File #11558: "F104_N78_S26_1882.pdf"

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ONSECRATIOll
·+

of-the·Fourth•Church·
Ediflee··

TRINITY·PARISI\·
-------

NEWTOWN.·
CONR.··
·-- ~

and· Celebration·of··the ·Qne-.

flundred-and-fiftieth ·Anniversaty•
of·its •foundation•·

·.MEJV\ORIAL·
I

~ith

•

SER/-\01'···

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I,...

FOURTH CHURCH EDIFICE,
%xinitg ~axish, ~,erotourn, C!tonn.,
AND

CELEBRATION
OF THE
ANNIVERSARY

ONE HUNDRED
AND
OF ITS FOUNDATION,
WITH

MEMORIAL

SERMON
BY

REV.
RE CTO R

OF

D.

P. SANFORD,

ST .

AN DR EW ' S C H URC H ,

IN

COMMEM ORATION

REV.

JOHN

PRINTED

E.

&

J.

OF

1732

CO N N .,

·

BEACH,

MIS S. O F T Hl J; VEN.

FRO:JY.r

D.D.,

T HO M P SONV IL LE,

A.M ..

SO C. P . G .

TO

1782.

BY

NEW YORK:
B. YOUNG

1882.
(

/

&

CO .

FIFTIETH

/
/

CONSECRATION
OF

Till':

FOURTHCHURCHEDIFICE,TRINITYPARISH.

T

HE Vestry of Trinity Parish having obtained for publication the Memorial Sermon delivered at their request
in 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, p ertaining 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 discussed, 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 parishioner, 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 discourse, taking for his text, 1 St. John ii. 18, "It is the last time."
The occasion was one of special interest, and every part of
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 necessarily 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 · indebtedness 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 February 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

'

I

I

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 Rector, 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.,
of the Diocese.

Bishop

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
Mark's Parish, Warren, R. I.

of St.

First Lesson, by the REV. S. 0. SEYMOUR,Rector of Michael's
Parish, Litchfield, Conn.
Second Lesson, by the REv. E. L. WHITCOME, Rector
Paul's Parish, Brookfield, Conn.

of St.

Creed and Prayer, by the REv. BYRONJ. HALL, Rector of St.
J a.mes' Parish, Danbury, Conn.
The Commandments,
Rector of Trinity

by the REv. EDWIN HARWOOD, D.D.,
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
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 erection of which it witnessed.
might wish to dwell on these memorials with their stirring
"Much as
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 present, 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-

/
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Fourth

Church Edifice,

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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.
The interiors of other churches may be more costly than
this, but few can rival it in its ability to wear well, that is, to
please the eye as the general harmonies of design and color
come to be more carefully noticed.
The idea of the artist has
been to give a quiet, subdued, and churchlike effect to his work,
avoiding all strong and bright colors and harsh contrasts.
The
general tones are greenish, which ·are easy to the eye. The
details of all ornament are conventional, but in all cases have
been given a touch of originality and are not mere copies of
medi~val decorations, although in the same spirit and boldness.
As has been said, the prevailing tones of the church are greenish, brownish green on the side walls, with brownish red and
soft dark green for decorations.
The general treatment is very
simple, the same greens, reds, blues, and other colors being
used all the way through.
All the woodwork within the church
has been painted a sort of light chocolate color. The ceiling
of the nave has a groundwork of greenish buff, spangled with
radiating devices, in which are placed symbols of the Trinity,
sacred monograms, etc., in a soft green, interspersed with small,
starlike devices, of red. The ceiling of the side aisles is in
the same colors, with different devices, the principal ornament
being the monogram I H S and a large star. A frieze of green
divides the ceiling of the nave from the clear story designed
after oak. The spandrels or spaces dividing the nave from the
side aisle are spangled withjleur-de-lz"s in red, the arches themselves being painted with rich, greens, blue and red. The side
walls are a brownish green, with a band running through them,
at the spring of the window arches, of plain green, with a red
ornament at the edge.
This and other points within reach of
the floor have been left in such a condition that at any future
time additions may be made without painting out or destroying
what has been done.

8

•

Consecration

o.f the

The chancel has received the greatest amount of work,
making it, as it should be, the chief point of attraction.
Entering the chancel, over the arch, is a broad band of dead gold,
upon which are the words, "Be thou faithful unto death and I
will give thee a crown of life." The chancel ceiling is a soft,
greenish gray, ornamented with an entirely new and original
treatment.
The design is the passion-flower and vine, covering the entire ceiling in green, purple, white, and gold.
The
side wall is divided from the ceiling at the spring of the arch
by bands of greenish blue and white, underneath which runs a
band of decoration formed of the monogram I H S in red.
From this band to within four or five feet of the floor, the walls
are entirely covered with the diaper in green, the design being
the crown of thorns, blazing sun, etc., typical of the humiliation
of the Son of Righteousness,
with vertical bands of red and
green, the ornament being formed of Jleur-de-lis,
symbol of
purity.
From this decoration to the floor is a heavy dado of a
deep red with a band of decoration, which runs entirely around
the chancel.
It is formed of the grapevine, in green and gold,
with bands of blue, white, and gold on either side. This band
of decoration is very elaborate and is interlaced and woven together in an almost indescribable manner.
The richest decoration, nevertheless,
is at the back or
east wall of the chancel.
The space above the spring of the
chancel arch on this east wall is spangled with a diaper of
curious stars.
At the spring of the arch is a large panel of
dead gold, painted upon which is the W<?rd,"Alleluiah" on either
side. At the top and bottom of this panel are broad bands of
decoration
in white, blue, and gold, blue being the groundwork.
This is carried over the top of the window arch, upon
and Beauty
it appearing in white medi~val letters, "Strength
are in His Sanctuary."
From this work to the bottom of the
window the wall is covered with dead gold, decorated with a
soft blue and red, strong and bold in design, with an aureola in
the centre, the background of which is deep blue.
Upon this,
on the left or gospel side, is painted in white and gold the
monogram "Alpha and Omega," and on the epistle or right
side, iri the same colors, the monogram I H S. The windowjamb is painted in a rich blue green, the bead, or moulding,

Fourth . Church Edifice,

Trinity

Parish.

9

running around the entire window being covered with dead
gold.
The space underneath
the window, above the altar, is
divided into three panels by bands of buff, brown, and gold.
The extreme panels have a large Greek cross in brown and
gold, at the junction of the arms of which is a golden crown,
symbolizing the crown gained by faith.
Upon the centre
panel is painted a large, flaming scroll, upon which appear the
words, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty," and in the
extreme centre is a quatrefoil device in which is placed, in a
curious and original manner, a Latin cross and the letters
I HS in gold.
The organ pipes are covered with gold, upon which is
painted a mass of decoration in blue and green, representing
the reed, symbol of music, the case being stained in a mahogany tone.
.
The Sunday-school
room in the basement
has been
decorated in the same quiet manner as the nave of the
church, though the colors are lighter.
The ceiling is laid
out in squares, in which appear the conventional forms of the
rose.
The four tablets to the memory of Revs. John Beach and
Philo Perry, and Drs. Burhans and Marble are very elaborate
in design and detail.
Each one has been made after a different design, conforming each to the character of the time in
which the clergyman lived.
They are the fitting consummation of all the work of the artist who has designed the whole,
and, though occupying but a comparatively
small space, are
the most artistic and valuable decoration in the church.
It is
rarely that so costly tablets are placed in a church four at once,
and it is interesting to notice the means that have been taken
to have them of different appearance.
In Rev. John Beach's tablet, most of the decoration is in
the stone.
The brasswork is simply a polished plate with the
inscription, and but slight ornament.
The letters of Rev.John
Beach's tablet are in black enamel, in keeping with his times,
but the others · are in black, red, and blue.
In the tablet of
Rev. Dr. Burhans the artist has put the design partly in the
stone, partly in the brass.
The prevailing colors in the brass
are black and red enamel, with a very little blue at the corners.
J

Consecration

IO

o.f lhe

In the case of Rev. Dr. Marble the design is very little in the
·stone and mostly in the brass.
The colors are a different
shade of red and blue, with black letters, the blue being much
more prominent
than in the others.
In Rev. Mr. Perry's
tablet the design is altogether
in the brass, the predominant
colors red and black, with a very little blue, the dark marble
background being without decoration.
The following

is a list of the Rectors

of the Parish :

The REV. JoHN BEACH, A.M., appointed
March 19, 1782.

Missionary

The REv. PHILO PERRY, chosen
October 26, I 798.

January

Rector

The REV. DANIEL BURHANS, D.D., chosen
1799, resigned November I, 1830.
The

REV. SAMUEL C. SntATTON, chosen
1831, resigned October I, 1839.

The

REv. S. STEBBINS STOCKING, chosen
1841, resigned Septe~ber
24, 1848.

The REv. HORACE HILLS, chosen
signed November,
I I, I 849.

Rector

I 732, died

9, I 787, died

Rector
Rector

October

I,

October

I,

April

1 I,

Rector
January

The REV. WILLIAM M. CARMICHAEL,D.D., chosen
vember 6, 1850, resigned November 6, 1852.

7, 1849, reRector

No-

The REv. BENJAMIN W. STONE, D.D., chosen Rector
ber 29, 1852, resigned November 17, 1856.

Novem

The REv. NEWTON E. MARBLE, D.D., chosen
18s7, resigned September
1, 1878.

April I,

· The REv. THOMAS W. HASKINS, chosen
1878, resigned October I, 1880.
The

Rector

Rector

September

REV. GouvERNEUR MORRIS WILKINS, present
chosen Easter, 188 I.

30,

Rector,

Fourth

Church Edifice,

Trinity

Parish .

l I

TO•THE•Jl,iLESSD>•MEMORY•

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I2

Co,ns ecration of the

Foui'th

Church

Edifice,

Trinity

· Parish.

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14

Consecration

o/ the

'
Fourlh

Chitrch

Edifice.

SERMON.
"l

HAVE
FORTH

CHOSEN
FRUIT,

YOU,
AND

AND
THAT

ORDAINED
YOUR

YOU,
FRUIT

THAT
SHOULD

YOU

SHOULD

REMAIN."-St.

GO AND BR ING

John, chap.

xv., verse r.6.

I

N the providence of God there are, in every age and country, men raised up who stand out distinct from their
fellows, not in natural gifts alone, but in the successful use of
those gifts in the work of Christ-typical
men, whose bright ·
path points the way of usefulness to those who come after them
- •men who live on in deeds and graces springing
anew in
others through the ages.
It is good for us, as well as a pious duty, to keep fre!;>htheir
memory, not by graving upon lasting stone and metal only,
but upon living immortal minds, reproducing before each passing generation a picture of each of these great and good.
Among those who were instrumental in laying the foundations of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Connecticut, there
were two who stood out markedly above and distinct from all
others-_Rev.
Dr. Johnson and Rev. John Beach.
They were
typical men. Johnson was the type of that class of clergymen
who master the great questions of theology and philosophy
which agitate their times-who
hav e the heaven.:.bestowed gift
;>f shaping the minds of those who shall be the immediate
t eachers of the people.
They are in the noblest sense educators.
They are men whose felt executive ability and wide
comprehension
of their times is a divine designation to leadership.
Beach, on the other hand , was a typical pioneer pastor ;

r6

Consecration

o_f the

one of-that class so absolutely . and immediately necessary to
the work of bringing men into the Lord's kingdom of grace, and
to fitting them for his kingdom of glory; one whose native
powers would enable him to win distinction in almost any calling, but who, at the call of God, without demur throws himself
with undivided heart into the pious pastoral work, 'and who
feels thankful in all his life that the Lord had given him to
share in his own toils and trials ; a man with an intuitive
knowledge of human nature, and the love of God in his heart, so
that he both understands and sympathizes with his fellow-men ;
whose unswerving purpose is to learn and teach the truth as ,
it is in Jesus, at whatever peril-to
defend it at any cost; a
man with the largest measure of that most uncommon gift,
commdn-sense, and the grace of God to apply it in all the details of his life and ministry.
Such a man was John Beach, the
first pastor of this cure, the most successful, probably, in per. sona1ly winning men to our fold in Connecticut, of all that noble
band of missionaries who labored during fifty years before the
close of the American Revolution.
Like Samuel and Timothy, he began his religious life from
· The son of religious parents, he was carefully
the beginning.
trained from infancy in the way he should go. Tradition relates that from his youth he had his habit o( being alorie for
reading and prayer, while others were pursuing their diversions;
He was eager in searching the Scriptures and in seeking such
knowledge as is needful for their correct interpretation.
His
thirst for biblical knowledge was irrepressible.
With zeal he .
learned the will of God, with unfeigned faith he embraced it;
with . a devoted heart he lived it.
As he grew up he gave such promise, that under the ad-'
vice of the Rev. Dr. Cutler, who had been for ten yea ·rs their
pastor, and was just entering
upon the rectorship
of Yale
College, his parents determined to bestow upon him a liberal
education.
He graduated at the age of twenty-one.
He laid
a solid foundation for his future work, especially in ·a knowl ~
edge of the Hebrew language, for proficiency in which he was
noted among his brethren.
'
While Mr. · Beach was in Yale College, that remarkable
I
movement
began
there which caused intl'.nse exr.itement

Fourth

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Trz°nity Parish.

17

throughout the colony, and gave to our Church in Connecticut
an impulse and character which it has never lost. The movement resulted in the conformity of the Rector, Dr. Cutler, and
Revs. Johnson and Brown, to the Church of England.
They
were three of the most distinguished men in the colony for
clearness of intellect, attainments in science and theology, and
for the moral and Christian virtues.
Men needed to be made of stern stuff to surrender thus
their earthly prospects, brave the dangers of the sea and of disease, part from their families for a long period, with the certainty, if spared to return, of laboring for the rest of their
days in the midst of an embittered and hostile people.
The sincerity and devotion of such men were manifest.
Their welltried characte ·rs, coupled with their acknowledged
talents and
scholarship, were a tower of strength to the cause they espoused.
Mr. Johnson, on his return from England, in holy orders,
settled as missionary at Stratford of the venerable Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel.
Stratford was then the only
Episcopal parish in the colony of Connecticut.
Here he
became familiarly acquainted
with Mr. Beach, who had
taken his degree of A.B., and was preparing himself for the
Congregational
ministry.
This acquaintance was destined
to work in Mr. Beach's life a great, but not an immediate,
change.
The stir and discussion attendant upon the conformity of Mr.
Johnson and his friends occurring while he was at Yale College, of course his attention was strongly attracted to the subjects connected with the distinctive polity and doctrines of the
church-and
the more so as Cutler had been his pastor and
friend.
He was thus made somewhat doubtful in regard to
the system in which he had been trained.
He thus states his
frame of mind when, at twenty-four years of age, he was admitted
to the Congregational
ministry: " Having studied the controversy with the best helps I could get, though I had some doubts
about the lawfulness of Presbyterian ordination, yet my doubts
about the lawfulness of clerical conformity in the Church of
England were stronger."
The quarterly visits here of Mr. Johnson, from Stratford,

..
Consecralion of the

18

to minister to those who were inclined to the Church of England were making considerable impression, and it became a
matter of solicitude with the Independents to settle an able and
popular pastor at Newtown.
Mr. Beach, now at the age of twenty-four, was looked upon
as a young man of unusual promise, and was settled by the Congregational society without a dissenting voice. -It would seem
that his kindly feeling toward the Church of England commended him to some, who, under more favorable circumstances,
would have conformed, but who were willing to unite in settling him with Presbyterian
ordination.
The result was for a
time answerable to their expectations.
All united u_nder the
new minister except five families of decided Church people.
These continued to meet in a private house for worship, and
were ministered to occasionally by Mr. Johnson.
/
Mr. Beach was successful in his ministry.
Carefully avoid ing controversial topics, which were then rife in all New England, he preacbed the simple: gospel of Chr _ist, and, living as
he preached, was respected and beloved.
But the churchly tendencies which had been a cogent reason for his settlement began to produce their legitimate fruit in
himself.
He was of that honest make-up that his practice followed closely upon his belief-truth
with him was for use-not
for mere speculation and discussion.
He was noticed to use frequently in his public ministrations the Lord's Prayer, to read whole chapters from the Bible,
and to employ sentences in his prayers which the Church people said were taken from the Prayer Book. He began to find
that he could not teach without mitigating explanations the
doctrines laid down in the Westminster
Catechism and - Say brook Platform, the then accepted standards of the Puritan establishment in Connecticut.
After eight years · of acceptable
service, he felt compelled by his convictions to give up his position in a communion with whose doctrines and usages he was
no longer in accord, and he became a communicant in the
Church at Stratford on Easter day, 1732.
On. his avowal of his conformity a storm broke upo_n him
from his former brethren, which ceased not entirely during
the remaining half century of his life-a bitterness of assault

.

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Church Edifice, Trinity

Parish.

19

which bore witness to the greatness of the man by the felt greatness of his loss.
He was attacked in scurrilous and abusive pamphlets, to
which he temperately and calmly replied.
.
So soon as arrangements could be made, he left his family
and embarked for England to receive such a commission to
minister as could alone satisfy his conscience.
He carried with
him from his Church of England brethren the amplest testimo- .
nials to his learning, worth, and reputation.
A petition was also sent from Chestnut Ridge, now Redding Ridge, by the Churchmen there, that Mr. Beach might be
appointed to serve as Missionary of the venerable Society in
this region, and that they might share in the benefit of his ministrations.
These requests were granted, and in September,
I 73 2, he returned
in holy orders, and with a commission as
Missionary at Newtown and Redding.
Now, at the age of thirty-two, he began his true work in
life. All that went before he had profited by as a providential
training and fitting for his true mission while he yet knew
it not.
By eight years' experience, he was skilled as a pastor-by
faithful and loving study from his youth, he was learned in the
Holy Scriptures-by
them, in their sense as witnessed by the
historical church, he had tried and corrected the theology received from his immediate ancestors-to
satisfy the demands of
his own conscience he had studied and weighed well the claims
of the Church of England to be the living representative of the
Church founded in Britain by apostolic men within apostolic
times. ~Tith him religious truth received on adequate evidence
became part of his life, to be yielded only with lifo-all this
combined with natural abilities of a high order, by God's grace,
made him a power for good-he
was like them to whom our
Lord said, " I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you
should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
. "
remam.
He had need of all his resources of nature, education, and
grace, for the outlook at the beginning of his new career was
anything but cheering.
The efforts of his late brethren had
been but too successful in embittering the minds of many toward

I
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Consecration

of the

him. He had been denounced as a hypocrite, heretic, and
bigot-the
institutions of the church to which he had conformed as rags of popery, and the Prayer Book as merely the
Romish mass-book translated.
When he returned to the community where he had labored,
he found that by the mass his labors of love seemed forgotten.
He found the people cold and reserved, and some hostile to
such a degree that they would not shake hands with him in
common civility. Even a tribe of heathen Indians, to whom by
direction of the venerable Society he tried to be useful , were
stirred to hostility by false reports.
But he met all this with
godly patience, and quietly set himself to such work as Provi dence left open to him.
His appointed cure was Newtown and Redding, but this
Beginnin ~
was not the li:11-itof his labors for many years.
from the southern lines of these towns, there was no northern
or eastern or western limit, but the limit of his time and
strength.
At Redding, he found a small band of Church people who
had been ministered to occasionally by Mr. Caner, of Fairfield,
and for whom it is claimed that they were the first religious
body organized in that town.
At any rate, one hundred and
fifty years ag-o John Beach found the Church ·seated in quiet
determination
on the summit of Redding Ridge, and there
through storm and sunshine it lives unto this day.
There Mr. Beach ministered on each alternate Sunday to
the Church people gathered from far and near, some from a
distance of ten or fifteen miles. Those who lived too remote
to come and return home on the Lord's day, came on Saturday,
bringing their needful supplies, and were given house-room by
their brethern near the church.
At Newtown, also, we learn
that churchmen gathered for worship, in those first years, from
New Milford and other remote places.
Ministering to such
earnest people must have been one of the chief alleviations in
the hard lot_ of the lone missionary.
A church was built at Redding in the first year of his
mm1stry.
At Newtown he began his work with the five families of Church people to whom Mr. Johnson had ministered
while Mr. Beach was yet a Congregationalist.
Having no

Fourth

Church Edifice,

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21

church, Mr. Beach opened his own house for public worship,
and ministered to the faithful few who resorted to him.
He was diligent in this day of small things. ' Three years
later he reports to the venerable Society: " I have constantly
preached one Sunday at Newtown and the other at Redding,
and after I have preached at Redding in the daytime, I
·
preach at Newtown in the evening."
Besides his work at these places, he preached and administered the sacraments at Ridgefield, Danbury, and Waterbury,
and founded the· church from which afterward sprung the
parishes of Woodbury and Roxbury.
Wherever there were
Church people scattered, between here and the Massachusetts
line, and even beyond, he sought them out and ministered to
their spiritual needs.
There seems to have been scattered
here and there over all the colony children of the Church, or
those weary of the prevailing system, and the presence of the
faithful missionary encouraged these to avow themselves, and
to gather round him.
His field was a very different country then and now. Much
the larger portion was still covered with forest, the roads mere
bridle-paths or cart tracks ; streams -were oftener crossed by
fords than by bridges.
In one instance, at least, the missionary was near losing his life in crossing an unbridged river.
The winter then also brought its peculiar toils and perils.
Its snows fell to depths greater than this generation has seen,
covering fences out of sight, rendering the roads impassable to
horsemen, compelling the missionary sometimes to make his
journey of eight miles to Redding on snow-shoes.
I have
heard in my boyhood aged people in Redding say that he
reached his appointment in this manner when near fourscore
years of age.
Such an example shamed the most easy-going
of his people into regular attendance at the house of God.
"He was a pastor untiring." ,
Such zeal was not long fruitless, though · nearly a year
elapsed before other than the five before-mentioned
families
were added to his flock in this place; a lost Prayer Book falling
into the hands of a Congregational
family attracted curiosity,
to see what this mass-book, as it was nicknamed by the
Puritans, contained.
The curiosity was · met by a free dis-

22

Consecration

of the

tribution of copies of it, and the book itself, as it always will
be to candid minds, was the most effective answer to its traducers;
The consequence in this case was the addition of
eight families, raising the number of the little flock to seventy
souls.
With increased numbers came the absolute need of a
church, and the need was promptly met by a willi~g people.
Within one week the materials were gathered, the frame up,
and the roof-boards nailed on, and the following Lord's day,
the churchmen worshipped under this roof, using the floor-timbers as seats.
Ridicule from some of their better prov "ided
neighbors stimulated their zeal, and led some of kindlier feeling to join and aid them.
Within two weeks their church was
enclosed, furnished with benches and desk, and Trinity Church,
Newtown, had a habitation, and not a name only, but a sub /
stantial existence. From that time its course has been onward.
It has had its trials, but it has passed each trial with strength
undiminished or increased.
In twelve years from the erection of the first church
another of more than double its capacity was . required and
bui lt . . Such growth in such circumstances proves the missionary to have been of unusual powers, as well as of uqflinching
purpose.
Five years later still a like prosperity called for the erection of the second and larger edifice at Redding Ridge.
At
that place there was then a more numerous and able population than now, the majority of whom became attached to the
Church.
The building then erected remained till I 83 2 unaltered, except that, near the close of the last century, its bellturret was replaced by a tall, gaunt steeple.
Well do I remember ' that venerable building.
Like many
another old church in Connecticut, it was, as to the exterior,
an imitation in wood of . St. Paul's, New York.
It was an
honest church.
Its builders offered to the Lord the best lumber their woods afforded, and they did not by paint pass it off
for stone.
Its interior was noble and impressive in its simplicity.
Its high arched roof was sustained by huge square
pillars of white · oak, on which the marks of those who "lifted
the axe upon the thick trees" were to be seen. Through the

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Fourth

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Church Edifice, Trinity

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23

centre were ranged the benches, framed and pinned together
_ with oak, and worn bright by generations
of worshippers.
Along the sides were ranged the square family pews, built of
the fine white lumber of the tulip-tree-sheep-pens
they were
Within
called, and each Lord's _ day they were fuU of sheep.
the chancel-rail the three-decker
arrangement
of holy table,
desk, and pulpit, and above all the sounding-board,
all remaining as when John Beach ministered, come up in the mind's
vision; and in that full and devout congregation
at that date
here and there lingered a gray-headed
worshipper who had
listened to -his stirring speech and been signed with the cross
by his saintly hand.
In how short a time have we passed on
into a new and strange world!
_
During about twenty years of his ministry he lived near
that church, and within its shadow, in 1756, he laid the mortal
remains of her who had shared the toils and trials of his early
manhood and _middle life. Soon after 1 760 he appears to have
resumed his residence at Newtown, which was thenceforth his
home.
Though devoted to his work as a missionary pastor, the
exigencies of the times compelled him to engage in . controversy to repel the attacks upon himself and upon the Church
of his choice.
The care with which he had investigated the claims of her
polity, and the scriptural and primitive character of her doctrines and usages, admirably fitted him for this work.
He
knew every inch of the ground, for he had carefully surveyed
it for the satisfaction of his own conscience.
He knew the
force and value of every objection, for they had dwelt in his
own mind till expelled by truthful investigation.
He was
patient with assailants and opponents, and allowed for their
prejudices, for he had once shared them.
_As we read the pieces which remain of his cc;mtroversia
writings, we are surprised that amidst such a life of toil, i.
such a widespread
field of pastoral work, and with attention •
to the cultivation of the soil to eke out his moderate income,
he could have found time for a scholarship wide and accurate
as he displayed.
In this respect the scholar! y Johnson was
his only superior among our Connecticut clergy of his time; and

C onsecrat _ion o_f the
in his clear and popular way of putting thiP gs, so as to arrest
and convince common minds, he had among them no equal.
To store up rare learning till one becomes an encyclopcedia, has been the achievement of many a man who has left
the world neither wiser nor better than he found it; but Beach
had that gift by which a truly great mind makes its hardearned stores of learning the readily grasped possession
of
plain people.
His freedom from bitterness
and vituperation,
his fairness
in stating his own and his adversaries'
positions, when contrasted with the tone and temper often shown by his opponents,
all told in favor of his cause.
There is in our Saxon make-up
a love of fairness and justice, which was won upon by his style
and method, and which the bitterness of his opponents turned
in his favor.
/
Nor was the purity of his personal character of small
weight.
When a pamphlet had been circulated in his parish
traducing the Church and her ministers, it was remarked by a
sage old man of the standing order: " Mr. Beach is too good
a man to be thus deceived.
The 'king and parliament also are
churchmen, and can they all be so wicked?
I doubt it. Let
us examine the subject a little more."
The result was that he
and several others at that time came into the Church.
That was an age when pamphlets
supplied, in a degree,
the place now filled by the newspaper.
In the scarcity of mis. cellaneous reading, and in the people's isolation from the great
world, each of these little missives was read and re-read
and carefully treasured
up. The assailants of the Episcopal
Church were diligent in circulating their pamphlets, and every
few years there was a new issue of them.
Several of these
Mr. Beach answered,
and his answers were diligently circulated and read.
Copies of several of these were to be found
in the old church homesteads of this diocese within the memory
of persons still living.
To these tracts is, in no small degree,
owing the conservative
and intelligent churchmanship
·which
has distinguished
our diocese · from the beginning.
And no
individual of our colonial clergy wielded through this means so
long--continued
and so effective an influence as John Beach.
" He was a controversialist-able
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Church Edifice,

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25

But the controversies of those times were not limited to
matters ·of church government or usages in worship.
The system of Calvinism as enunciated in the Assembly's Catechism
and the Saybrook Platform did not content many of the most
thoughtful minds. With its doctrines of limited atonement and
unconditional election and reprobation, it failed to meet the demands of our nature in so far as it remains as God made itand failed to meet its wants in the fearful condition into which
it is come by the fall. This system was a bed shorter than humanity in its cravings could stretch itself on-a
covering too
narrow to enwrap its misery and woe. On the other hand,
Beach and his compeers taught an atonement wide as the race
in its · offers, and limited only by man's free and wilful rejection in its effects.
But many of Mr. Beach's publicati~ns on such topics were
in the form of sermons, and belonged to the domain of the
preacher as much as to that of the controversialist.
These
productions had their origin rather in the purpose of guarding
the Church people from error, than in any love for polemics.
The extreme doctrines of the standing order led to the errors of Antinomianism on the one hand, and to Socinianism on
the other.
These ill tendencies were quickened to new vitality
on the coming of the Rev. George Whitefield.
He shot like a
meteor through the colonies, throwing society into a ferment.
He had thrown off the restraints of his ordination vows in Eng•
land, and had there denounced, without stint, the authorities of
the Church of England, to which he belonged.
Here he went to
such lengths of extravagance as to draw forth, finally, protests
from a considerable ...
portion of the divines of the Congregational order, whom in turn he denounced as heartily as he had
the Bishops.
Division and disorder were still further increased
Many of the Conby the preac~ers who followed in his wake.
gregational churches were rent in sunder, and the whole people
were excited and disturbed with strange teachings and resulting controversies.
Our ,Church people were in a· degree affected by this state
of things, and Mr. Beach and others of the clergy shaped their
preaching in such wise as to guard their flocks: At the request
of a convention of his brethreny Mr. Beach prepared a sermon

Consecrat£on of the
vindicating the fundamental principles of the Christian faith, as
against several heretical and latitudinarian views which were
becoming rife. This sermon was published and circulated as
a tract, with the endorsement
of his clerical brethren.
Quite a number of his other sermons survive to attest his
qualities as a preacher.
His style was clear and flowing, his
words well chosen, his matter well arranged.
He had evidently drunk at the fountains of English undefiled.
His teaching
was drawn from Holy Scripture, and was in accord with that
of the best divines of our mother Church.
He dwelt mainly on
practical themes which have to do with conversion, a holy
life, and salvation through Christ crucified.
As we read we
feel that he is in earnest, and in passages he rises to an impassioned eloquence.
Moreover,
tradition
assures us that his
delivery was in keeping with his matter, and, says Dr. Mansfield, his was "an unaffected and commanding e1oquence."
The estimation in which he was held is attested by r·epeated proposals to him to remove to more desirable
and
less arduous fields in this and neighboring colonies.
But, like
Moses, "he loved his people."
For their good he lived, and
with them he would die. The history of the Church affords few
more noble examples of life-long attachment
between pastor
and people.
Such a life-work could not fail of abundant fruit. His ministry in the Church had now spanned the period between r 73 2
and the Revolutionary
War, and he was a man of threescore
and fifteen years.
He was worn out with unremitting
labors
· and the wearier endurance of an intolerance and hostility which
never slept.
He se ems by some of his letters at this period to
have stood, like Moses on Pisgah, looking back upon the course
of his pilgrim-warfare,
and wistfully forward to a rest in the
heavenly Canaan. And , like Moses, he could justly feel a thankful satisfaction in the present and in the review of the past.
Forty years before, he had begun a work here, to ·human view
almost hopeless ; his flock but five families, with no church,
and walled round wit};l prejudice.
He was alone in all the
northwestern
quarter of Connecticut, and with but three fellow laborers in the ; hole colony.
N S)W he has within his own
cure one-half of its whole population, and more than three

Fourth

Church Edifice, Trinity

27

Parish.

hundred communicants.
All round him is a cordon of parishes;
and one in every thirteen of the population of the colony is a
child of that Church for which he has toiled.
But though the
aged ·toiler may desire to depart, his work is not yet done ;
he has run with pat£ence his race, he must end it as a Christian
hero.
The time has come when we can afford to deal fairly by the
actors on both sides of the strife which severed these colonies from Great Britain, that they might in God's Providence
become greater than Britain. In the veins of many, if not most
of us, flows commingled tlie blood of loyalist and patriot, and
we may proudly claim that the true men on both sides were
loyal to principle and lovers of their country.
He was not the
less so who looked upon severance from Great Britain as the
sure ruin of the colonies, and revolt as grievous sin, than he
who was ready to die for principles of free government, which
were not universally admitted as correct till established and
.
settled as the rich outcome of that fieri trial.
Beach, like the most of his brethren, sought by peaceable
means to secure concession to the demands of the colonies
from the home government;
but when war was precipitated
his conscience compelled him to stand aloof from revolt against
that government- ·a government to which he was bound at his
ordination by a special oath, from which he knew no release
but remission by the authority which imposed it.
With a heart undismayed, though the flesh was tremulous
with age, he entered into the storm.
He was no hireling to
flee, but stayed with his flock, and his flock, won by his love
and labor, stood by him . Other pastors fled, and still others
closed their churches when the colonies declared their independence, becaus e they dared not use the Liturgy which required them to pray for the rulers they believed to be in legi timate authority.
Beach alone quailed not. Though the
bitterness which had followed him so long was intensified by
the internecine war, he went his way ministering the comforts
and counsel which so many sorely needed.
Each Lord's dar
he kneeled in th e house of God, "a nd prayed as he did afore )
1
time; " the threat of death once and again blanched
0t his
cheek nor hushed his voice. The crack of the rifle a d th '

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Consec.ration o/ thf Fourth

Church Edifice.

whirr of the .bullet.neither ~tirred nor stopped him as in the holy
hous~ he delivered _his_ Mast~r's message.
At length, when thqse years of.strife were almost done, at
fourscore years and two, tµe po_or worn qut body could no
longer retain the heroic s.oul. . In tr\lth and fitness, as he passed
from earth, might he use the words, too high for most mortal
lips : "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept .the faith: Henceforth there is l~id up for me a,
crown of righteousne$s, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
shall give me at that day."

i.

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