Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-12-27
FOREFATHERS DAY.
THE CELEBRATION OF THE ANNIVERSARY
IN MlDDLEBURY.

day, the 2Oth inst lt was the ODD con-
secutivc celebration of the event here,
the first having been held in 1912. There
was large attendance.
Hon. John w. Stewart presided. The
exercises began at O'Clock with an or
gan voluntary by Mrs. Miner, followed
by the rendering of Dudley Bucks an
them, "Cantate Domino, by choir com
posed of the Misses Stewart, Misses Ma
ry Bot. Mabel Bond, Bernice Thomas,
Antoinette Peck and Alice Miner, DR..
Sheldon, Joseph Peck, r. II. Warner and
F. j. Hubbard.
Prof. Eaton made the Invocation and
read part of the 105th Psalm.
Then Mrs. lIemaBs' well-knOwn ode.
"The breaking waves dashed high" was
sung by the choir and congregation.
Prayer by Rev. ID. w. Lyman, the Bap-
fist pastor, and the singing of response,
81 waited for the Lord, by Mendelssohn,
by the choir, came next.
Rev. A. w. Dickens of Middlebury, the
speaker of the evening. was next intro.
duced. In opening he remarked that
there were two WAYS of being original on
this occasionally the presentation of
fresh subiect-matter, and By change in
treating the subject. The first was an
impCssbiity, so he had adopted the lat
ter, which he arrived at by speaking of
the Puritans themselves, instead of fol-
lowing his predecessors in IA discussion
of some side issue but remotely connected
with them. His subject he announced
to be The Puritan Standpoint and
he said
The first article i'm the creed OF the Puritan
was this Mans chief duty is to glority God.
We think we know II great deal more about
God than the Puritan did We are sure we
have vastly improved upon his conception of
the divine nature No doubt we have, in GER
tain respects Beyond dispute we have some
sweet, and tender, and real ideas of God that
ne di not have. We live under far better
forms of civil government, and systems OF
government are always powerful in shaping
mems notions OF God, Just rs their notions OF
sod have great deal to do with the forms
OF government they rear, or to which they
bodiment OF political power and authority
was king. And so the conception of the
lot'icst spiritual power ana authority was of
heavenly king. And men were his sub.
iecis, with the same duties rs worldly sub
jecs in relation to their sovereign, that OF
increasing his glory an dominion in the
world With him religion was the business
of life: the business OF life was religion.
ns hp t,.l-
lows he was to do everything within the
range OF his influence to make them feal and
obey God. This was the motive that
prompted his efforts in whatever he did be.
tween dawn and dark. 1t regulated his per
sonal con iuct and it shaped the means by
which he sought to mould the characters OF
others. This led him into arbitrary acts
many times. For example, he had great
faith I'm the need and influence of "thc meet
ing" as hc called it. And so he decided
what his neighbor should pay toward the
support of che meeting" how near to it he
must build his house, how many times he
might be absent from it before his farm was
sold away from him. This and Il thousand
other things do not sound very well now, but
the principle that produced them made II
pretty solid foundation tor lite.
If there be such thing as quality in
character, il one AZURE may be better or
worse than another, IT must be "a matter OF
tremendous moment whether "A man goes
forth to his daily toll saying, on the one
hand, 81 VIII today, by my LIVING, make this
world IL little more truly Gods worid,' or
saying, ON the other hand, 81 viii today get
out of the world all can for my own profit
or enjoyment" And right there you have
one OF the most dcclded differences between
the Puritan and many ii descendant OF the
present time. Herein we recognize the
hcroi SIN, the devotion, jhe worth OF the form
or, and these things are not ncg'uiVcd by
the means and methods through which he
sometimes sought to give them expression.
His first thought was not OF himself, 1t was
OF God. His aim was not to promote his own
interests, but to advance the divine glory.
Another striking feature If the Puritan
character was his keen sense OF unseen
things. 50 Tar a. may be, / am employing
the very terms he would use to describe the
same facts and things. with him, the reali
uoo We're not tine objects he SAW and handled.
Houses, lands, armies, rulers, physical lite;
these were but ncctins shadows. Righteous
ness, SIN, immortality. cod: These were the
real substances of the universe. Sow, with.
out controversy. his matter enters into the
temperament of different age. of society Just
rs it doe, into the different Compartments OF
individuals. II You viii allow the expires
sion, will venture To- say that our own age
does not al all compare " ith than of the Pui
tan i'm powcrto see She unseen. And hc WIS
the beneficiary of the times iu which hc lived,
precisely a. we, IN a corresponding manner,
are the victims of tur times i'm which we live.
The influences which con-pircd tohn,lic the