St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-07-13
ReIaying Of the Cornerstone
Of the vi. Il. Church.

OIL the vi. II. Chufch.
The ceremony OF relaying the corner.
stone of the NJ. L. church took place
on Tuesday afternoon. The exercises
were opened by an Introductory ritz.
alistic announcement by the pastor
Rev. +. w. Culver. An appropriate
hymn, commencing go Lord of hosts
whose glory fills" was sung by tn,
choir, led by }. II. Marshall, followed
by "A conservation prayer by the pre-
siding elder, Rev. p. n. Granger. The
choir sang the anthem, GLOW excellent
is thy loving kindness, o Lord" Sc
lectiOns were read from the Psaltcr
led by Rev. Henry Fairbanks, followed
by the Scripture lesson, Cor. ,: 9-23
by c. II. Sage. The hymn. "This stone
to thee i'll faith, we lay" was then sung
by the congregation, which was also
sung at the laying of the first corner
stone.
The historical address was made by
Rev. f. w. Parker. From statements
made we learn that the nucleus of the
church was the formation of il class in
June, 1854. of which Mr.. Parker was
the second leader. The church WAS
organized in December. IS56. and the
first quarterly conference for the cleo
ton of officers was held in April, IS57 .
The official board chosen at that time
consisted of .. b. Parker Gather of
Rev. +. w. Parker,) joel Hastings, IL.
X. Brown, II. p. IIOyt, A. J. Willard.
The cornerstone of the church was
laid June, ISIS, and the membership of
the church consisted of fifty members.
The building committee consisted of
Horace Carpenter, A. J. Willard, q. b.
Parker, II. Cowdery, NJ. j. Morrill,.
The present membership is 2j3, and
the average of the Sunday school is
2lO. 1t is quarter of Il century from
the dates of laying the first corner
stone and signing the contract for re
the church. In IS53 there
was revival of religion at st. Johns
bury Centre. and large number was
converted, himself being among them.
Being Il Methodist he was DESTROYS of
having Methodist preaching services
on the Plain. He drew up subscrip-
ton paper, headed by his father, Caleb
Marshall being the second, and his own
name the third. This effort was not
successful, although it resulted in the
holding of occasional services. In
dulging i'll some general remarks, he
lamented the prevalence of sectarian-
ism in New England. While he was a
good Methodist, he was IA good Chris
tian. He deprecated the existence of
two churches in place where there
should be only one. This is the case
in st. JOhnsbury East, where he would
have the Methodists retire and leave
tine field for the Congregationalists to
work ON. In like manner, he would
have other denominations show Il
magnanimous spirit and unite together
in the worship of God.
Words of neighborly greeting were
spoken by the pastors and representa-
tives of the various churches in town.
The first speaker was Col. Franklin
Fairbanks. He answered the objection
made against building nice churches
10y asking why poorer houses should
he built for the Lord to occupy than
for ourselves. These churches, he said.
are built for the purpose of keeping
the devil out. Remove them and what
IA different condition of affairs would
exist it ST. Johnsbury. A danger be
sets church. Ii is that of losing its
power. There are some churches that
have tall spires, good preaching, Il good
organ, good singing, and good pews
but the altar fires are out, the prayer
in the closet is no longer heard. Let
this not be the case in St. Johnsbury
Worldliness in Il church he likcncd to
the moss clinging to the trunk aud
branches of tree, sapping therefron
the life and vitality.
Rev. ii. W. Jones of the North church
brought the congratulations of the
oldest of the sisterhood of churches
Rev. Z. +. Fairbanks spoke for til,
South church, Rev. w. X. Laird for tn,
Prcsby Rev. +. T. Sanford fol
the Baptist, Rev. b. NJ. TillotSou fol
the Church of the Messiah Rev. j. II
Bartlett, pastor of the Methods
church ut Barre. and Rev. Mr.. johnson
pastor of Methodist church at Water
bury, were present and spoke word,
of. friendly greeting. The addrcsSci
were characterized by vein of pleas
antry, and the humorous allusions wer,
heartily enjoyed by those present.
A statement of the contents of tia,
box deposited in the cornerstone wa
made 10y Rev. f. w. Culver, a. follows
Copy of Vermont conference minutes
copy Revised Hymnal copy NJ. f
Discipline copy of the CdIedOniGn q
July Il ; copy of Christian Advocate
copy of programme of exercises paper
deposited in the cornerstone when tn,
church was built roll containing tin
names of all subscribers to the churcl
building fund.
The cornerstone was then laid 10,
the presiding elder, Rev. p. n. Granger
assisted by the building committee, A
L. Bailey, Joseph Soper, 6. p Moore
J. c. Morrison, Sias Randall. Il.
Rollins. The stone bears this inscrip