The morning journal-courier., 1908-12-14

of it mat me at the door with the greeting in thc words of the prayer book "Dcarly Beloved Brethren
 In those days this church was a chapel of Trinity parish and Dr. Cros- well was our rector ln appearance
 hc was the most impressive man in
 New Haven Looking at him from
 his feet upward, ono saw first his
 boots that reached to the knees, then the dark, short clothes above, then the face. strong. winklad and dnd- l ly. crowned by a perfect glory of
 white har completely covering his
 head with silver curls
 I llc was q great pastor and a goood preacher. It was said that on Mon- day morning before breakfast he be- gan writing his sermons for the next Sunday They were able discourses marked by short and plthy sentences.
 believe that one of them had a passage like this; Aro the mountains an emblem of otornitya They arc all co crumha Into dust IS the sea au emblem of eternity? Tho ocean
 has lts bottom and its shores There is no emblem of eternity t stands by
 itself. endless and sublime.
 Dr. Croswells reading of tho service ] was peculiarly his own and snguIarly Impressive some people thought that ono never knew what the prayer book
 was until hearing him read it lt almost seemed as if the ashes Of tho
 dead could not De properly laid to rest
 unless his tones, full of sacredncss and sympathy were heard above the
 sod.
 1 used to hear much Of those who |. had been clcrgymcn of the parish be- fore | was born, Of Rector tIubhcll, who in months of pcstloncc when . some other clorgymcn had fled from , their posts stood stradfastlg by his flock Ike Aaron with his censcr be- . tween the living and the dead; of Dr. : Francis Hawkes., afterwards consider
 cd by many the most eloquent preach
 cr in America with a deep voice ga
 wonderfully rich and soft that t was said thnt that t was worth going e
 fin general convention to hear him
 say, Ayc,"
 And especially did hear of Dr. John Stone who had preached with sueh evangelical rrrCor that thor,
 was a revival in which m, father and
 hosts of othwr young people had be-
 come eummunicants.
 In those chapel days the appearance
 of this building was sinEularly plain
 but dlgnihpd The ceiling was .
 plaster arch undaeoralod Thcr,
 was no recessed chnncel Agans
 the middle of the wall there stood th,
 high pulpit If | recolleet correctly there was a painting of the crucinNior behind if In front and lowor down , there was tho reading desk with room for two clcrgymcu who always face. i tho people And then further below i was the cummunlon table on tn. ' Sunday mornings Dr. Crpswell ant one of his assistants would be either . at the church or chapel none coull ] afternoon when the same sermon
 would bc repeated Tho second as sistant would ho where tho rector wa,
 rot and preach his sermon twice st ! the following of fnvolite preacher l was diseouraGcd i'm favor of the par ishieners always being in their owl { place at both services
 T And those were the good old day y when nearly everybody attended hotl . Sunday services and many people at Q tended the Wednesday evening lee - tmea
 Rev. Dr. Nichols and Rev. Mr. Nor
 gan Caftorward rector of st. Thomas q church. New YorlO were asslstan Q ministers at this time
 . used to love the very stones Q
 this building and would pull my sled '; when it began to snow, around th ' corner And l plainly recollect lyin s down on the new white fleece in iron 5 of one of the two piers on Chapc - street and then getting up to loo
 down upon the impression soon { ' pass away just as now am making - transient impression upon yoW heart' E soon to fade But what of that who | by the gift of God we own eternity? n About the year tS45 my father am $ my uncle, William Smith and otho t active mon of the chapel though u that tdcar as was the ministry of Dl = CroswclD it would be better for th V, chapel to become an independent par V ish with it's own rector and OtIiccN 10 And they asked the authorities o
 Trinity church to give their consen " which they freely did although it wa ' great sacrifice
 Immediately money was raised b our own people and the chapel becom Y, ing St. Pauls church was thorough |, renewed, A recessed chanccl wa 7, built tho altar set against It's wall3 w new pulpit desk Cstill facing tn .. pcople) was placed in front of tn a railing on either side and tho prescr ', wooden ceiling built above all.
 The Rev. .Mr. Cooke was called to tl q rectorsbIp; my father going to Gcucy
 in New York; lo convey to him the t if 1tation of tho ycstry of which he WIZ 1 al member He accepted and with h coming there began a new era i'm S I Pau's. Mr. Cooke CDr Cooke he 500 .o beoamc) was a good pastor and a gre,
 preacher, His sermons were in porOo if English once he said to mo. "Whop .a ever you can choose between two wore b take tho shorter and the simpler ono s When he began to preach one uoJi n cd instantly too perfect logic and d
 roctnoss of his message; but was a jl is