Daily Republican., 1889-02-04
TWO DECADES.
Rev. Lafayette Marks, ID. d., Reviews
Twenty Years of Hanover church and
Wilmington History.

Wilmington History.
Sunday forenoon DR.. Marks took, as
In roductory to general narration oi
church and city history during his pas
torate of Hanover Presbyterian Church
Tor twesty years, the 3lst verse Of the 7th
chapter OF 1 Cor, THE fashion of
this world passeth away" coupled with
Its antithesis; Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, to-day and forever"
While ordinarily taking no note OF
time, this span Of two-thirds of an aver
age human lite had passed as "Watch
iu the night" 1t proves at is not In
man that walketh to direct his steps. !"
We cannot at any time foretell an expert
ence OF twenty years. He came, expect
Ing to stay one or two years. A brother
minister, who liked the city and his
church, that had Just called him twenty
years ago felt well l-settled here then and
yet had been blessed with a number OF
calls TO new churches aud homes In the
two decades.
He knew not how, but facts aud cir
cumstances had kept him here, as the
record shows, the longest pastorate in the
history of the church and denomination
In Wilmington. Gods sovereign and in
scru'able purpose mus be carried out.
We are not our own and cannot act ex-
clusively for ourselves. He had told his
colleagues twenty years ago In all sin
cerity he "felt like a pilgrim and likely to
rack his trunk any time at twenty-four
hours notice"
He had received many congratulatory
letters. In. them were such words as
Courage" "faith," "patience, ''con-
tinuance in we'll doing" etc.
This was tho longest pastorate since
Pfesbyterianism began here in A. ID. lI40.
Lengths OF pastorates were shown: Rev.
Joseph Smith, 1770-l774; Rev. William
smith, 1880 1895, followed by DIR. Thos.
Read; Rev. DIR. Gilbert, from 1918 TO 1e32,
when he resigned and accepted the presi-
dency OF Delaware College; recalled,
1885 ls4l; his two pastorates made up 10
years.
Hanover Church edlfce was erected at
Sixth and King streets, March 18th, 1929.
Rev. Arthur Granger, 1882 1885; Rev.
Dr. Hogan, 1S4l-lS46; Rev. DR.. Rockwell,
l8i7-ls5l; DR.. Pollock OF Virginia, 1852
1858; Rev. William @. Dickinson, 1856;
Rev. William Aikman, 1S57-l86s. That
the present pastorate was In Its 2lst year
he took no credit to himself, as 1t was
owing to facts and circumstances over
which he had no control. 1t comprised
thousands of sermons, hundreds Of lune-
raj addresses and such an incredible
amount of work as to be wonderinent
to hmse (. Many persons have testified
that these labors have not been In vain.
WJlmington's progress In the 20 years
WAS wonderful. The Pusey & Jones
Company WAS then a me beginning Of
The immense establishment 1t Is now. The
| II. T. ii. Co. then took two years to build
an iron steamer and could now complete
the largest In six months. Many old trms
had risen to greatness and many large
and prosperous onfs established. Then
the Institute Hall was the only public
building of rote beside churches. Now
there were many and mum, rous sump-
tuous private residences; new Inventions
had abounded more than In any % years
prior history.
But changes were notable everywhere
particularly in newspaper progress
Hewep pers had coming to be among th'
greatest and most influential institution n
of modern times. Their influence In tn,
main is good and battles against tn,
wrong. In this fifth of a century tn
Daily Commercial, Daily Gazette, Daily
journal and Daily Morning Herald ha'
all merged. We have the Every Even
| iukt WHICH blailtu no ~ lhs W IL III
paper, Sept. 4, 1871 The DAILY RI
PUBLICAN since 1872, where the veteran
proprietor still stands behind its oounte
as The Oldest publisher in Wilmington
the Fre.e Presse and Morning News sine,
1850 and the Evening Journal, vg0i
Gus baby 8 months OF age.
In our church not only nearly all who
were then very cid members but ever
whole families have passed away.
In conc iusion DR.. Marks gave the name
of several pastors of leadi; z churches Ecs
peetively who had served and those now
In charge. An eloquen tribute was paid
he late venerable Bishop Lee who had
been the llr minister to take him by the
hand in Wilmington.
DIR. Marks, as h rmon has proved
takes an interest In the people generally
of our ely aud their prosperity. He Il
one of our best known, most resp 'cted
and well-liked fellow citizens. There art
many to rise up and testify they nevel
knew him to lose an opportunity TO give
friendly advice, sympathy and, wher
sbility permitted, assistance also The; G
Is q solemn import in this summing W
which es's with Providence. He is the
eldest Presbyterian pastor In Whining