Page:Bruton parish church restored and its historic environments (1907 V2).djvu/182

 centuries that are gone have come voices which have sounded above the noise of workmen's tools, voices of great men, which seem still to echo back the prayers and praises of the past, and the burdens have grown lighter, and the work made a thing of joy to all who have shared in doing it by the thought that the temple restored would speak to the present and future of what is highest and noblest in life, that it would recall the best that the past holds and present it as an ideal and inspiration to men, and call very strongly to them to live for the things that count for the strength and glory of the Church and the nation. The thought of that for which the old Church stands sanctifies the commonplace, transforms the thought of duty into a feeling of privilege, and the task that might otherwise have been a burden to be borne became a lever to uplift the life to a higher plane of vision.

And now as we approach the day when the Church restored will be consecrated through a form of service which, because there were not bishops in America, could not have been held when the Church was built, what are the thoughts with which we should approach that service, and how may we prepare ourselves to participate in it?

This church so soon to be consecrated witnesses to much that deserves to be marked and borne in mind as we enter upon that service. It bears witness, as no other building in America does, to

It stands within the bounds of the country where, in 1607. our English forefathers planted the old Mother Church of England, and commenced here, under the sail awning hung to three or four neighboring trees, the services which through the centuries have invoked God's blessing upon the nation. Of that Church Bruton is the lineal descendant and direct successor. Parish tradition hallows the Baptismal font with the name of Jamestown, and letters carved in the solid silver establish the identity of our Communion silver as be