The record-union., 1899-10-23

was organized July 13, SO. The Lords
Supper was celebrated for the first time
April 8, 81. There We're fifty commu-
nicants at that first communion service.
Two women united with the church
that day. Up to that day there was
only one female member. The first
lodge of Sons of Temperance was Or
ganized here May 10, 80, and in the
same year a Fourth of July temper
ance celebration was held The first
priest of the Catholic Church, Father
Anderson, died during the plague Octo-
Der, so. The first Thanksgiving SER
vice was held in the church Novem-
Der 30, 80, where Rev. Benton preach
ed the sermon. His theme was Cal
ifornia as She Was, as She Is and as
She is to Be-" He made the prophecy
in that sermon that "a million people
cannot fail to thrive by cultivating this
virgin soil, and in fifty years they VIII
be here to make the demonstration.
California is to be the Queen of the
seas. The iron horse that has drunk
the waters of the Mississippi will fly
over mountain and plain, breathe def
ance to yonder betting cliffs and tow
ering peaks of snow, as he dashes for
ward through the tunnelled depths be-
meath and comes laundering through
our streets to Slake his thirst at the
| Sacramento. The worlds center will
| change, this will be the land of pill
grimage and no man will be thought
to have seen the world till he has Wis
tied California The fifty years have
passed and the preachers prophecy has
become fact and history. The story
Of the birth apd struggles of this
church in those early days is full of les
sons for US who in the providence Of
| God are called to carry on what they
so we'll begun No man ever labore.@
with purer motives, loftier aims and
more steadfast purpose than the found
er and first pastor of this church. In
| his anniversary sermon, printed in the
Daily Union" of July, '54, I find this
reference to his efforts to establish a
church here: Fast as men lived in
1 those days, and excited as the multi
| tude was about a thousand things of a
social, business and governmental sort,
| it came TO pass in the little city, that
within two months after he reached
here, the speaker saw a day school,
Sabbath-school, prayer meeting and
public worship established, a church cr-
ganized, which was the first in the
order of time in the great valley. The
men who were most jealous in the mat
ter have gone, some to their graves and
some to other parts of the land, but
| the church remains to honor and bless
| them. They could not we'll foresee
whereunto their labors would grow, nor
could they tell what would be the fate
of the little band of Christians, but
| they hoped it might prove q light sat
on a candlestick to be seen,- an
| enginery Of influence that should in due
| time work changes in the fabric of So
ciety and become too powerful TO be
wholly resisted" The church perhaps
| has not accomplished all the good its
! founders hoped it would, but it has
| continued unto this day a light in a
dark place. Men of high Christian
culture and character have stood in
| this pulpit these fifty years giving no
| uncertain sound on the central doc
! trines and divine ethics of the gospel
Men and women Of blameless life and
honorable character have sat in these
pews, adorning the doctrine of God,
their Saviour. by holy life and humane
service. There have been in all SS6
persons enrolled in its membership. The
majority of these suppose are to-day
in the church, triumphant above. Part
of the host have crossed the food and
part are crossing now" When you
begin to estimate what a church has
been in a community, you must not fail
to take into account those quiet, beau
tiful lives who have lived "the imita-
tion of Christ" and through grace have
entered into the rest that remaineth for
the people of God
( We cannot give too great honor to
| those who laid the foundations of the
church of God in this city and State
in the formative days of its life and
history. It was wise craftsmanship as
We'll as devout reverence for these men
to establish, and other men to support
the church in our midst. What would
this city have been to-day without the
moral teaching and influence of the
churches? Who would care to live in
a city where no church spire pointed
its people to a higher life and a di-
viner destiny? Who would bring his
family into a city or community where
no instruction is given in the Com
made to the Sermon on the Mount,
where no Cross is ever reared to remind
man Of the Saviour that died to redeem
him, and Of the Father in Heaven who
yearns to save him; where men die
without the consultations of Gods sal
walton, and are buried without the glad
hopes of glorious resurrection. Who
for moment would select for his home
and the home Of his family a city de-
pleted Of all those moral elements that
are contributed to 1t through the
agency and ministry of the church? If
then the church is such a blessing to
the community, if it is so necessary to
the corporate life of a people, if it re-
presses vice and encourages virtue; if
1t fosters good morals and holds UP high
ideals of rectitude; if it wakens in man
all that is divinest in his nature and
helps to bring the kingdom of heaven
here on earth, then surely every man
who loves his kind, every man who is
ambitious for the highest welfare of his
community will affiliate himself with the
church and become a partner in it's
beneficent service.
Henry Drummond said Were it
mine to build a city, the first stone I
should lay would be the foundation
stone Of church. The church is a di-
vine institution because it is so human
an institution. AS a channel of nour-
lshment, as a stimulus TO holy deeds
as link with all holy lives, let all men
cherish it, and to the utmost of their
opportunity"
The moral purnoSa oe +ho oI..L r..