darkness that veiled an unknown future. We know that they could
not even have dreamed of all that was to come out of that day's
doings. We think of all these things and many others, which I will
not attempt even to suggest, leaving it to your own thoughts to
fill out details that are omitted, and the one conclusion to which
all our thoughts and all our ponderings must bring us is, that
those ten men of whom the great world knew nothing then, of whom
it takes no thought now, were, nevertheless, "men that had
understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do."

The two events round which all the memories, the associations, the
details, of this and next year's commemorations group themselves,
are the election of our first Bishop in 1783, and his consecration
at Aberdeen in 1784. It seems to be my duty, to-day, to limit
myself strictly to the first of these; to what led up to it and to
the event itself; leaving it to whoever shall preach the sermon of
next year to speak of what followed the election, of the
consecration itself, and of its outcomes for this Church.

It seems a narrow field--that to which I find myself limited--but,
unless I am greatly deceived, it presents to us topics which will
deserve careful consideration.

First, then, let me say something of what led up to the election
of 1783. In doing so I must go back to the _primordia_ of the
Church in this Diocese.

It ought never to be forgotten that the first missionary--if I
may so speak--of our Church in Connecticut was the Book of Common
Prayer. Keith and Talbot had, indeed, preached at New London in