St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-08-23
PEACHAM'S GREAT DAY.
[continued from I'd Page.]

ZSHdll TSflC" tIlC IG(O1Cs ma -
that the benehcent influence of both |
.church and school had. to day, but |
just begun
For all thy gifts of blessing and of power
Century to come! we hail thy grand advance;
a Presa ging good, Gods interests to enhance: |
May church and school, together, heart and |
hand,
Another century for manhood stand.
+ And as we here with ecstasy and cheers,
Recall the record of a hundred years;
ay our ike n the oes that 9 shall last
81 Till error, vice and wrong have passed
Go on, School! go on, Q church! we pray.
81 Till honor, truth and right are ours Away.
The choir then sung pray for the
s peace Of jerusalem" after which
came the historical address by Rev.
NJ. NJ. Martin, D. D. of Allegan, Mich.
The Historical Il ddress.
The speaker took as a basis for his
remarks the word of God to
q Abraham. 4 will bless thee and thou
8 shalt be blessing" When a
nation forgets to celebrate its birth
Fl day, he said, it is evidence of the
dawn of crisis prophetic of de-
cline" His aim on this occasion
4 was to hold up the history of this
n dred years Of church life in a noun
tain town like this. To rightly
measure the work of a church we
must look at it from a distance.
The history of the church is es-
sentially the history of the town.
e 1t was the town that took the in
q itiative in having preaching. Before
q 1871 we find several records of the
g., H.,
and appointing the selectmen as a
committee of supply; and even treat
ing with a Rev. Mr.. Chaplin on the
subject of settling in the town, in the
work of the ministry, with pro-
vision for moving expenses, the offer
of a farm and stipulated salary.
II the record is reliable, eighty others
failed to make a permanent connec-
ton with this church. Eighty can
didates! This surpasses some of
our modern experiences.
This church was formally organ
lied April IA, 1894. But its spirit
may be traced to such men as Huss,
Luther, Calvin, Knox, Robert
Brown, and John Robinson, and to
such places as Prague, EFFORT,
Worms, Scrooby, Amsterdam, Ley
den, Old Plymouth, New Plymouth.
Seemingly it was an unlmpOrtant
event for a little church of a dozen
members to be organized in a little
town on the mountains. And yet in
Gods mind it was very important
indeed. For out of it was to come
an influence which was to usher in
the kingdom of God. 1t was to be,
literally, GA city on a hill which
could not be hid.
The speaker devoted a great deal
OF time to reviewing American his
tory as bearing upon the establish
ment of educational institutions and
the development of the educational
idea. He also dWelt at some length
on the environments of this little
church of twelve members organized
in 1794-the peculiar state of the
country at that time, the important
process of reconstruction of our
nationality following the revolution
ary period. This church, he said,
was born at the beginning of the
most remarkable of all the centuries.
Vermont has had her full share in
establishing churches and schools
and Christian colleges all over our
great West. But in 1874 when this
church was organized, this work mad
not been, done. You have been
honCred in having a share in this
glorious work. And you commenced
where Nehemiah's church did, lover
against your own house" But you
did not stop there.
The records are very meagre OF
what was done between 1776 when
Jonathan Elkins came here, and
1894, when this church was organ
lied; and also between 1894 and
1899, when the first pastor was in
stalled. The same is true OF the
time between 1899 and 1906 when
the church edihce was built on the
top of the hill yonder. We can only
read between the lines.
The unWritten story of the Strug-
giles, the aspirations, the heroic self
sacrifice and the determined purpose
Of the pioneers of this church is
tloquence itself. AS we have so
1neagre a record, let us read between
the lines some of the experiences out
OF which this church was born.
1t is not easy for us today as we
look over these sun-lit hills and
wales, with their drapery of green
with beautiful homes, with all
things that belong to a highly cul-
tivated farming community-it is
not easy, l say, for the mind filled
with this fair prospect to perfectly
apprehend its primeval condition
and appearance.
1t was "howling Wilderness in
deed, tor the few stump covered
openings, with rude primitive dwell
ings in the center of each, did not in
timidate the wild animals that had
within a short time held full sway
over the dense forest, save as occa
siOnal cOmDanies of red rner