The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1879-11-14
HISTORIC.
Anniversary Sermon Of Rev. I. B. Lit.
tie, of the Presbyterian Church.
Delivered October aeth, 1870.

~ - -~~~ ~J ~~r~~@ ~.~ASAs
Delivered October 2oth, 1879.
Numbers, KILL, 80, "Let us 70 up q
once and possess u; for We are well able h
overcome It,"
Ten years ago last Friday was my frs
Sabbath of service In this church. Thi
hallOwed day, rich with autnma splen'
doris, 10 the first sabbath Of q new decade
Checkered, chastened, rften hayward
but on toe whole pros, ,erous, has beer
our progress toward the goal of all gospe
enterprise-the promised land OF over
coming, where wilderness backslidipg
renounced, and carnal foes cast out, tn,
church of God shall have the kingdom
Caleb, with the youthful Joshua
faithful among the 'fsithless, hopeful
still, because believing, and believing
still happily because they walked 90 nesl
with God, have spied out the goodness Of
the land and Its trembling before thu
name of the Lord, laden with Its fruits
and with the experience Of Gods resist
less presence there, they bring back Il
Israel the words which may serve as vel
to rouse this church to-day. "Let vi
90 up at once and possess It; for we are
well able to overcome it."
Shall we "arise and 20 over thi,
Jordan" and possess the kingdom which
the Lord delights to give Us, or shall w
turn back to other decades of aimlesl
wandering In the wilderness Of barren
ness and death?
The onward cry of Caleb raises Thu
question, for this church, on this ami
versary day. II every soul in our Zior
will awake and put on his whole reserve
of strength from the Almighty, thcI
this church would be clad In the beauti
full garments of divine resistlessness, and
verify, there should henceforth no more
come unto her the uncircumcised and
the uLclean.
What Csleb's guest certifes us, in the
name of God, out of the future, whose
verge we tread to-day, ] would ssek 10
confirm and emphasize out of the re-
cords of the past. Rightly read they
will sound out the same cry. Let US &c
up at once; we are well able to overcome
To 90 back little of the ten years
We shall specially review to-day, we are
we'll able, now, to undertake general
gospel conquest In this community, be-
cause 1t pleased God this should be the
pioneer protestant church of the Min
nesota valley.
The old church at Traverse de Sioux
was probably earlier, but that with what.
ever else there was down the river to the
metropolis, had little, comparatively, to
do with church history Of this valley.
Certainly below the bend of the river,
around which our city curves, moth
ing ecclesiastical existed. South, east,
west, or above, previous to the
organization of this church, un.
less We except the splendid work
among the Dakotas long before com.
menced by our missionaries.
Close in the wake of the steamer
Clarion" which brought the first set.
tiers, came Father Thomson-of blessed
memory-and Immediately began to
preach the gospel. II was year later,
and after he he had moved In his family,
before even the frst Methodist minister
put In his sppeaIsne6-<ahd when q
church Is in advance of the outrosts of
that denomination, 1t surely will be
called the pioneer church.
On the last day Of August, 1865,
Father Thompson organized this church
with II members-14 of whom hsrdi,
hood, and climate, by Gods blessing,
have preserved alive. through almost a
quarter of century, to this day. Four
Of them-the then elected elder of the
church, A. d, Seward, and his wife,
Mrs. Msrfeld and Mrs. J. Q. A. Marsh,
ARE still members of the church
Chers was the spot whence we started
Out Of the wilds for the past;
Full OF resolves Of the future
Then with It's mists overcast"
Rude and wild indeed was the almost
homeless frontier. That little church.
alone in all this region was stsrtlingly
like the affairs built by the immigrating
Hebrew patriarchs of old, for indeed
"the (red-skinned) Canaanite was then
In the land"
The rear room of the house where now
the First National bank stands, was the
birthplace of the little church,
and for 10 long years II
had no better place to worship
than the old log school house, - distinct
in the memory Of every old settler. II
Is indicative how far out on the Wiscon.
sin frontier Manksto was regarded; 1t
recalls savage proximity and the uncer.
tain title to real estate, and the hard
struggle to live; that this town was at
least twelve years old and had popula-
tion of 1000 inhabitants, before q sin.
gle church building wss erected. 1t was
then this sanctuary was reared, the first
church not only, but the first public
building of any sort, save only that lit.
tie log school house, In all this end OF
Minnesota.
Father Thomson had, meantime,
served the church eight years, as stated
supply, and had been succeeded by Rev.
Marcus Hicks, who after single year Of
labor was driven from his post by pull.
monsry disease, incurred, as was In.
formed by Judge Cleveland, through
hardships and by service, in the storm,
against the savages. He died not long
after, and Father T. some ten years
later, and of each of them were Judge
Cleveland's own brave words most roy.
ally true-words which loving hands
have inscribed upon his own monument
| True to his manhood aud his God,
Earth holds for heaven no holier trust
| Than the dear ashes Of the just"
1t was out of the profound discour'
sgement and weakness succeeding Mr..
Hicks removal that God called
those few Christians to arise and
build this, for that time, i'm
mense structure. Rev. A. G.. RuliffsOn
superintendent of Home Missions, and
Rev. Thomas Marshall, pastor-elect of the
church, were the leaders, who with aid
from abroad, and the efforts of the brave
little band here, reared this temple to
the living God. 1t stood alone, like the
ancient Tabernacle, and Gods table
within 1t was spread with the mama OF
the wilderness. But 30 much hasit been
the mother of churches In southern
Minnesota, that fully one-fourth of the
sermons of the passionate of the last ten
years have been preached In other pull
pits in this region than its own. That
God gave those few pioneer Christians
such courage and faith and ability,
shows how well able" we are to stand,
to-day upon the eve of great things, and
to 60 forward at once and overcome
them.
Brother Marshall was installed pastor
on the day of the dedication, and In hi
sermon, which was published at the time
hecrowned his retrospect of the then ter
past years with the prophecy, 9TH
church, not like the Phoenix arising from
its own ashes, but like the eagle renew
its youth, goes forth under auspices tina
seem 10 bespsak foi 1t during It's secont
decade, a success seldom met with in thu
history of any church"
| For the four years of his nastorat