Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-27
Congregational Club Holds Business
and Social Session.
ROSTER OF OFFICERS ELECTED
Addresses by Retiring President,
Representative Eddy and Others.
LIST OF THE GUEST S

| The annual meeting of the Washington
| Congregational Club held at the Mount
| Pleasant Congregational Church last night,
| was made the occasion of a reunion of
| a hundred Of more members of that asso-
citation. Assembling at 6 o'clock, the COM
pany spent half an hour in social converse
| and then met in business session, at which
| the following club officers were elected:
| Rev. H. P. Highly, DID. president; Mr.. JUS
| tice Brewer Rev. E. N. Kirby, Rev. Au
gustus DAWSON vice presidents; C. A L.
| Merrifield. secretary; Alfred Wood. treas
urer; executive committee, the above named
officers and Prof J. w. Chickering. A. B.
| Chatfield and ]. F. Johnson.
Nominating comrittee-Prof. A. T. Saw
yer, o. NJ. Mcpherson, Prof. C. K. Wead.
| A. L. Sturtevant. ]. H. Jennings.
Reception committee. B. Sleman. C. B.
Bayly, Waiter Allen, NJ. w. Baldwin and
Prof. Geo. ]. Cummings.
Outlook committee-Rev. B. w. Pond,
Geo. Roadway, VIM. L. Marsh, Rev. B. n.
Seymour, A. s. Caywood.
At the Dinner.
After the business meeting the guests ad-
| 1ourned to the dining room, where dinner
| was served by the ladies of the church.
Then another adjournment was taken to
| the auditorium, where the remainder of
the evening was spent in hearing addresses
| and listening to a musical program rem
dered by Miss Mary E. Pond and Mrs. A.
D. Melvin.
The Rev. Augustus DAWSON made the
| invocation. and Rev. NJ. Ross Fishburn, the
retiring president, delivered a short ad-
dress
After briefly reviewing the history of the
club during the year and stating in
humorous way his reasons for declining to
serve longer as president, Mr.. Ffshburn
said:
I'm directing our thought to the begin
nings of our American national life it is
| fitting that a part OF our time be devoted
| to the consideration of the element of re-
ligion which has entered into that life; for
| from the first the religion of Jesus Christ
has been an important factor in the char
acter and work of our American discover
ers and of the founders of our national in
situations.
when Christopher Columbus landed on
| the shores of this new-found world, his men
bore aloft the standard of the cross. Wash
| ington Irving declares that Columbus con-
sidered himself special agent commits
stoned by Providence. The Huguenots were
| animated by the same spirit. William
Penn was a God-fearing man. Lord Balti-
more possessed nobler character than the
author Of Richard Carvel would have us
believe. Oglethorpe was philanthropist.
OF the lofty character of the Pilgrims
need not speak in this presence.
But not only did the element of religion
enter into the character and work of our
pioneers-through all the years of our ma
Christianity. AS we go forward. therefore
in the making of new history there is need
Of our being loyal to the standards Of the
past When the illustrfous Kossuth visited
our country to plead on behalf of his native
land, he argued that as Christian Ameri-
cans We were necessarily interested in the
welfare of Hungary. Today, as Christian
Americans, We are necessarily interested in
the welfare of all the nations of the earth.
In the harbor of New York We all have
seen the Bartholdi statue of Liberty, with
uplifted torch, enlightening the world. If
that conception is to prove true, 1t is need
full that one fairer than the Goddess Of Lib
erty, the beautiful Bride Of God, with the
uplifted cross in hand. shall go before and
open the way. If the American Goddess of
Liberty is to enlIghten the world, our
American churches must make way for her
progress"
Cornerstone of the Republic.
Representative Eddy of Minnesota ad-
dressed the meeting on THE Corner Stones
of the Republic" Mr.. Eddy said:
1.-THE American republic is quadrangle,
perfect square. and 1t towers above the
other governmental structures of the world
as the Washington monument towers above
the other buildings In this city of states
men. Under each of the four corners is a
cornerstone shaped by -ths Divine Archi-
tect of the Universe, and they rest not on
the sandy soil of superficial opinion or the
substratum of error. but deep on the ever
ing never gets out of plumb.
And these four cornerstones are the
church, the home the school and the press.
All Of them are Of equal Importance but
all are not of equal honor. Each is sep
arate from the other, yet they are insep-
arably connected. For without the church
we would have no civilization. The the
ologians tell us no cross no crown and I
tell you that the cross is, always has been
and always will be the advance agent of
civilization. No barbarous or savage land
in all the world was ever civilized until the
church plow upturned the sod on which
to sow the seed Of enlightenment. With
out this civilization we could have no homs,
without the home 1T would not be possible
to upbuild the school, and without the
school the press could not exist a single
day. So you see that while each of the
'cornerstones' is separate and distinct there
is mutually between them, an interdepend-
ence of one upon the other.
First in the List.
when I denominate the church as the
head cornerstone I do not mean the Con-
gregational Church, the Baptist Church,
the Catholic Church or the Presbyterian
Church, but the Church of the Living God,
by whatever name It may be known among
| men. 1 do not mean that church that
boasts Of a large membership because it is
fashionable To my mind if a man GOES
to church because 1t is fashionable, and for
no other reason. he might as well visit
saloon LOT all the good 1t Will do his soul,
But 1 do mean that church that believes
and practices that the first and greatest
object of its mission is to save the souls Of
man; that recognizes and shows by its
works that the soul of the meanest tramp
that walks the earth is of as much value
in the eyes Of God as that of the mightiest
monarch that ever sat upon a throne; that
church which, like the apostles of old, pass
ing over the wonderful miracles of the
Lord when He turned the water into blood
red wine at the marriage feat, babe the sick
become whole, the blind to see, thu deaf
| to hear and the lame to leap and dance for
JOY and by His very godhood babe the
spirit return from the great unknown and
reinhabit its tenement Of clay and walked
forth from the tomb and greeted its breth-
rem.
Home Next Considered.
And the next corner stone 1 shall men,
ton is the home and I don't mean the
home Of wealth and fashion where childish
voices are never heard, where the occu-