True in 1860 and true today - Teaching Notes July 8, 2012

The following was written by our first Rector, Fr. William Armitage, and deposited in the cornerstone of the Church. We are conscious and confident that we are building that we are building that which will outlast ourselves; and we rejoice in the hope that, within the walls we are permitted to raise, thousands, in successive generations, will worship GOD, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and confess or Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST, in the Sacraments and ordinances of His Gospel; and partake of all the blessings of membership in His Church, which are precious to our souls today. As Christians and Churchman, we thank GOD for our strong assurance and conviction, drawn from past history, that the Protestant Episcopal Church, for whose communin this building will be reared, is so grounded on the one foundation, JESUS CHRIST, so true to Him, in the ministry, the doctrine, the Liturgy, the sacred year, the entire system which she has inherited; so careful of His complete Gospel, holding each and every part thereof, in its own due proportion and harmony; that however we and those who shall follow us may prove unworthy of her and of her LORD, among all the changes and chances of this world, she will remain, in all essential things unchanged. We thank God that we shall be permitted to leave to our successors, not this building only, wherein the truth of GOD may be proclaimed, but the stronger and more enduring building of the Church, made at the first “the Pillar and Ground of the Truth,” and now its best preservation and defense. And although we are not worthy to offer unto Him anything of ours, we humbly pray Him, in the Name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, to accept this building for His own from this day forth, to preserve it to be the home of many souls of His servants while here in the body, through generations to come. And we pray Him, of his Infinite Mercy to guide and govern His ministers and His people, who shall serve Him in this house from year to year; and by His indwelling presence and Spirit; to keep them ever firm, steadfast and true, in heart and life to the everlasting Gospel—the confession of “one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one GOD and Father of all” - St. John’s Centennial Book (1958), p.96-97