St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-05-29
COUNTY CONFERENCE.
A Profitable Religious Gathering at the North
Church.

held with the North church on tuesday
and Wednesday. The first on the pro-
gramme was the conference sermon by
Rev. 6. w. Patterson of East St. Johns
bury, who took for his text "And they
were astonished at his doctrine; for his
word was with power, Luke 4, 80. 1t
was very able sermon, treating of the
doctrine and goodness of Jesus. Men
were astonished at the doctrine of Jesus
when he proclaimed himself the prince of
life. Jesus gave the man a new model
devoiion-a devotion to divine friend
and He came to him not with law but
with love. Jesus also proclaimed him
self the bread of life, knowing well that
worldly philosophers did not give to man
the true bread of life. In order to do the
works OF God we must believe on Him
who saved us. Christ was sent to give
us inspiration to do these works. He
came not to catalogue and classify but
to inspire. The piincely gilt of Jesus to
the world is a perfect manhood. His
life interprets the law OF man. Law was
given by Moses, but grace and truth
came from the Lord Jesus. The prince OF
lie came and in his presence men rejoiced.
He is the way, the truth and the lite.
The father said, This is my son in whom
! am well pleased" His great heart
filled and overhowed with love for us;
He was touched with our in6rmities;
He came to minister, to bear burdens
and to give rest to the weary.
After the sermon the moderator, A. S.
Laughlin of Barnet, called to order and
the roll was completed. These commit
tees were appointed, on nominations,
Rev. George P. Byington, Elmore T. Ide,
George A. Nelson on place of next con-
ference, Rev. ]. c. Bodwell, Mr.. Parker,
S. ]. Wilson, Rev. P. B. Fisk; on assess
ments, Rev. Edward I. Fairbanks, Harv-
lin Paddock, Rev. G. W. Patterson.
The afternoon session opened with a
ladies hour, which as usual, was the
most interesting meeting of the confer
ence. Mrs P. F. Hazen, state superin-
tendent OF junior work, spoke very in
tel elestingly oil this part OF the work and
the societies that are engaged in it. She
spoke of the mission circles, the cradle
roll and the Daughters OF the Covenant.
Mrs. Henry Fairbanks spoke of the
recent district meeting of the Vermont
Branch in Burlington where % societies
were represented, and Of the great stimu-
lus to the work afforded by the circula-
tion OF the letters from the missionaries.
Mrs. Rebecca P. Fairbanks presented
summary of her report as treasurer of
the Woman's Home Missionary Society
and she was followed by Mrs. Mary
(Drake) Norton of Newfane who spoke
of her work as home missionary in
South Dakota. She began by saying
how welcome the boxes were and then
related many interesting experiences of
her work. She and her husband had
charge OF six organized churches besides
several fields oflabor Mrs. Morton is
an interesting speaker and was listened
to for half hour with close attention.
Following the missionary meeting
came the reports from the churches.
Nearly all the churches in the county
presented brief reports of a most encour-
aging nature. Good reports came from
the smaller churches OF increased interest
in the work and the help received from
the Sunday School and Christian En-
deavor societies. The closing paper Of
the afternoon was by Rev. Edward T.
Fairbanks. In a brief but interesting
manne, he reviewed the history of the
conference, spoke OF the topics that had
been discussed at the annual meetings
and of the men who had belonged to the
conference in the last 25 years. The
moderator and Rev. P. B. Fisk spoke
of the helpfulness of these gatherings and
gave some interesting "reminiscences.
TUESDAY EVENING.
The session Tuesday evening opened
with praise service by the Christian
Endeavor societies, conducted by n. l..
Thompson, after which came the mis-
sionary rally. The speaker of the even
ing, DR.. Judson Smith ofBoston, was in
troduced by DR.. Heath, who said that
no society was so dear to Congregation
alists as the American Board and that
no representative could be more welcome
than one of that Board. DR.. Smith told
of the great work done by the Board, Of
the criticisms their work received and
how easily they were met. A society
that has been so prosperous, that has
done so much, needs no words to prove
its usefulness. All arguments against
the work of foreign missions are useless
The work never went forward without
citing obstacles and it has been great
success because it has successfully over
come them. The work has been attacked
but criticism is openly challenged. 1t il
said TO be unreasonable for young ma
ton like ours to attempt to displace tn,
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