the church on earth, but greatest, best, eternal, "the head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all." To that mark we all must press, in everything, through everything, by faith, and obedience, and love.

   The thought has come to me many times during the last few days how many generous, faithful, self-denying men and women—both those whose names have been mentioned in this review, and more of whom I have not spoken particularly— have given largely of themselves, their time, their care and their substance, in behalf of this parish. And it seems to me that of many of them we may say though not in the exact words yet in the very spirit of Coleridge's beautiful lines:

   "The knight's bones are dust,

   And his good sword rust,

   His soul is with the saints, I trust."

   For many of them rest from their labors, but their works are with us unto this day. We thank God for them. Let us take courage from their example, and try to do our duty as they tried to do theirs, for Jesus Christ's sake.

BOARD OF TRADE.

Discuss the Matter of the Test Well for Gas or Oil.

   A meeting of the hoard of managers of the board of trade was held at its office in the Wallace building last night. The principal matter before the board was the test well for gas or oil, which has been proposed to be sunk in Cortland. Its cost was discussed.

   Some questions had been asked of Prof. D. L. Bardwell in regard to the geological structure underlying Cortland and he had promised to look it up. He had also promised to write to the state geologist in regard to the same matter and would report at the next meeting. The reports will be awaited with interest and upon them doubtless rests the decision as to whether any further effort will be made toward securing the funds to sink a well.

BREVITIES.

   —Katie Rooney will be the Opera House attraction on Monday evening,

Nov. 1.

   —The regular meeting of the Sons of Veterans will be held to-morrow evening at 7::i().

   —Chief of Police Linderman has in his possession a bicycle found on the street last night, which the owner may have by calling upon him.

   —Victor Herbert's celebrated Twenty-second Regiment Military band, formerly Gilmore's band, is booked for a matinee at the Opera House on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 16.

   —The St. Vitus Dancing club has decided to give a series of eight parties the coming winter in Taylor hall. The first party will occur on Oct. 29, McDermott's orchestra will furnish the music.

   —New display advertisements to-day are—Dey Bros. & Co., Dry Goods, page 8; C. F. Brown, Prescriptions, page 8; W. J .Perkins, Molasses Kisses, page 6; A. P. T. Elder, "The Light of the World," page 6; Baker & Angell, Sorosis. page 4.

   —Mr. David D. Ufford, a prominent citizen of Cincinnatus, and Miss Harriet P. Whitney of Taylor were married at noon to-day at the home of the bride by Rev. Edson Rogers, pastor of the Congregational church in Cincinnatus in the presence of a few immediate relatives.

   —Mr. Ridgeway Rowley and Mr. Harkness have returned from a few days' fishing at Otisco lake. They brought with them 41 pickerel and 50 pounds of perch and they were all beauties. The STANDARD can also vouch for the fact that they tasted just as good as they looked, for it is indebted to the gentlemen for a sample.

   —A man who has tried a chainless bicycle says the sensation is different from that of the chain wheel. There is no give of the pedals before the wheel begins to move as in the case of a chain, but the power takes hold at once. One feels instinctively that there is no loss of power and the wheel seems to move easier than that with the chain. It is stiffer, too.

   —About 100 Syracusians are planning to go to Ithaca on Saturday to see the Cornell-Princeton football game. A special train will leave Syracuse at 12:15 for Cortland and will go through to Ithaca on the Lehigh Valley. Many are expected to go on the regular train in the morning which passes Cortland at 8:56. The special will reach Syracuse on the return at 9:45 P. M.