St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-05-03
ST. JOHNsBURY PREsBYTERIANs.
Service of Thanksgiving for Deliverance
from Church Debt.

from Church Debt.
A Hservice of thanksgiving for deliv-
erance from church debt" was the very
appropriate announcement on the pro-
grams Friday evening when the Pres
byterian church was dedicated. The
audience room was well filled, many
being present from other congrega-
tions in the place, and the services
were both interesting and impressive.
The fact that the service closed the
nine years. pastOrate of Rev. w. R..
Laird, who built up and has been iden-
tilted with the work of the church
since its organization, and also that
largely through his efforts a debt of
over $4,000 on the church property has
been cancelled, were other features
that added to the interest of the occa-
sion.
The services were opened with the
invocation by Rev. c. NJ. Lamson of
the North Congregational church, fol-
lowed with scripture reading by Rev.
d. M. Mckinley of Barnet, the pas
sages read including an account of the
dedication of Solomon's temple.
The dedicatory sermon was preach
ed by Rev. S. j. Grove, from Haggai 2,
7, "And | will fill this house with glo-
ry, saith the Lord of hosts" The first
thought emphasized was that the glory
of the house consisted not in the mate
rial used in it's construction but in the
spirit that dwells therein; it's glory
lies in its spirituality. The reason why
the house shall be filed with glory,
added the speaker, is because "the sill
yer is mine, and the gold is mine, saith
the Lord of hosts" A strong state
ment of the duty of tithe giving and
the strength that comes with giving
unto the Lord the things that are his,
followed, with the added statement
that the reason why the world is not
converted to Christ is that the purses
of the protesting Christians are not
converted. In the closing passages of
the sermon were noted some of the re-
lations God has established for the
happiness of the human race, includ-
ing the family itself, under which head
was considered the evil and increasing
frequency of divorce; the question o
denominatiOnalism was also discussed
the occasion of the great number OF
sects being ascribed to the fact tha
there is not enough of Christ and toe
much of man in the protesting Chris
tians of today. The sermon was {
thoughtful presentation of live ques
tions and was listened to with close at
tention by the audience.
The dedication prayer was offered
by Rev. Daniel Harris of Ryegate, ant
this was followed by a history of the
congregation by Rev. w. R. Laird
This history, containing many facts
concerning the early history of Presby
terianism in this county for the last cen
tury. will be found i'm full on the sec
Ond page.
Rev. Edward Il. Fairbanks, pastor o
the South Congregational church, re
sponded very happily to an invitation
to speak on behalf of the other church
es in the community. He was glad, h
said, at the presentation of facts tina
had eliminated in this meeting. HI
recalled scenes in his own childhoo,
when he used to attend the Presbyte
rian church, at his early home in Lon
donderry, and extended to the peopl
of this society the congratulations o
sister churches and of the people of til
place that the church was free fron
debt. That Brother Laird was abou
to remove to another field of labor wa
much regretted by the many who ha
learned to love him for his heart, an
to respect him for his opinions. MI
Fairbanks gave expression to the hop
that the Lord would send to the peo
pie man of equal worth.
The exercises were brought to
close by the pronouncing of the bene
diction by Rev. t. P. Frost of tn
Methodist church.