Page:Bruton parish church restored and its historic environments (1907 V2).djvu/76

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

Memorial Endowment Fund

To secure its protection and preservation, the Church should be endowed. This endowment should be given to provide a perpetual fund, first of all, for the preservation of the old Church building, and for the rightful care of the grounds where sleep the dead who worshipped here, and loved, as we do now, this sacred soil which now enshrines their dust. This endowment would be a fitting tribute from the living to the memory of the dead, and would be to the glory of God, who has watched over and protected this ancient and hallowed Temple which bears witness to the faith and devotion of our forefathers.

All the pews in Bruton Parish Church have been restored in Colonial style to the memory of distinguished statesmen and Churchmen who worshipped here during the Colonial period of Virginia's history. The names of those to whose memory the pews have been restored have been placed on bronze tablets on the pew doors.

It has been decided that the pews, thus restored, may be endowed. The plan adopted proposes that inside the pew a tablet may be placed, which can be read from the aisle of the Church, stating that the pew has been endowed in memory of the person named on this second tablet.

The memorial endowments may be made as follows: The four pews in the choir (exclusive of the Governor's pew) in the sum of $1,000 each; the pews in the transepts of the Church in the sum of $500 each; the pews on either side of the main aisle of the Church, except the two front pews, in the sum of $250 each.

It is hoped that these endowment gifts will be made memorial either to persons of the Colonial period, or to the memory of others of later date, who have been connected