Fourth Church Edifice, Trinity Parish
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~ \ ? . ONSECRATIOll· + of-the·Fourth •Church· Edi flee·· TRINITY·PARISI\· NEWTOWN.·CONR.·· · - ------- -- ~ and· Celebration· of· ·the ·Qne-. flundred-and-fiftieth ·Anniversaty• of· its •foundation•· I • ~ith ·.MEJV\ORIAL· SER/-\01'··· .• ) I,...,,. FOURTH CHURCH EDIFICE, %xinitg ~axish, ~,erotourn, C!tonn., AND CELEBRATION OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH / ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FOUNDATION, / WITH MEMORIAL SERMON BY REV. D. P. SANFORD, D.D., RE CTO R OF ST . AN DR EW ' S CH URC H, T HO M PSONV IL LE, CO N N ., IN COMMEM ORATION OF · REV. JOHN BEACH, A.M .. MIS S. OF T Hl J; VEN. SO C. P . G . FRO:JY.r 1732 TO 1782. PRINTED BY NEW YORK: E . & J. B. YOUNG & CO . 1882. ( / CONSECRATION OF Till': FOURTHCHURCH EDIFICE, TRINITY PARISH. HE Vestry of Trinity Parish having obtained for pub- lication the Memorial Sermon delivered at their request Tin the ·Parish Church by the R ev. David P. Sanford, D.D., on th e One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the foundation of the Parish, it has been deem ed desirable to publish with it, and so, permanently record, certain other facts of interest, some of which have already appeared in the local pap er, per- taining to this Anniversary, when, the present Church Edifice, recently freed from debt, with its complete decorations, and bearing on its walls memorials to distinguished worthies of days gone by, was duly consecrated and set apart for the worship of Almighty God. In I 863, the third Church _Edifice of the Parish, which was built of wood, having passed the Seventy-seventh Anniversary of its erection, the subject of raising funds for the building of a more comfortable and commodious church began to be dis- cussed, and the following spring several informal meetings were held and a subscription started, but it soon fell through. In the autumn of this year, by the death of an old par- ishioner, the sum of $3,000 was left, by will, "for the erection of a new church ." This led to the renewal, in the spring of 1865, of the subscription for that purpose. The foundation was laid and the basement erected the following summer. 4 Consecratz'on of the In December, 1868, the exterior was completed, with the exception of the tower. A year later the church was finished, and a new bell, weighing 2,577 pounds was raised to its place, bearing the inscription " I to the church the living call, And to the grave do summon all." The last service in the old church, which was consecrated by Bishop Seabury, September 19, I 793, was held on the 30th of January, 1870, when the venerable and beloved Rector, the Rev. Newton E. Marble, D.D., delivered an appropriate dis- ' course, taking for his text, 1 St. John ii. 18, "It is the last time." I The occasion was one of special interest, and every part of I the old Parish, extending over sixty-three square miles, was well represented in the large congregation assembled for "the last time" in the old church, round which clustered so many memories of the past. The opening of the present new stone Church for Divine Worship, by the Rt. Rev. John Wi'lliams, D.D., took place on the 3d of February, 1870; the consecration having been neces- sarily postponed in consequence of a debt incurred _in building. Twenty-two clergymen were present. The Rev. E. Edwards -Beardsley, D.D., Rector of St. Thomas' Church, New Haven, preached an admirable sermon on the occasion, which · was afterward published, throwing much light on the early history of the Parish. - With the beginning of the year 1872, a plan was resorted to for the reduction of the church debt ·by subscription, which raised $12,625. After a lapse of ten years, a final subscription paper was started, dated November 19th, 1881, by which the whole · in- debtedness of the Parish was extinguish 'ed, and the · way paved for the consecration of. the church. It was conditioned on raising the $9,000 needed, and its actual payment before Feb- ruary 1st of the present year. The amount secure~ was $9,844.51. Thus making the cost of the church, including th~ tablets, handsome iron fence, walks, grading, and other work about the church grounds upwards of sixty thousand dollars. ' The Consecration took place June 8th, 1882. ·Nature and Fourth Church Edifice, Trinity Parish. 5 a careful planning of every detail beforehand combined to make it a success in every particular. More than a thousand people gathered from this and neighboring Dioceses to celebrate this · day of special interest i.n the history of the church in Connecticut. Fifty-two clergymen were present. The clergy robed at the Rectory, some distance from the church, and the imposing body, marching two and two, led by the Bishop and the Rec- tor, entered the church and began the impressive service that was to separate it henceforth from all unhallowed, ordinary, and common wses, and dedicate it to the worship and service of Almighty God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The following were the appointments of the services : The request to consecrate was read by the Rector. Prayer, by the RT. REv. JoHN WILLIAMS, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of the Diocese. Sentence o.f Consecration, by the REV. FRANCIS T. RussELL, Rector of St. Margaret's School for Girls, Waterbury, Conn. Morning Prayer, by the REv. W. N. ACKLEY, Rector of St. Mark's Parish, Warren, R. I. First Lesson, by the REV. S. 0. SEYMOUR,Rector of Michael's Parish, Litchfield, Conn. Second Lesson, by the REv. E. L. WHITCOME, Rector of St. Paul's Parish, Brookfield, Conn. Creed and Prayer, by the REv. BYRON J. HALL, Rector of St. J a.mes' Parish, Danbury, Conn. The Commandments, by the REv. EDWIN HARWOOD, D.D., Rector of Trinity Parish, New Haven, Conn. The Epistle, by the REv. SYLVESTERCLARK, Rector of Trinity Parish, Bridgeport, Conn. The Gospel, by the REv. S. STEBBINS STOCKING, of Jamaica, L. I. 6 Consecration of the The Sermon was preached by the Bishop of the Diocese, from Joshua xxiv. 7 and 14. In the celebration of the holy communion the Bishop was assisted in the distribution of the ·elements by DRS. LORENZO T. BENNETT, of Guilford, and EDWIN HARWOODof New Haven, the REv. SYLVESTER CLARK, of Bridgeport, and the Rector. The Clos£ng· Prayer and Benediction, by the Bishop . The following is an extract from the Bishop's sermon: "This beautiful church, now consecrated forever to the glory of the holy and undivided Trinity, bears on its walls memorials of the dead that carry us / back to three different periods of the history, not of this place only, but of our I Church in this western world. "The tablet which commemorates the first honored• rector of this ancient parish tells of labors and trials, nay, of sufferings and dangers, of the early period of struggle and c9ntest when the Church was winning its way, inch by inch, in the face of manifold _ forms of opposition; when before holy orders could be obtained the dangers of three thousand miles of ocean travel-so different then from what it is to-day-had to be incurred; when the baptized members of the Church went unconfirmed because there was no bishop here to lay on hands; when all work was maimed and crippled from within and scorned and baffled from without. "The next in order of time carries us back to the period immediately following the Revolution, when the Church was 'scattered and peeled,' and it scarcely seemed as if it would survive the shock of the separation from the mother Church. "The third, bearing as it does the name of a deacon ordained by the first bishop of this diocese and in the United States, a name well remembered, and one whom many of us have seen, brings down the line of succession to our own day and time. And these three rectorships, it is well to rememqer in these uneasy and changeful times, embrace the years of almost a century. "The fourth commemorates that long and faithful pastorate which is in all your memories to-day and will forever be united with this church, the erec- tion of which it witnessed. "Much as might wish to dwell on these memorials with their stirring stories and <lear associations, I cannot but remember that their story was well and fully told when this church was first opened for holy services. I bethink myself also that they will be brought to you in another service than the pres- ent, and so I leave them, with this brief mention, to my ,brother, whose duty it will be to tell you the story of the past as it mingles itself with the present and culminates in the service of this <lay. But I ask you not to forget that these memorials of past labors in · this parish, connected with the crowning effort which ·well deserves to take its place with them, and which has made it possi- Fourth Church Edifice, Trinity Parish. 7 ble to do and say what has been done and said here to-day, bring us to just that point of connection which enables us to pass from the narrower to the wider field, from the human memory to the divi1;1epurpose, from man to God." Trinity Church now has a fine interior, and the Parish has cause to congratulate itself on having secured the services of a decorator and designer for this work who is at once an artist and a churchman.