to be told, representing the state with Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth in the Federal Convention of 1787 and sitting with Ellsworth in the United States Senate in 1789, a president also of Columbia University. Dr. Beardsley had a fine subject for biography in him and he made a good book, but he had deep love for the elder Johnson and he could not accept the common opinion that the son was a greater man than the father. The journal shows that a paper on William Samuel Johnson was read before the New Haven Colony Historical Society, January 18, 1875. The book appeared in 1876 and soon Dr. Beardsley was engaged upon the Life of Bishop Seabury. This also was a very natural work for him to undertake, as his historical studies had placed unused materials within his reach. He had in Bishop Seabury a man of whom he could write with enthusiasm. The writing of the book came to him in the nature of a sacred duty. He counted it his last book as he read the last proof-sheets in the autumn of 1880 and recorded the reception of the first installment of the books in the following January,"My last work, upon which I have been engaged in my leisure hours for two years or more."

The year 1880 had brought many duties to him, the completion of this life of Bishop Seabury, the presidency of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies in the General Convention, in October, and in the early autumn a journey to Montreal to attend the Provincial Synod of the Church of England in Canada as a representative of the American Episcopal Church.

We must pass now to the last decade of Dr. Beardsley's life, the threescore years and ten passed, more than thirty years of the care of his parish in New Haven ended, the older group of men with whom he had worked in Connecticut removed by death. He had come to a unique place in the Diocese by reason of his age, his long and varied service, the deference paid to his judg ment, the honor willingly accorded him. Younger men came to be his regular assistants in the parish, but he preached and ministered still, not yielding the direction of the parish nor full responsibility for it. Before this time he had, with some regularity, assistance in services from clergymen who might be

residing in New Haven without parochial charge or might be connected with the College. Among these should be named one to whom Dr. Beardsley was greatly attached, Dr. Beckwith, afterwards a professor in Trinity College and in the General Theological Seminary in New York. It was a joy, not a burden, to Dr. Beardsley to read the services and, to preach, and there was no place where he loved more to be than in St. Thomas's Church. He was always glad to be back there, and his heart, "untraveled," was there whithersoever his feet might go. It is interesting to observe in his journal, through a large part of his life, how often he attended divine service in other churches on the Lord's Day, while performing full duty in his own. He loved the House of God and he loved the services of the Church. Some of his favorite texts were from the Psalms in which the Psalmist expressed his love for the House of God. Visiting clergymen and some of the younger men came in to assist in the service or in preaching, and exchanges, as I have said, were more common than now, but Dr. Beardsley gave more help than he received, and was called upon to preach for his brethren constantly. He was very rarely disabled by sickness, having had good health all his life. On the first Sunday in August 1890, the year before his death, he noted in his journal that it was the only time in forty years, unless when he was out of the country, that he had failed to be present on the first Sunday in the month to administer the Holy Communion to his people.

In this last period of his life, Dr. Beardsley undertook the writing of no new book. Beside sermons there were, however, papers mainly of an historical character, and discourses prepared for anniversaries or special occasions. When any anniversary in the Diocese or in any parish was to be held, Dr. Beardsley was looked to at once and his help was asked. It was a time in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut very full of Centenary commemorations, as of the choice, at Woodbury, of Bishop Seabury to go to England for consecration in March 1783, his consecration at Aberdeen in October 1784, his first ordination at Middletown in August 1785, and Dr. Beardsley

.

had part to take in all, commonly a carefully prepared historical or biographical paper to read.

Out of his occasional papers one more book was made at the solicitation of friends, "Addresses and Discourses," but not published until after his death. But into the six volumes of which I have particularly spoken, not all of Dr. Beardsley's literary work of permanent value by any means has entered. There are many historical papers and sketches which required much labor, to which, any one who writes of our old parishes or institutions, or towns, finds himself greatly indebted. Dr. Beardsley did work which at a later time could hardly have been done, and he has taken large and permanent place among those who have with the pen served well Connecticut.

Once more Dr. Beardsley crossed the ocean in a way and for a purpose which strongly appealed to him. He went as one of the Deputation from Connecticut in 1884 to Scotland and to the Scotch Episcopal Church, to commemorate the consecration of Bishop Seabury at Aberdeen, to renew and strengthen the bond between the two Episcopal Churches. Bishop Williams was the head of the deputation and a rare opportunity was given to visit the mother country. Dr. Beardsley had many friends and correspondents who welcomed him and whom he was most glad to see in their own churches and homes. Much attention was shown to Bishop Williams and his associates, among whom was Rev. Dr. Hart, and very generous hospitality both in England and Scotland. They were able to visit places of interest and meet persons of distinction under very favorable circumstances. Dr. Beardsley was enthusiastic about everything in Scotland except the weather. In London, in Canterbury, in Edinburgh, in Aberdeen he was reverently and thoughtfully following the steps of Johnson and Seabury and others whose lives had interested him. That Scotch pilgrimage of 1884 was a bright portion of this last period of his life.

These last years brought their responsibilities also. A new Diocesan School, St. Margaret's for girls in Waterbury, had been opened in 1875, in which at its beginning and to the end of his life Dr. Beardsley was deeply interested as a very influ

ential trustee. Largely through his interest and influence the Diocesan Fund for the support of the Bishop was increased to $100,000, bringing much relief to the parishes and greatly improving the financial condition of the Diocese. Few clergymen have had Dr. Beardsley's power to interest prosperous business men in such plans as this. They trusted his judgment and were guided by him in making their gifts for church purposes.

Friendship with Mr. Philip Marett, to whom the New Haven Public Library owes its origin, led to the placing of Dr. Beardsley in a position of great trust and responsibility in the disposition of the estate upon the death of Mr. Marett's daughter, Mrs. Gifford. Dr. Beardsley earned and received the confidence of the men among whom he had long lived, and many good objects profited thereby.

No man has probably ever been so consulted in Connecticut, in matters relating to the Episcopal Church, as Dr. Beardsley. The chief institutions and committees with which he was associated have been named, and membership meant with him the ungrudging use of time and labor, the gift of the best that he had so that each one was helped by him. He left his mark upon every one of them. He was the one man above all others with whom Bishop Williams consulted in the later years. He was brought as an officer of the Diocese into the settlement of many questions raised by the divisions of parishes and by difficulties between the clergy and parishes. But the parishes in trouble with their rector, or in search of a rector, were sending to him constantly for advice, and the clergy were also asking his judgment. The causes brought to him in his study in Elm Street were numberless and used time which he must often have felt ill-prepared to give. It was all a tribute to his good sense and knowledge of men and experience. It is but to repeat what I have said, that he was a remarkably wise man, shrewd in a good sense, able to look at things in a quiet, judicial way, to see the probable course of things and the end from the beginning. It was New England wisdom of a good kind. He had his own. ways of judging men and he felt strongly on many questions, but he measured men quite accurately and made not many mistakes.

He knew well the Connecticut parishes and was in full sympathy with them in their desire to keep in the old paths. He knew how the people in the parishes felt, what traditions were behind them, what feelings and motives and desires appealed to them and were likely to influence them.

Of course, Dr. Beardsley was a conservative, a man not given to change, distrusting a good many new methods and ideas in the religious world. He trusted to the ministry' of the Word and Sacraments, to the preaching of the Gospel, to ordinary parochial ministration, to build up the Church. He could not have been the manager of a great number of parish societies, with the necessity of providing a weekly bill of attractions, social, musical, pictorial. We cannot think of him as making a stereopticon a part of the parochial equipment. His kindly declination of an invitation from some of the younger men to attend a retreat, so-called, is remembered. But he was not blindly wedded to the past and the old ways. He viewed with distrust some tendencies in the Church, but he was not a prophet of ill. He desired above all things that the Church should grow,—if not in his way, in any good way. He became more gentle in his judgment of men as years came to him, learning as I suppose all men learn in age, that all things are not to be set right in their time and that the world swings along new ways. He was not sarcastic and bitter in his judgment of new men and new movements, but he would work on to the end along the line he had taken.

Ten years ago and a little more, December 21st, 1891, word came to his friends that Dr. Beardsley's brief illness had brought his death. He had been so strong, so recently at work as usual that we were unprepared for the message. Few of us thought of him as almost eighty-four years of age. The City, the Diocese, the Church which he served so long mourned his death and in many ways testified to their regard for him and their appreciation of his work.

It is not a life with many points of dramatic interest, nor a life associated in a striking way with great events in human history, that I sketch for you at this time. He would not have