The Newtown bee., 1896-03-27
Fairfield County News.
BETHEL.
THE FELLOWSHIP MEETING AT THE CON
 GItEGATIONAL .CHuNCI.

THE FELLOWSHIP MEETING AT THE CON
 oKEGATIoNAL .cHuKCu.
 The storm of last Monday for a while looked very much as if winter had deter mined to finger some time still in the lap of spring, and it would have bodcd no good to the fellowship meeting that "as planned for Tuesday in Bethel if it had continued. Tuesday, however, broke l bright and fair, and the result was that
 when the morning session of the fellow
 hip meeting was opened at 10 IL with drvotioual service ny Rev II. l.. Slack. the pastor of the Bethel church, there
 was, for this hour, an unusually large number present, and at the opening of the afternoon session the church wus
 well filled. Rev William kiucaid, D. D., one of the sccrctariHs of the Corgrcgal- ional Home Missionary society, was to
 have spoken at the morning hour, but be- ing uuavoidahlv absent, Rev Frank F.
 Woodhury. D. b., of the American Mis-
 sionarv Association, filled his place. He said that he had taken the , a. m. train from New ork in order to b. there, and must return Ht llI7, He had just come from u session of the officers of the Soci- cty, at which they were engaged in mah- ing out the financial schedule for the year that begins with October next. It
 WAS work that would touch the hardest
 heart From the field came three state- mcnts First. what the teachers and mis- ! Id ha., l what they thought it was almost urcps- sary to have; and lastly, what they
 would like to have if such and such con- ditions could be fulfilled In these hard i times the first statement only WAS given any consideration. Some one has said that all Christians should now be eugag- ed in corjugating one verb; owe, thou owest, he owes, we owe you owe, they
 owe. Dr Baird had just returned from
 tour of the schools of the American Mis- 1 sionary Association in the south, and he
 said '-Gcntlcmen, | simply cannot speak
 of the things have seen, the sutlCring f.
 SO terrible" In describing the vastness
 of the work committed to his society Dr Woodbury said if you were to draw q
 line through North Dakota and run it
 south until it cut Texas, thus dividing our country, according to it's population,
 into two equal parts, and if you were to take every man, woman and child out of
 the western part, you could fill their places with the blacks of the south, and
 still have enough over for all the states of New England except Rhode Island
 Rev C. W, Francis, now pastor of the Congregational church in BrOokfeld Cen
 ter and who was formerly connected with
 the State University of Atlanta, Ga,
 spoke of the impressions he had gained
 of the black people and the problem of their intellectual and religious cmancipa- tion.
 The afternoon session opened at , o'clock with the attendance largely in creased oyer that of the morning. After short devotional service conducted by Rev Albert F. Pierce of Danbury, the topic, ''Methods of Personal Work, was opened by Rev C. W. Francis, who spoke especially of ''Ihe Pastor in Regular and After Meetings" MT Francis made many good points. He divided the pastors personal work into instruction and per | suasion, and said the best fruit was al ways the d-picked fruit. As to meth- ods in after meeting he suggested that small committee be chosen by the pastor and be trained for this special work. The plan was proposed of having this com mttee drilled in answering the questions that would naturally be Caised by those who were seeking the way of salvation. l.. r. Trcadwell, of the Bethel church, who was introduced as "a Christian bus ness man, then read an excellent paper on "The Brethren in Invitation and Wis itation.n The paper was filled with piChy sayings and terse comments which would we'll serve as notices for Christian work. MT Treadwell said the art of inviting souls to Christ was almost 8 lost art. We have too many merely society churches. A spirit of mutual helpfulness should pervade all churches. We need united church and personal Christianity. We cannot speak to men about Christ until we are on fire with love for Christ. We invite men not to go to church, but to come to Christ. Every town presents a rich missionary field. The common peo- l pie heard Christ gladly, and the great majority day are common people. All church members are called to the great work of the continual ingathering of souls.
 Miss Emily c. Hawley of Danbury cap- tivated and charmed the audience by her | beautiful address upon ''Woman's Work ! in Soul Winning" Every word was lis- tened to with rapt attention, and the thoughts expressed will be long remem- bered by all who were present. Miss Hawley quoted Emerson as saying that Nature has never produced anything | higher than mother. Long after the teachings and precepts of others have passed away, those of the mother remain. When mother fails to bring her sons and daughters to Christ, she fails indeed. Miss Hawley very touchingly described the funeral of the mother of Dwight T.. Moody. As the 400 young ladies from