St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-11-11
The Board Meeting.

At the close of the late meeting of
the American Board at st. Louis, Rev
DIR. GOodell was called upon to give
the farewell address, of which the fol-
lowing are abstracts:
Mr.. Chairman, fathers, and brethren
and friends-It has been worth king
dom to see the great American Board
of Foreign Missions convened on the
China and Japan and Sandwich Islands
side of the Mississippi River. The
guests among us in this great and busy
city have been to us like the blossom
ing of the lilies there has been in
home and in church IA fragrance of
sweetness of Him who is the rose of
Sharon and the lily of the valley. In
the golden fleece that you brought and
spread over the city there has been the
dew of God, and when the fleece is
gathered up and taken away it will
prove that the dew of God is still on
the ground below AS it has been i'll the
past. Your President, | notice, per
mits dreams, and he don't call man
to order as long as he is telling dream.
Laughter. If | see him raise his
gavel will strike into a dream. Re-
newed laughter. My good wife had
dream. On Monday night she
dreamed before your coming, not of
chickens and of fowls and of roast beef,
but she dreamed, and she said to me
in the morning, IL have had my first
American Board meeting, and God has
given me II great blessing" said
knew that ''IOu prayed aloud in your
dreaming you called upon God to give
His spirit to the board meeting, i'll your
dream, but you didn't invite me to
the meeting" And | all that time,
with carnal mind, was thinking how
to put five people into three places,
how to put seven square pegs into four
holes. Laughter. But | perceived
that the dew of God was around my
home and angels waited there, sent by
Him who giveth dreams and giveth
songs in the night. Now we can't let
You 90 away we are going to hold
you; we are going to keep you. The
meeting may break, the fragrance will
lnger; as in broken vase the fra
GRANGE still abides, so it will he here
in our homes, in our churches and in
our hearts. You can not go, for we
shall hold you forever in our memories,
our affections and in cur gratitude that
yOu came.
In German edition, recently pub
lished, of an eminent book concerning
Columbus, passage appears in which
it is said that when he was on his way
to America, far on, one afternoon he
saw flight of birds, parOquets, com
ing from the southwest and going to
the northeast, from the islands of the
West Indies to the mainland of the
Continent, as we can now see it was.
He turned his ship towards where the
birds came from and he soon found the
islands of the West Indies, and the
Spanish fleet landed there. The wri-
ter goes on to say "Was ever flight
of birds more important and impressive
in the tides of history ?" That flight
of birds turned the Spanish rule and
lusts and pride to the south, and re-
served North America free to Protest
antism, to Christ and to God. And
because that flight of birds came at
that hour you are here to-day and not
under the inquisition of the Romish
priesthood and the powers that burned
the Bibles on the public squares and
the officers of the inquisitiOn. And so
OOu IL uluS llt Ol llSiOlN
and the tides of human affairs in or
der to the elevation of Christ and the
eXultatiOn of his cross and word in the
hearts of the nations.
The Doctor gave retrospective
glance at the history of this pOr-
ton of the country. As DR..
Thompson had said, this was the
first-born of the American Board, the
land in which Samuel G.. Mills had
preached the first sermon. Here, too,
Salmon Giddings, under the direction
of that board, had founded the First
Presbyterian church, so worthily pre-
sided over by his friend DIR. Ganse.
Applause.
This was section of the country
older than jamestown. Fifty-nine
years before Pilgrim feet pressed
Plymouth Rock, De Soto had discov-
cred the great stream that washes the
shores of this great city and called it
the "Holy Spirit Then for the first
time was the cross planted in this val
ley. After him came Father Marquette,
and later LaSalle took possession in
the name of the great Louis of France
and the Cross of Christ. The Grand
Monarque had passed away, republi-
can institutions prevailed in France,
and this broad land is one great re-
public, but Jesus still reigns, King over
all. LApplause.l
Referring to the parting with the
missionaries, he said
This is no funeral occasion, however.
In going forth they go forth as part
of the sacramento armor of Gods
victorious hosts They 90 KINGS and
priests unto God. He will care for his
own love finds its own, and holds its
own, and blesses its own. Themselves,
their parents, their children, they will
he as the apple of the Redeemer's eye
He will give them tongues and light
and gladness and hope and a crown.
May they go out from this hour, know
ing that Christ is to them what he has
ever been before-the very Life of their
life, and the Light of their light.
-4arifnlfnrai.