The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-04
CLEVELAND AS A cHURcHMAN.
HE SPEAKS TO PRESBYTERIANs ON
MISSION WORK.

Remarks on the suherings of the
Foreign Missionaries Also Loudly
Cheercd.
New York, March 3-The opening gun
of a big home mission campaign was fired
tonight at Carnegie Music hall by the
board of home missions of the Presbyte-
rian church.
The announcement that President Cleve-
land was to preside at the meeting was of
itself sufficient to draw an immense aud
fence to the hall. The doors were opened
at 7:15 o'clock, but long before that time
the crowd began to gather. Five min
utes after the doors were opened every
seat in the immense hall was filled. The
audience was a very enthusiastic one and
the remarks of the various speakers were
cheered to the echo.
The object of the rally was to stir up
public interest in the work of home mis-
sions and to raise funds for completing
the payments on the new building of the
society in Fifth avenue. The meeting to-
night is the first of a series to be held
all over the United States.
1t was exactly five minutes after o'clock
when President Cleveland appeared on the
platform. He was dressed in a black frock
coat and wore a turned down collar and
black tie.
The moment the President was seen the
immense audience rose up and cheered
wildly for a few minutes. There was an
cher burst of applause when the Rev. DR..
John Hall introduced President Cleveland
as the presiding officer of the meeting in
a brief speech.
Dir. Hall in introducing the President,
said: my Christian friends: We have
with us here one who has been twice
called by the voice of his fellow-citizens
TO the highest official position in the
| United States and one who has, under
stand, some happy family association with
our board of home missions. / have the
pleasure therefore, by the direction of the
| board of home missions, and l count II
| an honorably duty, to invite the President
of the United States to preside over our
| present meeting"
! He was received very warmly, but the
! cheering was by no means bolsterous'
| His remarks on the sufferings OF the Tor
| eign missionaries were loudly cheered. lie
| spoke as follows:
Il desire to express my appreciation
of the privilege Of participaiingt IN inns tn,s
| afforded me of testifying to the value
and usefulness of the work undertaken
by the board of home missions OF the
Presbyterian church.
my interest in this subject and my ia
miliarity with home missionary enorts
are not newly acquired. They early came
to me in the surroundings of a Christian
Presbyterian home, and were simulated
by fathers faithful labors in the cause,
My early impressions are not, however,
the only basis of the testimony give To-
night in favor of home missions. AS
your fellow citizen, interested nope IN
all things that deepen the religious senti-
ment of our people and enlarge CHRISTIAN
influence l fully realize the translucent
importance of this agency in ITS opera
ton upon the hearts of men for the sal
walton of their souls The long roster or
those who have been lead into the way
of righteousness through the instrument
a missions.
of successful endeavor.
But it is not only as your fellow-citi-
zen, but as the chief executive officer or
your government, that l desire to speak,
for l am entirely certain that serve well
our entire people, whose servant l am,
when l here TESTIFY 10 the Deneht our
country has received through home mis-
sionary effort and when l join in an at
tempt to extend and strengthen that ef-
mo one charged with the duties and
responsibilities which necessarily weigh
upon your chief executive can fail to APP
precate the Importance of religious teacn-
ing and Christian endeavor in the newly
settled portions of our vast domain. 1t is
there where hot and stubborn warfare be-
tween the forces of good and evil is con-
stantly invited. In these days the van
guard of occupation in new settlement
is never without its vicious and criminal
element Gambling houses and dram shops
are frequently among the first and most
in a new community. 1t must also be
confessed that removal from old homes
and old associations to a new and more
nrimitive homes has a tendency among
honest and respectable settlers to smother
scruples, and to breed liberation of evil
and Indifference to Outstanding and
elevating agencies. These conditions, il
unchecked and uncorrected, fix upon the
/ rev community by their growth and ex-
| pansion character and disposition which,
while dangerous to peace and order in the
early stages of settlement, develop into
badly regulated municipalities, corrupt
and unsafe territories and undesirable
states.
country where the people, good or bad
are its rulers, because the conditions to
which l have referred would certainly
| menace, within circle constantly enlarg-
| ing, the safety and welfare of the entire
| body polite, If we could not hope that
churches and religious teaching would
/ from the first be on the ground to oppose
! the evil influences that are apt to perVade
| the beginning of organized communities.
These churches and these religious
| teachings were never more need
| ed than now in our dis
| tant frontiers, where the process
/ of forming new states is going on so rap
/ the citizens of the new states are so rap
| idly gathering together.
| For these instrumentalities at the out
posts of our population, so vitality import
! ant in the view of Christian men as well
as patriotic citizens, we must depend to
a very great extent on home missionary
! if we permit this exertion to languish for
the lack of proper support?
/
missionary labor to the situation of those
| actually toiling in distant fields. for God
and humanity, and purer, better citi-
i zenship our sympathy with their work
| must be further quickened. and our sense
! of duty to them and their cause actively
stimulated. These are the men and woni-
| en- who have left home and the associa-
| ton of friends under the direction of
organized missionary boards to teach
/ Christianity in sparsely settled sections
| and to organize churches where none ex-
/ list enduring discomfort, hardship, pow
/ erty and danger for the sake Of a cause
i to which in very comfortable and in
/ expensive way we profess to be attached.
/ These are our soldiers at the front, fight
| ing our battles, and we who stay at home
| cannot ESCAPE the. duty Of providing for