page_title: Horatio Potter
section_title: St. Peter's Church, Albany: 1833-1854
hierarchical_section_title: Horatio Potter / St. Peter's Church, Albany: 1833-1854
caption_attribution_description: English: Second St. Peter's Episcopal Church building, Albany, NY, USA
context_page_description: Horatio Potter, was an educator and the sixth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.
context_section_description: On February 27, 1833, Potter accepted the rectorship of St. Peter's Church, Albany, New York. He was instituted as rector on Saturday, May 11, 1833. In his first sermon, preached the next day, Potter said, “My brethren, I present myself before you today as your spiritual pastor–as your servant for Jesus' sake! . . . Give me, then, my brethren, I entreat you, your sympathy, your hearty support, and above all your fervent prayers.”
  Potter soon “gained the respect and regard of all his parishioners,” and “a high position” among the men of Albany. In all the “charitable and philanthropic” enterprises, he served not only as a “judicious adviser,” but also as a financial contributor. His ability was also recognized by other clergy. Potter remained as rector of St. Peter's for twenty-one years until his election as provisional bishop of New York in 1854. During his tenure there, “he modernized the church both spiritually and physically.”
  The first act of modernizing the church physically was in 1834 by the purchase of a new organ. This was followed in 1835 by renovating the church building: repairing the floors and pews, painting the interior, a new pulpit, addition of a vestry room, and new lamps. In 1847, a new Rectory was built.
  On June 1, 1835, the parish, having noticed Potter's impaired heath, the Vestry requested Potter to do whatever he thought best to restore his health. Following the Vestry's request, Potter spent the summer of 1835 abroad, principally in England. "He returned much refreshed."
  On November 7, 1837, in Alton, Illinois, a pro-slavery mob killed the abolitionist and newspaper publisher Elijah Parish Lovejoy. In response, on November 26, 1837, Potter preached a sermon in which he defended a free press and opposed slavery. Regarding the latter, he said, “Let us not refuse to think sometimes of the poor slave, whose rights to the products of his own labour, to the care of his own happiness, to the direction of his own physical, intellectual and moral energies are all invaded. . . . Let us not sit down contentedly with the thought, that this train of misery and guilt, this national blot, is to be perpetuated forever.”
  In 1837, Potter declined his election as president of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. Also, in 1837, Potter declined his election as president of Washington College in Maryland.
  On April 25, 1841, Potter was invited to deliver a Discourse on the Death of William Henry Harrison to the New York State Legislature in St. Peter's Church, after the death of President William Henry Harrison. His theme was "Uprightness and Religious Character in Rulers." Rather than a conventional eulogy, Potter's address included “a probing analysis of the evils of political life” and an “eloquent characterization” of Harrison.
  On July 23, 1843, Potter preached a sermon on The Stability of the Church, as Seen in Her History and in Her Principles. In the sermon, he said that “our Church occupies, let it ever be remembered, a middle ground, in regard to its doctrines, discipline and worship, between Romanism on the one side and ultra Protestantism on the other.” In this statement, Potter articulated the via media position.
  On January 3, 1845, Potter's bishop, Benjamin T. Onderdonk was sentenced to suspension from “the exercise of his ministry and of his office as bishop.” This gave Potter the additional task of overseeing the missions in upstate New York. Later in 1845, a voyage to England was offered made to Potter. On May 26, 1845, the Vestry of St. Peter's "resolved unanimously” that their Rector should take the voyage and expressed “their high estimate of his services and character." Potter was accompanied by his wife. In England, being of the high church persuasion, he met with “several of the leaders of the Oxford Movement,” such as John Keble, Isaac Williams, Edward Bouverie Pusey, George Moberly, and William Skinner, Bishop of Aberdeen. Potter returned to Albany in the autumn of 1845 “in greatly improved health and spirits.”
  In January 1849, St. Peter's faced a debt crisis, which, if not solved, would res
caption: St Peter's Episcopal Church
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