No. 
 
 LIBRARY OF 
 
 Rev. J. G. Monf Oft, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 
Seventy-Five Years. 
 
 ANNIVERSARY PROCEEDINGS 
 
 FOUNDING 
 
 Presbyterian Church 
 
 KINGSTON, INDIANA 
 
 HELD IN THE CHURCH EDIFICE 
 
 DECEMBER 17TH AND 18TH, i^ 
 
 ALSO PORTRAITS OF FORMER AND PRESENT PASTORS: 
 
 EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR VIEWS OF THE 
 
 CHURCH EDIFICE, ETC. 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS PRINTING CO. 
 
 V 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Jubilee exercises commemorative of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 
 founding of Kingston Church were held in the Kingston Presbyterian 
 Church December 17th and i8th, 189S 
 
 Rev. Bartlett, pastor of the church, presiding, ex-ministers of the church 
 present, Rev. Dr. Rankin, of Bngham, Utah, and Rev. Harry Nyce, of Peru, 
 Ind. Exercises were opened by the singing of Coronation by the audience, 
 followed by prayer by Dr. Rankin. After a short introductory talk by the 
 Rev. Bartlett, the roll of the original members of the church was read from 
 the old session book by J B. Hopkins, present clerk of the session ; Mr J. 
 B. Robinson then spoke upon "The Fathers of the Church," and was fol- 
 lowed by J. G. Donnell, whose subject was " The Early History of the 
 Sabbath School." Mrs. M. C. Jensen then sang an alto solo, entitled " The 
 New Kingdom," after which Dr. Rankin addressed the audience from the 
 subject "My Thirty Years' Pastorate." Letters were then read by Rev. 
 Bartlett from Rev. John C. King and Rev. H. M. Schockley, former pastors 
 of the church ; also from Rev. G. D. Parker, Rev. Ben. Nyce, Mrs. N. H. 
 Adams, Mrs. M. A. Hamilton and Mrs. Zerelda Lawson, after which an 
 adjournment was taken and dinner served in the basement by the ladies of 
 the church. 
 
 Promptly at 2:00 p. m the audience was called to order by Rev. Bartlett, 
 and after a musical selection by the Clarksburg Presbyterian choir, extempore 
 addresses were given by Revs. Van Buskirk, Parker and Murphy, of Greens- 
 burg, Rev. Stewart, of Spring Hill, and Rev. Adams, of St. Paul, Minn. This 
 was followed by the history of the church by Miss Camilla Donnell. Mrs. 
 Ada Stewart read a paper entitled " Our Preachers and Missionaries " After 
 another selection by the Clarksburg choir, Rev. Bartlett read a paper en- 
 titled " The Church ot To-day," and was followed by Rev. Harry Nyce, who 
 delivered the concluding address, from the text "Thou Hast Kept the Good 
 Wine Until Now." 
 
 The following pages record for the most part such exercises. With this 
 brief introduction the Committee submits the work voluntarily assumed by it. 
 
 R. A. BARTLETT, 
 MISS CAMILLA DONNELL, 
 J. (J. DONNELL, 
 ORLANDO HAMILTON. 
 
REV. S. G. LOWRY. 
 
ANNIVERSARY EXERCISES. 
 
 SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1898. 
 
 At the opening of the exercises, 10:30 a. m., the auditorium was well 
 filled. The interior of the church had been beautifully decorated b}" the 
 Committee. An arch of holly and mistletoe, containing the words 
 " Seventy-fifth Anniversary," was placed on the platform. Festoons of rare 
 beauty were suspended. Pictures of two of the honored ancestors were 
 placed on easels near the pulpit. Rev. R. A. Bartlett, pastor, conducted the 
 opening exercises. After the opening song, the pastor spoke as follows : 
 
 " I wish to extend to all of you a very cordial welcome. While it is cold 
 without, we trust you will not find our hearts cold. There is no ice in our 
 greeting. Most gladly do we welcome you to this quiet country side, where 
 for seventy-five }ears this church has stood, leading to Christ and blessing 
 those who have passed through her doors. We are here to celebrate our 
 seventy-fifth anniversary, and we ask you with heart and soul to do all you 
 can to make the exercises helpful to all. 
 
 " We are honored in having with us two of the former pastors of this 
 church, who, by their presence and voice will do much to make this occasion 
 enjoyable and uplifting. 
 
 " We cordially greet the former members of this church, and friends from 
 neighboring churches. It is our desire not only to make this diamond 
 jubilee a season of joy and feasting, but also a time of instruction and spirit- 
 ual good to every one present. We want evc-^yone to feel pertectly at home, 
 and not be embarrassed because of the clergymen present. They are fallible 
 creatures. I have some good jokes on all of them, but I haven't time to 
 tell them. I will give this one on Brother Nyce. I heard he was persuaded 
 once to buy some hogs. Preachers are sometimes led astray in this direction. 
 As soon as they were driven into the barn yard he climbed up into the mow 
 and threw down a lot of hay for them. The hogs simply smelled it ' Pshaw,' 
 said the di.'-gu.sted parson, 'these hogs won't eat anyihing 1 ' 
 
 " It is my desire that this shall be the time when we shall become more 
 earnest in the cause of the Master. Perils surround us — drink, JNIormonism, 
 greed, the disturbed relations of capital and labor, and other things sug- 
 gestive of dynamite and bombs. There has never been a louder call for a 
 consecrated church than to-day. I want to greet the boys and girls, and tell 
 them how glad I am to see them here. The hope of this church is in you. 
 You are to take the places of your fathers and mothers soon We want you 
 to enjoy yourselves and feel this is your church. As we all rejoice to-day, 
 let us thank God, and take new courage for the future." 
 
 The roll-call of the original members of the church was read by J. B. 
 Hopkins, clerk of session, and elicited great interest. 
 
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 Mr. J. B. Robison then spoke on " Fathers of the Church." From Mr. 
 Robison's extended knowledge of the original supporters of the church, he 
 was able to make an interesting and forcible presentation of the subject. 
 The people were led to see, perhaps as never before, how much they were 
 indebted to the noble men of the past. 
 
 Then followed J. G. Donnell's address on "The Early History of the 
 Sabbath School." His talk was well received and highly appreciated by the 
 audience. 
 
 Mrs. Jensen sang very sweetly the solo, " The New Kingdom." ■ 
 
 Dr. Rankin's address on " Thirty Years' Pastorate " followed. He said 
 in part : 
 
 " From a thirty years' pastorate, I have learne 1 to value the individual 
 church. It would be difficult to put too high an estimate upon the worth of 
 this church in the community in which it has grown ; to the county ; to the 
 State of Indiana ; to our country, and to the world. 
 
 " Few communities, if any, surpass this in those things that a Christian 
 civilization and gospel thrift bring to men. ' Not slothful in business ' has 
 been emphasized, with the fervent spirit, in serving the Lord. The vices of 
 irreligion robbed other people of far more than the support of the church here 
 has cost. And the contrast between this and many other places may be ac- 
 counted for by the difference in the influence of the local church. 
 
 " The churches, as centers of influence promoting religion, morality and 
 good citizenship, ia Greensburg, Forest Hill, Union and Sardinia, reaching 
 to the soutwestern corner of the county, and Clarksburg and Memorial to the 
 northeastern corner, are the children and grandchildren of this organization. 
 Granting all that other denominations have done, and thankful therefor, it 
 still would be grand larceny to rob Decatur county of this chain of frugal 
 thrift and Christian living that might well be portrayed upon the map by a 
 band of light. It would be hard to conceive what would have been the con- 
 dition of this county had the early settlers here not ' associated themselves 
 together as a church.' 
 
 " They had learned to value the influence of the local church, and when 
 the log meeting house was raised to the square with tne canopy of heaven for 
 the roof, the black earth for the floor and the sleepers for pews, they sent 
 Elder John McCoy to New Richmond, Ohio, to bring a pastor, Rev. Samuel 
 G. Lowry, and his family. They arrived Saturday night, having made the 
 journey in a two-horse farm wagon- Nevertheless, on Sunday he preached 
 from the text ' Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I 
 was sent for. I ask, therefore, for what intent ye have sent for me? ' The 
 history of the church answers the question. They sent for him for the good 
 of the community, the country, the State, the county, and the world. 
 
 " I have spoken of the good to the community and county. But now, 
 see the blessings that came to the State. In that log meeting-house Hanover 
 College was organized, and the pastor of this church was a trustee ; from here 
 they got Harrison Thomson, who filled a chair so many years in the faculty ; 
 a daughter of this one whose picture is upon my left endowed a professorship 
 to commemorate the name of her mother. The same, being a daughter-in- 
 law to him whose picture is upon my right, finis led and furnished Donnell 
 chape' in memory of her husband. Your pastor was one of the trio that 
 
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 dedicated it, and this aged gentleman before me was present and gave them 
 |i,ooo in memory of the time when he and Harrison Thomson hoed corn 
 together — barefoot boys. 
 
 " What would Indiana, or the United States, or the world have been 
 without Hanover? And what would Hanover have bet-n without Kingston ? 
 
 "The most vivid imagination could not pictur - the condition of things 
 to-day with these factors left out. Kingston furnished Bloomington a pro- 
 fessor, and the Louisville Courier Journal its greatest editor. Your first 
 pastor held the stake Carnahan drove to mark the place where Wabash C'd- 
 lege was built, and that Thomson who managed its finances so admirably 
 for many years professed faith in Chri«;t here. Rev. B. M. Nyce, 
 another of your pastors, a born educator, laid the found \t on for Professor 
 Campbell's success Campbell was father of the centennial at Philadelphia 
 in 1876, which was the forerunner of the great Chicago exposition and the 
 lesser one at Omaha. How far-reaching the influence and how great the 
 value of the church organized in a log cabin home seventy-five years ago ! 
 Can you think of Indiana without Wabash College as a factor in achieving 
 her greatness, or our public schools without the formative work of Professor 
 Mills? 
 
 " To measure the worth of this church, there must be a recalling of the 
 Christian families gone to other parts of our land. You could start at Greater 
 New York and travel to San Francisco and stop every night with one such. 
 
 *' Her membership has gone beyond the oceans to the dark continent of 
 Africa ; to Asia and to the islands of the sea. The joy of the whole earth 
 was Mount Zion, and in entailing this church upon you younger people a 
 goodly heritage is left for you to develop ; and as this beautiful building 
 which is to be rededicated to-morrow surpasses any of the five churches 
 built here before it, so it should be your Christian ambition to make the 
 church worshiping within these walls surpass in beauty of holiness that which 
 has preceded it. The church of seventy-five years to come should do more 
 th n the church of seventy-five years gone." 
 
 After reading of some letters, extracts from which are given in this 
 pamphlet, adjournment was made to the basement of the church, where 
 dinner was .served. Over 300 people sat down to the tables. Mrs. Chester 
 Hamilton was chairman of the Entertainment Committee. The dinner was 
 a bountiful one, tastefully served from prettily decorated tables. All the 
 ladies doing their utmost to aid, made it n " royal feast" indeed. 
 
 At 2:00 o'clock the audience was called to order by the pastor. The 
 Clarksburg Presbyterian choir sang a very beautiful selection. The pastor, 
 in introducing the singers, stated they had never been known to quarrel. 
 Rev. Van Buskirk, pastor of the Christian Church in Greensburg, arose to 
 his feet and remarked that a picture of that choir ought to be made and 
 placed in the souvenir pamphlet 
 
 Extemporaneous addresses were then made by Revs. Van Buskirk, Parker 
 and Murphy, of Greensburg ; Rev. Stewart, of Spring Hill, and Rev. Adams, 
 of St. Paul, Minn. The spicy remarks of these brethren called forth rounds 
 of applause. 
 
REV. JOHN WEAVER. 
 
Miss Camilla Donnell read an excellent paper, 
 
 HISTORY OF THE KINGSTON CHURCH. 
 
 " It was the wise and witty Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes who said that 
 ' To treat a disease in time, you must often go as far back as a man's grand- 
 father.' So, to fully understand this church, we must trace it back to its 
 origin in the old Concord church in Bourbon county, Kentucky. The an- 
 cestry of all the pioneer fathers of the church was practically the same. Of 
 Scotch Irish descent, and therefore, as one of them quaintly says, ' Presby- 
 terian as far back as we have any record.' They emigrated from western 
 Pennsylvania to Kentucky with their parents from 1784 to 1790, where in 
 1792 they founded Concord Presbyterian church. 
 
 " In 1817 Rev. John Rankin, the noted divine and abolition leader, be- 
 came their minister. He records that in this church of over 200 members, 
 in a slave State, there was but one slave-holder. He found in it an active 
 society for the abolition of slavery. Some of its more prominent members 
 held meetings, circulated books and tracts against slavery, and so far as they 
 had means, carried on suits in behalf of such slaves as were held contrary to 
 law. Such a community could have no true home in a slave State. From 
 1821 to 1S23 a number of families emigrated to the then new State of Indiana, 
 and located in the bounds of what is now the Kings' on neighborhood. Our 
 ancestors have left us few written memorials of those days. The little old 
 session book, yellow with age, yet well preserved, and written for the most 
 part in the clear, old-fashioned handwriting of Samuel Donnell, the first 
 clerk of sesson, and kept with a methodical accuracy that might have served 
 as a model for later generations, is the most interesting relic of that early 
 period. The first record is dated simply December, 1S23, leaving blank the 
 name of the day of the week and month. The day we celebrate, December 
 i8th, appears to have been fixed upon at the fiftieth anniversary, by the 
 rather uncertain recollection of survivors. The place of meeting was near 
 Carmel church, on a farm forming part of that now owned by Mrs. Wesley 
 Throp. In the session book, the only contemporaneous record, it is described 
 as the house of Samuel D. Henry, but was better remembered afterward as 
 the home of his father, William Henry, one of the most honored elders of 
 the old Concord church, but never a member of this church, he having 
 died before its complete organization. The record proceeds, 'This day, 
 agreeable to previous notice, a number of persons, who had formerly been 
 members of the Presbyterian church, came forward after sermon by the Rev. 
 John Moreland and associated themselves together as a Presbyterian church, 
 to be denominated Sand Creek church, and proceeded to choose Samuel 
 Donnell, John Hopkins, John C. McCoy and William O Ross to the office of 
 ruling elder.' Rev. John Moreland, who organized the church, was a well 
 known minister in Kentucky, and is still dimly remembered by some of the 
 older people as afterward visiting and preaching to the church 
 
 "Samuel Donnell and John Hopkins were both past middle life. Both 
 had been leaders and ruling elders in the church in Kentucky. Both were 
 for that time well educated and thoroughly versed in the doctrines of the 
 church, and were able theologians. Both were men of unusual ability and 
 force of character, and differing as they did on public questions, they after- 
 ward became leaders in opposite factions in the church. William O. Ross 
 lived near Greensburg, and united with the churcti oT that place on its 
 
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 organization. Uncle John McCoy survived all his first colleagues many 
 years and is still affectionately remembered by the present generation. No 
 other minister seems to have visited the infant church until September 4th 
 and 5th of the following year, 1824. Rev. John Dickey, an able pioneer 
 preacher well remembered and greatly beloved by all the older people, held 
 a two-days' meeting at the home of Cyrus Hamilton. He ordained John 
 McCoy and William O. Ross to the office of ruling elder, and installed Sam- 
 uel Donnell and John Hopkins, who had been previously ordained. The 
 session then held its first regular meeting, and the fifty persons whose names 
 were read this morning, having, as the record says, ' presented letters or other 
 satisfactory evidence of membership in other churches, were received as 
 members of the Sand Creek church. ' It is now seventeen years since the last 
 survivor of these charter members, Mrs. Cyrus Hamilton, was laid to rest in 
 the Kingston cemetery. Only two persons are living who were present and 
 were old enough to have remembered this meeting, Mr. Marshall Hamilton, 
 now eighty-seven, and Mrs. Minerva Donnell, nearly eighty-two. Of the 
 young children who were carried there in the arms of their parents, six still 
 survive -Robert A. Hamilton, William M. Hamilton, Orville Thomson, 
 Mrs Polly Ann Jones, Mrs. Margaret Miller and Mrs. Warder Hamilton. 
 Of these eight survivors, five are descendants of Mrs. Mary Edward Hamil- 
 ton. All of the eight are residents of this county, and all save Mrs Miller 
 and Mrs Hamilton are present at this meeting. Of the eleven children pre- 
 sented for baptism at this time, the following are familiar names : John 
 Hopkins Donnell, Margaret Jane Donnell, Orion Wallace Donnell, Katy 
 Jane Hopkins, Margaret Mitchell Hamilton, Harriet Newel Hamilton and 
 Angelina Antrobus. On August 27th and 28th, 1825, nearly a year later. 
 FHiher Dickey again visited the church, and again held a two-days' meeting 
 at the home of Cyrus Hamilton. 
 
 "It is surely not amiss to offer a tribute to the early mothers of the 
 church, who joyfully entertained the home missionary in their one and two- 
 roomed cabins, cooked on their open fireplaces the best they could set before 
 him, and opened their doors to the entire congregation for meeting. At this 
 time the session received the first members on profession of their faith. They 
 were Cyrus Hamilton, Samuel Hamilton, Benjamin Antrobus and Mrs. Mar- 
 tha Mars. Although preaching services were held but once a year, as we have 
 seen from 1823 to 1826, prayer-meeting and Bible examination by the elders 
 was kept up on Sundays. On June 3d, 1826, Rev. S. G. Lowry visited and 
 preached to the church, and at this meeting an order from Presbytery was 
 read granting leave to a number of members, twelve in all, to be stricken off 
 and organized into a church at Greensburg. August following the congre- 
 gation met to choose a minister, and Rev. S. G. Lowry, who was already 
 supplying the church, was duly chosen by unanimous vote, and was installed 
 November 8th by Madison Presbytery. 
 
 "Rev Mr. Lowry and his wife, Almira Lowry, who was a member of 
 the Thomson family, were greatly beloved by the congregation, as the frequent 
 recurrence of both their names on the baptismal register shows. It also sug- 
 gests taken with the meager salary he received, the explanatioa offered by 
 one of these witty namesakes, that the people of those early days paid their 
 preacher by naming their children after him. Mrs. Lowry died in 182S, and 
 her grave was the first in the unfenced, new graveyard. In the summer and 
 
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 fall of 1828 Mr. Lowry had very successful revival meetings, and gathered 
 into the church, besides the older persons received by letter, about thirty-five 
 young people, who for many years were the pillars of the church. These are 
 some of the familiar names : James Hamilton, Luther Donnell, John Thom- 
 son, John R. Donnell, Angus C. McCoy, Sally Hamilton, Alexander Thom- 
 son, Harvey Antrobus, Thomas Hamilton Antrobus, Marshall Hamilton, 
 Jam s Ardery, Jane Braden, Samuel Addison Donnell, Polly Robison, John 
 C. Donnell, Elisa Jane Hopkins, Elenor Hamilton, Olesa Donnell. 
 
 "John Hopkins and William O. Ross, having become members of the 
 Greensburg church, an election was held September 26, 1829, to fill their 
 places in the session. Thomas Hamilton, John Kirkpatrick and James A. 
 Thomson were duly elected. Thomas Hamilton was at this time just thirty- 
 one years old. He served the church as an elder fifty years, the longest 
 service in the history of the church and one of rare benignity and honor. 
 August 26, 1832, we find this record : ' On this day Rev. Samuel G. Lowry 
 delivered his farewell address to this church and congregation.' Mr. Lowry 
 lived to a green old age, and was present as the central and honored figure 
 at the fiftieth and sixtieth anniversaries of the church, whose first pastor he 
 had been. 
 
 "In April, 1833, Rev. John Weaver began his ministry in the church, 
 and was installed the following year by the Presbytery of Indianapolis. Our 
 fathers were more formal in this matter than their descendants, Messrs. 
 Lowry and Weaver being the only ministers in the history of the church 
 who were installed. 
 
 " Rev. Weaver seems to have been a man of considerable force of char- 
 acter, and if we may judge from the records, of a somewhat aggressive 
 temper and a strict disciplinarian. During the first twelve years of its his- 
 tory, the records of the little church do not show a single case of disinpline 
 or of any charge preferred by brother against brother. But, about 1835 it 
 entered upon a new and troubled page of Us histon,-. Session frequently ad- 
 monished refractory members. Charges were often brought for trivial offenses, 
 and frequent complaints of slander show that a great deal of heated and angry 
 controversy was being indulged in. The student of these records soon be- 
 comes convinced that the church and even the session itself were being 
 divided into two hostile and apparently irreconcilable parties. This was not 
 the fault of any one man or set of men. It was simply that ' the irrepressible 
 conflict,' afterward to convulse the whole nation, had at the little Sand Creek 
 church already begun. 
 
 " September 24, 1836, Samuel Donnell laid before the session a paper 
 ably reviewing and severely condemning the course of the General Assembly 
 on the subject of slavery, concluding with the decUration that so long as the 
 church continues to give her countenance and support to the crying sin of 
 oppression, she must expect the displeasure of God and the scorn of infidels 
 to rest upon her, and resolving that the foregoing paper be sent up to 
 Presbytery as an overture from this session, asking the opinion of Presbytery 
 on the subjects therein contained. Whether this paper ever reached Presby- 
 tery or not does not appear ; but in November Presbytery held a two-daj-s' 
 session at Sand Creek, and directed that in view of the difficulties existing in 
 the church a vote be taken by the congregation on the acceptability of the 
 several members of session. December 22d this meeting was held at Thomas 
 
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 Hamilton's house, the meeting-house we are told being uncomfortable, and 
 Samuel Donnell and John C. McCoy were voted unacceptable and Thomas 
 Hamilton, James Thomson and John Kirkpatrick were voted acceptable. 
 Thomas Hamilton immediately resigned, and his resignation was accepted. 
 At a subsequent meeting Joseph Graham, Sr., Robert Hamilton and James 
 Ardery were elected to fill the vacancies thus occaisioned. The crisis had 
 now been reached. On March 13, 1837, Thomas Hamilton laid before session 
 a paper giving notice that the undersigned members of the Sand Creek church 
 wish to withdraw and do withdraw their membership from said church. 
 This paper was dated March 4, 1S37, and was signed by thirty-seven members. 
 All of these persons, with two exceptions, belonged to the three families of 
 McCoy, Hamilton and Donnell and those connected with them by marriage, 
 including in the family of Samuel Donnell, Andrew Robison, Jr., and Pres- 
 ton E. Hopkins. 
 
 " The seceding church, which grew into what is now the Kingstoa Pres- 
 byterian Church, was in a decided minority, the whole number of members 
 before the division being given three years before, in 1S34, at 167. All its 
 records up to 1S63, when a new session book was begun, have unfortunately 
 been lost, so that for facts and dates up to that time the historian has had to 
 depend upon a careful comparison of the recollections of the older members. 
 The records of the older church have apparently suffered the same fate. 
 
 "The following dates in its history have been as carefully verified as 
 possible under the circumstances. Rev. Joseph Monfort, so long the senior 
 editor of the Herald and Presbyter, then a young man just beginning his 
 career, succeeded Mr. Weaver in 1839. He was not only a minister of ability, 
 but a man of great tact and good judgment. His influence doubtless did 
 much to lessen the antagonisms caused by the division. It is a proof of the 
 strong common sense and good feeling of both churches that no feuds grew 
 out of the separation, and from ihis time until they were once more one 
 church, with the exception of some natural jealousies, mutual respect and 
 good feeling existed between them. Rev. Monfort was succeeded in 1 841 by 
 Rev. Adams, and he in turn by Rev. David Monfort, an uncle of Joseph 
 Monfort. Mr. Monfort gave place to his son-in-law. Rev. John King, in 1844, 
 who has perpetuated his memory among us by laying out and giving his 
 name to the village of Kingston, and ultimately to the church. Mr. King 
 still lives, at an advanced age, in Arkansas. Rev. William Stryker supplied 
 the church from about 1852 to 1856. Rev. H. M. Shockley, who became 
 minister about 1857, is remembered as an agreeable young man, of excellent 
 social qualities and a favorite with young people Rev. Van Nuys was the 
 last pastor, supplying the church during the first years of the war. 
 
 " While the new church, as we have seen, was composed of a few large 
 families living around the village and gradually spreading out on adjoining 
 farms, the members of the older church lived mainly on the borders of the 
 community. Gradually it suffered the fate of many country churches. Some 
 of its wealthy members connected with the Greensburg church. Some died, 
 many removed to oilier places. Early in the sixties it had become so weak- 
 ened that services were practically discontinued. In matters of doctrine and 
 politics the two churches were now one, and its remaining members were 
 about this time gradually absorbed into the sister church. To go back to 
 the history of the seceding church, finding itself ontside the Presbyterian 
 
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 fold, it sought a temporary shelter in the Congregational church. Its first 
 minister after the division was Rev. M H. Wilder, a Congregational minister 
 living in Franklin county, who was engaged for one-fourth of his time, and 
 remained a year. In 1840 the little frame church, which afterward served the 
 community as a school-house, was built. 
 
 "Rev. Benjamin Nyce, afterward destined to fill a larger space in the 
 church and neighborhood, was then principal of the Greensburg Seminary, 
 and for two years supplied the church on Sundays. 
 
 " Rev. Charles Chamberlain, a young man from the East, succeeded Mr. 
 Nyce, remaining about a year. He was popular with the congregation, and 
 much deplored when he returned to the East, married a wife and therefore 
 could not come back. 
 
 " The New School church had in 1S38 broken off from the old, and the 
 fathers, probably never much at home in Congregationalism, glaily united 
 with it. Rev. Mr. Boram, formerly of the Episcopal church, and living in 
 Greensburg, about this tiaie supplied the church for a few months, and is 
 only vaguely remembered. He was succeeded in 1842 by Rev. Mr. Camp- 
 bell, who remained about a year. He was a preacher of ability, though 
 of somewhat eccentric disposition. 
 
 " From about 1844 to 1S47 Rev. Jonathan Cable supplied the church, and 
 his wife kept a private school at their home. Mr. Cable was an energetic 
 farmer as well as minister, and an earnest anti-slavery worker. 
 
 " Rev Benjamin Franklin, who came to the church in 1847, was an 
 Englishman, fresh from missionary life in the West Indies. The church was 
 now firmly established, and the community had become prosperous, and even 
 wealthy. Nevertheless, the crude Western ways of living made a great im- 
 pression on Mr. Franklin, especially the tobacco chewing, and he could give 
 in after years some amusing reminiscences of those early days. He was a 
 genial, cultivated gentleman, and with his excellent wife, was a great favorite 
 with young and old. During his pastorate a separate church was organized 
 at Clarksburg for the convenience of a number of members living near 
 there. Luther Donnell was prominent in its organization, and was its first 
 elder. In 1850 Rev. Benj. M. Nyce, who had become a son-in-law of the 
 church by his marriage with Melissa Hamilton, again became its minister. 
 Mr Nyce was a preacher of great originality and force. Both as a minister 
 and principal of the school for a number of years, he left a lasting mark on 
 the rising generation. During his ministry, in 1850 or 1851, the most radical 
 element of the New School body seceded from it and formed the Free Pres- 
 byterian church, which excluded from its membership all slave-holders and 
 made war on all secret societies. With this l)ody, which of course repre- 
 sented the most extreme anti slavery element, this church gladly united. 
 
 " We cannot resist the conviction that this worthy body of reformers 
 con ained a good many cranks, and Kingston probably had its full share, 
 both of preachers and members. But our fathers were happily unconscious 
 of the word. They went on their way quite regardless of the ridicule or the 
 prejudice of the outside world, with temperance and abolition written on 
 their door-posts, reading and circulating abolition books and papers, attend- 
 ing distant anti- slavery conventions in their old-fashioned carriages, running 
 with great success their branch of the underground railroad, voting the most 
 extreme reform tickets and doing their humble best to turn the world up-side- 
 
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 down. Like all reformers, their zeal was not always according to discre- 
 tion, but they left hehind them a glorious record, the precious heritage 
 of their children's children, down to the present generation. 
 
 "About 1S54 Mr. Nyce resigned the church, and Rev. Daniel Gilmer be- 
 came its preacher for the next three years. Mr.Gilmer was an able preacher and 
 a forcible debater, and his interesting family of young people were a great 
 social addition to the church. In 1857 the synod of the Free Church was 
 held at Kingston, an occasion always much referred to. Among the more 
 fervid orators was Rev. William Perkins, of Cincinnati. On the retirement 
 of Mr. Gilmer, he was called to the church. He retained his home in the 
 city, boarding round among the people a part of each week. He was a con- 
 troversialist, a brilliant talker and a most persuasive borrower. No minister 
 has preached to the church of whom so many ^ood stories are told. 
 
 " In December, i860, the church being once more vacant. Rev. A T. 
 Rankin, son of Rev. John Rankin, of Ripley, entered upon his thirty years' 
 pastorate. His ancestry, his early training, as well as his own personality, 
 made him peculiarly acceptable to the Kingston people. Early in his min- 
 istry the church, as we have seen, became the one united church of the 
 neighborhood, and entered on a career of growth and prosperity before un- 
 known. It was during this period the parsonage was built, land was added 
 to it, large bequests were received by the church from some of the noble 
 pioneers who had done so much to build it up, a cemetery fund was raised, 
 and finally the present modern building replaced the old frame church. In 
 1870 Dr. Rankin held the most successful revival meetings in the history of 
 the church, out of which grew in the following year the organization of the 
 Memorial church. It was during his pastorate that a large and successful 
 Woman's Missionary Society was organized. It is this period over which the 
 historian of the hundredth anniversary will linger with pride, where he will 
 vainly explore for facts and figures the failing memories of the survivors of 
 this occasion. It will be his province, not mine, to speak of the eminent 
 services Dr Rankin has rendered this church and community, and to pic- 
 ture the respect and affection in which he was held during that long period 
 by all the country around. During this period, also, the church has suffered 
 its severest bereavements. All the pioneer fathers and mothers, save two, 
 who had borne the burden and heat of the day for more than a half century, 
 ' fell on sleep,' and were carried one after another from the old frame church 
 and laid to rest in the cemetery across the road. They were a noble ancestry, 
 of sterling intelligence, frugal in their lives, devoted to every reform, always 
 rich towaid God and the church. With all due respect for the present and 
 all due hope for the future, we say, Kingston church will never look upon 
 their like again. 
 
 From 1890 to 1892 Rev, J. A. Liggitt was pastor of this church. From 
 August, 1892, to January, 1894, all too brief a time. Rev. Harry Nyce, son of 
 Rev. Benjamin Nyce, was with us, and in October, 1894, Rev. R. A. Bartlett 
 became our minister, and long may he go in and out before us. The events 
 of these years are too recent to need recalling here. These brethren are all 
 young men, and can well afford to wait until the hundredth anniversary to 
 hear their eulogies from some more gifted pen. We trust they may come 
 back to us from places of honor and influence to grace the occasion with 
 their eloquence and their gray hairs and exchange reminiscences of this day 
 
—14— 
 
 with the well-preserved old gentlemen and old ladies who will still survive 
 it. It will be for the chidren and young people of to-day to see that that 
 anniversary finds here still strong and vigorous the church which their great 
 grandfathers planted seventy-five years ago, amid so many hardships, and 
 which their grandfathers and fathers have loved and tended till to-day. 
 
 "Camilla Donneli,." 
 
 Through mistake this well prepared paper of Mr. Everett Hamilton was 
 not read until Sabbath. 
 
 OUR CHURCH EDIFICES— THE FINANCIAL RECORD. 
 
 "On anniversary occasions the one who indulges in anecdote and re- 
 miniscence may be allowed some latitude for the play of his fancy, and of 
 incidents grown dimmer and dimmer by passing years, this latitude may 
 widen and widen until it knows no bounds, but the one who writes history, 
 if nothing else, must be truthful, and the story of transactions that have 
 occurred and events that have happened beyond the memory of the living, 
 should be verified by records that have been made and preserved. 
 
 "At the outset of this undertaking we are met with a difficulty in the 
 scanty records to be found, for while those who have gone before us builded 
 wisely and well, they kept no formal record of preliminary proceedings or 
 financial outlays. The story then of the financial achievements of this 
 church must consist of a simple narrative of its journey from the old log 
 meeting house to the present edifice, as gleaned from the recollections of 
 the living. 
 
 "There is, however, in an old session book, some records of church ex- 
 penses and contributions to benevolence, which on account of their age may 
 be interesting, and may also serve as a further introduction to this story. 
 
 "We copy from the old book: 
 
 " 'The following is here transcribed for the sake of preservation: On 
 settlement with Robert B. Donnell and James Thomson, collectors for the 
 Sand Creek congregation, the sum of I572.93V has been received in dis- 
 charge of the pecuniary obligation of the call which I hold from said con- 
 gregation up to the beginning of the year, January, 1829. The deficit of 
 $2'].o(i% is hereby relinquished to the credit of said congregration, so that 
 this instrument shall be considered a clear receipt for three years up to 
 January 1, 1829. 
 
 " 'Witness my hand this 9th day of January, 1830. 
 
 " 'Samuel G. Lowry.' 
 
 "It is not an uncharitable reflection on the benevolence of the Rev. 
 Samuel G Lowry, considering the meagerness of his salary, to credit the 
 belief that probably the reason he relinquished the deficit was because the 
 resources of the collectors were exhausted. 
 
 "This entry also appears: 
 
 " 'The following is transcribed for the same reason as above: Agree- 
 able to the settlement this day made with the collectors of the Sand Creek 
 church, I hereby acknowledge the receipt of $632.50 for the years 1829-1830- 
 183 1 and half of the year 1832. 
 
 " 'Signed August 25th, 1832. " 'Samuel G. Lowry.' 
 
Rev. J. G. MONFORT, D. D.. UL. D. 
 
—15- 
 
 "It will be seen from this that Mr. Lowry received for the years men- 
 tioned $180.87 per anumn, and that the services of a pastor, like other com- 
 modities of that period, were obtained at very reasonable rates. 
 
 "The entries in the old session book of the benevolent contributions for 
 the inspection of Presbytery are also interesting. From October, 1827, to 
 October, 1828, seventy-five cents were contributed to Presbytery; in 1828, 
 $3.00 for commissioners' fund; in 1830, I3.00 for commissioners' fund and 
 $10.00 for theological seminary; in 1831, $3.00 for commissioners' fund and 
 $40.00 for education. 
 
 "Having exhausted the old session book, let us consider for a little while 
 the log meeting house, which we are told was erected in 1826, and probably 
 stood on the highest point of ground directly west of the present edifice, in 
 the cemetery inclosure. We would very naturally picture this structure as 
 very crude, and to harmonize it with the cabins of the pioneers, would have 
 it built of round logs with a clap-board roof held fast by ridge poles, and so 
 generally finished as to let the weather in and keep the sunshine out, but we 
 are told by one who remembers it well, that in appearance it was respectable, 
 being built of poplar logs, nicely hewn with chinks well and neatly pointed. 
 We are also told that when it was no longer needed as a house of worship, 
 it was sold to John Hopkins, who it seems had a propensity for buying old 
 buildings and moving them on his farm. The transaction caused one of his 
 neighbors to remark that 'Uncle Jack's punishment in the next world would 
 be in seeing old buildings scattered around and that he would not be pre- 
 mitted to move them ' 
 
 "The second edifice, erected in 1836, was a brick and stood to the north 
 in the same inclosure. The brick work was let William Walters, who lived 
 on a farm now owned by Henry Metz. The brick were made on his place 
 and hauled to the building site. The carpenter work went to a man named 
 Gerhart, and the two largest subscriptions for its construction were $50 00 
 each, given by Samuel and Jas. E. Hamilton. We are told by one who was 
 present, the way in which the contracts for this building were let, and it 
 seems so novel that it is worth recording. A day was appointed and the trus- 
 tees and bidders were present, one of the trustees mounted a block and in auc- 
 tion fashion cried the bids, the rival bidders bidding back and forth, but of 
 course bidding down instead of up, finally the brick work was knocked 
 down at something like $500.00. In like manner the carpenter work was 
 let, but going at a smaller sum. Recollections of this edifice are vivid in the 
 minds of many. A long, low, roomy building with two entrance doors and 
 a high boxed pulpit between them; long narrow aisles and a low ceiling sup- 
 ported by many wooden posts, it also had many windows, but the brethren 
 who worshiped there did not all receive the same light, for we are told dis- 
 sensions arose and peace and brotherly love departed for a season. 
 
 "The third edifice, erected in 1840, was a frame and stood in the front of 
 what is now the schoolyard. This was not so large as the brick, but the 
 ceiling was higher and the windows larger, the entrance doors were double 
 — a middle aisle with the pulpit in the rear The failure to obtain any in- 
 formation as to the financial outlay incurred in the erection of this building 
 is complete. After twelve or more years of service as a house of worship, it 
 passed to the civil township and was used by the district school. The lum- 
 ber for this edifice was sawed at a mill, whose power was furnished by a 
 
—16— 
 
 large tread wheel on which cattle were worked, owned and operated by 
 Cyrus Hamilton. An incident is related in connection with this lumber 
 that caused great worry to two of the worthies of the church, namely. Uncle 
 John McCoy and Samuel Donnell. It seems that they had especial charge of 
 drying the lumber and by some accident or neglect the kiln was consumed 
 by fire. Their distress at this di-aster was very great and was only removed 
 when new logs were cut and sawed to replace the kiln that was destroyed. 
 
 "Coming on to 1854, we find the fourth edifice in process of erection. 
 During the raising of the frame of this edifice there was a crash of falling 
 timber, caused by the carelessness of the builder, which seriously injured 
 five or six persons, one or two of whom were maimed for life. We are told 
 that the funds for this were raised by an assessment, and that the basis of the 
 assessment was the taxable property listed to each member as found in the 
 county records. We are also told that but very few objected or refused to 
 pay the full amount of the assessment. With such a record as this, the 
 spirit of justice and fairness that abided with that body of worshipers cannot 
 be doubted. It is here we find a scrap of paper, headed "Church Money " 
 This paper has two columns of figures, one of "Receipts" and one "Ex- 
 pended." The receipts show collections of assessments from fifteen members 
 of the congregation living south of the church, and make a total of $1,028.34. 
 The expended column shows payments during the year to D. Welsh of 
 $803 24, and for bible and "trimings" I5.25. The acknowledgments of 
 these payments are from David Welsh to R. A. Hamilton, trustee of the 
 Free Presbyterian church. We can reasonably conclude that this repre- 
 sents only the settlement of one of the trustees, and as the territory men- 
 tioned would only cover about one-half of the taxable property which formed 
 the basis of the assessment, by doubling these collections we come very 
 near the cost of the edifice, which was something over $2,000. 
 
 "About this time the parsonage lot must have been acquired, although 
 we have been unable to find any record of date or purchase price. The writer 
 remembers it as the old Parvin residence, the house was a cheap frame, and 
 Parvin had a little shop on the corner where he and his boys made boots 
 and shoes during the week, and Parvin led the singing in the old brick 
 church on Sundays. The shop served at one time as the village postoffice, 
 and Parvin as postmaster. Later on the brick building which now stands 
 was erected in front, with material from the old brick church, the old frame 
 serving as rear apartments to the new building. We are told the cost of 
 this was about $2, 00c:). 
 
 "Coming on this way we find no records of expenses or improvements. 
 They kept no books in those days, but in the times before the civil war the 
 writer remembers some munificent offerings from the congregation wor- 
 shiping in that Free Presbyterian church, when the cause was the advance- 
 ment of human freedom. On December 25, 1869, seventeen acres of land 
 adjoining the parsonage were conveyed to the trustees, at a cost of $1,300. 
 
 ' 'A financial record of a church that does not show that at some time it 
 found itself in debt, would hardly be credited; so to maintain our standing 
 in this respect, we mention a note which was dated February 7, 1870, for 
 $544 payable one day after date, to the pastor then in charge, bearing ten 
 per cent, interest and duly stamped and signed by S. A. Donnell and Jesse 
 G. Donnell, trustees. This note bears some credits of intere.sts and some 
 
REV. JOHN KING. 
 
—18— 
 
 payments on the principal and a statement that on January i, 1872, it was 
 cancelled by a new note. The new note besides credits of interest is re- 
 ceipted in full December 25, 1875, from proceeds of a subscription paper. 
 
 " It was probably in the year 1875 that Mr. Jaaes E. Hamilton, with that 
 far-seeing wisdom that was characteristic of the man, and with a desire to 
 do something that would be of permanent benefit to the church he loved so 
 well, gave the sum of $2,000 as an endowment, the income from which should 
 go to the regular expenses of the church. This was followed later by gifts 
 of |i,ooo each for the same purpose from Miss Mary E. Hamilton, R. M. 
 Hamilton and Mrs. Sally Donnell, swelling the sum to |5,ooo, which has 
 since been increased $200 by added income while the church had no pas- 
 tor. For these generous gifts the church will ever hold those who gave them 
 in grateful remembrance. 
 
 " The time is nearing when we must part from this old edifice as a house 
 of worship, which is so well remembered by everyone, for in 1882 it was de- 
 termined to build a new one, and the present edifice is the result. The 
 digression will be pardoned if we here follow it to the end, and to most of 
 us who have passed the noon hour of the day of life, it will be with feelings 
 like those we would have in parting for the last time with a very near and 
 dear old friend. After twenty-nine years of service as a houte of worship, 
 this edifice whose walls had echoed the voices of so many reformers and 
 noted revivalists, was used as a hall for debating clubs, political harangues 
 and entertainments of all sorts, until in the spring of 1892 it was destroyed 
 by fire. 
 
 " Returning, we have left us a certified copy of a subscription dated May 
 12, 1882. Its conditions bind the subscribers when f.8,000 are subscribed. It 
 contains 102 signatures, three of which are for $1,000 each, one for $600, two 
 for $500 each, and others from I400 down. The footings show |9,oo6 sub- 
 scribed. There is also a copy of a supplemental subscription containing 
 twelve names, subscribing $543. A study of the names appended to these 
 subscription confirms the suspicion already aroused, that besides the mem- 
 bership, old acquaintances, sons-in-law and wards of the church were visited 
 and that but few escaped. With this total of $9,549, preparations were be- 
 gun for the new edifice. In February, 18S3, the title of the ground on which 
 it stands was conveyed to the trustees at a cost of I500, and during the year 
 the building was completed and dedicated to the worship of Almighty God. 
 The completed building, with its furnishings, cost probably |2,ooo more than 
 the funds that were provided in the record we have shown ; but, with the 
 help of the young people and the ladies of the church, who have always been 
 faithful and helpful, and further aid from friends who had already given 
 generously, the bills were all provided for. 
 
 " In a book that is filled to its last page, on the fly leaf we find the follow- 
 ing : 'I, R. B. Whiteman, assumed the duties of treasurer of Kingston 
 Presbyterian church February 5, 1882, by order of the acting Board of 
 Deacons, at which time there was no money in the treasury, but a debt of 
 $25.03 due to the following named parties and amounts.' Mr. Whiteman 
 has left us very complete records of the regular expenses of the church, in- 
 cluding contributions to the church boards and offerings in great variety 
 which occurred during his ten years of service. Occasionally, faithful to its 
 old habits, we find the church coming up with a deficit, but invariably a 
 
—19— 
 
 foot note follows with a statement that the debt is discharged by a special 
 sub-cription. 
 
 " In 1890 a barn was built for the parsonage at a cost of $300, and in 1892 
 improvements were made to the parsonage at a cost of ^pyoo. Later on, re- 
 pairs and improvements have been made to the present edifice, including 
 those of the present year, costing $600, and since 1892 the treasurers' an- 
 nual statements have shown a balance remaining in the treasury, 
 
 " This, imperfectly sketched, is the financial record of the church. The 
 complete record of its contributions for houses of worship, works of charity 
 and benevolence, and aid extended in response to almost every conceivable 
 call, can never be shown ; and, although its financial strength has been 
 weakened by the changes of ownership in the community and the centraliz- 
 ing tendencies of the age, forces which are affecting and changing the life 
 of society and menacing the existence of the country church in parts of our 
 land to-day, it stands with its old garments thrown off and adorned with 
 its new, in strength and in beauty, and the day of its passing does not yet 
 appear." 
 
 Mrs. W. K. Stewart gave an interesting and spicy account of "Our 
 Preachers and Missionaries." 
 
 OUR PREACHERS AND MISSIONARIES. 
 
 " A short account of the ministers and missionaries who have gone out 
 from the old Sand Creek church during the past seventy-five years will show 
 that the influence of this church has reached almost around the globe. Her 
 representatives have been at work in Korea, Egypt and Liberia ; from Cali- 
 fornia to New York, and in nearly every State in the Union. 
 
 "The first ministers from this church were Harrison and Wallace Thom- 
 son, who attended Hanover College soon after its organization in the thirties 
 Harrison was for many years a professor at Hanover, but afterward removed 
 to California, where he died about ten years ago. 
 
 "A colored man named Thomas Ware was brought here by William 
 Henry, educated and sent out by the Colonization Society to Liberia. He 
 was not a minister, but some years ago a Rev. Ware, presumably a son of 
 his, attended the Methodist General Conference as a delegate from Liberia ; 
 so that Thomas Ware may be called the first missionary of the church. 
 
 " However, the first real missionary connected with this church was An- 
 drew Jack, He was baptized, according to the record, in 1832. He was one of 
 the early missionaries to Africa, going out some time in the fifties. He was 
 obliged to return on account of ill health, but took up the work at home, and 
 was engaged in mission work in Indian Territory at the time of his death. 
 
 "John Harney was another minister, a professor at Bloomington, Ind., 
 and the noted editor of the Louisville Courier when it opposed George D. 
 Prentice. Samuel Hicks Parvin was connected with this church from 1846 
 to 1856, and is now located at Muscatine, Iowa. Other ministers are Austin 
 Thomson, deceased, and Eberle Thomson, now at Ripley, O. They were 
 both graduates of Hanover College. Theophilus Lowry is a son of the first 
 pastor of this church. George D. Parker was an elder in this church and 
 Sunday-school superintendent, and is now preaching at Converse, Ind., while 
 his son is pastor of the Greensburg church, Thomas D. Bartholomew gradu- 
 
REV. H. M. SHOCKLEY. 
 
—21- 
 
 ated from Lane Seminary in 1869, and after a pastorate of more than twenty 
 years in northern Ohio, Michigan and Lawrenceburg, Ind., died at his home 
 on White Lake, Mich., March 11, 1897. 
 
 "As the Jews claimed the children's children to the third and fourth 
 generation, so will we. Rev. Harry Nyce is a baptized member of this 
 church, while Rev. Benjamin Nyce was a member of the church at Clarks- 
 burg. Rev. Harry Nyce is now at Peru, Ind., and Rev. Benjamin Nyce is at 
 Lockport, N. Y. Rev. Edward Adams is a missionary in Korea. H. B. 
 Hamilton, son of S. H. Hamilton, preached in Kansas a short time before 
 his death ; and Emmet Robison, son of Samuel D. Robison, is preaching in 
 St. Joseph, Mo. Rev. E. A. Allen, of Kokomo. Ind., studied for the min- 
 istry while a member of this church. There were two other colored ministers, 
 Rev. Andrew Jackson Davis, and Peter Prim, who died before his studies 
 were completed. 
 
 " While our church still clings a little to the Pauline theory that women 
 must not preach, she is very glad to use them as missionaries. Of these, we 
 have Mrs. Annie Adams Baird in Korea, and Mrs. Cap Hamilton Henry in 
 Egypt. Misses Eva and Rose Rankin have both taught mission schools in 
 Utah. Miss Jean Rankin served the Woman's Board of Home Missions in 
 the industrial department of Washington College, Tenn., while Miss Hannah 
 Evans did the same at Huntsville, Tenn., and Manchester, Ky. 
 
 "A list of the ministers is as follows: Harrison Thomson, Wallace 
 Thomson, Andrew Jack, John Harney, S. H. Parvin, Austin Thomson, 
 Eberle Thomson, Theophilis Lowry, Geo. D. Parker, T D. Bartholomew, 
 E. A. Allen, Harry Nyce, Benjamin Nyce, Edward Adams, H. B. Hamilton, 
 Emmet Robison. with three colored ministeis, A. J. Davis, Thomas 
 Ware and Peter Prim. 
 
 "The foreign missionaries are Thomas Ware, Andrew Jack, Edward 
 Adams, Annie Adams Baird, Cap Hamilton Henry. The home missionaries 
 are Eva Rankin, Rose Rankin, Jean Rankin, Hannah Evans. 
 
 " Some one has said that a preacher without a good wife is like a pair of 
 shears with only one blade. If this be true, we in justice should mention 
 those of this church who have made good ministers' wives. These are the 
 names : Margaret Donnell Rankin, Almira Thomson Lowry, Melissa 
 Hamilton Nyce, Cassandra Donnell Walker, Mary Wilson Hendryx, Lizzie 
 Shelhorn Allen, Annie Adams Baird. 
 
 CHURCH OF TO-DAY. 
 
 Paper by Rev. R. A. Bartlett. 
 
 "I know you will appreciate the intention which I express to make these 
 remarks brief. Brevity is the best thing in an address, next to brain. The 
 speaker need not be deficient in the former, if he is in the latter. We hear 
 much said to-day about the decadence of the country church. It has in many 
 places only a nominal existence. Like the old mill by the stream, it has 
 seen its best day. In other places the country church is in a precarious con- 
 dition. There are a number of reasons for this. 
 
 "People tire of country life, and coveting the modern conveniences, 
 social and religious attractions of the town, move there and settle for the rest 
 
—22— 
 
 of their lives. They do this, notwithstanding the fact that ' God made the 
 country and man the town.' We country preachers do not envy our town 
 and city pastors these sturdy, vigorous Christians ; but we are sometimes put 
 to our wit's end to fill up the gap made in our membership. Town churches 
 would soon become extinct were it not for country Christians. In country 
 districts, too, where the population is sparse, the ravages of death are more 
 keenly felt. The staunch paying member is removed by death, and it is 
 difficult to fill his place with one like him. 
 
 " The Kingston Church in the last few years has lost by removals and 
 deaths. Still, we have made some progress, and the church of to-day is 
 united and harmonious. Our audiences every Sabbath are well maintained. 
 
 "The finances are efficiently managed, and all expenses of the church 
 are paid monthly. In one week the people subscribed $450 toward church 
 improvements. In addition to this, the furnace was moved and remodeled, 
 the basement excavated and cemented, as you have seen it. All of this shows 
 a commendable degree of activity, and reveals the fact that we are far from 
 being decadent. We have one hundred and forty-two members on the roll . The 
 Sabbath-school has an enrolled membership of one hundred. During the 
 past four years, we have received sixty-nine members, raised for benevolences 
 11,835, and for congregational expenses |4,i6o. The women are organized 
 into Home and Foreign Missionary Societies and are doing a good work 
 for the Master. 
 
 "The Y. P. S. C. E. numbers forty active members, and the Junior 
 Society twenty. The officers of the church are capable and faithful men, 
 and have always co-operated with the pastor. We hear the complaint that 
 the church in some places is manless. This is not true of the Kingston 
 Church. We are blest with men who are willing to give their time and ener- 
 gies to the work of the Lord, During the progress of repairs, the men of 
 this congregation gave cheerfully of their time and money to the work. 
 
 "What shall I say of the faithful women? Time would fail me if I 
 should attempt to enumerate their virtues. They do not excel simply 
 in the direction of providing a good dinner. One feels like endorsing the 
 remark of the distinguished Adam Clark, that ' you could set down one 
 woman as the equal of seven and one-half men.' There is doubtless much 
 truth in this, even if his moral equation cannot be proven mathematically. 
 
 " Our choir, while it has lost by weddings and removals, has always co- 
 operated with the pastor. While I do not wisli to deny any member of the 
 choir the sweet delights and joys of wedded life, I hope the next weddings 
 will not invade that corner of the sanctuary. 
 
 "The church has as nice a company of young men and women as you 
 will find anywhere. They are not of the simple kind, that make a specialty 
 of frivolity in and out of the church. They are sensible and kind-hearted, 
 and are ready to do their part to advance the interests of the church. In 
 short, the church of to-day is full of hope, trusting in the Head of the church. 
 
 " Pray for us that we may be divinely guided, kept from strife, and filled 
 with the spirit of the Lord of Life. A church of power is made up of lives 
 in whom Christ is a living reality. On the three superb arches of the Milan 
 Cathedral, these three inscriptions are written : 'All that which pleases is 
 but for a moment ; all that which troubles is but for a moment ; only that 
 
REV. B. M. NYCE. 
 
—24— 
 
 is important which is eternal.' May the Christ who gave Himself for us help 
 us as a church to believe with the whole heart ' only that is important 
 which is eternal.' " 
 
 Rev. Harry Nyce, of Peru, then delivered the concluding address, from 
 the text, " Thou Hast Kept the Good Wine Until Now." The sermon was a 
 very inspiring one, and was delivered with great earnestness and power. It 
 was listened to with rapt attention by a very large audience, filling the audi- 
 torium and galler}-. 
 
 Benediction pronounced by Dr. Rankin. 
 
 THE SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED BY THE 
 
 REV. A. T. RANKIN, D. D., 
 
 Sunday Morning, December i8, 1898. 
 
 ",Psalm 48: 13-14. 
 
 " To-day, December 18, 1898, marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 
 organization of this church. Rev. John A. Moreland, a Presbyterian minister 
 held in high esteem in Kentuckj', a man deeply imbued with the spirit of 
 his Divine Master, visited this vicinity and preached at the house of Mr. 
 Henry on the farm now owned by Mrs. Wesley Thorp. After the sermon, 
 the Presbyterians present associated themselves together in a church. This 
 was the first Presbyterian church in the county, and so far as I can find out, 
 the first church in the county. I believe it was the grandest thing the fathers 
 did for this neighborhood ; and imder God it has proved a blessing to the 
 county and the State ; to our country and the world. With Clarksburg and 
 Memorial to the northeast, and Greensburg, Forest Hill, Union and Sardinia 
 to the southwest, the county map might be made with a band of light diagon- 
 ally across it. 
 
 "Many members have gone with your greeting to other towns, and minis- 
 ters reared here have preached in numerous other counties. One could travel 
 from Greater New York to San Francisco and stop over every night with some 
 former Kingston Christian family. And of your members, foreign mission- 
 aries have gone to western Africa, to E):;ypt and Korea, till your religious 
 domain girths the world ; and like the British Empire, the sun never sets 
 upon it. But these things were mentioned particularly in the papers and 
 speeches yesterday, so I dismiss them to remark : 
 
 " 1st. That the time in the history of this church is the most interesting 
 period in the past. No seventy-five years equal it. And nearly as much has 
 been done for the world through the church as during all the preceding cen- 
 turies of the Christian era. Applied science, practical invention, improved 
 machinery, are the product of Christian thought, and are evidence of Chris- 
 tian civih/.ation. Note the facilities for traveling and transporting products, 
 as steamboats and steamships, railroad communications, mails, telegraphs 
 and telephones, tools and implements for shop, factory, farm and home, by 
 which one man or woman does the work of several. 
 
 " It was on the iSth of December, 1S60, that I came to Decatur county, 
 and thus, this day that marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the church 
 
—25- 
 
 also numbers the thirty-eighth year of my work with and recollections of 
 the church. You would judge from my text that I wished to speak chiefly 
 of what has come to pass during these years. ' Walk about Zion, and go 
 round about her ; tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, con- 
 sider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generations following.' 
 
 " I remark secondly : They have been years full of great events. They 
 are unparalleled. The true history of those times is stranger than fiction. 
 Beginning with i860, it is probable that since the birth of Christ no like part 
 of a century has equaled it in the production of that which is wonderful. 
 The events in history, the discoveries of science and the productions of art 
 have been on such a magnificent scale that if I had proclaimed them when I 
 got off the cars thirty-eight years ago to-day, instead of employing me as 
 your pastor you would have thought of calling two esquires to send me to an 
 insane asylum. Had I said prophetically what history tells the generation 
 following the one that called me, who could have believed it ? I came to 
 stay till the beginning and end of the Civil War ; and to see your members 
 sign the muster roll on this communion table, and fight till the most gigantic 
 rebellion ever known was put down ; the unity of the country decreed ; free- 
 dom given the slave ; the ballot put in the black man's hand, and the doors 
 of the public schools opened to his children ; the fugitive slave law repealed, 
 and the constitution of the United States amended as at present ; Fred 
 Douglas, marshal of the District of Columbia ; B. K. Bruce, registrar of the 
 U. S. Treasury ; former slaves elected to Congress, and the way opened for 
 black men in the regular army to cover themselves with glory, as the 24th 
 did on San Juan-hill. 
 
 "Who would have thought I came to stay till Russia set her serfs at liberty, 
 and France became a republic, and Von Molke led the sturdy Germans to 
 the conquest of Paris ; till a man can preach the gospel in Rome, China and 
 Japan with greater safety than Wendell Phillips once spoke in Cincinnati ; 
 till heathen governments send commissioners here to learn the secret of our 
 strength, and students to gather the curriculum of our colleges. Morse had 
 years before made electricity on land, ask from Washington and Baltimore, 
 'What hath God wrought?" but who imagined that during my stay with 
 3'ou the first Atlantic cable pronounced a success should be grappled up and 
 made, in competition with others, to tell us what Kitchener did on the Nile 
 ihe day before, or Dewey in the Phillipines? 
 
 " While we had many railroads in i860, we had none that reached across 
 the continent. I buried one of your number in that beautiful cemetery over 
 the way who drove from here to Council Bluffs and returned without en ss- 
 ing a railroad or hearing a whistle. Another drove to Oregon and back, and 
 one sitting with you to-day drove 1,000 or 1,500 miles farther than that 
 miraculous journey. I hear the Mormon elders tell of from Omaha to Salt 
 Lake. Were my friend to lay aside the cares of farm life a few days, he 
 could find rest and recreation in going in a few days over the same route 
 that took months before. 
 
 "Again, who would have been believed had he foretold the improvements 
 in facilities for farming? Compare the first reaper even with the great 
 harvesters now drawn by three or five horses, doing the work of twenty men 
 with sickles in the olden time. Then in planting time, I remember a few 
 
—26— 
 
 men who, after the ground had been marked both ways, could walk between 
 two rows and drop them ready for the coverers. Now one man with two 
 horses, sitting on a spring-seat planter, does the work of six men. 
 
 " Then who would have thought of speaking in a natural voice to a friend 
 miles away and recognize the tones of answer as if the lips moved against 
 the ear. What a time saver the telephone is to you farmers. You want to 
 borrow a harrow, ring up your neighbor a mile away, tell him what you want 
 and request him to bring it over. Then when you are done with it, have a 
 pleasant chat with him and let him know that he can have it when he comes. 
 So easy to save his coming twice. Then with your houses heated and lighted 
 by natural gas, and water for all purposes pumped by the wind, you never 
 hear on a hot day, 'bring a pail of water or an armful of stove wood, quick.' You 
 turn a faucet for one and a thumb-screw for the other. Now, without stop- 
 ping to go over in detail a long catalogue of improvements in other things, 
 and the wonderful events of the Civil War, the more wonderful achieve- 
 ments in the war with Spain, the things done in the realms of politics, in 
 morals and religion ; without stopping to count the millions given for benevo- 
 lent purposes, it is safe to say no man would have believed the half already 
 told, had I prophesied it on December i8, i860, much less had he dreamed 
 it December 18, 1823. 
 
 " I remark thirdly : Just as w jnderful things have come to pass in this 
 vicinity. Things as marvelous, as unexpected, as incredible, humanly 
 speaking, have transpired in the development of the Kingston Church. 
 Suppose, when Thomas Hamilton and Addison Donnell took me out to one 
 side, after I had preached, in ten days, half the sermons I had written, and 
 asked me if I would preach here and at Clarksburg to the only Free Presby- 
 terian churches in Indiana for $600 a year and the use of that little parson- 
 age, and when I answered yes, I had added, and will stay with you till you 
 give me more than three times as much rather than do without preaching, 
 and one of your number will give annually one-third as much as all offer ; 
 till the three little churches come together as three globules of mercury into 
 one, and the 'Free,' 'New School' and 'Old School' Presbyterians lose 
 their prefixes and become Presbyterians together. 
 
 " As many came to us from the M. E. Church as from the Old School Pres- 
 byterian . Yes, I will live in that little parsonage till you build a two-story brick 
 front for $2,000 and buy that seventeen and a half acres for 1 1,500 and put up 
 that new barn ; till Memorial is gathered and you contribute over $2,500 to 
 build a church for them; and Clarksburg repair their building and beautify the 
 grounds at a cost of over $1,200, and gather $400 as a nucleus for a parsonage 
 fund. Till that cemetery be endowed and made one of the most beauti- 
 ful spots on earth, in which to bury our dead. And then till you purchased 
 the principal corner lot in the town and erected this beautiful building, 
 which has been renovated and we rededicate to-day to the worship of God. 
 When it was first dedicated, having no need for ourselves, we took up $120 
 for church erection. It was so unprecedented a thing that the board sent us 
 a blank to fill with the name of a life member. It was unanimously voted 
 to put in the name of T. L. Donnell, one of the building committee. 
 
 " Then who would have thought I would have stayed till four of your 
 number would furnish $5,000 cash endowment to help pay the minister's 
 salary for all time? It was given when they were in perfect health, and two 
 
—27— 
 of the donors still live. One of your members finished the chapel at Han- 
 over and endowed a chair in memory of her mother, whose picture adorns 
 this platform ; another sitting before me gave them 1 1,000 in memory of 
 Prof. Harrison Thomson, who hoed corn with him as a barefoot boy. An- 
 other gave Whitewater Presbytery 1 1,000 permanent home mission fund to 
 help this corner of the State forever ; and $ i ,000 to endow a chair at the table 
 in Park College, on which some student can sit three times a day forever and 
 gather nourishment for the body while seeking food for the mind. Now, 
 without stopping to add together the many dollars we have expended at 
 home in church and Sabbath-school work, and the sums gathered at special 
 and in stated collections to help God's cause in other places, which would 
 make a vast sum indeed, what has been done in these permanent ways is 
 gratifying. 
 
 "The text bids me 'Walk about Zion, that ye may tell it to the generation 
 following.' I am speaking to the generation following that noble band, 
 and to many young families just starting in life who need but to look over 
 this community to see that 'there is that scattereth and yet increaseth.' 
 And look on other communities that have made no such provision for moral, 
 intellectual and religious training to see that ' there is that that withholdeth 
 more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty.' Look upon this beautiful 
 building, fresh from the frescoing and painting brush, that may stand for a 
 century a monument to the liberal givers of Kingston, and as you go to your 
 home, look upon the fine farms on every side, that speak of the industry and 
 frugality of the pioneers, and say with David, ' The lines are fallen unto me 
 in pleasant places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage.' 
 
 "Taking in the whole range of thought in this discourse, and I have never 
 seen a spot of earth that surpasses that which may be seen from the tower of 
 this building, and there is no reason why you young people may not make 
 the future Kingston Church surpass the one of the olden time. This house 
 is the fourth evolution from the first log meeting-house, that stood over the 
 way, and some are here to-day whose self-sacrifice helped build every one of 
 the five, and these large brick dwellings were evolved from the little log 
 cabins with puncheon floors and clapboard roofs. Bat the builders, with but 
 a step between them and the grave, look across the valley of the shadow of 
 death to the upper and better sanctuary where they will worship, and to the 
 house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ; and bequeath to you 
 this place of worship and your dwellings here, with desire that you make the 
 next seventy-five years of church history surpass the last." 
 
 
REV. DANIEL GILMER. 
 
—29— 
 
 THE DIAMOND JUBILEE OF KINGSTON CHURCH. 
 
 " Let the people praise thee, O God ; 
 Let all the people praise thee.''— Vs. 67:3. 
 
 REDEDICATORY SERVICE. 
 
 DOXOLOGY. 
 (Congregation standing. 1 
 
 OPENING RESPONSE. 
 
 /Izj/or— Praise ye the I,ord. Praise God 
 in His sanctuary ; praise Him in the firm- 
 ament of His power. 
 
 People— Praise Him for His mighty acts : 
 praise Him according to His excellent 
 greatness. 
 
 Pastor— Praise Him with the sound of the 
 trumpet: praise Him with the psaltery and 
 harp. 
 
 People —Praise Him with the timbrel and 
 dance : praise Him with stringed instru- 
 ments and organs. 
 
 Pastor — Praise Him upon the loud sym- 
 bals : praise Him upon the high sounding 
 cymbals. 
 
 People — Let everything that hath breath 
 praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 INVOCATION. 
 (Congregation seated.) 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 Great is the Lord our God, 
 
 And let His praise be great ; 
 He makes His churches His abode. 
 
 His most delightful seat. 
 
 These temples of His grace, 
 
 How beautiful they stand ! 
 The honors of our native place, 
 
 The bulwarks of our land. 
 
 In Zion God is known, 
 
 A refuge in distress ; 
 How bright has His salvation shone 
 
 Through all her palaces ! 
 
 Oft have our fathers tcid. 
 
 Our eyes have often seen. 
 How well our God secures the fold 
 
 Where His own sheep have been. 
 
 In every new distress 
 
 We'll to His house rep=iir. 
 We'll think upon His wondrous grace, 
 
 And seek deliverance there. 
 
 (To be read in unison.; 
 
 Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; 
 
 And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; 
 and the King of CAory shall come in. 
 
 Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, 
 strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in 
 battle. 
 
 Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; even lift 
 them up. ye everlasting doors; and the 
 King of Glory shall come in. 
 
 Who is this King of Glory ? The Lord of 
 hosts, he is the King of Glory. 
 
 (Congregation standing.) 
 
 How beauteous on the mountains, 
 
 The feet of Him that brings 
 
 Like streams from living fountains, 
 
 Good tidings of good things ; 
 
 That publisheth salvation, 
 
 And jubilee release, 
 
 To every tribe and nation, 
 
 God's reign of joy and peace ! 
 
 Lift up thy voice, O watchman ! 
 And shout from Zion's towers. 
 Thy Hallelujah chorus, — 
 •' The victory is ours ! " 
 The Lord shall build up Zion 
 In glory and renown. 
 And Jesus, Judah's lion, 
 Shall wear His rightful crown. 
 
 Break forth in hymns of gladness, 
 
 O waste Jerusalem ! 
 
 Let songs, instead of sadness. 
 
 Thy jubilee proclaim ; 
 
 The Lord, in strength victorious, 
 
 Upon thy foes hath trod ; 
 
 Behold !'0 earth ! the glorious 
 
 Salvation of our God ! 
 
 Scripture Lesson. 
 
 Special Music. 
 
 rededicatory prayer— pastor. 
 
 Offertory. 
 
 REDEDICATORY SERMON— DR. A. T. 
 R.ANKIN. 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 (Congregation standing.) 
 
 Zion ! awak", thy strength renew, 
 fut on thy robes of beauteous hue ; 
 And let the admiring world behold 
 The King s fair daughter clothed in gold. 
 
 Church of our God I arise and shine. 
 Bright with the beams of truth divine ; 
 Then shall thy radiance stream afar, 
 Wide as the heathen nations are. 
 
 Gentiles and kings thy light shall view. 
 And shall admire and love thee, too ; 
 Thev come 1 ke crowds across the sky. 
 As doves that to their window fly. 
 
 CLOSING RESPONSE. 
 
 Pastor— Orace be unto you, and peace, 
 from Him which is, and which was, and 
 which is to come ; and from the seven 
 spirits which are before His throne. 
 
 People— A.nd from Jesus Christ, who is 
 the faithful witness, and the first begotten 
 of the dead, and the Prince of the kiugs of 
 the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and 
 washed us from our sins in His own blood. 
 
 /4//— And hath made us kings and priests 
 unto God, and His Father ; to Him be glory 
 and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
./^■^ 
 
 f 1^. 
 
 V wF 
 
 
 
 REV. A. T. RANKIN. D. D. 
 
—SI- 
 LIST OF ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF SAND CREEK CHURCH, 
 AT KINGSTON. 
 
 Samuel Donnell, 
 John Hopkins, 
 
 Paul Brown, 
 Hannah Brown, 
 Elijah Mitchel. 
 Fidelia Mitchel, 
 Thomas Hamilton, 
 Robert Donnell, 
 Clarisa Donnell, 
 James Donnell, 
 Betsey Donnell, 
 Josiah Collins, 
 Nelly Collins, 
 Robert Thorne, 
 Lydia Thorne, 
 Thomas Donnell, 
 Nancy Donnell, 
 Polly Hamilton, Sr 
 
 John C. McCoy, 
 Wm. O. Ross. 
 
 Nancy McCoy, 
 Sally Hopkins, 
 Charity Hamilton, 
 Aron Ardery, 
 Samuel Donnell, Jr., 
 Caty Robison, 
 Alexander McCoy, 
 Sarah Gageby, 
 Thomas Hendricks, 
 Elizabeth Hendricks, 
 Margaret McCoy, 
 Nancy Antrobus, 
 Samuel D. Henry, 
 Robert Hamilton, 
 Polly Hamilton, 
 
 Hetty Jones, 
 Elizabeth Henry, 
 Jane Throp, 
 Jane Hamilton, 
 Polly Hamilton, 
 David Henry , 
 Nancy Donnell, Jr. 
 Jane Hopkins, 
 Caty Hopkins, 
 Elizabeth R. Ross, 
 Julian Donnell, 
 John Antrobus, 
 Isabella Antrobus, 
 Polly Antrobus, 
 Spica Thomson. 
 
 The following persons have filled the office of ruling elder in the Kingston 
 church since the division in 1837, in addition to those given in the body 
 of this paper as serving previous to that time. The dates of their election 
 and retirement have been as carefully verified as is possible after this distance 
 of time. Although the church for a year or more after the division was con- 
 nected with the Congregational body, it immediately elected three elders — 
 Samuel Donnell, John C. McCoy and Thomas Hamilton. The two former 
 had served as elders in the old church since its organization in 1823, until 
 dropped from the session on account of their anti-slavery sentiments in 1836. 
 Thomas Hamilton, elected in 1829, had retired at the same time and for the 
 same reason. 
 
 The list is as follows : 
 
 Samuel Donnell, elected 1837, resigned 1S44 ; John C. McCoy, elected 
 1837, died 1865 ; Thomas Hamilton, elected 1837, died 1880; John C. Don- 
 nell, elected 1844, died 1883 ; Andrew Robison, Jr., elected 1844, died 1853 ; 
 J. C. Adams, elected 1854. resigned 1869 ; Jesse G. Donnell, elected 1866 ; 
 J. A. McCoy, elected 1S66, removed from neighborhood 1889 ; G. D. Parker, 
 elected 1866, removed from neighborhood 1867 ; J. B. Hopkins, elected 1869 ; 
 S. H. Hamilton, elected 1881, removed from neighborhood 1885 ; Wm. H. 
 Scott, elected 1881, died 1885 ; R. H. Evans, elected i885, died 1S91 ; J. B. 
 Robison, elected 1886; Samuel Jackson, elected 1895; W. K. Stewart, 
 elected 1895. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THOMAS HAMILTON'S HISTORY. 
 
 The following extracts from a history of the church prepared by Thomas 
 Hamilton in 1857 present the personal recollections and opinions of one of 
 the earliest and most devoted friends of the church. Uncle Tommy Hamil- 
 
—32— 
 
 ton, as he was familiarly called, possessed in a very remarkable degree the 
 confidence and esteem of the entire neighborhood, both in and out of the 
 church membership, during the fifty years of his service as elder. He died 
 June i6, 1880. His manuscript was not available at the time of the anniver- 
 sary, but some of its more interesting features are herewith subjoined : 
 
 " Having composed one of the number of those who were first organized 
 into the Sand Creek church, and having been familiar with and having taken 
 a deep interest in everything connected with her welfare for a third of a cen- 
 tury, it seemed good to me to give an outline of the most important events 
 connected with its history for the benefit of those who may come after, that 
 they may shun the mistakes and improve whatever may be worthy of imita- 
 tion. The church was organized in the latter part of 1823, by Rev. John R. 
 Moreland. The name at first given was Concord, afterward changed to the 
 present name on account of some other church in the State having the same 
 name. 
 
 " The original membership was mainly emigrants from Kentucky and 
 Pennsylvania, mostly from Concord Church in the former State. Some from 
 the first organization of that State had labored for the abolition of slavery. 
 Despairing of success, and unwilling that their descendents should grow up 
 under the blighting influence of the iniquitous system, they concluded, 
 though even then advanced in life, to leave that rich, fertile and healthy land 
 for one less so, that they and theirs might enjoy the advantages of free insti- 
 tutions. The country was passing through the most unprecedented pressure 
 experienced since the Revolutionary struggle. Prices, during a few yt-ars 
 preceding, had ruled high. A great amount of bank paper had been put in 
 circulation without any capital, and a general breaking-down ensued. Al- 
 most the whole country was in debt. Well-improved land in Kentucky came 
 down from twenty-five dollars to eight dollars an acre, and other property in 
 proportion. Most of the early settlers had but little capital over what pur- 
 chased their land, and owned but small tracts. The country was covered at 
 that time with a dense growth of green beech, sugar and other trees of 
 enormous size, few farms having more than ten acres partly cleared. The 
 seasons at that time were very wet, especially in the winter and spring. 
 There being no underdraining, the best part of our lands were lost. Several 
 years passed before enough was raised for home consumption. At that time 
 there was no school or meeting-house, but meetings for prayer and conference 
 were held regularly, conducted for the most part by Samuel Donnell and 
 John Hopkins. 
 
 "In the summer of 1825 a site for a church and burying ground was 
 selected. The congregation met and felled the trees and burned the brush and 
 part of the logs on about an acre of ground, then took a subscription from 
 individuals for a house, each one agreeing to furnish a certain number of 
 logs, rafters, sleepers, shingles, etc., and some small sums of money to pay 
 for lumber, nails and carpenter work. Nothing was done to the church that 
 season but to raise to the square. In the fall of 1825 Rev. S. G. Lowry 
 visited the church with a view of settlement. With some aid from the A. 
 H. M. S., an amount was raised sufficient for his support, and some aid to 
 purchase for him eighty acres of land. He accordingly settled in December, 
 1S25. During the winter the congregation met, hewed logs and raised a house 
 on his own land about half a mile from the church." 
 
—33— 
 
 Mr. Hamilton describes the ministry of Mr. Lowry as successful, and 
 attended with two or three revivals and a camp-meeting conducted by Rev. 
 Alexander Rankin. During this period they organized under the common 
 school system ; and the first temperance movement was begun under the 
 auspices of Mr. Lowry and a Mr. Strange. He speaks of Mr. Lowry as a 
 moderate New School man, and his resignation, in 1S32, as brought about 
 partly by ill health and partly by the opposition of the Old School element 
 in the church. His successor. Rev. J. S. Weaver, was a pronounced Old 
 School minister. The narrative continues : 
 
 "The pressure of the times had gradually given way. Farms were 
 made ; farmers had some surplus, and rude cabins were giving way to more 
 comfortable and permanent house =!. While this was the case on the farms, 
 it was thought the rude, uncomfortable log church should be replaced by a 
 better. Accordingly, funds were raised by subscription and the building of 
 a brick house let to the lowest bidder. During the building of the church, 
 the anti- slavery movement began to be agitated here. A country so^-iety, 
 auxiliary to the American Anti-slavery Society, was organized. Few of the 
 members of the church m inifested any hostility to the abolition movement. 
 All joined in condemning slavery ; but a considerable part stood aloof or 
 refused active co-operation. Abolitionists became zealous, as opposition in- 
 creased, pressed their arguments by means of lectures, newspapers and tracts, 
 until to a great extent that became the absorbing topic of interest. The 
 pastor, seeing that a portion, perhaps a majority of the church were not 
 abolitionists, began to stand aloof, or rather attempted to occupy neutral 
 ground. In the meantime, the abolitionists, being so indubitably convinced 
 of the truth and importance of their principles, became impatient to some 
 extent, thought all good and right-minded men ought to embrace them, and 
 occasionally were led into some imprudences. About this time, Mr. Hopkins 
 was candidate for the State Legislature again. Most, if not all, the anti- 
 slavery members refused to support him on account of his want of co-opera- 
 tion in the temperance and anti-slavery movements, which somewhat 
 chagrined him, he having always heretofore received their support." 
 
 Mr. Hamilton here gives an account of the differences between Mr. 
 Hopkins and the session, growing out of this candidacy, which are given 
 fully in the old session book, and proceeds : 
 
 " Up to this time no very active opposition had obtained in the church 
 to the anti-slavery movement, but from this time, efforts were made to cre- 
 ate parties for and against the movement. The state of the public mind was 
 such that all who embraced the temperance and anti-slavery causes did it at 
 the cost of all hope of preferment to office. Many, from a general desire to 
 stand well with others, thinking their influence in society would be impaired, 
 and that the abolitionists went too far and too fast, hereafter stood aloof from 
 the cause." 
 
 Mr. Hamilton's account of the events leading up to the division, and of 
 the subsequent history of the church, is too long to be conveniently quoted 
 here. Perhaps enough has been given to show the tolerant and just spirit 
 in which our most notable church controversy is reviewed by one of the most 
 earnest participants in it 
 
REV. J. A. LIGGITT, D. D. 
 
—35— 
 
 HISTORY OF REV. JOHN R. MORELAND, WHO ORGANIZED THE 
 OLD SAND CREEK CHURCH. 
 
 By Dr. IV. B. Wishard, of Indianapolis. 
 
 "Rev. John R. Moreland was born in 1785 in western Pennsylvania. He 
 grew up with no educational advantages except those afforded by the school 
 taught in a log house. He was a carpenter, and as there was little to do in 
 that time, he took to flat-boating to New Orleans. When twenty-one or 
 twenty-two years old, he walked home through the Indian nations, a journey 
 of about nine hundred miles. 
 
 " On one of his trips down the Ohio river, he stopped three or four days 
 at Limestone, now Maysville, Ky. The Rev. Dr. Lyle, an eminent divine of 
 Kentucky, was holding a protracted meeting in the Presbyterian church. 
 He went to hear him, and was so much interested that when they were ready 
 to start the boat, he notified his crew he would not run the boat any more. 
 He stated to the crew that he was converted, and that his life plan was 
 changed. The revival was one of unusual power, and he caught the fire that 
 was never lost during his noble ministry. After the meeting was closed, he 
 visited in Mercer County, Ky. His means were limited. He attended 
 Transylvania College, Lexington, Ky. It is my impression that he never 
 graduated. When he returned, he commenced studying divinity with the 
 celebrated Thomas Clelland, D. D., of Mercer county. The Rev. Thornton 
 A. Mills, D. D., and the Rev. James A. Carnahan, while visiting at my home, 
 spoke enthusiastically of Mr. Moreland. In 1848 I had occasion to visit 
 Kentucky, and saw many of his old acquaintances. One of them, who had 
 often heard him, stated that he could command larger congregations than 
 anyone who had ever preached in that county. He was a man of great mus- 
 cular strength and endurance ; he was an uncompromising enemy of slavery ; 
 this was his reason for leaving Kentucky. 
 
 "There were several of his old acquaintances living in Indianapolis. They 
 invited him to visit them. The First church was vacant. He received a 
 call and came here in December, 1828. On week days he preached wherever 
 opportunity presented itself. He preached extemporaneously from notes. 
 But a few days since one of our retired attorneys, a former judge of the court, 
 spoke to me of his preaching. He said his appeals to the unconverted were 
 the strongest he had ever heard, and at such time he shed tears, and melted 
 the congregation. 
 
 "He died suddenly, in October, 1832, and now sleeps in Green Lawn 
 Cemetery. The church erected a stone — there were no monuments in that 
 day. 
 
 SERMON BY HARRY NYCE, 
 
 At the Seventy-fifth Anniversa)y of the Presbyterian Church, 
 at Kingston, Indiana. 
 "When the Rev. Mr. Bartlett informed me, at the meeting of synod, of 
 the coming celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Kingston 
 church, I at once said: 'I would like to be present.' I well recall the being 
 present at the semi-centennial anniversary. I hope that twenty-five years 
 hence, at the centennial anniversary, many of the boys and girls here to-day 
 will recall as vividly this seventy-fifth anniversary as some recall that which 
 occurred twenty-five years ago. 
 
—36— 
 
 "Your minister asked me to speak to you to-day. Since the history of 
 the church has been so well recalled, by those who have contributed to the 
 making of that history, at this closing hour of the day I desire to speak to 
 you from the text found in the second chapter and in the tenth verse of the Gos- 
 pel, according to the apostle John: 'Thou hast kept the good wine until now.' 
 
 "These words are taken from the account given by the Apostle John of 
 the first miracle of Jesus in Cana of Gallilee. A wedding had taken place, 
 and the guests were happy and contented at the supper, for, by the power 
 of the miracle-working guest, the water h-id been turned into wine. The 
 ruler of the feast came and tasted the water that was made wine. He knew 
 not whence it was. He thought that the bridegroom was responsible for the 
 wine. He tells how the good wine had been kept until toward the end of 
 the feast. Usually it comes at the beginning. The ruler of the feast says 
 to the bridegroom: 'Every man at the beginning doth set forih good wine, 
 and when men have well drunk then that which is worse; but thou hast 
 kept the good wine until now.' 'Thou hast kept the good wine until now.' 
 The words of the ruler only referred to the feast in Cana of Gallilee. But 
 the words are also true of the religion of Jesus Christ, who worked His first 
 miracle at that marriage feast. The words of the ruler, 'thou hast kept the 
 good wine until now,' were wiser than he who uttered them knew. Stand- 
 ing as we do to-day, in the last month of the year, let us have these words 
 teach us lessons of the religion of Christ. May we not ask at this anniver- 
 sary time if it is true in the world at large, and if it is true in our own lives, 
 that the best is coming last ? We are now drawing very near to the close of 
 the nineteenth century. Soon 1900 years since the birth of Christ will have 
 been completed. The religion of Christ has had time to accomplish some- 
 thing in the world at large and in the hearts of men. If the ruler of the 
 feast were alive to-day and would recall not merely the power of Jesus at 
 that wedding so long ago in Cana of Gallilee, but if he could look out upon 
 a world in which the power of Christianity has been working for 1900 years; 
 if he could look into the experiences of your life and my life to the time of 
 this seventy-fifth anniversary of the Kingston church, would he say: 'Thou 
 hast kept the good wine until now ? ' Let us ask then to-day: Is the world 
 growing better or worse? Am I, as an individual, becoming better, stronger 
 in Christ as the years come and go? Do we look back to-day upon the 
 world at the time when Christ was born and say that the world was better 
 then than it is now ? Roman and Grecian mythology saw their golden age 
 in the past. The religion of the Jews and that of the Christians found their 
 golden age in the future, not in the past. Adam and Eve were driven out 
 of paradise, but the prophets and the psalmists did not look back upon the 
 lost joys of paradise; they ever looked 'forward to the transcendent glories 
 of the kingdom of the Messiah.' We wonder and are put to shame by the 
 devotion and courage of the disciples to the cause of Christ, for we some- 
 times wonder if we, as Christians, to-day could endure imprisonment and 
 martyrdom as they endured. The earnestness and the devotedness of the 
 few — of Paul and of John, of Matthew and Mark — may have been greater 
 than the earnestness of Christians to-day; but, nevertheless, the sin of man 
 was great in that day. The letters of the apostles tell of widespread sin and 
 guilt on the part of man, and they looked forward into the future when 
 Christ would have come again; when the power of Christ would have 
 
-37— 
 
 worked in the world; when the Gentiles would have turned unto the Cross 
 of Christ. Yes; in the Old and in the New Testament, the golden age was 
 to be in the future and not in the past. The best wine of the feast was to be 
 kept until the last. 
 
 " And as the world grows older, better things are given to man. Surelv 
 in a material sense this is so. Viewing the comforts of life, the triumphs of 
 art and invention, no man in his senses would raiher have lived in 1798 than 
 in 1898. No man would want to place himself back in 1823, or 1698, or in 
 the Year of Our Lord 98, to live merely regarding the material comforts of 
 men. Mother Shipton, who is said to have lived in England in the sixteenth 
 century, uttered her prophecy concerning material things. Living three 
 hundred and fifty years after her famous prophecy was uttered, let us notice 
 how much of that prophecy has been fulfilled in a material way : 
 
 "Carriages without horses shall go, 
 And accidents fill the world with woe. 
 Around the world thoughts shall fly 
 In the twinkling of an eye. 
 Waters shall yet more wonders do; 
 Now strange, yet shall be true. 
 Through hills man shall ride 
 And DO horse or ass be at his side. 
 Under water, man shall walk, 
 Shall ride, shall read, shall talk; 
 Iron shall in the water float 
 As easy as a boat 
 
 Gold shall be found, and known and shown. 
 In a land that is not known. 
 Fire and water shall wonders do; 
 England at last admit a Jew. 
 The world to an end shall come 
 In eighteen hundred and eighty-one.' 
 
 "The world to an end shall come 
 In eighteen hundred and eighty-one " 
 
 " This did not occur, but much of the rest of the strange prophecy has 
 occurred. The power of steam, the telegraph, the telephone, the electric 
 light, Ihe electric motor and many other inventions have made the comforts 
 of living greater at the end of this century than at any other time in the 
 world's history. It is glorious to live at a time when thought can be trans- 
 mitted around the earth. In the Midwinter Night's Dream, Shakespeare 
 causes his fancy to play, and Puck says: 'I'll put a girdle about the earth 
 in forty minutes. ' The fancy of the poet has almost become a fact in sci- 
 ence, for, in May, 1896, at the electrical exposition in New York, this mes- 
 sage was started around the world: 'God creates, nature treasures, science 
 utilizes electrical power for the grandeur of nations and the peace of the 
 world.' These words were started at 8:35; at 9:25, just fifty minutes from 
 the start, the receiving instrument clicked, and the message was taken ex- 
 actly as sent, having made a trip of 27,500 miles. Surely it is more con- 
 venient to live in such a time than' in the time when battles were fought 
 since the opposing armies had received no intelligence that a treaty of peace 
 was concluded. 
 
 " Great has been the advance in science, art and invention during the 
 centiu-y drawing to a close. But we would not dwell upon the material ad- 
 vancement to-day. As one sa3S, 'it is surely more convenient to strike a 
 
light with a friction match than with a tinder box,' But the burglar who 
 uses the friction match in the nineteenth century is just as much a criminal 
 as the bandit of the twelfth century who used the tinder box. Starting as 
 we did to-da}' with the text, 'Thou hast kept the good wine until now,' we 
 would ask the question, Is the moral life of the world better as the years go 
 on? Is the world growing better? Is it true that the good wine of the world 
 is being kept until now? 
 
 " Let us look first at the trust of man in his fellow man. We look to-day 
 at the business arrangements of the world, and we find that they depend in 
 a large measure upon honor. Edward Everett Hale tells us that in the first 
 century- in the days of Augustus Caesar, and even in the twelfth century, in 
 the days of Richard Cceur de Lion, the trade of the world was not con- 
 ducted as it is to-day. In those days when a man sold his goods he went 
 with his goods to protect them and to see that he got a return for his goods 
 when delivered. The tradesman was a peddler. Think to-day of the vast 
 volume of exchange in the world which rests upon honor. A tradesman 
 lets his goods go out of his sight and trusts often simply upon a promise to 
 pay. He sends his goods to a distant part of the country, or across wide, 
 wide seas, and expects with certainty to receive a return from men he has 
 never seen. Is not this trust of man in his fellow man so widespread and 
 so essential a part of the commerce of to-day a sign that the world is better 
 than it was? Does not an extended system of business credit exist to-day 
 since man has been taught by the religion of Christ to trust his fellow man ? 
 
 " Again, a sign that the world is becoming better at the close of this 
 century is the interest of man in his fellow man. Workers, though they 
 may belong to the poorer classes, are not regarded as so many hands, but as 
 souls, as brother men. A writer, in the New York Independent, who was 
 asked last summer to give the most striking characteristic of Queen Victo- 
 ria's sixty years reign, gave the answer most aptly by a quotation taken from 
 a story by Lord Beaconsfield, the story of Sybil, placed in the year of the 
 Queen's accession. 
 
 " 'This is a new reign,' said Egremont ; 'perhaps it is a new era.' 
 
 " 'I think so,' said the younger stranger. 
 
 " 'I hope so,' said the older one. 
 
 " 'Well, society may be in its infancy,' said Egremont, slightly smiling, 
 'but say what you like, our Queen reigns over the greatest nation that ever 
 existed.' 
 
 " 'Which nation ?' asked the younger stranger, 'for she reigns over two.' 
 
 " The stranger paused; Egremont was silent, but looked inquiringly. 
 
 " 'Yes, resumed the younger stranger, after a moment's interval, two 
 nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are 
 as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts and feelings as if they were 
 dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets, who are 
 formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by 
 different manners, and are not governed by the same laws.' 
 
 " 'You speak of,' said Egremont, hesitatingly. 
 
 " 'The rich and the poor.' 
 
 " A sure sign that the world is becoming better to-day is the interest of 
 these two nations, the interest of the rich and the poor, the one in the other. 
 Years ago nobody outside of a few distressed himself about the condition of 
 
the poor. Now it is a healthy sign that men do distress themselves; 'that 
 children are being freed from degrading toil; that sympathy with the suffer- 
 ing and poor is more deep and full.' The world has still many problems to 
 solve, but that the world has begun in earnest to work upon the solution of 
 its problems is a most healthful sign of the progress of the times. The 
 year 1S98 has granted unto history the spectacle of a great nation going 
 forth in behalf of others, ready to make the sacrifice of war, not for itself, 
 but for others. 
 
 " In seeking the solution of these problems there is a larger fraternal 
 spirit among men than ever before. We are told: 'That once upon a large 
 ocean steamer, with seven hundred passengers from different classes of soci- 
 ety, there came a sudden calamity. The main shaft of the engine broke; 
 great holes were made in the bottom of the vessel, and three compartments 
 were filled with water. There was extreme danger that all on board would 
 perish. All classes mingled freely. Of course there was fear; but during 
 all the time of great trial the people were kind to one another. Prejudices 
 of race and condition did not appear to hinder that spirit of the Great Mas- 
 ter, which teaches men to be helpful one to the other.' I believe that scene 
 is characteristic of the race at large. Great trials will come to men, but in 
 the midst of it all people will seek to be helpful to the other. The devel- 
 opment of the altruistic feeling on the part of humanity tells us that the 
 world is growing better and not worse. 
 
 " Many are the ways in which we might ask you to verify the truth, 
 that since the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, the world is growing 
 better. 
 
 " Of course, if we look for it, we can find much that is evil, much of 
 sin and crime in the world; but also there is much that is good and pure. 
 An English critic, Mr. Stead, has written strongly of the sin in New York 
 and Chicago; nevertheless I doubt not but that much concerning the higher 
 and better life of these two cities could be written, of the influence of the 
 churches in these cities, teaching a moral code wholesome alike for body 
 and soul; telling man of his relation to his fellow man. We might also 
 look at the care of the sick in the hospitals of these cities, of the care of 
 the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the lame and the insane. We might glance 
 at the higher life of these cities as manifested in the libraries and galleries; 
 we might, in passing, notice the public school system, where an education 
 is placed within the reach of all the children. Yes, there is much that is 
 good to be found by him who will only seek for the good. 
 
 "If we have our minds open we can behold the progress of the world 
 on all sides. As you go into Greensburg, your county seat, you behold the 
 tower of }'Our court-house. Think how the justice administered in that 
 court-house has been transformed by the influence of the Babe of Bethlehem. 
 The justice administered there has a theory of family life that did not come 
 from Roman jurisprudence, but from the commandments of Moses and from 
 the treasure of Christian truth found in the Holy Scriptures. No plea at all 
 could be heard in that court-house of the absolute ownership of the man 
 over the woman that can be heard to-day in a JNIohammedan or Turkish civ- 
 ilization. Never for a moment in that court-house can be advanced to-day 
 pleas for the justification of human slavery. Who would maintain in that 
 court-house the principle of the absolute rights of a ruler, that a ruler or king 
 
—40— 
 
 had absolute ownership over his subjects and their belongings? Many are 
 the principles of justice administered to-day in your court-house, the inspi- 
 ration of which is found in the religion of Christ, 
 
 " Great is the sinfuhiess of to-day, but there were sins in the time of 
 the Apostle Paul, for which we have no names to-day. Read the first chap- 
 ter of Romans and you will know the condition of the world in the time of 
 the Apostle Paul. And we believe that since certain sins are unknown the 
 condition of the world is better to-day. It is said that 'on the shore of Lake 
 Erie you can see that the land relatively to the water is rising, or that the 
 •water if receding as time rolls on. Three or four parallel ridges of sand 
 mark the successive boundaries of the lake, and now towns and villages and 
 railways appear, and thousands of acres of farm lands where once only a 
 waste of "vater appeared.' So it is with the moral conditions of mankind. 
 Where once there was a waste of human slavery there now arise the dignity 
 and worth of true manhood; where once there were sins, names for which 
 we do not have; interest for man, the care and culture of men, these things 
 have supplanted evil things, and the world is growing better, not worse. 
 As we stand at this anniversary time in the last month of the year 1898 and 
 view the progress of mankind, are not the words of the pastor of the Pil- 
 grim Fathers being fulfilled, for as they sailed from Delft in 1620 he said: 'I 
 am convinced that the Lord hath yet more truth for us, yet to break forth 
 out of His Holy Word.' That truth is breaking forth upon us, and God will 
 ever have a higher, better, nobler life for those of his children who choose 
 to place themselves in line with that which He is ever revealing to the chil- 
 dren of men. The question for you and me to ask at this anniversary time 
 is: 'Am I in line with God's purposes for his children, am I being exalted 
 and blessed by his purposes, or are the years coming and going, yesterday 
 1897, to-day 1898, to-morrow 1899, without my life being a blessing to God 
 and to mankind? Am I setting myself against Jesus Christ, the Revealer of 
 God's will? Have I confessed Him before men?' As we have tried to an- 
 swer the question that God is causing His world to become better, may each 
 of us try to answer to-day a more practical question, which is. Am I becom- 
 ing better? As I grow older is the best wine being kept for me at the 
 feast's end? 
 
 " It is true that God intends life to become better, richer and deeper as 
 life grows old. The literature of to-day calls childhood 'The Golden Age,' 
 but Kenneth Grahame, Barrie and Stevenson, we think, are mistaken. 
 Childhood is not the richest, the best time of life. The best time of life for 
 the Christian should be the time when life is rich with past experiences. 
 The golden wedding is placed after fifty years of married life in Christian 
 lands, the diamond in still later years; not because the husband and wife 
 have many more years in which to enjoy either gold or diamonds, but be- 
 cause gold and diamonds symbolize best the richness of their love together 
 during many years, and that the golden time is at the end and not at the 
 beginning of their days. Is it not true with the religion of Christ that the 
 best comes as life becomes older? The man of the world says, 'Let me get 
 all out of life now. Soon degenerate days will come. I am sure only of 
 this present day. Let me get all I can out of it. Old age must be very 
 dreary.and desolate. Therefore, I will dissipate now and get all I can with- 
 out regard to old age or to a life beyond the grave.' This may be the view 
 
—41— 
 
 of the man of the world, of that one who is not a Christian. But said 
 Phillips Brooks, in a sermon upon the text of to-day, to which I am 
 indebted, 'The essence of Christianity is to believe that the world is 
 growing better; that the life of man is growing better under the discipHne 
 of Christ. It is calm and hopeful with its great assurances. It sets the old 
 man, at the end of his career, in the midst of fulfilled promises and finished 
 educations, splendidly saying, as he looks back over his life, "It has all 
 been good, but this is the best of all. Thou, O Christ, O Master, hast 'kept 
 the good wine until now." ' 
 
 " As with the world at large, so God intends it to be with each human 
 life. Looking back to-day at the close of the iiiaeteenth century, we can 
 not think of any century that has been better than this century. With your 
 knowledge of history, will you say to-day that you would rather have lived 
 in any previous century than this, since that was a better century? So, also, 
 God intends life to become better, richer to us as the years are better. As a 
 Christian man or woman looking back over your years you ought not to be 
 able to say that any previous year was better than this year. In the allotted 
 course of human life, three score and ten, God grants unto soul and 
 body many years in this world. Is it not a wonderful thing that a human 
 body, with its delicate organization, should go on sleeping and working, 
 toiling and breathing, without intermission and without rest, for seventy, 
 eighty, ninety years? Could any machine ever constructed by man sustain 
 such a constant, uninterrupted action for that length of time? If God per- 
 mits the machine to run so long is there not a purpose in the running? If 
 the faith of man is ever strong in him, he grants richer, deeper experi- 
 ences to the soul as each year comes and goes. I believe it is so. Did not 
 life mean more to Gladstone in his old age than it did in the year 1819 to 
 Gladstone, the boy, at ten years of age? Our Savior did not live to be an old 
 man, but we read, as the years came and passed away, that he 'increased in 
 wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.' Life was richer and 
 deeper to Jesus Christ at Nazareth, on the sea of Galilee, at Gethsemane, in 
 Jerusalem, and on Calvary than it was to Him as a babe in Bethlehem. As 
 God gave to His own Son, so to all his children in Jesus Christ He will 
 ever give a richer, deeper knowledge of Himself as the years come and go. 
 As a father, if I have a valuable watch I cannot give it to my little boy until my 
 boy understands the value of the watch and knows how to take care of it. 
 Your Father in heaven cannot give His blessings to His child until that child 
 is ready by discipline, by faith, by trust made stronger, and by experience 
 made deeper, to receive His blessings. At this season of the giving of gifts, 
 you might rush out into the street and thrust a ten-dollar bill into a man's 
 hands, saying, ' Here, this is yours.' You could then leave him in full pos- 
 session of the bill. But you cannot rush up to that man and thrust a char- 
 acter upon him. To gain a character, to gain a sure and constant faith, to 
 know the promises of God as tried and not found wanting, the years must 
 come and go. And tell me, you of middle age and you of old age, you who 
 have had faith in your Master, lo these many years, is not the best wine, 
 that is, the strongest hope, the most abiding faith at the feast's end? 
 Blessed it is to see an aged Christian saying, after all the trials and sorrows 
 of life, ' Yes, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.' Contrast with this, 
 the life of one who has dissipated in youth and lived a life of sin, and then 
 
—42- 
 
 Hved fifty, sixty, seventy years without faith and without prayer, without 
 God in the world. And then he passes into eternity without hope. The life 
 of sin has no happy old men ; and the word of God tells that they are not 
 happy in the world beyond. But in the world beyond, for him who lives 
 with faith in Christ there is joy. There, there, the good wine is kept. The 
 true completion of this life is in the life to come. ' I will come again and 
 receive you to myself.' 'I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.' 
 'And so shall we be ever with the Lord.' ' Now we see through a glass darkly, 
 but then face to face.' 'It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know 
 that when He shall appear we shall be like Him.' ' Let not your heart be 
 troubled. Ye believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house 
 are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to 
 prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come 
 again and receive you unto myself ; that where I am, there ye may be also.' 
 All these words look forward. They tell of that which Jesus has in store for 
 us. Let us realize that many are the blessings there, as many and great have 
 been the blessings here. We are all nearing that home beyond. Some have 
 passed into His eternal glory this year. For some, the voyage of life in 
 this world may close next year. Some of our aged fathers and mothers feel 
 that it is not long now with them. Weakened physical health, faltering 
 step, diminished physical vigor, tell that the time of departure is near at 
 hand. But the hope of the soul is strong ; God has been precious to them 
 in the past, and they believe that He has still more glory to reveal unto 
 them. Even now they are looking forward with anticipation to the life 
 beyond. 
 
 " When death was before Charles Kingsley, he said, 'God forgive me, 
 but I look forward to it with intense and reverent curiosity.' Did not his 
 curiosity fulfill his human nature, knowing that as God had dealt with him 
 in the past so would He deal with him in the future, aud still greater glor)^ 
 would be manifested unto him? After a long ocean vo3-age, a*^ter the ship 
 has been out many days, when she is coming near the port and the harbor> 
 the passengers are all interested in the new land; in that which the new and 
 hitherto unknown land will have in store for them. They speak of their 
 preparation for landing, of their interest of the new life which will be on 
 the shore. On this anniversary day we are all nearing port; we are all one 
 year nearer. Some are twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty 
 years nearer than ever before. Perhaps even next year the glory of that 
 port to which we are journeying will be revealed to us. May we so live 
 during the voyage that much of His love can be revealed now, and we may 
 rest assured that new and greater things shall be in store for us there. There 
 we shall be with Jesus Christ ; there we shall see loved ones who have gone 
 before. There, there shall be no more pain, no more sin. There we shall for- 
 ever be with the Lord in the city of our God. There, we believe that the words 
 of the ruler of the feast unto the bridegroom will be fully realized by each 
 child of God. ' Thou hast kept the good wine until now.' " 
 
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 
 
 Letter from Mrs. Carpenter and Mrs. Mannon, daughters of 
 Rev. Daniel Gilmer. 
 
 We feel that we are paying a tribute of affection and respect to our 
 father's memory in recalling the membership and work of the Kingston 
 church during the years of his pastorate. It also gives us pleasure to call to 
 mind the friends of our youth, though many of them, especially the older 
 members of the church, are resting from their earthly labors. We remember 
 them as they filled their places in the old frame church, forty years ago. 
 Of your pastor at that time, we will only say, in the words of a member of 
 your church, " I remember him as an honest, fearless defender of the truth, 
 and always foremost in the ranks." 
 
 One who was always prominent in good works was Uncle Tommy Hamil- 
 ton, an elder at that time, for whom father had a warm affection. He spoke 
 of him as one of the most conscientious men he ever knew. Uncle John 
 McCoy was another, always in his place at the Sunday services and prayer- 
 meeting, while on week days he made visits among the different homes, 
 where he was always welcome on account of his genial good nature and 
 pleasant manner. Uncle Alex McCoy led the music the first two or three 
 years we were at Kingston. Doubtless many will remember how he led off on 
 the good old tunes. Coronation, Ortonville, Balerma, and many others. Later 
 on, we had a singing school taught by Mr. Harvey, and shortly after, John 
 Robison became the leader of the church music. Soon after he took charge 
 of the music, the synod of the Free Presbyterian church met at Kingston. 
 As this was an important occasion, the young people formed a choir and sang 
 set pieces and anthems, as well as the regular psalms and hymns. As there 
 were a great many young people in the church, the social element was an 
 important factor. We remember no other place where there were so many 
 natural advantages for innocent amusements. The blue-grass pastures, 
 shaded by forest trees, furnished ideal places for picnics in summer ; and as 
 with well-filled baskets we drove through the shady lanes to some common 
 meeting-place for the young people of the neighborhood, we enjoyed life in 
 full measure. On winter nights we went sleighing and gathered in some one 
 of the numerous homes, where we always met a hearty welcome, and beside 
 the wide fireplace, and often overflowing from the living-room into other 
 rooms, we enjoyed ourselves in many ways known to young people of that 
 day. During the winter of 1856-57, there was serious apprehension on the 
 part of pastor and elders that some of the younger members were indulging 
 in amusements not consistent with church membership. There was some 
 talk of discipline, but Uncle Tommy Hamilton plead for a special effort to 
 bring the young people back to their first love. During the preceding sum- 
 mer, a course of lectures from the Hebrews had been given by the pastor, 
 which were no doubt scholarly and edifying to the older members, but at 
 this time a different direction was given the preaching of the word, and 
 God's love and mercy were feelingly presented. These sermons, supple- 
 mented by the prayers of such men as Uncle Tommy Hamilton and others, 
 brought about the desired result and the wandering ones returned to the 
 
—44— 
 
 fold. Thus forty years ago in the old frame church at Kingston was preached 
 the same truth, now preached from many pulpits in our land as the new the- 
 ology, having for its foundation, " God is love." 
 
 So from the Pacific coast, we send words of greeting, with kind remem- 
 brances of the past and words of hope and good cheer for the future. That 
 you may live up to the high standard set by your forefathers, and like them, 
 when your work is ended, enter into the joys of eternal life, is the sincere 
 wish of your old-time friends.^ 
 
 Helena Gilmer Mannon, Pasadena, Cal. 
 
 Mary Gilmer Carpenter, Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 ToPEKA, Kansas, November 12, 1898. 
 
 3fy Dear Friends : I send you greetings on this interesting anniversary. 
 Would that I might be with you and give them in person. 
 
 Our fathers builded well. All honor to their memory. My earliest 
 recollection is of the church built of logs. Now you have the beautiful, 
 modern church, with its spire pointing heavenward. Then we went to Sun- 
 day-school in the morning, followed by two long services with an intermission 
 between. Later, at home in the evening the catechism was recited. Now> 
 in this fast age, this would be called barbarous. But I do not remember of 
 dreading the day, with all its lengthy services. 
 
 I have many tender memories connected with the Kingston church. 
 There, in my girlhood, I found my Saviour, who is more and more precious 
 as the years go by. There, later on, I gave my children to God in baptism, 
 and in their maturer years they all came into full membership in the 
 church. Some of them are privileged to tell "the old, old story of Jesus 
 and His love " to those who have never heard. There, too, resting in the 
 silent city near by, lies the earthly tabernacle of beloved husband, father, 
 mother and kindred dear, awaiting the resurrection. Also many memories 
 come of the loved, faithful pastor of so many years, going in and out among 
 us in all our joys and in all our sorrows. What could be more fitting than 
 that he should be with you on this occasion ? No one could fill the place so 
 well. May the blessing of the Lord abide on him and his, wherever their 
 lot is cast. Also in the dear old church, may his banner ever her belove. 
 Always yours very sincerely, 
 
 Mrs. N. H. Adams. 
 
 Kingman, Kansas, December 13, 1S98. 
 
 My first distinct recollection of the church is, when I was quite a child, 
 we worshiped in the little frame church and Rev. Benj. Nyce was pastor, I 
 do not remember much about the services, except the Sunday-school. I, 
 with my sister and cousins, in company with Grandfather Donnell, walked 
 to Sunday-school in nice weather, and rode home with the family after 
 church . That was the custom in those days. Sunday-school was always at 
 9:00 o'clock, and I think there were never any tardy ones. 
 
 My teacher was Miss Margaret Hamilton, afterward Mrs. McCoy. To 
 me she was the most beautiful and best woman in the world. Later, it was 
 her sister Nancy who became Mrs. Adams ; and sometimes Melissa Hamilton, 
 afterward Mrs. Nyce, was my teacher. Mr. Nyce made the Sunday-school 
 
REV. HARRY NYCE. 
 
very attractive by his talks to children. They were principally stories from 
 the Bible, told in a very charming way. I was so interested and impressed 
 that I became a Bible student. As I grew older, I found much in the Bible 
 to interest me besides stories. I remember in particular hearing him tell the 
 story of Elijah meeting the prophets of Baal, and calling down fire from 
 heaven to consume the sacrifice. I. Kings, iSth chapter. 
 
 Mr. Nyce had the faculty of making friends with the children, and I 
 always greeted with delight his visits to our home. He would take me on 
 his kni e and tell me some beautiful story, and then laugh so gleefully that 
 it dispelled my shyness and established a confidence, and he was ever after- 
 ward my ideal of a Christian gentleman. I am sure a friendship began then 
 that in later years, as we stood in the relation of teacher and pupil, became 
 real, and which lasted as long as he lived, as his occasional letters and 
 papers, with especially marked columns, sent to me in my Western home 
 years afterward testified. He was eminently a friend of young people, and 
 during his second pastorate in the church he kept up a Bible class for the 
 young people at 4:03 o'clock Sunday afternoon during the winter months, 
 and made it so interesting that it was always well attended. 
 
 I also remember, as they came in succession, Rev. Adams, Joseph Mon- 
 fort, Mr. King and Mr. Stryker. To my mind, they were very different and 
 had their own peculiar styles of preaching. I shall never forget Mr Mon- 
 fort's beautiful singing. He sang the hymn beginning "Servant of God, 
 well done ; rest from thy loved employ," at Grandfather Donnell's funeral, 
 and as he sat in the pulpit and sang the entire hymn alone, I thought it 
 beautiful. 
 
 Among the ministers' wives I had some warm friends, one of whom was 
 Mrs. Stryker. Many a time have I, as a school-girl, stayed over night with 
 her for company when Mr. Stryker was gone to synod or Presbytery. She 
 was a lady of culture, and exerted a good influence over me. I remember 
 Mr. Cable more particularly in regard to the respect and friendship he always 
 extended to Grandfather Donnell than from anything else. He often visited 
 Grandfather, and I was quite frequently an interested listener, as they talked 
 on religious and church matters. In my estimation, he was a learned man. 
 
 Among the pleasant recollections of those days, I recall the annual visits 
 of Rev. Henry Little, of Madison, at which times we often had a series of 
 meetings, and I shall always remember his kind, earnest appeals to sinners, 
 and especially to young people. 
 
 Our prayer-meetings in those early days were quite a feature of the 
 church. It it true, I believe, that there never was much of a crowd there, 
 but there were a few who were always present, rain or shine, summer and 
 winter. Among the faithful were Uncle Tommy Hamilton, Uncle J. C. Mc- 
 Coy, Uncle Andy Robison and Uncle Addison Donnell. The young people 
 had a habit of attending quite regularly, and were respectful listeners, 
 although they took no active part except in the singing. Uncle Tommy 
 Hamilton and J. C. McCoy always prayed, and others as they were called 
 upon. The services, which never lasted over an hour, were as genuinely en- 
 joyed by those present as if the house had been well filled, and in fact I think 
 Uncle Tommy Hamilton was serenely unconscious of the empty seats, and I 
 used to think he would have gone ahead with the meeting if there had been 
 no one present to take part but himself. 
 
—47— 
 
 In the year 1848, during the pastorate of Rev. B. PVanklin, Rev. Father 
 Dickey conducted a revival meeting, and on the 26th day of February of that 
 year, I and twelve other young people united with the church. I do not now 
 remember who they were except my sister, Martha Donnell, Kate McCoy 
 and Samuel H. Hamilton. I was younger than any of them, and was strongly 
 advised by a friend not to do so foolish a thing as to join the church. I might 
 try to be good and after while become a Christian, but it was not the proper 
 thing to take children into the church. I did not take that view of the case, 
 and was received with the others. 
 
 I cannot close this paper without paying a loving tribute to one of my 
 Sunday-school teachers, Mrs. Eliza Jane Thomson, who taught a class of 
 girls, of which I was one, for several years in the old brick church. During 
 that time I do not remember of her being absent even once, and she was 
 always on time. How faithful and patient she was ! And I have sometimes 
 thought how dull she must have thought us, for we allowed her to do all the 
 talking. We would commit verses and recite whole chapters from memory, 
 and do anything she required, but we did not seem to answer questions very 
 well ; but we remembered much of what she taught, and it strongly influenced 
 for good our after lives. Zerelda Donneli, Lawson. 
 
 LOCKPORT, N. Y., December 8, 1898. 
 
 To the Pastor and IMevibers of the Dear Church at Kingston : It is a joj- 
 to me to send a letter to you to-day, a regret that I cannot intrude my pres- 
 ence. I know that the occasion will be like one of Sam Weller's muffins, 
 " very fillin' for the price." My brother, Harry, is doubtless with you ; he 
 is big enough for two, and I know, more full of feelings than fluent speech. 
 Two of the Nyces have had the honor of serving the dear church, and my time 
 may yet come when you can't get anybody else. 
 
 I owe more to the Kingston church than to any other. It was there I 
 learned my first religious teaching, and found the way to our blessed Christ ; 
 it is there, too, I hope to be taken and laid to rest with the dear ones across 
 the way when my work is done. Some of my dearest childhood memories are 
 connected with the old church. I can see the Rankins cross the road, file in 
 one by one, usually more than less. A kindly word from the honored and 
 faithful Rev. A. T. Rankin, or a gentle admonition from him, that Sunday 
 is not the day to sit on the fence and whistle. "Boys, it is time for the 
 service to begin." I remember well the organ and choir in the middle of 
 the church ; the impression made upon my child ear by John Robison's voice 
 still remains. James and Marshall and Cyrus Hamilton were to me patri- 
 archs in those days. In building the new church, I thought that Lowry 
 Donnell was the master builder and architect of the world. I have since seen 
 St. Peter's at Rome, and the Milan and Cologne's Cathedrals. Yet they were 
 not so beautiful as was to the child mind the dear church at home. 
 
 What a noble record it has had ; what influences have gone from it ; 
 how the best and tenderest experiences of our lives have been received there ! 
 May she, under her faithful pastor and your consecrated co-operation, con- 
 tinue to be the sanctifior of the community, the comfort of the sorrowing, 
 the light to the darkened, the hope to the penitent, ever the dwelling of the 
 living God. Yours in the noblest service, 
 
 Benj. M. Nyce. 
 
REV. R. A. BARTLETT. 
 
Springdale, Ark., December 14, 1898. 
 
 Dear Brother Bartlett : Your letter of November 18th, inviting me to 
 attend the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Kingston Church, was duly re- 
 ceived. It found me in very poor health, added to the natural infirmity 
 ordinarily weighing on a man of eighty-one years. But as you had kindly 
 given me plenty of time, I hoped for better health and intended to respond, 
 recalling incidents, events and persons, the kind of material with which it 
 was organized, trained mostly by that orthodox, consecrated minister. Rev. 
 John Rankin. I should tell how it prospered, largely by emigration, under 
 that good Brother Lowry, and how subsequently, and as I think, for want 
 of true Christian forbearance about non-essentials, animosities were aroused, 
 feelings alienated, heated controversies. 
 
 The language was not such as Job 6:25 describes. How forcible are 
 right words ! They forgot "A soft answer turneth away wrath." The fruit of 
 all this was division. And then two churches, composed largely of good, 
 Christian people, orthodox, pious and more than average mental ability. 
 
 My work began in 1844 and continued eight years, the longest pastorate, 
 I think, up to that date, and in that branch up to the reunion. The material 
 to build from outside of our families was small, but we had accessions at 
 almost every communion. We had good men on both sides with imperfec- 
 tions, Father Samuel Donnell, prominent in the other branch, and Robert 
 Hamilton and wife in ours. 
 
 I felt so miserable when beginning to write that I only intended to ac- 
 knowledge your invitation. It would be a great pleasure to me to be with 
 you. I trust you will have a better presence, the Holy Spirit, and have a rich 
 baptism. Sincerely yours, 
 
 John C. King. 
 
 Phili^ipsburg, Kan., December 13, 1898. 
 REV R. A. Bartlett : 
 
 Dear Brother : Your fraternal letter, inviting me to attend the seventy- 
 fifth anniversary of the Kingston (Ind.) church the i8th instant, came duly 
 to hand. It will not be possible for me, on account of distance, to be present 
 at the great meeting anticipated. I have remembered the Kingston church 
 with feelings of great kindness. It was my first charge. 
 
 The Concord church was united with it, having half the time. The 
 Kingston church paid $400 and the Concord church |200 of the salary. The 
 Sabbath morning of my first appearance before the church was dark and 
 rainy, April, 1S57. The text was Acts 24: 25 ; the sermon was extemporane- 
 ous. When I came out of the church, some of the brethren met me in the 
 yard and inquired " What salary would you expect for preaching here and 
 at Concord per year?" My answer was |;6oo. W. W. Hamilton replied, 
 " You shall have it." I spent two years in peace and hard work. The mem- 
 bers were of the old, substantial type, faithful and true. The Hamiltons, 
 the Antrobuses, the Grahams, the Donnells, the Hopkinses, the Lowes and 
 the Robisons, all of blessed memory, were at Kingston in my day. Mrs. 
 Adams, who used to live at McCoy's Station, took tea at our house a few 
 years ago at Wamego, Kas. , said she remembered me at Kingston, and thought 
 me quite a dude. I took dinner during the meeting of synod at Hutchinson 
 at Dr. Ardery's. His wife was a Reeder, daughter of one of the elders at 
 
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 Concord. It was pleasant to meet Mr. Reader after almost forty years of 
 separation from him. 
 
 I must soon close this letter. The last mention is that of young Samuel 
 Hamilton. He used to come to church at Kingston very regularly with his 
 little family. I found him an elder in the church at Kingman, Kan. 
 Thomas Lowe, his son-in-law, lived on the farm, about two miles from town. 
 Mr. Samuel Hamilton was an intelligent. Christian gentleman. Mrs. Hamil- 
 ton was a most excellent Christian woman. I used to stay at their house 
 while I preached at Kingman ; he died while I supplied the church. The 
 attendance at the funeral was very large ; a great procession followed him to 
 the grave. Since that, his dear daughter Jessie went to join him and many 
 loved ones who had entered into rest. 
 
 The words of the apostle is my prayer, Heb. 13: 20, 21. 
 
 Yours truly, H. M. Shockley. 
 
 Kingman, Kan., December 13, 1898. 
 
 From the " wild and woolly West " to the Presbyterian church of King- 
 ston, greeting ! You who have never broken loose from old friendships and 
 associations can hardly realize the wave of homesickness which overtakes 
 the wanderer who has strayed beyond the reach of these pleasant gatherings. 
 I think it is such as a child feels when far away from home on Thanksgiving. 
 He knows the festivities are going on in the old homestead, just as in the 
 past. Though we cannot be with you in person, we are there in spirit. 
 
 Imagination pictures the whole scene — the kindly, familiar faces, the 
 old pastor, associate and friend for a quarter of a century. How glad I should 
 be to clasp the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Rankin once again, as well as of many 
 others who will be there ! How glad to hear the talks, the songs and the 
 reminiscences ! Last, but not least, to partake of the dinner in the basement, 
 a dinner for which the earth has yielded ber richest and best ; and when pre- 
 pared by cooks of rare skill, will be " a feast fit for the gods." Those big 
 dinners at Kingston have disproved the theory that rich foods impair diges- 
 tion, produce dyspepsia and all its kindred ills. For have not scores of us 
 made triumphal marches from one big dinner to another? Yet there is not 
 a more healthful people upon the face of the earth, nor a greater number who 
 have reached their allotted time. 
 
 As we could not be present to hear the history of the church, we did the 
 next best thing — we took from its place among the treasures left by those 
 who have passed away Father Hamilton's history, written in 1857, and read it 
 aloud to the family. In this day they had no thought of carpets, or fresco- 
 ing, or basements, but they laid a foundation which I believe will last for 
 many generations. Let us pray that their posterity may build walls not only 
 beautiful, but as lasting as the foundation. 
 
 With kindest regards to all, I will say farewell and good-bye. 
 
 M. A. Hamii^Ton. 
 
 Converse, Ind., December 14, 1898. 
 To THE Presbyterian Church of Kingston, Ind.: 
 
 My Dear and Much Loved Friends: I have been kindly invited to be 
 with you on this occasion, and regret exceedingly that circumstances are 
 such as to compel me to decline the invitation, with thanks. I can hardly 
 
INTERIOR VIEW OF KINGSTON CHURCH. 
 
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 think of any visit that would give me more real pleasure than a visit to 
 Kingston at this time and under the present circumstances. I look back to 
 the years spent with you as among the happiest years of my life. I deem it 
 an honor to have been superintendent of your Sunday-school and leader of 
 your choir, and to have been intrusted by you with the honorable and re- 
 sponsible office of an elder. I feel that the years spent with you were profit- 
 able ones to me, and trust they were not altogether unprofitable to the 
 church and community. Through your church and him who was then your 
 pastor, I received under God the final impulse which launched me into the 
 gospel ministry, for which I have ever since had occasion to thank God 
 most heartily. So you will believe me when I say that Kingston church 
 has a very warm place in my heart. 
 
 And, now, permit me to congratulate you on having reached the seventy- 
 fifth anniversary of your birth as a church. God has spared you to a good 
 old age, and made you a blessing to your community, while He has given 
 you daughters and granddaughters in the other Presbyterian churches of 
 the county. Then you have sent out a goodly number to become identified 
 with other churches, and there help carry on the Master's work. You have 
 also sent forth a number of sons to be preachers of the everlasting Gospel of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. Some of these have done, and are still doing, grand 
 work for the Master and for the mother church. 
 
 Think of the good accomplished by the churches which have grown 
 from yours, and by the workers you have sent out. I cannot give statistics 
 for others, but even your humble servant, the writer, has been permitted, 
 by God's blessing, to welcome some 500 into the fold. Probablj^ others of 
 the brethren have accomplished far more, and, for the thousands blessed 
 and saved through the instrumentality of all these, you will share in the re- 
 ward. As you think of the good already accomplished, and what is likely 
 to be the final result of the train of influences set in motion by this church, 
 have you not reason to thank and bless God that, seventy-five years ago, he 
 put it into the hearts of the fathers to organize the Sand Creek Presbyterian 
 church ? You may well thank Him for His watchful care over it, for the 
 blessings showered upon it, and for the blessings carried from it to others. 
 You have had many noble men and women among you; but, as in fancy I 
 look over the congregation, I miss many, oh, so many, familiar faces of 
 thirty-five or forty years ago, and am constrained to say: "The fathers; 
 where are they ? ' ' 
 
 Some of the founders of this church had passed away before it was my 
 privilege to know it; but I look in vain for most of the elderly fathers and 
 mothers of thirty-five or forty years ago- -the Hamiltons, the Donnells, the 
 McCoys, the Hopkins, and others — who were then the old people. Most of 
 them are gone to the church above. Their mantles have fallen to their 
 children. Are they so wearing them as to honor their parents' church and 
 their parents' God? May God help the present generation to be as faithful, 
 as true, as devoted, as the past; yea, even to surpass the fathers and the 
 mothers in all these things. You are rightly striving to surpass the fathers in 
 arts, science, agriculture, etc.; why not determine, by God's help, to be bet- 
 ter, more zealous, more thoroughly consecrated Christians and church-work- 
 ers than even your fathers and mothers were ? Why should not the church 
 and God expect you to accomplish far more than they ? 
 
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 My prayer is that the Lord will help you all to be faithful and successful 
 in doing His work; that this church may grow and prosper more and more, 
 and be a rich source of blessing to all coming generations while time shall 
 last, and that we may, each one, finally hear the loving Master's voice say: 
 "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of thy L,ord." 
 Yours fraternally, 
 
 Gko. D. Parker. 
 
 I love Thy kingdom, Lord, 
 
 The house of Thine abode. 
 The church our blest Redeemer saved 
 
 With His own precious blood. 
 
 I love Thy church, O God ! 
 
 Her walls before Thee stand. 
 Dear as the apple of Thine eye. 
 
 And graven on Thine hand. 
 
 For her my tears shall fall, 
 For her my prayers ascend ; 
 
 To her my cares and toils be given. 
 Till toils and cares shall end. 
 
 Beyond my highest joy 
 
 I prize her heavenly ways, 
 Her sweet communion, solemn vows. 
 
 Her hymns of love and praise. 
 
 Sure as Thy truth shall last, 
 
 To Zion shall be given 
 The brightest glories earth can yield, 
 
 And brighter bliss of heaven. 
 
KINGSTON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.