The record-union., 1899-10-23

are short for some of you, for the sun
is Fastening to the West, and the night
cometh But use the time that remains
Tand help the cause of righteousness in
your city by helping the church of
Christ. The cause needs you. I, the
last pastor of this church, repeat to you
the appeal made by it's first pastor, 20,
We men of thought and action, men of
far reaching plans and high enterprises;
men who fear God and love your kind,
to you this land lifts up it's cry, to you
heaven makes it's appeal. A nobler work
none could ask. A finer field was never
offered. Greater destinies were never
entrusted to mortal hands. Nowhere
can success be more glorious than here.
nowhere failure more disastrous. Thank
God you may help to make this world
border a world center, that YOU NAV
aid the rising up here of a people
whose wisdom and understanding it
shall be, in the sight of nations, to keep
the statutes of the Lord" On another
anniversary occasion he lifted his voice
and said: Il entreat those among you
who were my fellow laborers, still to
cherish and toll and sustain the church
for which we often struggled so hard
and sacrificed so much. We could not
have toiled for better, nor sacifced
for a worthier." He who put the best
years of his young manhood in this
church, is our benefactor and we should
heed his appeal, for it is the appeal of
God who spoke through him.
My prayer to-day is that this appeaI
from one who being dead yet speak
eth" may find a glad response from
many a heart and life here present. Let
BUS resolve that the work these pioneers
began for God and humanity shall not
fail or slack in our keeping. Let us
take up the work they entrust us with
and carry it on to splendid triumph.
We must not permit the work to go
back and be less. Onward must he our
motto. AS said DR.. Dwinell from this
pulpit years ago, so I say TODAY.
There is no looking back, no stand
ing still. onward is the watchword:
onward against the strongholds of sin.
onward against the powers of darkness.
onward till gospel light penetrates ev
cry cellar IN our cities, every camp and
CABIN on our mountains, and threads
every hlghWay across our plains. On
Ward against the great mountain of in
temperance till it becomes a plain; on
ward till purity wins office. and ca
paclty and honesty hold it, onward till
frauds cease, and public virtue EQUALS
puplc intelligence; onward till men
honor God, and are as eager to obev his
laws as to know how to use them
What blessing to a city that for fifty
years such high ideals Of rectitude and
service should be held up for its emula
tion and practice Surely these appeals
shall not be in vain in the Lord
1t was my privilege to know person
ally every pastor of this church except
the one Immediately preceding me. With
out exception they We're men of deyout
| spirit and honest purpose, of cultured
mind and blameless life. The Rev. 7
4. DWlnell, D. D., for over twenty years
preached faithfully the gospel of Christ,
ana lived the truth his lips proclaimed.
he was an able minister and a model
CITIZEN The memory of the just is
blessed. The other pastors. w. C.
Merrill, j. B. Koehne, H. N. Hoyt. D.
d., are still living and filling important
positions elsewhere.
Phillips Brooks said that the only
use Of past was to get a good future
out OF 1t. l have dwelt on the past of
this church this morning in order that
we might get inspiration and aspira-
tion to make a better future for it. The
most fitting way to honor the pioneers
or this church is to resolve that on the
foundations they so we'll have laid. We
VIII build up nobler structure to the
glory OF God and the service of man
IhlS church is their legacy to us. What
snail our beQueSt be to the coming gen-
Grafton?
Let me, in closing this sermon, af-
fectionately appeal to the men and wo-
men before me, who from various rea-
sons have not been actively identified
With the work Of the church in this
city. Speaking for those who have
given time and service and money to
the work, 1 say to you, my brothers,
come and help us. The work we are
| trying to do is your work as well as
ours. We have not succeeded often
because we have not had your wise
| counsel and sympathetic help Have
we not a right to ask for it?
The church. we know, is not perfect.
1t is often weak where it should be
strong. 1t is often tamely silent where
it should be fiercely eloquent. It is
often worldly and frivolous where 1t
should be spiritual and serious. 1t has
smiled upon practices it should have
denounced, and tolerated evils it should
! have eradicated. Too often it bends
| down to the low motives and fashion
| able follies Of the world around it. Too
often it has merited the rebuke of it's
Master: Il have somewhat against
thee, because thou hast left thy first
love" But when all this is admitted, 1t
must also be admitted that the church
is the best institution we have for
promoting personal religion and social
righteousness. The church is the crea-
| ton of Jesus Himself. He loved it,
and gave Himself for it and to it. 1t
was a little church of twelve men that
Jesus committed His truth and grace
| The charter members of that first
church of Christ We're not men of
wealth or genius. But they We're faith
| full, and their numbers grew until there
were 120, then 3, 600, and thus they have
spread until to-day the church reaches
out with it's Bible and gospel to the
uttermost parts of the earth. 1t is
| to-day as never before endeavoring TO
| fulfill its Masters command: go ye
into all the world and preach the gos-
pei to every creature" This is it's uni
versal and humane mission. To this
high task have been consecrated a
great host of heroic souls. In this
world girdling church of Christ have
been enrolled a great company OF
earth's wisest and noblest. When the
roll-call is read there rises up to re-