The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-04-10

ana Twenty-second street, under the auspices OF
the Ladies' Central Centenary Association, being
the second of q series OF meetings which are to
be held during the present year, which Is the
hundredth year OF the existence of the Method
ist Church in America. The church, which is
the largest IN the city, was crowded long before
the OF enlng OF the exercises. Aside from the
importance and interest III the movement, so
far as this influential denomination is concerned,
the announcement that Chet Justice Chase
would preaide would have been sufficient to have
crowded the house. 1t must not be understood
that he Chief Justice, in consentIng TO preside,
is a member of the Methodist denomination;
but there is reason to believe That he, like every
other good citizen, is interested in the furVher-
ance OF all religious and phIlanthroplc move
mel Especially in connection with denomi-
nation that is so Intimately identified with the
rise and growth OF the American nation.
soon as Chief Justice Chase appeared he was
applauded. The exercises were opened by the
singing of the hymn commencing
From ali T. at dive below the skies
Let the Creators praise arise.
Rev. Dr. Cummings led in prayer, and appro-
pirate selections OF Scripture were read by the
Rev. A. @. Foss
Bishop Ames then said:-It affords me plea
sure to introduce 10 the audience the Hon. b. z.
Chase, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of
the United States, who will preside during the
meeting this evening. ...
SPEECH OF CHIEF JUSTICE CHASE.
The Chiet Justice, arising to address the vast
audience, wCs received with great enthusiasm. lie
spoke as follows I'll have accepted my trends, the
invitation extended me TO preside on this occa-
SION with great pleasure feel that It is good to be
here, 10 participate in the great work, however
bUmbly, of this year. am told that on taking the
chair ought to address few words 10 the people
here assembled. My engagements have been such
aud so arduous that il been Impossible for me to
prepare anything like regular address, and you will
not expect that shall accomp sh all that hope, If
/ express the earnest sympathy Ieh in the
work wnIcn las called you together tonight 1t
leads us to look back and 1t bids us look Forwards
hundred years ago and hundred years hence; a
hundred years pat, reaching back to period OF
time when none OF this vast audience, hardly anv OF
the vast muihtuoe which people the whole face OF
the earth, lived; reaching forward hundred years
to another point OF time when all that are now en-
gagged in the activities OF lite over the face OF the
whole earth shall have gone TO their final
account. 1t IS a very interesting moment.
90 back to the beginning OF it, and our
nation was not; this great American people
had no existence, except in the hopes and IN the
faith, perhaps, OF a few patriotic men Then the
of this great Church, which now fills the
land with Its healing influences were laid, oh, IN
what feepeness. Who would have thought that the
seed cropped INTO t1e earth, almost, as were, TO
human eye by accident was planted by the proVi-
growths slow) slowly, slowly, yet surely,
and extend, its borders until it embraces a
shOne upon in its power, and It's grandeur, and its
strength. The Church whose centennial year we are
celebrating was rocked in the storms of the
Revolution 1t " as itseb great asser of human
liberty IL asserted the right 10 piocalm the gospel
among men, no matter what eccesiasticsm might
adherent of the Churcn of England-was led through
the providence of God 20 assert ms Independence of
all earthly dominion and to look only to tiod while
he 1ounCed the Church in the New World. So,
too, our country, loyal TO the core, earnestly
desiring TO maintain its allegiance TO the British
crown, was forced to sever the bonds of tnat
allegiance; and oh! how unwilhngly the pa
triOc men OF that age found themselves obliged TO
take their places among the nations OF the eartn.
Contemporaneorsly the great church and the great
nation were founded, iApplause,l And SO they
lave lived together, the church multiplying hera adj
Ia rents, increasing Verywhere her works, building
h temples in every part OF the land and gather
- nuCpv unarn hn lnGt hn kan
INTO the foid of Christ, seeking to do good in
the spirit of love, until to-day she spreads her
BORDERS throughout the vast extent of The re-
public. II is natural that III growth there
s. OF Id be some visions, some alena'ions, some of
o. DIVISION pass one by one away, at length ali
The brethren who have been divided may stand
together in one faith owning one Lord and loving
A hundred years agol And now we are at the
end Of this hundred years The church which, at
Revolution, has Just passed through another
great revolution The last DAYS of the century,
even more than the first days OF the century, have
been agrated by storm and tempest; and in these
last days hat mission il has been for this Ameri-
can Methodist Episcopal church to perform. / have
had, as you know. part to bear in tins trying
crisis myself; and how often have thanked GOD
that the Methodist Church throughout all the
Ioyai land knew Cnly one senGiment-'hat OF
devotion 20 God, and under God, to our coun-
tyy. .tAlpiausel But my tnends, 1 am glad to
stand before you tonight and say no have leaned
upUnyou-hOw we have leaned upon your bishops
how we have leaned upon your ministers-hOw we
recognized among the bravest lof the brave the men
who nave gone from the caureh TO the battlefield,
believing that ii was their duty to sacrifice lite Ior
God It was no less their duty ii need be- to sacrl.
fee life for the country. (Applause1 And so we
have passed through this storm, ana we are emerg'
ing from it under the guidance of che same princi-
pie Of love and justice which was the dew by which
the early church was watered and nourshed some
think that there are great dangers around us SO there
are We exist every moment III the midst OF great
dangers; but for the snperin ending providence OF
God which preserves all the elements in their places
and all the elements in their respective functions,
we could not exist for single hour. We are
always in great danger but we are in greater
danger now then we have been at many times be-
fore; and feel perf.c confident that de who has
led us thus FAR through the storm and the tempest
when the waves ran highest and the winds swept
most heTcely over our society, when the storm was
a. the very loudest that de will guide us through
these waves which still heave their surges upon the
shore But they are not the waves of the tempest ;
tuey the waves of the subsding storm. Cheers.
But what is the prneiple which led to the founda
ton of the church, take 1t that was love 10 mar
ana love TO Goo-precisey the reverse OF the old
pagan principle, which was seltshness and
hate and that separated peoples and nations, SC
tn new principle gathers together peoples, nations
and individuals As they planted repugnance and
distrust, these plant concord and mutual trust And
now these principles Of mutual trust, mutual depend
ence, and mutual help, have brought together tbI
nation, thib great natlon, from the Atlantic TO thu
together BY inGissoluble ties, this same princiols
must guide US stills and have nov to-day tho illus
taton OF it9 the steady pIoeress which the nation
making, well as Church in recognizing the right
OF man, and the duties of man 10 man (Cheers.i W.
cannot any LONGER look upon the lace OF any human
BEING and not feel that he is our oToiher man. Re
man stage IN q play written BY a Roman who wa
himself slave, uttered eighteen hundred years ago
this sentiment standing In front of Roman audi
epce III reckon nothing that is human as alien q
myself" Think of the force OF those words in tina
day. Roman citizenship embraced all that Their
WAS that was considered valuable In the world ans