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LOVING THE HABITATION OF GOD'S HOUSE.

A. SERMON" BY
E. E. BEARDSLEY, D.D., LL.D.

2Lotoitt0 tfte 71>»rt)ftaticni of (KoU's Uwi*t>

A SERMON

DELITEEED AT THE RE-OPENING OP

%l Jeff's Cljnptlj, QlJFsljiPF,

JANUARY 16, 1890.

By E. E. BEARDSLEY, D.D., LL.D.
Hector of St. Thomas's Church, New Haven.

NEW HAVEN:
PRESS OF TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR.
1890.

The Church, 1840.

The Church, 1876.

The Church, 1890.

Loving the Habitation of God's House.

Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and
the place where thine honor dwelleth. Psalm xxvi.
8 v. Well nigh half a century has passed away since
this church was consecrated, and it is the third time
that I have been asked to come up here and preach a
sermon on the occasion of re-opening it after additions
and extensive improvements. The cost of the original
structure, erected in a day when money went much
farther than now, was but a fraction compared with
the aggregate of the later expenditures. We all know
that fashions change with the demands of the age, and
hence much more is now required than formerly in
the way of comfort and convenience to carry on suc
cessfully the work of a city or a rural parish. No
man builds himself a house to live in without finding
when he comes to occupy it where it can be altered
and improved. It is somewhat so with churches.
"The pattern showed to Moses in the Mount," would
not be acceptable to the Jewish mind in these days.
If the earliest disciples of our Lord in the poverty of
the Christian Church had places of worship religiously

set apart from every secular use, they must have been
simple in their character and devoid of ornament and
splendor. Magnificent temples, large and decorated,
did not appear until Christians had increased in num
bers and in wealth — nor until God was pleased to
raise up kings and queens and emperors to be
defenders and guardians of the true faith.
This parish in the period of its infancy and feeble
ness had those connected with it who made sacrifices
for Christ worthy of the good name which they bore.
They worshipped with their brethren in Wallingford
after the cherished Liturgy of their English ancestors
until 1760, when they "built themselves a small
church" on this site "for their greater convenience
in the winter season," and it was opened with suitable
religious services and the little flock kept together by
lay-reading and a regular parochial organization.
Nature has always taught us on the completion of an
important structure designed for public and lasting
good to solemnize its first appropriation to the purpose
for which it was reared by some special recognition,
and we have done to-day what your forefathers did
when they set up here in love and faith a church as
" an ensign on a hill."
In the expansion of towns and villages and the
shifting of popular centres, it has frequently been
found necessary or advisable to select new locations
in re-building houses of public worship, but no such
necessity has existed in this place. All the successive

churches of your parish have risen on the same old
historic ground, and you may read the names of their
builders engraven upon the stones and monuments so
thickly set in the adjoining churchyard. The Barneses
and the Beaches, the Bronsons and the Brookses, the
Doolittles and the Driggses, the Hitchcocks and the
Humistons, the Iveses and the Jarvises, the Mosses, the
Potters, the Weltons, and many others that might be
mentioned, rest together in " the night of the grave,"
and from each of them we seem to hear as the linger
ing voice of a departing echo — " Lord ! I have loved
the habitation of thy house and the place where thine
honor dwelleth."
A fixed resolution to adhere to the worship of God
in the sanctuary was a noble characteristic of those
who in the olden time hated the company of evil
doers and hallowed their lives by keeping ever fresh
in remembrance the duty of prayer and praise. When
David in another Psalm affirmed, " I was glad when
they said unto me : Let us go into the house of the
Lord," he spoke the best feelings of our nature and
showed how with a full heart he welcomed the privi
lege of participating in the public ordinances of
religion. Who will deny that this is a precious privi
lege still ? Faithfully improved, it will not only lead
to a love of the Lord's house but to inward spiritual
blessedness. One day in seven is set apart to the
purposes of rest and religion, and where or how can
some portion of it be better spent than by joining with

a multitude of Christian worshippers in praying the
prayers of the Church and listening to the instructions
of her authorized ministers ! Churches are not built
simply for the adornment of a city or a village. They
are imposing objects which no reflecting person can
pass by without thinking for a moment of their use
and design. The more we frequent them the more we
shall prize the worship within their walls. " One
great part of the history of the Bible," says Dean
Church, "is the history of calls, widely different
indeed in their circumstances, but alike in this that
they were a claim of Almighty God on the will and
choice of man for a free and unconditional service."
This unconditional service we render when we wor
ship Him in the sanctuary in the beauty of holiness,
and though we may adore Him elsewhere, — in the
family and in the closet, in the forest and in the field,
in the valley and on the mountain top, yet His house
is called His habitation and the place where His
" honor dwelleth." We must remember that the
church is very much to us what we choose to make
it. We may come to it with a worldly feeling and
not reap the benefits which its sacred ordinances were
designed to impart. We may take no pains to control
and mould our thoughts, and so allow images and
recollections to crowd in upon us which are positively
destructive of religious enjoyment and profit. The
careless, undisciplined worshipper has all kinds of loose
ideas carrying off his mind at every moment from the

proper business of the sanctuary. We are all liable,
the best of us, to wanderings in prayer, but if the
cares of the world turn our devotions into a sea of
tumultuous thoughts, the Spirit moves upon that sea
and immediately there comes a blessed calm. Not
that we are to have or to expect sensible or mir
aculous interpositions in the kingdom of grace any
more than we expect visible upliftings of the Divine
arm on our behalf in the kingdom of providence. We
do not live on the calculation of miracles but on the
observed and prescribed conditions of the Christian
economy. Apart from all answers, whether present
or future, prayer both public and private persevered
in, must tend to the improvement of individual char
acter. It keeps the soul to its work. If you can each
say, " Lord ! I have loved the habitation of thy house
and the place where thine honor dwelleth," then you
have been here at stated times and seasons to manifest
your love for it, to pay religious homage to the Most
High, to express and strengthen ' your pious venera
tion, your thankfulness and your confidence, to seek
and receive pure influences from above, — in short to
be instructed in the Divine word, and to consecrate
yourselves afresh to the honor and glory of God.
Habitual prayer builds up the moral life and makes
men as members of society different in their whole
bearing and character from those who do not pray.
It deepens the sense of a personal existence and places
the soul face to face with facts of the first order of

10
solemnity and importance — with its real self and with
its God.
The institution of the Sabbath was a blessed thing
for the human race and the command to remember
and keep it holy is a perpetual invitation to enter the
sanctuary of the Lord and do honor to His great
name. It was a wise and merciful ordering of Provi
dence that earthly toil and the rumbling of carts and
the hum of busy industries should be suspended every
seventh day. God knew that men who bow down
their backs always unto the burden and beasts that
He has made obedient unto man needed this suspen
sion to rest and regain fresh vigor. Why, a century
ago, during the reign of atheistic terror in France, the
National Assembly passed an order substituting for
the week and the Sabbath the decimal division of
time, and making every tenth day a holiday. What
was the result? The peasants in the rural districts
very soon discovered that the law of God was better
for the brute beasts and more profitable than the law
of man. " Our cattle," said they, " know the Sabbath
and will have it," and before the order was reversed
and the nation and its rulers had recovered from their
wild delirium, the Sunday — the seventh day — was
resumed in many quarters for reasons of economy,
and public utility.
If such a thing were possible as striking down all-
churches in a Christian community and doing away
with all remembrance of the Fourth Commandment, it

11
is quite certain that that community would suffer
morally and religiously, and sooner or later relapse
into a condition but little above heathenism. Irre
ligious persons do not comprehend how much they
are indebted to those who love and maintain the
habitation of the Lord's house and "in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make
known their requests unto God." They cannot help
feeling a sincere sympathy with the success of their
work, but they fail to be impressed with the aims of
that Divine revelation which lifts us up from earth to
heaven. Too many become critics and doubters and
shield themselves under the cover of mystery and
darkness. They appear to think they are safe in a
negative goodness and that what they do not perfectly
understand they need not practice. Possession in
volves responsibility and the word of salvation given
to us in order that we may use it for ourselves has
enough in it so plain that he who reads it may learn
his duty, if he will, and be guided to its habitual
practice. How can any one expect to be instructed
unless he comes within reach of the instructor? In
the man Christ Jesus, the Son of God, there lie the
thoughts for all our knowledge and the master prin
ciple of all our conceptions. One thing is certain :
nothing can take the place of Christianity. There is
no substitute which its enemies may propose that will
help to remove a shadow that falls upon our paths or
lighten a burden that rests on our souls.

12
When our Lord was upon earth, He bade men
follow Him ; the spell of his presence drew them and
they followed without delay. He is a living Lord
and He bids us follow Him now and love the habita
tion of His house, where He offers His gifts, His word,
His sacraments. No change in the phases of modern
thought — no teaching that attempts to represent and
interpret the spirit of the times is safe teaching if it
leaves out of view the essential doctrines and com
mandments of Christ. We ought to think of miracles
in the past — we ought to think of the manifest pres
ence of God in the future as parts of the one great
system of mercy and love which is to be upheld and
propagated till we come to "the new heavens and
the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness."
I do not know that I need to extend this line of
thought. Enough has been said to show the value of
preserving the truth in its integrity and of cherishing
a love for " the habitation of the Lord's house." Both
individual and social happiness will come from keep
ing close to duty and following the example of Christ.
"The State can make certain kinds of vice unpleasant
or unprofitable ; it can absolutely forbid certain
crimes, and punish them with a terrible vengeance ;
it can enforce a certain amount of moral training
and discipline upon children, and upon the servants
in its own employment ; but it can do little to make
virtue directly pleasant or profitable to the mass of
its citizens."* It is Christianity which does this —
* Wordsworth's Bampton Lectures, p. 232.

13

Christianity which supplies the power of living above
the world and of taking an active part in the objects
and movements of society without being borne down
by evil influences or swayed by evil teachings. Its
" ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are
peace." That thousands and tens of thousands sit
beneath the shadow of the true faith and yet are not
obedient to it and find no satisfaction in coming to the
Lord's house, no one will deny, but this is not the
fault of Divine revelation, but rather of depraved
human nature which is so blind to spiritual peace and
contentment. Even in human nature there is a want
which the world cannot supply, — a thirst for objects
on which to pour forth more fervent admiration and
love than visible things awaken, — a thirst for the
unseen, the infinite, the everlasting. There is only
one way of satisfying it and that is by going to the
well spring of Christ and taking there the water of
life offered to every thirsting soul through the grace
and mercy of our Heavenly Father.
Every earthly thing is characterized by change and
decay. As years eome upon us and we live in recol
lection more than in hope the heart goes back to those
places and circumstances which were dear to us in
early life. Of the eleven clergymen present at the
consecration of this church on the first day of August,
1840, not one is now living except myself, and of the
congregation then gathered within these walls, how
many sleep the sleep that will know no waking till

14
they hear the trumpet-call on the morning of the great
Resurrection! So one generation passes away and
another succeeds. So one generation does its work
for the church and leaves to its successors this precious
admonition: "While we have time let us do good
unto all men and especially unto them that are of the
household of faith."
Probably no one as his steps draw near to the end
has other than pleasant recollections of his charities
and of the good deeds which God has enabled him to
do for his house and people. Men eager for the
riches of the world toil night and day to gather them
and make investments in institutions which are occa
sionally wrecked by mismanagement or dishonesty,
but nothing given to the Lord is ever really lost or
fails to be an element in storing up for the true-
hearted believer a good foundation against the time
to come. A gentleman who had been eminently
successful in his accumulations and had never for
gotten to honor the Lord with a measure of his sub
stance was by a strange disaster suddenly stripped of
his fortune and reduced almost to poverty. A sym
pathizing friend said to him, " What a calamity !
You have lost all." " No ;" was the reply, " In my
prosperous years I devoted regularly a liberal sum
to the Lord. That is saved, that is saved. The rest
is gone." By the help of one* who was a native of
this town, and whose munificent gifts to church and
* Mr. George A. Jarvis, of Brooklyn, N. Y.

15
educational objects adorn the history of a good life,
you have made an addition to this edifice which gives
it outwardly a new character and supplies what most
parishes in these days feel to be an absolute necessity.
No such noble work is accomplished without anxiety
and self-denial on the part of minister and people.
Those who come after you will reap the advantage
and yet not know what you know. I should have
thought that the lines had fallen to me in a very
pleasant place, if I had come a Deacon to a church
like this instead of coming to the creaking old build
ing which threatened to tumble together every time
a gale swept over the village.* It does not seem that
anything more can be done in the way of material
improvements, and now let a new life breathe through
the worship of this house and a new love join the
hearts of the worshipers. Remember your responsi
bilities. Remember yourselves. Love this house as
the habitation of the Lord and the place where his
honor dwelleth. And remember, too, how the apostle
Paul winds up the greatest picture of human life and
human destiny ever set before the minds of men, thus :
" So we being many are one body in Christ, and
every one members one of another."
* The late Rev. Dr. Tillotson Bronson, attending a service when the
church was shaken by a violent wind is said to have looked up and
around fearfully for a moment and then to have seized his hat and
walked hurriedly out. This was done on several occasions.

NOTES.

The first Episcopal Church in Cheshire was built in 1760 and opened
in December of that year with a service and sermon by the Rev. James
Scovill, of Waterbury, a missionary of the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel. A parish organization was formed with a clerk, church
wardens, and vestrymen. Previous to this, Joseph Moss, a zealous
Episcopalian had gathered a few friends in the house of Zachariah Ives,
and acted as their lay-reader. To him the parish is indebted for the
ground on which the building was erected.
The Rev. Ichabod Camp, missionary at Middletown and Wallingford,
visited the people occasionally and had them in charge for eight years.
The Rev. Samuel Andrews succeeded him in 1761, and officiated one-
fourth of the time in Cheshire, devoting the remainder chiefly to Wal
lingford, where he resided. The congregation increased so much that
a larger Church took the place of the little one in 1770, and Mr. Andrews
continued his ministrations till the war of the Revolution when, on the
conclusion of the treaty of peace, he acceded to the proposals made to
the Loyalists by the British Government and emigrated to Nova Scotia.
On his withdrawal a native of Cheshire, Rev. Reuben Ives, was put
in charge of the parish, and his administration was marked by the
establishment in the town of the Episcopal Academy — a Diocesan In
stitution, and about. the same time (1795) by enlarging the Church and
adding to it a steeple.
Different clergymen, mainly Principals of the Academy — served the
parish after Mr. Ives ceased to officiate until 1835, when the Rev. E. E.
Beardsley was appointed to its charge. The Church had been weakened
by the removal of the side galleries and was needing many repairs to
keep it from decay. Steps were therefore taken, in 1839, to replace it
by a brick stucture, and the present Church was consecrated by Bishop
Brownell, August 1, 1840. In 1864, under the rectorship of the Rev.
Hilliard Bryant, a chancel was added, the seating room increased, the
ceiling enriched, and other improvements made which rendered the
whole more becoming and attractive. Again, in 1876, under the rector
ship of the Rev. Win. B. Buckingham, the Church was enlarged by
carrying the chancel back and building in transepts. It was then re-
dedicated as in 1864 by Bishop Williams. The Rev. O. H. Raftery was
the next rector, during whose ministry of nearly ten years the interior
of the Church was richly decorated and several memorials introduced.
And now, the Rev. J. Frederick Sexton, rector, a new tower has been
erected, a chapel secured, and convenient rooms for meetings of the
vestry and parochial societies. The last has been the most expensive
work of all and could not have been accompUshed without the aid of
the generous benefactor referred to in the sermon. The cost was
$6,200, one-half of which Mr. Jarvis contributed.

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