New-York tribune., 1902-05-20
WORK or HOME MISSIONS.
TELL HOW VARIOUS PARTS
OF THE COUNTRY HAVE BEEN WON.

The afternoon session of the Presbyterian
General Assembly yesterday began the Home
Missions Centennial celebration which is TO
close this evening with a great meeting AT
Carnegie Hall where President Roosevelt Will
he one Of the speakers There was a large con-
gregation in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian
Church 80 2 m when the session was
opened with the singing Of the national hymn.
Most Of the commissioners to the General As
sembly were in their seats. and most OF the
seats in the galleries were filled. The Rey. DIT.
Wilson Phraner presided, and the Rev. Or.
George F. McAfee offered prayer
The plan Of the exercises yesterday afternoon
was TO bring in review the last century of
home mission work Of the Presbyterian Church.
Thank Cod our church from the very out
set has been a home missionary church" said
Dr.. Phraner in his opening address. The very
first presbytery which established looked
about 10 see how they could benefit those about
them not within the Church. The first Gen
eral Assembly took substantial interest in the
subject Of home missions. We are going TO con-
template some Of the results achieved after
century OF work"
To the Alleghenies" was the subject Of the
first address, delivered by the Rev Dr Henry
c. McCook. Of Philadelphia. He reviewed the
work OF the Home Missions Board the begin
ming Of the century. when the region west OF the
Aueghenies was still unvisted by the mission
aries. He declared that the missionary work Of
the Church in America had long preceded the
establishment Of that board Referring 10 the
statement made by DIT. van Dyke. the mod
orator in his sermon on Sunday. that this IS
the "hundredth anniversary Of the marriage or
the Presbyterian Church 20 home missions
DR. McCook created little merriment by say
ing that while he would deny the banns. he
was sure the couple were in love and good as
married a century earlier than the mentioned
date Of the wedding In his description ~ the
early missionaries Of the Church in America he
said:
Those men and their faithful wives were old
traths But they maintained ana illustrated the
eternally new and living facts o. christian love
cIung to the old confessional words OF goodness
and @ 9d pas a an and wsmtn more 54s
thoroughly than they interpret. IN their lives ot
service. the fundamental law Of Christ. that re.
quires rs 20 love our nelEhoor as 9urst.yes tt !.
watching. to endure hardship and peril in the
in The face or savage Indians and hostile or un-
sympathetic countrymen, II to he often IN hunger
and always IN poverty; 20 burn with fever. and
shiver with ague and ache with rheumatism; 20
,' 80 ~ Ta,,rts ~ 10 l., nor rnI1~b
and little; 10 give forth their whole energy.
their fellows without adequate reward: and at
last to die IN Tenury Snd leave theiT WIDOWS ana
Know and feeI and teach and live the truth that
God is love" and hat mans highest duty is to
himself then. Moderator and brethren. those old
cstechisrn teaching eyangezers of the American
wilderness are not unworthy examples for the men
and women Of this generation.
sun theyy are teachers Of that charity. the
even in this whose glory IS its great charities
and whose banner cry is love. may humby sit,
and whose heads may crown with the blessing
of AboU-ben-Adhem. Their lifelong career was
irsfrIcting. unfting their Fellow men
We do not cutie Ike their ways OF putting Bible
ods and forms. We not in sympathy with the
9d & GnG 70 aeo soms of them % U6
their lives Of holy and unselhsh and loving de-
n5 love in mis- Wilderness land II is enomgb
the Bible" So or those noble heroes Of Gospel
charity We declare that their doctrine is the
meaning Of their history And Do you ask what
the prosperity the virtue. the happiness Of those
the monur3'nt more ehGuring than brass, of those
home missionary men and women who loved God
selves
DR. McCook closed his address with some
original verses Of which the following is the
last stanza:
The dioper by the wsyside we'll hangs free:
KIND were the hands that hung the dipper there
Thank God for all, But stop. and fun and fair
Write high their names who. for Gods charity
Have opened up the Fount for aIl-anG thee
From the AIleghenies to the Rockies" was the
theme Of address by the Rev DR. s J /
Niccols. Of ST Louis. He said that the valley /
Of the Mississippi the greatest valley in /
the world, and il providential that il had
been entered for civilization. not by the Jesuits
but by the Presbyterian Scotch-Irish. With the /
natural roads into the territory guarded /
by the agents Of monarchical institutions he
said. the pioneers Of liberty in through |
the Aneghenies. The early days of settlement
productive of independence and self-re-
lance. but the life unrestrained that
vice and immortality hourished for a time Home
missionaries did much to break up those condi-
tions, and the agents of the Gospel of the Cross
were in a good sense the winners Of the
West"
To those missionaries said the speaker
the old faith not antiquated and worn
It is only in modern times that there has
arisen a clamor. and who say whether II is
to be regretted, demanding not an old faith in
new language. but a new faith in it's appro-
pirate speech"
His sally against the revisonists ca used soma
smiles. He described the early struggles and
trials of the missionaries in the West dacIsr /
ing, There is a hardly church. a school or /
2 college in the West which does not owe tts
existence. either directly indirectly m the
home missionaries. most OF whom lived in oh
scurity and died in poverty"
The Rev. Dr. Edgar p. Hill of Portland Ors
was the last speaker. and had for his subject !