Middletown transcript., 1895-06-29

| tDA1a1I1t annual { ".. b: ;'',';:: 1;::
thought which led those with whom it
originated to institute this custom. 1t
is we'll that once year the people OF
this parish should meet upon this spot
where their fathers were wont to wor-
ship God. There are memories, doubt
less, which rise in the minds of many
as they come in this place to-day and
| thoughts too deep for words are kindled
by the associations of this hallowed
spot. Far more than sentiment un-
derlies the value of the custom which
brings us together. Doubtless the
feelings are stirred as we remember
that here where we worship to-day the
cross of Christ was planted nearly two
centuries ago, and that ever since,
| though six successive generations, the
people of God have here offered up the
sacrifice of praise and prayer. Here
where we worship to-day, the bread of
life has been broken, the Gospel has
been preached and the other ordinances
| Of Christ's religion have been admin
istered to those who have long since
closed their earthly course and entered
on that higher life for which they
found their preparation within
these walls. The dust of many of these
servants of God lies near us as we speak,
and very tender and blessed are the
feelings which the thought of their
pre- sence must stir in the hearts of
many.
And yet, as I have said, we gather
here once year for something more
than sentiment. There are lessons full
of value that the past has to teach US !;
lessons which are sometimes forgotten,
but which force themselves on our
thoughts when we gather in vener-
able church like this and think Of days
that are gone. To some of these les
sons of the past l would invite your
attention this morning.
The first lesson that we may learn as
| we gather here to think of days gone
by, is that Of the permanence of Chris
tianity, If we can take ourselves back
in thought to the year 1905 when a
faithful missionary of the Society for
| Propagation of the Gospel first came to
this place to establish the worship of
| God, if we could look about us in the
world Of that day and study its life,
it's manners, its customs, it's ways of
thinking, its ruling ideas, we should be
able to measure in some de rec the vast
| transformation which has passed over
the face of the world in that period of
two centuries. 1t would be different
world, indeed, which would be opened
to our view and we would, fancy,
| find ourselves very much out of place
in it. The things which would strike
us frst,.. the difference in the mode of
dress, of travelling, of building, of
daily living would not be more re-
markable than the changes that would
appear in the ideas entertained in re-
gard to the most important matters of
common interest. Many truths which
now seem to us self-evjdent, were then
unknown and unsuspected and he who
would have yentured to declare them
| would have risked more than his repu-
| tation. Queen Anne was on the throne
of England, and no one questioned her
right to give or Withhold charter to
these colonies as she saw fit. Della
ware was then part of the diocese of
London and her bishop remained be-
yond the sea.
Distant as these days seem, they
appear quite modern when we look
across the Atlantic to the mother land
from which our ancestors came. Two
centuries are long period in the life
of this New World, but they seem but
a small measure of the longer life
which the Old World has known. Two
centuries back from the time when
this parish began its history, we come
to a period yet more strange. Henry
the Seventh is or England's throne.
The American continent had been
discovered only seven years before.
The expeditions which were to extend
the influence ofEuropeall over the world
were only in their beginning. Middle age
ideas had yielded in part. but only in
part, to the new learning. One more
such period of two centuries back and
we reach the b ginning of the 18th
cent ury. The sovereign of England
was the first Edward. Europe as we
know it to-day was only coming into
form. Another like step into the past
and we are almost back to the Norman
Conquest. The Crusades had not been
fought. The institution of Chivalry
was advancing toward its height. The
mass of the English people were little
better than slaves,
The eye grows weary as il peers into
this distant past, and yet we remember
that when we have gone so far we have
not retraced half the period which has
elapsed since the gospel was Grst pro-
claimed to ruined world. Yes if we
were to go back through nine instead
of four of these two century periods,
we should find ourselves in the first
century, and discover if we cared to
look for it, the Christian Church, num-
bering thousands of adherents, per-
meating every portion of the Roman
Empire, already beginning to attract