The Newtown bee., 1888-07-13

days, about 300 hearers and wrote so ! many encouraging letters to the Vener- | able Society. He lived to see q first and la second church built i'll each of his mis- sion stations, which was gratifying evidence of his faithfulness and of in
 crease in the strength and number of his people. These churches, as in other towns of the colony, were constructed of wood and of the plainest architecture, in
 keeping with the rustic habitations of the
 early settlers, but they answered well | their purpose and have been succeeded by the more convenient, substantial and ornate structures demanded by the lux
 ury, the culture and wealth of the pres
 ent day.
 1 I have no doubt that churchmen loved and hOnored those rude old sanctuaries with all the interest and affection which | we bestow on ours now. They travelled,
 many of them, it is certain, six, eight
 and ten miles to offer in them prayer and
 praise and to be publicly instructed in
 the way of Christian truth and duty.
 Long years ago, when I was holding my
 first pastoral charge in Cheshire, a ven
 erable parishioner presented to me a
 manuscript sermon written by Rev John
 Beach. It was delivered to your ances-
 tors in this village in 1754 and from the text:
 1 "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give
 the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not ' that they do eyi1,'' Str- l He drew lessons which are as significant
 and important at one time as another. A
 single passage may be cited for it's pecul- far pertinency to this occasion: | "When we are in the house of God, we should say, as Jacob did, How dreadful is this place-this is none other but the house ofGod
 and this is the gate of heaven.' God says, Ye
 shall keep my Sabbath and reverence my | sanctuary The reverence is not to be paid
 to the place for itself, but to God whose house
 it is and who is here in special manner. Where two or three meet in His name, there l He is. He was yisibly present in the taber- nacle and temple by the cloud of His glory and He is as really present in all the assem- plies of His saints.''
 l Nothing shows the presence of thrift
 and care so completely as the neat farm 1 house, kept with all it's surroundings in I the best order and giving evidence there l by of the peace, the comfort and the hap
 piness of it's occupants. In like manner, the neat little church, rising on the hill side or nestled ill the valley, is among the most attractive objects in a landscape and it stirred to enthusiasm the senti- ment and feelings of the Christian poet
 when he penned the charming ballad,- As rode on my errand along,
 came where prim little spire
 Chimed out to the landscape song,
 And glowed in the sunset like fire.
 Its cross beamed beckoning ray, I And the home of my Mother knew;
 I So pressed to it's portals to pray, And my book from my bosom drew.
 How sweet was the service within,
 I And the plain rustic chant how sincere,
 I How welcome the pardon of sin,
 I And the kind parting blessing how dear!
 And the parson, I knew not his name,
 And the brethren, each face was unknown; But the Church and the prayers were the same, I And my heart claimed them all for it's own. I 4 N -[Bishop Coxe. ! More than half century has passed
 away since a society was formed in Cam bridge. England, which took for it's mot : to the words of Horace,
 sDonec templa refeceris;"
 And its object was to stimulate an inter \ est in church architecture and especially to direct public attention to the condit-
 ion of parish churches throughout the
 realm, many of which were then sadly .I neglected and even sinking into decay. No recent traveller in England can fail
 to note the wonderful restorations and improvements which have been made within the last few years of buildings, : large and small, set apart for public wor- ship according to the ritual of the Il Church.
 The interest thus awakened in the mother land has been brought over to this country, where it has developed it. self in the erection or reconstruction of churches better fitted to q rubrical and more dignified rendering of our service. A large part of this congregation may recall the time when the chancel ar arrangements were clumsy and inconyen- [ tent, when pulpits in rural churches, overhung with sounding boards, were spacious, built against the wall nearly midway between the level of the floor < and the apex of the roof and used ire squently both for the prayers and the ser 1, Inon Sometimes, lower down i'll front