The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-10-01
REV. TH0MPs0N's WELCOME.
Westminister Presbyterian Church
Receives It's New Pastor.

The members of the Westminster Pres
byterian Church and the pastors OF
neighboring churches OF other denomina-
tions gave a royal welcome. last night, to
the Rev. Arthur Newton Thompson, the
new pastor of the church.
The large lecture room was prettlly dec
grated with golden rod and draped with
the Stars and Stripes. The room was
comfortably filed long before o'clock,
for. The ministers present from other
churches were:-The Rev. Arney Biddle
of the Summit Avenue United Presbyte-
rian Church, the Rev. Mr.. Swafheld of
the Summit Avenue Baptist Church, the
Rev DR.. Cronin of the Second Presby-
terian Church and the Rev E. e. Ayles-
worth OF Simpson NJ. E. Church. DR..
Thompson stood in the middle of the
room with his wife and was introduced
in turn to each of the church members
and guests by Elder Howell and other
church officers. After the formallty OF
introductions there was speech-making
and al short entertainment. Elder
French introduced Elder Howell, who
made the address, of welcome in which
l.. , eulogiZed the women in the church.
He said
"The women have always been a power
in this church, from the day of its or
ganization to the present. Whenever we
get into financial straits they come to
our rescue and straighten things out Tor
us. The members of the Ladies Aid So
cieties have always been hard workers.
The present society is as good, nay, even.
better, than any preceding 1T. 1t is more
enthusiastic more united, more determin-
ed and l am sure It is going to accomplish
greater things If it were not for the
ladies there would be no Westminster
Church today
Mrs. Brown played selection upon the
piano, after which the Rev. DR.. Cronin
made q short address.
s.It gives me pleasure" he said, ito
come to Westminster Church tonight and si
breathe this rsra new ha stmqsphere 1sp f w11ea
here there was little feeling of oppres--
sion in the air. You were not SO cordial
as you are tonight. You didn't get as
coldness.. am glad that you are once
again out in the dear sunlight. You
look better with your faces wreathed in
smiles. You have begun a new era in
the work of your church 1t is the duty
Of each one here to help the pastor and
his wife in their work; and you, men,
don't leave it all for the women to do;
Il believe in women working in the
church. but I don't believe in letting
them do all the work. The time has
come in Gods work when we want men,
to do the work. We are making dead
set for them in our church. Another
thing l want to say is that it is about
time we gave up the piccuyune method
of securing the church finances which
is practised in so many churches. l re-
fer to the custom of putting the burden
of the church expenses on the ladies',
making it necessary for them to go about
begging for church fairs and sociables
to raise money. to keep the church go
ing. This thing is so common nowadays
that some men put their hands in their
pockets and pull out their small change
Whenever they see member Of the La
dies Aid Society approach. We should
give up the idea that we can run the
church on what the ladies' collect. l
have come to the conclusion that what
we want in our churches is not more
preaching or more praying but more pay
ing"
The Rev. Mr.. Swaffield spoke in the
same vein and told of his success in coll
lecting money without the aid of fairs
or sociables
The principal feature of the evenings
entertainment was a graphaphone exhi-
bition by David Hilton. Among the Sc
lections produced were the Trinity Church
chimes Miss Demarest recited. AT the
conclusion of the entertainment refresh
ments were served.