Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1912-06-05

were at tnat time no churches at Red
Hill, Modoc or Clark's Hill, the
need for church in the Grove COM
munity was great. There were no
Sunday schools at the places named
to keep the people away from the
regular preaching services at the
newly established church.
A Complete History
Unlike many Of the country
churches, and town churches too for
that matter, Red Oak Grove has a
carefully recorded history that OK
tends back to the date Of its foul-I-
ing. Mrs. John G. Morgan, who was
Miss Margaret Bussey before her
marriage, now of hallowed memory,
gathered up the early records of the
church and compiled therefrom a
complete history up to 1895. Since
that date Mrs. John Griffis and Mr..
E. G. Morgan have completed the
history to the present time.
The Centennial Celebration
The 18th of last February mark
ed the one-hundredth anniversary Of
the founding of the church, but in
stead of holding the centennial cele-
bration at that time, when the wealth
er was unfavorable, it was decided
to hold it the first Sunday iii June,
which was last Sunday. The an
nouncement that this special service
would be held attracted a large num-
Der of people, the attendance exceed
ing the seating capacity of the build
ing. Rev. George w. Bussey, the
pastor of the church, arranged the
program for the occasion and direct
ed the exercises of the day.
The opening feature of the fore
noon was hurried review of the
history Of the church by Mr.. E. G.
Morgan, whose long term of devout
and consecrated services as mem
Der caused him to be one of the
makers of the church's latter day
history. Owing to the limited time
allotted him. Mr., Morgan was COM
PEELED to omit much that would have
been of intense interest to many
present. This reference to the past
caused him to become somewhat
reminiscent, and the facts CLEANED
from the recorded history were In
terlarded with personal experiences
and recollections, some humorous
and others serious, which were great
ly enjoyed bythose present.
1t was Mr.. Morgan's purpose to
place the church history in the
hands of the editor so the most i'm
portant facts could be published in
The Advertiser this week, but at
the last moment we were unable to
obtain the manuscript, hence our in
ability to publish any extracts fpom
it in connection with this report of
the centennial occasion.
Hymn Lined-Out by Pastor
Rev. Mr.. Bussey stated that he
believes in progress and advance
ment but that it is a good thing to
occasionally return to the old way
of doing things. and then told of
the old custom of lining-out the
hymns when books were scarce
and before organs were used in the
churches. In observance of this Gus
tom which obtained in most coun-
try churches prior to about 1885,
he announced a familiar hymn and
requested the congregation to sing
as he lined il two lines at time.
Being unaccustomed to this slow
method of praise, some inattentive
members of the congregation would
at times continue the third line be-
fore it was read by the minister.
Through the lining-out process Mr..
Bussey had the entire congregation
singing and when the climax of
each vocal crescendo was reached
the roof was almost raised. We are
not so sure about its soothing the
savage brea asst'' or 'softening the
rocks" but certainly such volumes
of vocal mus ic could "bend the knot
tea oak" We saw some men sing
ing, including several candidates,
who had not raised tune in up
wards of forty years. 1t required
several linih hg-outs' for them to get
the twists al nd knots out of their
vocal cords, but finally they be-
came as resonant as the strings of a
Cremona.
ga Century of Missions
The leading address or sermon OF
the day. was, delivered in the fore