The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-03-26

clared upon the offender. Think you the lsw would !,
have been thus strict II the lawgver had not been
persuaded of deep-seated conviction that the act
denounced abhorrent to the universal sentiment
removes the dead, is declared by the laws to be
criminal This application to open Albany street :
cannot view in any other light that an attempt to
disinter the dead from mere wantonness,' Dor
worse motive, the desire Of gain.
Who Is it that asks for the opening Of Albany
street; and for what object? James Boorman, rich
Engsh gentleman, asks that it may be opened, that
ms property may thereby appreciate in value. In
Boorman comedies that it is undoubtedly true'' !
that his property. will be materially enhanced in .
value by opening the proposed street. His counsel
tend that Trinity Church win be entitled to no as
sessment for the land because says the counsel the
ground is dedicated to the purpose of q cemetery;
and on the authority Of the Albany street case in
he believes this church would not be entitled to q
cent Of the assessment Mark this bold project then
displayed in its true c0lors. Mr.. James Boorman
asks for the graves Of our fathers that his land may
may rendered more valuable, and he asks that the
land of the church may be taken for nothing that
he may be made all the richer. No gentleman &C.
cupying Mr. Boorman's position in this matter has q
right to assail.the motives of Trinity Church. he
certainly has done, directly and indirectly in his
own person and by his representatives.
Try the motives Of that body by very simple
Btand0rd:-
Trinity Church, in 1884, was offered sixty-two
thousand dollars for the ground proposed TO be ia
KEN to which the church has merely legal title, as
custodian for the sacred dead inferred her vaults.
Now, II the church were 80 wicked, one would sup.
pose that the most natural thing in the world would
have been for her to have accepted the offer Of sixty
TWO thousand dollars, prove recreant to her trust.
and consent to the opening of the street. which, in
the contrary the church refused the tempting bribe
and preferred, and still prefers, to retain in lieu
thereof the bones of the poor who have been buried
in her ground. And, notwithstanding all this, the
pamphleteer representing and advocating Mr.. BoOr-
mans interest, whoever he may be, charges this
church with avarice pride, and all the deadly SINS
To my mind, the selfdenying constancy Of the
church, in refusing that large sum Of money, and
continuing faithful to her trust, is above praise
Nv. There is another source of law to which |
must beg to call your attention. 1t is found in a
book of paramount authority-the Bible. But some
may say that the Bible is not the law Of the land.
Hear what Lord Chief Justice Best says on the sub
ject / read from the case of Bird VS.. Holbrook, a
Bing., 6Ss) It has been argued" says that emil
nent judge, "it has been argued that the law does
not compel every line of conduct which humanity
religion may require; but there is no act which
Christianity forbids that the law will not reach. If
it were otherwise Christianity would not be, as it
has always been held to be, part of the law Of Eng
constitution of l777, the common law Of England
was adopted and made part of the law of the State
OF New York, and has ever continued to be, and
now is, the law of this State constantly acted upon
in our courts.
That Christianity forbids the dissertation of the
dead requires no argument. Ever since the intro
ducton Of Christianity the remains of the dead have
been held sacred. The advent of religion marked
an entire revolution in the mode of dsposing of the
dead.
The Romans kindled the funeral pyre under the
remains Of deceased friends but when Paul preached
to them, in thrilling tones, the resurrection of the
body and the life everlasting, the converts to the
new faith were carefully placed in the Tufa, in SUBJ
terraneous caverns where the solemn rites Of sepul
ture were performed by the primitive Christians
over their martyred brethren in days Of persecution
and of danger. These caverns still remain, as the
catac0mbs near Rome bear witness. The deliberately
wrought sarcophig, the proud mausoleuns, which
meet the eye of the behOlder on every hand in the
Old Worlda bear silent evidence of the universally
of this sentiment In word, he who can exclaim,
~ know that my Redeemer lveth, and that he shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth and though,
after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall see Goo, he who believes this momen
tous truth must respect the remains of the dead.
But this branch Of the subject more appropriately
belongs to the pulpit than the forum. Permit me,
therefore, to dismiss it with the remark, that the
eloquent sermon of the learned divine, Mr.. Weston,
has developed all that is necessary to be said on that
subject, in its true light. His very text is sufici-
the present occasion. Abraham, the venerable
patriarch purchased land from the children of Heth
for perpetual burying place. It received the NOR
tai remains Of his wife not only, but of Abraham.
were true to their grant, observed it faithfully and
to this day the burial place is kept sacred Our fore
fathers have also purchased perpetual burying place
Trinity churchyard, and it is now sought to be
aiken from us, not by one of ourselves, but by-a
stranger. One, to whom all the glorious associa-
tons of our land are unknown, bids yield up the
ones of our fathers to aid him legitimate source
of profit Shall we yield? No sir, never. L appeal
to you, them not to allow this street to be opened
BY all the glorious memories of the past-by all your
brilliant hopes for the future of country do not
destroy the graves Of our Revolutionary patriots by
every consideration Of public utility let that one
green spot remain Let old Trinity stand intact,
and teach the sublime truths of our holy religion to
the two hundred thousand inhabitants within it's
precincts and may the daily sermons preached there
be continued, and may her dead repose in peace be-
meath the shadows of her lofty spire till the mighty
archangel shall come down from heaven, and shall
open the books and shall set his right foot upon the
sea, and his left foot upon the land and swear, by
Him that liveth forever and ever, that time shall be
no longer
NoTE Al
HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH, IN PETITION FROM
DESCENDANT OF A REVOLUTIONARY OFFICER.
To the Honorable the Common Council of the City of
VI