Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1905-12-22

easier for the better. Apparent prosper
ity may be the result of devolution as well
as of evolution, of degeneration as well
as of regeneration. 1t is possible to make
great apparent gain by the abandonment
of principle and the loss of a fine sense
of honor and integrity.
In the story of Jesus temptation, the
devil takes him into a high mountain
and shows him the Kingdoms of the
world and the glory thereof, and says,
"all this shall be yours if you will abandon
your theory of conquest and adopt mine"
This would have been apparent gain for
the Door carpenters son,-to step from a
workman's bench to a throne! 1t would
also have been apparent gain for the
itinerant preacher of righteousness to
pass from a street-corner pulpit to an ele-
walton where he could command the ear
of the world. But He was in the world
to do Gods work, to redeem common
tasks from the faint of secularism, to
make all things new by making them
holy to change His method would be to
abandon His mission! And the men in
all ages who have seen Him rave been
charged with the same mission and must
needs keep their feet in the same hard,
narrow path.
The pilgrim consciousness which makes
men feel that the best is yet to be, that
they are only sojourners amidst the i'm
perfect called to testify of the perfect;
the sense of God and of responsibility to
truth the recognition of the sacredness
of common tasks and of the infinite value
of righteousness that makes lei work as
in the divine presence and carry con
science into all relations, these are the
qualities in the forefathers which the
men of this generation need TO initiate.
There is no phase of modern life, NJ. field
in which men toll and struggle, that does
not need the s%anctifying influence of
these qualities. Great thoughts of God,
of duty, of destiny, fit men for great SER
vice and cause their time to feel the i'm
manence of the divine. These men were
busy with great themes and were them
selves made great, and did a great work
thereby.
1t is the old Galilean truth; the Cen
tiles, the men who forget the kingdom of
God and undervalue righteousness, are
the men who are content with the petty
things and the meager returns of the
present: and it is in contrast with such
men that our forefathers tower in simple,
rugged grandeur.
America" sung by the audience and
ule D|eneulCJlOn by une heN. lnOuldS
Simms, pastor of the Congregational
church of this place, closed the
first part of the exercises and adjourn
ment was taken to the lecture room in
the basement of the church, where a
banquet was served by the ladies of the
Labaree Society, followed by an after
dinner program having special reference
to the life and work of Doctor Thomas \.
Merrill, who entered upon his thirty
seven years pastorate in Middlebury one
hundred years ago last Tuesday.
II BANQUET.
The tables down stairs were beautifully
decorated and a sumptuous banquet wa-
served. The portraits Of DR.. Merrill and
Of Mr.. Philip Battell hung in the front
of the room. At the close of the repast
President Brainerd acting as POSTMASTER
called upon Professor Wright, who spoke
upon the "The Significance of Memo
rials, dwelling especially upon the double
anniversary being celebrated, calling at
tention to the high ideals such men as