In April, 1830, he went to New York, and took charge of a small society there in Grand Street. The chapel in which he preached had been built and was for several years occupied as an Episcopal church. It was afterwards purchased by the Universalists.
In 1832 Mr. Sawyer entered upon his ministry with his people in a new place, a church on Orchard Street. The church was built three or four years before by a small society of the Reformed Dutch Church, from which the property fell into the hands of two enterprising builders who had been the contractors for it when it was erected. It was rented to Mr. Sawyer for two years. He was then a young minister of scarcely two years' standing in New York, and had entered the ministry only two years and a half before. He had been married six months and had no cash investment. Four members of his congregation became his security for the payment of the rent, and he in turn pledged for their security the whole income of the church,—pew-rents, collections, and all. Under the circumstances he was assuming quite a responsibility. The income of the society had been small, and its receipts now were not equal to the rents alone. Besides, Universalism in New York had suffered greatly through the defection of Abner Kneeland, and the consequences of his lamentable course were still fresh in the memory of all. Divisions and heart-burnings still existed, and the prospect was not greatly encouraging to the new adventurers. Yet it was seen that, if success was to be realized, a new movement, as independent as possible of the old issues, must be made. Hence this piece of wise policy in securing a new location, and beginning church-life under new auspices. It was a bold step, but a good Providence had directed it. Mr. Sawyer writes of it:—
"I well remember the joy we all experienced when we entered the Orchard Street Church. The transition from the little Grand Street chapel which we had previously occupied was striking enough. The church was large, very large, to my unpractised eyes. True, it had no side galleries, as it had afterwards, and was in every respect inferior to what it became, but I doubt if Solomon, when he first entered his majestic temple, felt more deeply impressed with its greatness or its awful sanctity than I did on the day when we first occupied this church. It seemed to me a goodly place, where, as I hoped, Universalism was to be revived and restored in that great city."
There were prophecies of failure on the part of some friends, but the persistence and faithfulness of the young pastor (encouraged by his companion, whose whole heart was in her husband's work) and his brave adherents, by God's blessing, wrought success.
In 1832 the city of New York was visited fearfully with the cholera. It was suggested by some that the church should be closed during the epidemic, and the members of the congregation were one day desired to remain after service to express their opinions on the subject. Many were about to leave the city, and thought the church might be closed for two or three months and the pastor dismissed to the country. At last Captain Packard, a somewhat eccentric but warm-hearted and worthy man, rose and said that he should remain in the city, and if ever he needed the support and consolations of religion, it was during such seasons as they had already entered. If the pastor felt alarmed and desired to leave, he of course would not complain, yet he should greatly desire to come up to the house of his heavenly Father to listen to his word and worship at his altar. This settled the question, and the Orchard Street Church was open regularly, morning and afternoon, through the whole of that gloomy and trying season. And in this case, as always, the path of duty proved in the end the path of greatest advantage. Many—perhaps a large part—of the churches in the city were closed, and the pastors gone. The minds of the people were seriously impressed, and the Gospel of infinite grace proved itself well fitted for such an emergency. The Universalist church was uniformly well attended, and great good was accomplished by its ministrations. The society continued to increase. Old friends, whom circumstances had alienated or caused to stand aloof from the movement, returned one after another and forgot their former difficulties and discontent. The best of feeling existed among the members and greatly encouraged all hearts.
Though the Reformed Dutch Church gave up their new house on Orchard Street, yet no sooner had it come into the possession of Universalists than the members of that communion began to express a most lively concern for the interests of religion. Dr. Sawyer writes:—
"The 'Christian Intelligencer,' their religious journal, soon began to pay some attention to Universalism; and Dr. Brownlee, one of the boldest, if not one of their ablest, men and ministers, commenced a course of lectures against the doctrine. The lectures were repeated in the Dutch churches in the city, and briefly reported in the 'Intelligencer.' An attempt was made to get them repeated in the Orchard Street Church, but failed. The Doctor was quite too busy to permit it. His lectures were regarded by his friends as exceedingly able and altogether irrefutable. He possessed a great deal of assurance, and made assertions with vast boldness and emphasis. As a reasoner he was but a third or fourth rate man. The ad captandum was his forte, and among those who knew nothing of Universalism, and undoubtingly believed in endless misery, his reasons were satisfactory if not convincing."
The lectures were closely examined by Mr. Sawyer before large congregations. It was a grand opportunity, and he improved it. This review was afterwards given to the public through the press. The attack intended to check the spread of Universalism served to increase and strengthen it. During Mr. Sawyer's subsequent pastorate of thirteen and a half years, other controversies followed. With Rev. Mr. Slocum, a Presbyterian clergyman, he held a discussion that occupied fourteen evenings, and added twenty families to the Universalist congregation. He answered Rev. Mr. Remington, a Methodist clergyman, and reviewed Rev. Dr. Parker's lectures on Universalism. These lectures of Mr. Parker had been preached and published in Rochester some years before, and were, without essential alteration, repeated in several churches in New York. Mr. Sawyer happened to possess the Rochester copy of the production, and very much to the astonishment of many he replied to the learned Doctor's lecture on the very evening after he had delivered it in the immediate neighborhood in the morning. Another debate was also held by Mr. Sawyer with Rev. Mr. Hatfield, the substance of which was published in a small volume entitled "Universalism as it is." It was a rule with this sentinel on the Universalist watch-tower in that city never to allow any antagonist of "the faith," whose position and character deserved attention, to pass unnoticed or unanswered.
The Orchard Street Church was emphatically a success. After Mr. Sawyer left it in 1845, it enjoyed the effective pastorates of Rev. Otis A. Skinner, since deceased, and Cyrus H. Fay (still useful and honored among our older ministers), and others. It has probably done more for the diffusion of Universalism than any other single society in the State. All the societies in its immediate neighborhood, Bleecker Street, Murray Street, Fourth Street, Brooklyn, and Williamsburg, were first formed by members of Orchard Street, and may be regarded as offshoots from that parent stock. It labored not merely for itself, its own ease or aggrandizement, but for the good of the cause, a veritable missionary institution.
In the autumn of 1845 Mr. Sawyer removed with his family to Clinton, Oneida Co., N. Y., and took charge of the Clinton Liberal Institute. He succeeded in converting it into a Universalist school, and opened in connection with it a primitive theological school from which he sent out about twenty-five students, more than twenty of whom are still in the ministry well and successfully employed. At the close of 1852 he returned to New York, and, having preached for what was formerly called the Dry Dock Society a year, he returned to his old parish and continued with it until the spring of 1861, when, on the breaking out of the Rebellion, and the volunteering of his oldest son on his farm at Clinton, and on account of parish affairs in that distracted time, he resigned and went to Clinton, where he remained, preaching for the parish there until January, 1863, when he again returned to New York, and took the editorial charge of the "Christian Ambassador." This paper was founded by Philo Price in 1831, under the name of "The Christian Messenger," of which Mr. Sawyer was the theological editor for several years. It passed under several names, and is now published at Boston as the "Christian Leader," united with the Universalist weekly formerly issued in this city.