■^w"*' =.^s»-.*.»#y-i*ji > - 
 
 St. Mark's Church 
 
 AN 
 
 Explanation and Appeal. 
 
'^Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law 
 
 of Christ. 'Gal. vi. 2. 
 To all Friends of old St. Mark's past and present, 
 
 Qrseting: 
 
 "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord 
 Jesus Chrisc ! We thank (ioJ on every rememhraiice of you." 
 Knowing that our prosperity is your delight, our adversity your sor- 
 row, we wish to lay before you both sides of our circumstance. Our joy 
 is your rejoicing, and your sorrow our regret. Kor you are our plans, 
 in your interest our purposes. Because of this, we take you into our 
 confidence, expressing with equal freedom our fulness and our aeed. 
 
 It is an easy matter t.i plan, but it is often as difficult to execute. At 
 least Wi have thus found it all through life. The easy in purpose has 
 proved the impossible in attainment. \ et have we not succumbed to 
 difficulty, but in i's face have earned out, if not to the full me.isure of 
 aim, or the greater extent of wish and desire, some of our scheiue> of 
 usefulness. And what we thus say of ourselves, we can as truthfully 
 say of our town. 
 
 Indeed no one acquainted with the quaint old town of Niagara for 
 any considerable length of time, can quite ignore the greatness and pro- 
 priety of recent changes, or wholly deny the fact of wonderful improve- 
 ment therein. To many in these regards, the place is a marvel. Of a 
 certain preacher, noted as much for his eccentricities as for his piety, 
 it is said, that when he first entered the town with its grass-sjrown streets 
 and its genuine and general rustic rusticity, he exclaimed in tones 
 dramatic, "Tread softly Sam Jones, for you walk the city of the dead!" 
 Ten years ago, such an exclamation may have been perfectly in order; 
 it would to-day be a libelous outrage — a gross absurdity. With our ex- 
 cellent system of electric lighting, new buildings of every description, 
 general renovation of cottage and mansion, gardens laden with frag- 
 rance and filled with beauty, combined wi'h almost perfect summer 
 service of steamboat and railway, where can be found a place more 
 eenerally prc>gressive, more abundantly healthful and more perfectly 
 beautiful? And, for surroundings, what is left to be desired? 
 
 Not among the least of the attractions and improvements are those 
 
 of the old historic church of St. Mark, in which to worship is alike 
 
 our privilege and joy. 
 
 "High on the bank, mid'st beauteous setting 
 Of feathery willow, chestnut-tree and pine," 
 
CouUl anything lie more sweet and ck-an, more generally com fort -giving 
 and restful? Nut tiiat it lacks defect, and not that all its appointments 
 are perfect; for that would make plan a folly and improvement a pre- 
 sumption. Yet is its atmosphere pare, its position graceful and its sur- 
 roundingslovely; simple its worship and world-wide its influence. With 
 its for.ndations in a past century, it has grown rich with the years in hal- 
 lowed memorials and historic associations. Its walls are history. Its 
 chimes are a charm. It has been visited by multitudes, worshipped in by 
 patrician and plebeian, statesman and warrior, regal representative and 
 humble fisherman, the man of letters and the rustic rude; while the dust 
 of some of the best and truest sons ot England and America blend in a 
 common peace m the sweetest resting place of mortals on this continent 
 — the (juiet yaid, that garden of memorials, in the midst of which it 
 stands. 
 
 For the space of 104 years its affairs were directed and its ofHces 
 ministered by but three Incumbents — the Rev Robt. Addison and 
 Thos. Creen, and the venerable Archdeacon of Niagara, Wm. Mc- 
 Murray, D. D., D. C. L. — the present Rector being the fourth posses- 
 sor of the living since 1792. Facts and fabric therefore are alike 
 venerable. If prestige mean value, what church of its kind on this 
 continent can have greater or more? 
 
 And yet in this world of uneven circumstance, riches and poverty are of- 
 ten associated. Thus it is in our case to-day. While richinan inheritance 
 of no common dignity, rich in ancestral associations and hallowed 
 records, rich in the deposit of the mortal dust of the great and the good 
 lying aroimd and beneath us, and nch in the respect accorded this fab- 
 ric, we are but poor in comparison of what such riches demand. Poor, 
 comparatively, m our winter population, poor in the matter of revenue 
 and treasury, and all the more poor for our great respectability and 
 rich exterior. Indeed our riches are our poverty. Our strength is our 
 weakness. Our wa.it lies in our abundance. 
 
 With the flight of years has come an era of necessarily increasing ex- 
 penditure. Things must com|X)rt with position. The edifice and sur- 
 roundings must be kept up in the interest of the liring and in honor of 
 the dead. We may not, we should .lot and we must not, if means for 
 its prevention are to be secured by the asking, allow decay to come 
 with change. Change there must be, but surely not decay. 
 
 For the love of the past, whose memorials we treasure; for the good 
 of the present, whose record we make; and for the blessing of that fut- 
 ure which yet is unfolded; we make this plea for sucteiiance We ask 
 
all friends of old St. Mark's, ncw'and old, nearly and remotely related 
 thereto, to help us over our present difficulties. We plan daily their 
 gratification and their glory in constant renewals and improvements, 
 which, left to our own unaided efforts, it must be impossible to execute. 
 To many of you the burden we bear would be light; to us it is crushing 
 The few hundred dollars we need, to our friends happily circumsianced 
 and blessed with this world's goods, would be a mere bagatelle to re- 
 lieve by their gifts. Will they help us? Dear friends will you? 
 
 On next Sunday morning, D. V., the opportunity will be afforded, 
 and we ask all to join in making not a right Royal or good Republican, 
 but a worthy Christian offering unto the Lord. We nceti a thousand; 
 will you make an united offering of at least five hundred dollars ? Our 
 debt is oar inheritance, not our making. Our noble women have been 
 helping to reduce it, while assisting in making the improvements so a- 
 bundantly visible. We thank God for them. In no mendicant atti- 
 tude and in no beggarly spirit do we state our case and make our ap- 
 peal — too honorable for the former and too dignified for the latter, we 
 claim of Christian right your Christian recognition. We cannot con- 
 tinue the accumulation of debt, and we cannot do the work recjuired of 
 us unaided without so doing, As in the time of Daviil, it was said of 
 Israel, so may it now be said of us, — "The people offered willingly." 
 Sanctified by your prayers and proportioned by your means, your offer- 
 ing must be acceptable to God, through Jesus Christ. "The Lord 
 loveth a cheerful giver. " 
 
 Yours for Christ's sal< e, 
 
 J NO. C. Garrett, Rector. 
 Sunday, July 26lh, 1896. 
 
 L. M. Nelles. ) ^, , ,,, , 
 J. B. Secord./^^"'^^^ Wardens. 
 
 N. B. — It has been suggested by one of the former-day parishioners 
 of St. Mark's, that a church Society should be formed of past and pres- 
 ent parishioners, for the purpose ot securing an annual income for the 
 repair and preservation of the old historic building. I need not say 
 that to myself and Churchwardens the suggestion seems as appropriate 
 as it is timely. 
 
 . Jno. C. Garrett..