Frederick Brückbauer

“ Never has this been a selfish, self-contained organism, but a living, throbbing influence that went out beyond the shadow of its gray walls, prodigal in giving to others the good things of the gospel that were fostered there. Many a church at home and abroad has cause to bless Market Street for the men and women that she brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
"We are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, a great multitude, [106] which no man could number." All who have come have felt the spell of the place, for in its dim seclusion still speak the men of old. ”

“ It is peopled with a long procession of saints and sages, mariners and merchants, scholars and poets, now of the church triumphant: memories that consecrate the souls of men and banish ignoble thoughts. Here is an altar sacred to hosts of men and women, the holy of holies of their noblest aspirations.
"Mark well her bulwarks, that ye may tell it to the generation following." As the years roll on children and children's children will arise and call those blessed whose fidelity thru a century has preserved for them a holy place where "men still renew their youth." ”

“ One of the early steps was the establishment of a church house at 52 Henry Street. Mr. Denison said: "It was not an institution—it was not even a settlement; it was simply a house where people lived. The time is gone by for men and women to come down as outsiders and pry into the homes of poverty and sin, and [84] then return to their own life far away. One must live in a community, one must be a neighbor." ”

“ In a day when the young people had no outlet whatever for their active spirits the Lylian Association became a training school for the church. The debates of that day will never be forgotten, notably when the Lylians wrested the laurel wreath from the Goldeys at Clarendon Hall, and that other one, when Dr. Hopper suddenly appeared at a meeting and after an impromptu debate "showing every evidence of being well prepared," as he said, some consciences were ill at ease. ”

“ Cuyler tells how he "used to make nocturnal explorations of some of those satanic quarters" to keep public interest awake in the mission work at the Five Points. New Yorkers who remember the House of Industry of thirty years ago and who now look at Mulberry Bend Park may well thank the old Market Street church that the Cow Bay, Bandit's Roost, the Old Brewery and Cut Throat Alley are [41] things of the past, and that the Five Points are known to this later day only as a name. No second Charles Dickens will cross the ocean to tell us that "all that is loathsome, drooping and decayed is here." ”

“ There was an upper room at the Sailors' Home that meant much to many men, and there Borella did a work that resulted in great acquisitions to the church. It is true that many "going down to the sea in ships" were never heard of again, and years afterwards nearly 400 names of seamen were at one [60] time removed from the roll by the session. But again and again word came from all parts of the earth and in many languages from men that called the church blessed. ”

“ Thus began the Lylian Association that for twenty years was a mainstay of the church and in its days of dire necessity was a vital factor. From it came the young men that in later years were trustees, and it was the opening wedge that was to transform the whole church work. ”

“ Opposite the church on the northeast corner was a large and select private school. At 11 Market Street later was a smaller one, headed by a German patriot, whose son-in-law was one of the great generals during the Rebellion.
In his address in the church at the Eightieth Anniversary, Dr. Cuyler called it "fighting the adversary of souls and geography," for even in Dr. Ferris's time there were indications of waning strength because of "the continued emigration of the more substantial class of church members from the down-town districts of the city uptown." ”

“ While the Market Street Reformed Church was fighting its last fight, a little congregation had come to life in the parlor of a sailor's boarding house. It was intended chiefly for "seamen and others," the "others" referring mostly to those who no longer sailed the seas. The first meeting was held June 7, 1864. Those were the days of sailing vessels; the New York of the thirties had been the ship building center of the world, especially from Pike Street up. ”

“ A case in point is the Allen Street Presbyterian church. They had sold their building near Grand Street and for a time worshipt in the Market Street church. But in spite of earnest solicitation they erected an unfortunate structure in an unfortunate location in Forsyth Street. After a short existence there they united with the Fourteenth Street church, and that church is no more!
Even the strong Madison Square church no longer preserves its identity. ”

“ The church pointed out that 29 of the 57 churches in New York Presbytery had received less members during the preceding year, 16 churches had fewer members, 14 churches raised less money, and that 6 churches made a worse showing than Sea and Land in every single item reported on. There were then only 4 Protestant churches for 60,000 people. The battle was on, and the bitterness of the Briggs trial had not yet subsided,—the same Briggs who as a young man belonged to Market Street church. ”

“ Then there was the Gossip's Journal, provoking endless parliamentary wrangles, and perhaps helping to develop later on an editor. Memorable were the [67] Young People's Conventions of 1886 and 1887, and Lylians will never forget the patriot Kromm, Spoopendyke Shreve, the poet laureate and a dozen others. The Fourth of July picnics at Pamrapo and Nyack are happy memories for many.
Like the old Market Street stoop with its fancy iron posts and rails the Lylian Association has seen its day, but it amply justified its existence. ”

“ Mr. Denison set out to prove the right of the church to existence and he did it. He did more: he brought no end of friends that remained to the church. The thought of Cuyler to establish a mission, [83] of Parkhurst to affiliate the church with a stronger one, was developed under Denison into an organization amply supported by the whole church, working out by itself its own local problems. It was no longer a self-evident proposition that a church not able to support itself must go. ”

“ Hopper's time the work of the church for seamen reached its highest development, and that was due to Christian A. Borella. He was a missionary of the American Seamen's Friend Society for twenty-one years, stationed at the Sailors' Home in Cherry Street, and surely a man of God. Borella never came to church or prayer-meeting alone: he always had men in tow. ”

“ But the indefatigable Cuyler postponed the evil day, and for seven years [35] of intensest activity he remained in Market Street.
To quote Dr. Cuyler: "I looked around me and saw there were a good many substantial families that could support a church and East Broadway swarmed with young men."
"Here was the lord of the manor, the nephew of Colonel Rutgers, Wm. B. Crosby. What a devoted Christian he was. His good old gray head moved up to the pew every Sunday, rain or shine. There was a deacons' pew, and in the center sat the best-known man in New York, Judge Joseph Hoxie. ”

“ A separate Sunday school is maintained, but with the idea of gradual amalgamation, a process that is also proving its wisdom along other lines of the church's work.
The advice and active support of men great in business have for many years been at the disposal of the church. From [103] the days of Matthias Bruen, the merchant princes of this great city have been loyal friends, to mention only Hanson K. Corning, father, daughter, grandson, William E. Dodge—for three generations,—and John Crosby Brown and his family. ”

“ His services to the Dutch church and his munificence brought about a change of name of the college at New Brunswick from Queens to Rutgers College. It is true the sum given was only $5,000 and Rutgers was one of the richest men in New York. In our day when only billions seem to count we may well hark back to the days of simpler things. ”

“ Denison leaves? Why, what we always do at [92] Sea and Land: the best we know how."
Dr. William Adams Brown said: "None know better than the people of Sea and Land how costly the contribution which they have been called to make to the spiritual welfare of a sister city."
It was H. Roswell Bates, who, in the Spring Street Presbyterian church, worked out Mr. Denison's plans, as he had helped to formulate them at the old Market Street church while he was resident there. ”

“ At every pier sail boats were moored, coming from all over the world, and as they dismist their crews on arrival it left the men on shore unoccupied until their meager wages were gone, when they were crimped for another voyage. ”

“ Van Dyke and a hundred others.
University extension ideas were anticipated in courses of study, the men of the church were put to work writing independent Sunday school lessons, the teachers had pedagogical talks and studied Biblical masterpieces. The girls were taken to sing in Rutgers Square and it was not always safe to do it either. The Upper Room was establisht in Rutgers Street, then the Lighthouse in Water Street, a fine stereopticon was in frequent use. The Men's Club, under George M. Bailey, prospered like the green bay [87] tree, drawing men of all classes. ”

“ Ever since Presbyterians and others have been proud of the outpost the united church is maintaining at Market and Henry Streets. It is a happy memory that all of the men who in Presbytery supported sale resolutions became staunch friends of the church.
Mr. Denison was not ordained when first he came to Market Street, but this was done later at Williamstown in the College Chapel. On entering New York Presbytery his installation as regular pastor [89] of the Church of the Sea and Land was effected March 23, 1899. ”

“ Chittenden, Bartlett, McKee, Purdy and a host of others.
Small wonder that from among men like these great institutions should come, that the Park Bank and the Nassau Bank should be founded by Market Street church men. The annual pew rents were $5,000, then a large sum.
Perhaps it was their very farsightedness that made the people of the church think of moving uptown. The "brownstone front" was drawing people northward, and Dr. Cuyler started a movement "to erect a new edifice on Murray Hill, and to retain the old building in Market Street as an auxiliary mission chapel." ”

“ The American Seamen's Friend Society sprang into being to improve the situation, and erected a fine building in Cherry Street, to give the men surroundings that were clean physically and spiritually. With the present federal laws for the protection of seamen the condition in the sixties can hardly be appreciated. ”

“ The years have brought some changes; better heating than the first stoves,—the first coal bill was paid in February, 1832, and a new furnace cost $150 in 1848; better lighting than in 1819,—they had no gas till May, 1843,—but there have always been men who studied to maintain the quiet simplicity and beauty of the house, never more marked than in the days of its centennial.
The Reformed Protestant Dutch church in Market Street was "dedicated to the worship of Almighty God" on June 27, 1819, the Rev. Dr. ”

“ As in the case of the new Sixty One all moneys needed were in hand before they were required. On every occasion the people of the church themselves have contributed amounts that were sacrifices considering their limited means. ”

“ William B. Crosby, Elbert A. Brinkerhoff and Thomas Morrow were chosen as deacons. On November 28, 1819, they were ordained. On the day following they met at the mansion of Colonel Rutgers, when he was chosen president of the consistory. On January 2, 1821, the property was finally deeded to the consistory.
The first minister of the church was William McMurray, D.D., "who with fidelity and zeal" served from 1820 to May, 1835.
Dr. McMurray was born of Scotch-Irish parents in Washington in 1783, and graduated from Union College in 1804, studying theology under the famous J. M. Mason. ”

“ There sat Jacob Westervelt, the mayor of New York, and he boasted that he was the only member of the Dutch Church who could read a Dutch Bible."
Theodore Ledyard Cuyler
[36]
The galleries were packed with young men. One, a young Irish boy, Robert McBurney, became the great secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association. Charles Briggs was another young member, and around him later raged the bitterest theological controversy of the century. ”

“ Shaw spent considerable money fixing up the lecture room and in 1896 a new roof was put on the church at an expense of $600.
Mr. Denison made a tour of the world, being absent from November, 1900, to October, 1901.
Among the men working under Mr. Denison was Horace Day, a young theological student who gave his life after a brief but intense period of work.
In Mr. Denison's time, too, falls the best work of Mrs. Eliza E. Rockwell. She was indefatigable, beloved of many, none too far gone to merit her attention, nothing too hard to do. She, too, laid down her life as a sacrifice. Even Mr. ”

“ Shaw died December 29, 1902, having supported the kindergarten for eleven years.
Shaw Memorial Kindergarten
Another departure was an open air meeting establisht by Mr. Sproull, gathering at the church door Sunday afternoons. First things are hard things.
But a storm was brewing. Uptown churches needed money, their pastors were influential in the denomination and it seemed to many good business to dispose of the Market Street church. ”