Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1879-06-26

For he EIlyr0rih imerledE
the annual meeting OF Conference Of Con
greg.iionAl CHURCHES for Hanco ok County was
held In Bucksrort June l.th and 18th, and not
withs,andIng the unpropiiiou. weather. was
well attended. The Conference was organ.
ixed Tuesday A. NJ. by choosing Mr.. Power.
OF Orland, Moderator, and re-electing Rev. Mr..
Hardy OF Bluehill Scribe. for the ensuing year.
A short social service followed. The afternoon
session wa. devoted TO discussions. The first
topic was The value OF Evangeli.tic work
for the Churches md was opeEed by Rev. l..
J. Thomss OF Castine. The speaker showed
conclusiyely that the value OF such work must
be determined relatively by the special need Of
each Church employing it. The same man and
the same measures would not succeed equally
well in every given case. To sum up the whole
subject 10 = few words-when the right man In
the right place, and al the right time could be
had, then the value to the Church was inesti-
mable. Several Other speakers followed-smong
them. Rev. A. +. Ives OF Casiine, who referred
to the Three Days Meeting" well known 10
our fathers and grAndfaihers, and showed the
similarity OF their results 10 those Of Eyangel-
istic labor =; the present day.
The second topic, The Sabbath SCHOOL,
was opened by Rev. Mr.. Hardy OF Bluehill.
He thought one reason OF its present ineff-
cheney vas due TO the fact that ii was not con-
sidered 3 regular Church service by Church
members. which they were As much bound TO
attend as the preaching service or prayer meet
ing. The same topic WAS carried over TO the
evening session, when Rev. Mr.. Forsyth Of
Buck.port made some telling remarks upon
the evil effects OF sending children TO the Sab
bath School only, and not taking them also TO
the public worship Of God. He referred to the
well known desire of children to do just -
papa and mamma do, and urged parents to take
adv antsge Of ii, and train their children in the
habit Of attending Church. Those who are
trained TO 20 to Sabbath School only-by and
by feel too old tor such service, and so they
leave the school and graduate where Alas,
too often into the street, and around the corn
ers.
Lister In the evening, Rev. Mr.. Redlun made
an appeal for funds for the endowment Of the
Classical School at Hallowell, after which Rev.
A. L. Ives preached from Heb 1875, upon
Goods abiding presence in the SOUL There
was an early prayer meeting Wednesday morn
Ing at. 6 O'Clock, lasting an hour. There was
also devotional exercises At 0 A. N. followed
by q discussion upon The relative value Of
the different Church services" which was
opened by Rev. A. l.. Ives. He objected to
the term preaching service, as il the main OBJ
ject In coming to Gods house was to hear
sermon, and not TO present ourselves before
God in the attitude Of worship. Rev. Mr..
Thomas thought it difiicult to determine the
relative importance Of the different services.
We need the preaching service to instruct, the
teaching service for the careful study Of Gods
word. and the festifying service Of prayer and
praise. to quicken devotion.
report Of the Churches was then read
from which it appeared that "a members had
been sdded TO the different Churches Of the
| Conference during the past year. making the
total number ,00S. There has been special
/ interest in the Church ct Amherst and Aurora,
/ b ooksvilie, Castine and Orland. Rev. Mr..
/ Chapin's account Of the establishing Of q week
| " prayer meeting at Amherst. where there had
| been none for years, aud Mr. Hae's account OF
| Christian work done 1t North Castine were
| full Of interest. Altogether the year seems to
have been one Of progress, for which, thanks
are due to the great Head Of the Church.
The Conference closed Wednesday p. NJ,
| with . sermon BY thnt veteran 10 the Lord's
service Rev. DR.. Tenney ,of Ellsworth, and the
| Communion OF the Lords supper, and all who
sttended its session, seemed TO 20 away with
| . new impulse to work for the Master with
greater ssal md 6dslity. p.