Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1908-12-30
|MEHAY AND fLaMtNo sexAk Al
DUBUQUE.

rOuE- nuIluTeus GUESTS were seated III
the banquet tables last Tuesday even
ing and listened to an interesting pro!
gram which concluded the celebration
of the diamond jubilee of st. LuEe's
Methodist Episcopal church at Du-
= buque.
Rev. T. Il, Flcmins and Capt j. F.
Merry were on tue speaking program
and the text of their remarks is Civ
en- below.
Rev. T. e. Flcmins's Response.
"seventy-five years of Methodism
In Iowa Response by Rev. T. E.
Fleming. d. D.. superintendent of Du-
bnque District.
The devont Jew turns his face to-
ward Jerusalem. city Of the church
of his fathers: and the Mohammedan
takes pilgrimage to the shrine at
Mecca. So must the well-read Iowa
Methodist be in his thinking concern
ing Dubuque, for here is the Book of
Beginning not only of Methodism in
4 Iowa, but the genesis Of church life
in, the state. Here the first church
was built, thirteen years before Iowa
had been admitted to statehood. From
this point the efforts of itinerant
preachers radiated southwark, then
westward, until the whole state had
been traversed and occupied The
eagle eye of that prince of old-time
presiding elders, Peter Cartwright,
/ saw the opportunity for work among
the settlers on this west bank of the
Mississippi. To see and opportunity
was with him seize it, and Barton
Randle, first Iowa apostle, began the
work. The credit of molding the state
religiously nring the plastic period
belongs to the itinerants These stall
warts, like sdohn Baptist in the will
derness, were ready to endure hard
ships and with religious fervor deliv-
cred their message. At special meet
ings in prairie school houses and at
camp meetings in the groves rose the
songs of delivrance from the cap
tivity of sin. Among the pioneers
of blessed memory may be named one
Z of the early pastors of Dubuque. Lam
don Taylor, and S. Y. Harmer, author
of the hymn an the Christians Home
in Glory
Many Have Only Viewpoints.
He who travels on an express train
only stops at main points and has no
time for itehiized scenery, SO he who
must in ten minuts speak Of a seven
ty.five years record of Methodism is
only permitted viewpoints and, not
many standpoints.
What Methodism Stands For.
During these years Methodism in
Iowa has stood for an evangelical re
iligion. The pardon Of sin through
the grace of God in the salvation
wrought by Christ and the conscious
ness OF acceptance with God underly
Z all its teachings. These doctrines take
held of men and the number Of con-
verts increases. Dubuque church be
gan with nine members and in few
weeks by special meetings the num-
Der had more than doubled.
2.-The erection of houses of wor-
ship, Gods meeting place with man;
mans meeting with men in worship;
In tabernacle and temple of old. re-
produced in the old log church. Some
friendly sinners urged the first pas
tor In Dubuque to build and church
costing 1925 was the result. In later
years Dubuque pastor. Rev. Dr.,
! Kynett, aroused the church with his
ideas that materialized in the great
work of the Church Extension So.
ciety of the Methodist Episcopal
church.
81 Methodism has stood for prac-
tical religion, loyalty, education. tenn
perance.
During War Times.
During the war the eloquent Du-
buque pastor, Collier, contributed
much in the making of right senti-
ment. Methodism's interest in educa-
ton wss prophesied by Dubuque's
first church which "corld be used for
n common school, A prophecy also
Of Methodism's Fart in the temper
ance movement was seen in the fact
that when the raising" Of the first
church took place it is recorded that
was without spirits Of any kind.
In later years your pastors, DR.. Rhea
ard DR.. bennett, nightly helped the
cause of temperance.
Methodism has done things. A
member of he Society of Friends w
asked: Is not your people the same
as the Methodists?" He answered
mo. we are the Quakers, the Meth
odists are the earthquakes"
The Methodists have helped turr
the world upside down and right side
up.
Capt. Merry's Remarks.
Capt. j. F. Mrery spoke on "Socia
Life in st. Luke's," in part as follows
ssssMr. Toastmaster, Members of st
Luke's, Ladies and Gentlemen!
81 count it an exalted privilege tina
was permitted to be member o.
& st. Luke's for five of its seventy-fiyt
years of splendid history. 1t was with
in these walls that learned to appre
ciate as never before for all prac
tical Christian work, the development
cf the social side of Christian lif'
was as essential as the spiritual o
intellectual, and that the future o
Methodism was largely dependent OF
the faithfulness of our members II
the cultivation of the social as !
practiced in marked degree by ST
+ Luke's.
1.-THE value of church cannot b
estimated by the beauty of its marbl