The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-02-14

| Whose guiding hand we see
In all lfe's way;
| we come an Offel ing
| OF thankfulness to bring,
On this glad day.
. In all the past hath wrought,
| In years with blessing fraught,
| Thy love we know;
| And own Thy gracious care,
| In every answered prayer
| OF long ago.
That this Thy church hath stood
| To speak Thine endless good,
| We thank thee, now;
| That Christ, the living Head,
Thy people here hath led,
In praise we bow.
For all the loved and blest,
Who now In sainted rest
Abide with Theel
And silently once more,
Sit with us as before
In sympathy.
Accept. o Lord. our praise,
And grant for future days,
1hy truth divine;
That children's hildren here,
Find peace and strength each year,
AT this dear shrine.
| Rev. Mr.. Blanchard then said that he was
| persuaded that 1t would be interesting to ap-
| preciate the closeness of ties in which the
three pastors OF that church are united. AS
already indicated he was a classmate with
Rev. Mr.. Gibbs, and he could also say that
Rev. Dr.. Bolles, the first pastor of
this church. was his immediate
successor in the city of Brooklyn, so that
having succeeded him In Brooklyn. it came
at last to be Rev. Mr.. Blanchard's good for
tune to succeed Rev. Mr.. Bolles in the city Of
Portland, who surely has eminent right to
be greatly interested in this twenty-ffth an
nversary Of the dedication of this church,
for to him, very largely, its existence is due.
After this he was for sixteen years in the
city of Salem, aud now has gone to the city
of New York.
Portland did not forget him while he was
in Salem. nor will she forget him in New
York; and we shall all pray that there will
be length of pastorate, and that in that great
Babel of the new world his voice may ever
be strong for liberty and for truth, and we
have great hope that in the years to come he
Is to be the apostle of our faith in that great
city, in whose success we here shall take
abundant pride. He was glad to introduce
Rev. E. G. Bolles, d. d., first pastor of the
church.
Rev. Mr.. Bolles's address was interesting
and scholarly. thoroughly charming his hear
ers. He spoke in his own inimitable style.
and with rare eloquence.
REV. Z. C. BoLLEs's ADDRESS.
My Friends, new and old 1t is a new ex-
perience to me to pose as patriarch. had
supposed that I was holding well to my
youth, and certainly in my vigor and enjoy
ment / do not feel that have grown old.
But the years will pass away. Most ieetiDg
and uncertain of all things are our mortal
years, and where could once slip through
alrn M hNrf In
inertia of my motion. Looking back, it
seems incredible to me that my labors with
this people were quarter OF century ago.
Without intending 1t, you have brought two
anniversaries into very close relationship.
1t will be 30 years tomorrow since first
came to Portland to preach. l was drawn
out of the first wave of secession from the
south, which had been my home, or Father In
the swell that preceded that vast tidal wave
Of rebellion, l was In Boston Tor some llt,
tie time, and then by accident. or l should
rather say by providence, one February SuE-
day l supplied in the pulpit OF this society,
and having found my way inside the gates Of
Paradise. l was very careful that no angel
Here remsined, my p&-torate extending
over some of the most stirring scenes Of Am
ercan history. and some Of the most inter-
esting scenes in the annals Of the Christian
church.
/ well remember some of the occurrences,
influences and impressions of the first days
Of my residence in Portland. They were
days which were not favorable to religious
calm or thought. There are times when In
the hour of our public life there seems to
rise an influence which is not for good, Just
as in the hour distempered by some epidemic
there are hidden the germs of disease. And
so it was just before that great civil
war broke out, and as II to second it there
came portents in the skies. All at once
there blazed out land | shall never forget
how ominous and terrible it looked over
Portland streets a shining crescent, or a
great comet In the sky. 1t came so rapidly
that it flashed upon mems eyes in its perfect
ed form before they had hardly noticed its
visit to the heavens, and, as II under the in
huence and inspiration of that wondering
portent Of the heavens, the storm Of SECESSION
We were worshipping at that time in
the church on Congress street. The first call
had been made. The first Maine Regiment
for their training ground and camp, and the
first company OF any Maine regiment that
ever went to the front was very largely re-
cruited from the town of Norway, and in
that town very largely in its privates
Unversalist church. So l remember very
we'll that we were forced to abandon
that little wooden structure. preached, un-
der more excitement than L had ever felt be-
fore, my sermon at once OF welcome and
farewell to those men who were among the
first to face the bayonets and bullets Of the
foe. l remember, too, when they came back.
how our tears and our JOY met together. l
remember how their successors were enlisted
until Portland was crowded with camps, and
we were as familiar with the movements and
sounds of war, those OF US who had never
dreamed Of war before, as though we had
served in some campaign ourselves. And
still the storm rose. Disaster followed dis
aster At first our armies were unsuccess-
ful, and then, slowly, as some giant that
rises from sleep, the republic hrst began to
try its strength, and first to beat back the
ranks of those who sought its lite.
1t was through the scenes Of that civil war
amid its excitement, its reign of blood and
of tears, its bereavement of families, its
blended hope and despair. that the peaceful
work of laying these foundations and lifting
these walls went on, flower of peace that
blossomed from the blood-red heart of war.
You have heard the details Of the various
business movements through which the
practical work Of church construction went
on. TO me, and doubtless to some of the
older members of this church, they have
been held before us like an etching, or an
artists sketch In black and white, of some
beautiful scene on which our eyes have
looked before. Only few touches Of the
paint or of the brush. but our memories fill
them again with color, the water ripples
in the river or sleeps in the silver Of the lake
before our eyes, the great trees wave their
branches against the sky and grow vocal
with the sounds OF birds Or, perhaps, II
comes the stir of Its life, the august glory Of
It's architecture the splendor of its history,
and of its art. Such is genius that
a few feeble and faint touches, as they
seem upon the paper or the canvass, can re-
call all this, and so our friend has wrought
this wonderful work for me, and feel in
the dry figures and facts, with the living
memories Of some of the dearest and noblest
men and women who ever met around Gods
altar, to rejo!c, In His love and to speak His
praise.
1 take, as your worthy pastor has well
said, but little Of this credit to myself. /
was young and inexperienced comparatively
In the work of my profession, and without
this wisdom, zeal and devotion of those who
loved me better than deserved to be loved,
this church would not have been possible.
First of al, the merit Of this choice Of ground
and the obtaining of this site on which TO
build the church, was due to the zeal, busi-
ness enterprise and rare sagacity of DIR.
Ludwig. The inspiration which was need
ed, especially In that time, to sustain enthu-
siam and to call men away from the storms
which shook the state to the work of church
building, was supplied by one of the bray-
est, noblest and wisest spirits who ever ad-
ded distinction to his native state. Govern
or Washburn was friend whom to have
Known was ever to love, and who gave him
self, with all his marvellous powers and gifts,
as unreseryedly and simply as child to that
form OF faith which he loved and whose
honor he identified with his own. Around