The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-06-03
SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE CONGREGATIONAL HOME
 MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

Church Last Evening-A Powerful Ad-
 dress by Rev. Dr. Daniel Merriman of
 Worcester, Mass.-EviIs Threatening the
 Church, Society and the Nation That
 Need Correcting-The Field of the So-
 ciety-Salutations by Rev. Dr. smyth
 and President Dwight-A Large Attend
 ance-To-day's Program.
 The Congregational Home Missionary society opened the annual meeting of it's seventieth anniversary at the Gen. ter church last evening at 7:SO.
 There were present a large number of veteran workers in home missions, besides many interested in the work of the society. The body of the church ing fair promise that the society will succeed in this attempt to come in clos CT contact with the churches by hold ing it's annual meetings at other places than Saratoga, where they have been held heretofore. New Haven is espe- cially honored in being chosen as the city in which to inaugurate this new departure, and it as at the same time peculiarly fitting that the society should choose this old stronghold of Congrcga tionalism as it's place of meeting and the Center church, one of the most his toric of Congregational churches in 60t oc 1,A very foundation of the old Puritan commonwealth.
 The session last evening was presid- ed over by the vice president, Dr. F. B. Webb, and was opened with prayer by the Rev E. s. Smith of Walla Walla, Washington.
 The audience sang God Bless Our Native Land,' after which the annual sermon. was given by Rev. Daniel Mer- riman. D. D., of Worcester, Mass. It is given i'll the main below.
 After the sermon the Rev. Newman Smyth, D. D., pastor of the Center church, gave the salutation in behalf of the Center church and the other Con- gregational churches of the city. He said: Tt is a grateful and apostolic function to give the salutation of this church and other churches to this so- ciety, and not only the greeting of the churches, but the greetings of hope and joy. From all the history of this an- cient church, the living and the dead, all the saints salute you. We salute and welcome you on behalf of your great national work
 One of the first contributions made for the purposes of this society was contributed by the early members of this church. In 1645 forty bushels of good wheat were grown by members of this church and were given to assist poor students at Harvard, and for sev- eral years contributions were made for this purpose and to carry on Christian work in and around Boston.
 In 1792, after the Revolution, contrib utions were made for home mission work in the northwest, the northwest at that time being Vermont and DOT tions of New York.
 Dr. Smyth said the church had es- pecial reason for welcoming the so- ciety because the directors had that day voted to turn over $5,000 for the home missionary work in New Haven, This money was left by one of the mem- bers of the Center church for the work in New Haven. Three deacons of the church were the trustees, and after their death and the death of the testa- tors widow the Home Missionary so- ciety became the residuary legatee of the property. The directors of the so- ciety determined to carry out the in- tention os the testator and so turned the money over to be used in the home mission work in New Haven, thus showing the spirit of Christian comity and good feeling which pervades the organization. Dr. Smyth closed his remarks by referring to the memorial window as a source of inspiration to the members of the convention, and expressed the wish that peace and grace should be with them while they remained here.
 President Timothy Dwight, D. D., welcomed the convention on behalf of Yale university and alluded to the in- fuence which they hoped had gone out from the institution in the home mis- sion work, and wished them all happi- ness as they assembled here.
 Vice President pr. k. B. Webb re- sponded to the salutation, thanking them for the kindness of their reception and greeting, and made strong ap- peal for the home mission work, say ing that this is a strategic nation and occupies a strategic point in the his tory of mankind. He closed Sy saying he wished the watchword of the con- vention might be the Conversion of America for the hope of the world"
 After the singing of America the was dismissed with the bene- diction by Vice President Webb.
 The music to be used throughout the are selections taken from the Plymouth Hymnal especially for this 
 But it is certain formidable moral, or perhaps we might more appropriately call them immoral, tendencies of Amer ican life which most imperatively call for the magnifying of the prophetic function of missions. Here the degen- eracy of the family and of family life and sanctions forces itself upon our at tention as a most threatening evil of ideal and practical at this point, as history abundantly proves, means swift degradation every where Yet this is our peril.
 . The apartment or tenement house; the enormous growth of club life; the doing business on wheels; the advent of women in commercial and profess sional life, disinclined to domesticity, self-asserting; familiarity with revolutionary theories respecting