The Republican journal., 1896-12-31
The North Church Centennial.
[CoNrINuBD FROM FIRST PAGE.

but also by leaving after them families and
relatives whose Christian devotion and cul-
ture have given much of strength and of
ornament to the church and the society.
| Of the living pastors, Mr.. Ross and Mr.
Hack, I will not attempt to speak. Why
| shall | speak of them to you who know
them better than myself, who have been
! ear -witnesses of their eloquent speech and
! eye-witnesses of their constant lives. This
l will say: you have had a succession of
ministers, at least from the time of Mr.. NJ
| Keen up to the present day, whose memory
| any church might be glad to perpetuate
| There is not one of the whole line who
would not hold respectable place in any of
| our ministerial associations Nj Keen, Cut
! Ter, Cutter, Parker-those among them who
| are dead-we thank God for them. A CRATE
| full people to-day desire to honor them for
what they did. They will live in our mem
| orles-we trust i'll our hearts and our lives
| by their influence as long as we ourselves
live. We wish we could pay them worth
Ter tribute, but we doubt not that the trib-
| ute most grateful to them is that to be
| shown by our acts, to initiate and to emulate
in our lives what was truest and best and
most Christ-ike in their teachings and
| their example. And in regard to their sue
| cessors who still live, may it be long be-
| fore any one is called to pronounce
| their eulogy, - before as one has occa-
sion to say "they rest from their labors
| and their works do follow them May the
| years that are appointed to them (the many
| years we trust) be rich in usefulness and in
| happiness and marked by constantly grow
| ing experience of the power and the blessed
| ness OF that Gospel of Gods love and Tod $
righteousness that it is their privilege to
preach.
l have. said something of the pastors of
the church, good, true and able men; [ have
said nothing of the laty, of the many who
have made the church and society what it is,
and without whom there could be no history
| to be recorded and no centennial to cee-
brate. There is something pathetic in the
thought of the many who, year after year
and quarter after quarter, have sat in these
pews as full of life and of hope as any of us
and who have passed away and have left no
| record for human eyes, who are almost I'M
remem bered.
The best history of any church is that part
OF 1t which IS unknown and unreCorded
The quarrels, the councils, the ordinations
and the dismlssals-ail these things may fill
| a great space in the thought and speech
of men, but what is best and sweet
est and truest in the life Of any
church or of any people is out OF sight.
hidden from the view of men, in innumer-
able obscure households, the sweet domes-
tic virtues, the self-sacritice of parents and
of children, the unostentatious deeds of
charity, the secret struggles with temptation,
quiet selt-denlai tor truth and principle, the
hours OF rapt communion with God-these
are to us all unseen, unhera lded in any
journals, unrecorded in any history page
but none the less known and recorded by
Him W no will suffer no good deed to be done
in vain and no virtue to be acquired for
naught, but who will give, sometime, some
where, to any faithful worker wider and a
happier field for the exercise of the virtues
acquired here IN obscurity and sutferiug--in
some better world where the last shall often
be first and the first be last In his hands
We cheerfully leave them.
Thus have l gone over the history of the
church, very hastily and specifically, as
the time only would allow. There are one
or two disconnected reflections, suggested
| by a review to which | wish to call yotr
attention before closing. You remember
that the council which dismissed Mr. NJ
Keen expressed their regret, and with
some severity of language at the brevty of
the pastorates of our church. Whether
short or long pastorates on the whole
the better is not an altogether settled ques-
tion-very much must depend upon circum-
stances. Sometimes a short pastorate is a
great mercy to an afflicted parish Some
times pastor sees that he can decidedly in
crease his efficiency and his usefulness by
removal from parish where he is already
happy and useful, of which he has no com
plant to make But as general thing, I'M
doubtedly long pastorates are better both
Tor minister and people. Aud whatever
reason there may have been for finding fault
with this church in this matter at the time
OF Mr.. M Keen's dismissal, yet taking the
history OF this church as whole, there is
less occasion for it than in the vast majority of
churches. Nine pastors have been placed
over the society since it became an indie
pendent organization. Dividing these into
three trlplets the average duration of the
pastorates in the 6rst is little less than
years; that of the second is more than 7
years; of the third more than years. Con-
slderlng that in each Of these triplets one
pastorate has been brought to a close by
dispensation of Providence - in the
first two by death and in the third by
call (Which is sometimes dispensation)
and leaving these out removals for which
the church had no responsibility, then the
average duration of the pastorates in the
three successive tripets are years, 8 wears
and Is years. If the church could 90 on in
creaslng the length of its pastorates in sue
cesslve generations it will soon reach a
period when its pastors will need to have
the years of the Old patriarchs at their com
mand. The church has no occasion | think
to he ashamed of It's record in this respect
l wish there We're time to refer to some of
the changes which have taken place in the
world since the church was organized 100
years ago, or even SINCE the society was or
gained 70 years agO-changes of the utmost
significance to the church as well as to the
world. lake 1t III the supple matter of ma
terlal wealth. Then we We're the poorest of
all the the nations. Even IS years ago Por-
puOIeSI anu u6dutSG Ol All Ule peoples.
was in advance of us. Now we are the
richest of all the nations on the face of the
earth. Never in the worlds history did a
nation make so rapid transition from the
extreme of poverty to the extreme of wealth
1t is impossible that such change could
take place without involving the greatest
temptations to the higher character of the
people, and it is a matter of profound graft
tude and OF surprised gratitude that it with
stands the temptations therefrom to materi-
ality, to laxity, to effeminacy. There is,
nevertheless, believe, to-day higher and
intenser moral and religious life among the
people than a century ago, and it is due
very largely to the thousands of churches
like this scattered through the smaller and
larger towns of our land. Think of the
changes in matters of daily life and
comfort. When Rev. Mr.. Soule was
settled in 1928 the congregation ASSEM-
bled in room lighted, las it was then called
by materials whose names now are hardly
pronounced for polite ears-tallow candles
and whale OIL and we sat in room freez-
ingly cold. Not because our fathers thought
that worship under conditions of physical
suffering was specially acceptable to God.
but because no means had been devised for
heating large rooms. Now we worship in
building made brilliant as noon-day by gas
and electricity, and comfortable as our own
firesides. When our church made out its
call to Mr.. M Keen it took some four or fl We