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2 In i i\- i* I It lacks still a quarter* of a centurv of bem two hundred ears since John We-Je\ Ins brother Charles, and George Whitefield. voung Oxford stu dents, organized the little band of Ihustian orkeis who forged the JL i eat shaft of Methodism which num bcis the world ov er tw entj -nine mil lion communicants, o^ei six million of. horn are in the United States. Per haps no other religious movement since! the Refoimation ever stirred the souls of men as did the work inaugurated bj John Weslev, and to-da} the broaden in^ influences and tremendous power of the Methodist chin eh is apparent in all climes and countries. In has been said that it is alwavs a close race between the Methodist chinch and the newspaper man to see which one will stiike a town first and thenewspapei man has to be a veiv lnelv spnnter and a might} active pilgum to reach a new town ahead of a Methodist minister, but here in Punceton the Methodist minister seems to have registered on the slab of en lh/ation some time ahead of the ne \r spapcr publisher, and the spirit of John Wesley had well diffused itself in and about Pnneeton before the spirit of Guttenburg and Faust became mani fest here. +i Tt is almost half a century ago since the lirst Methodist minister trav elmg tinough the wilderness of this section visited the little settlement of what is now Princeton, and he paved the way sv foi the organization of the First Meth- odist Episcopal church of Princeton. The dedication last Sundav of the handsome new edifice was a great e\ ent local Methodism and a beauti ful and endui ing example of preset er ance and a tribute to the Christian zeal and public spirit of many of the peo ple of Princeton. Dr. Bridgeman, president of Ham lin university, was unable to be pres ent to preach the dedicatory sermon, but the disappointment was soon for gotten, after the morning serMces had been begun much as all would liked to ha11, had him present. 4 The church was devoid of floral dec orations, sa\e the delicate green as paiagus with petunias that were en twined about the unfinished portions ol the walls about the altar. There was a bunch of gladiolas, nasturtiums, andpiettv fall flowers on the organ, and these constituted the decoration of flow ers. But the handsome edifice was grandest and prettiest in its simplicity, vet it had the appearance of richness and luvuriousness, and still it was so homelike and im iting. The church was filled earlj and by 10 JO everv seat the auditorium, lec ture loom and gallery was filled, and chairs placed in the isles were filled. There were over 500 people present at the morning serv ice. Seated behind the altar in the heav.v oak and leather upholstered chairsa part of the new altar furniturewas Piesidmg Elder Clemans, and to his light were Rev. Geo. E. Satterlee, Uev.W. 1]. J. Grat/ and Rev. Wm. Paikinson, while to the elder's left ei Rev Jas Steenson. Rev. W. H. 1 aston of Olma. and Re-*,. Gladden of Blue Hill. The gioup represented the northern Minnesota conference tlnough its presiding elder, the Crook ston district through Re\. Geo. E. Satterlee, the Litchfield district thiough Rev W. H. Easton, while Rev. Jas Steenson represented the Congre gational church of Princeton, which had no services Sunday, and attended the dedicators sen ices on special in itation of Re\. Grat/ and the Method ist church. The morning service opened with h\ mn No. 85b of the Methodist hj mnal. which was sung by the congregation, after which the Apostles' Creed was lecited, and Rev. W. H. Easton offered the following praver: O Lord Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth or ev er Thou hadst formed the earth, even from e\ ei lasting to ev erlastmg-Thou art God, Thou hast made us and not we ourselves. Wc are Thv people, the sheep of Thy pasture, in Thee we live, move and have our being. We come unto Thee this beautiful Sabbath morning prav, ing that Thou grant unto us this day the Holy Spirit and make acceptable our worship and our sen ice to-day. Grant. O Lord, on this daj that the words of our mouths and the medita tions of our hearts may be acceptable to Thee, our strength and our Re deemer. We trust in Thee pur lh ing God We trust in Thee, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jaiob. We Such is the New Methodist Church Dedicated Free of Debt Last SundayInter esting Dedicatory Services z*U trust in Thee belie\ ing that Thou art the same God 3 esterdav, to-day and for ever. As we come unto Thee this morning to ofrer our services of piaise, wre thank Thee for Thv great goodness to us, for this beautiful temple in which to praise and worship Thee. Grant that we shall glonfv Thy name and receive Tin blessing into our hearts and In es. We pray Thee to make us trulv grateful that this Church has been made possible to Thy ser vants in this place. Forbid that we shall take anv glor\ unto ourseh es but maj we lender to Thee the praise. Grant as otter to Thee this beauti ful temple of woiship, as we stand this day glorifying tKs beautiful home of worship and prayer, tin blessing upon us. Grant. O Lord, from the very be ginning the inspiration of Thv Hofy Spirit to descend upon Thy people as sembled here 111 their new home. Grant as the daj are lengthened into ears that it shall be said of this and that one'"he was here born into the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Chi 1st."' We thank Thee tor the blessings that ha\e attended the work, the efforts, the pravers of the people in this place. We prav Thee O Lord that Thou wilt extend the influence ox this people so that the name of their God ma\ be a benefit to this community and that man} may rise up to bless and glorify Thy name. Grant that the future generations to come may cai r\ on the work of this church. We pray Thy blessings upon this congregation and all who for anv cause were unable to attend. Bless the reading of the word to those who ha\ assembled here to day. We pra for Thv blessing to rest on our beloved brother who bv his faithfulness, perseverance and personal sacrifice has made possible this great work. Bless the presiding officers. Hear us as we pray Thee for the for gheness of our sins." An anthem was sung b\ the choir and the entire audience joined in the responsive reading from Psalm CXXII, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." "The Gloria Patri" was sung by the congregation, and Rev. James Steen son read the scripture lesson from Ephesians b: 10-18. Mrs. Claire Atwell Caley sang "The Lord is My Strength and My Sanation," and this brought the morning service to the dedicatory sermon which was delivered bv Pre siding Elder, Clemans. His sermon was most appropriate for the occasion, and was delivered in Rev. Clemans' unusually interesting and entertaining manner. He spoke as follows* Let us take our text this mornmo from 2nd Samuel, 10th Chapter, and 12th verse. "Be of good courage, and let us play the men for-our people, and for the cities of our God and the Lord do that which seemeth him good." We learn that Nahash the king of Ammon had died and Hanun his^son reigned in his stead. It seemed there had been some offices of friendship be tween David and the king so that David felt it necessary to send a mes sage and congratulate him upon his accession to the throne, and to assure him that the friendship that had been REV. E. C. CLEMANS. Presiding Eldei Duliuli Disuict NC E It. C. DUNN, Publisher. Terms $1.00 per Year. PRINCETON, MILLE LACS COUNTY, MINNESOTA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1903 between hiim and his father would be extended to the new king. The am bassadors are given their instructions, the pass up beyond the Jordan about thirty miles to the northeast and ar rive at the gates of the capitol city. On arriymg at the city they inform the councillors of their errand and are told to be patient until the king is informed of their presence. The councillors were narrow and sus picious naturally and the had a nar row outlook upon men and affairs. Thev judged every one by themselves, so thev went to the king and informed him of the embassy thus "'On the face of this, apparently it is friendship, but we behev thesetambassadorst thev are he1 Sometimes in the experience of God's children it is always darkest before dawn. So with Joab's soldiers. They were in a hard place, enemy in front enemy to the rear. That is they were surrounded: they must fight and cut their way out and conquer the enemy or they would be left lying cold and still, or else prisoners. I have no doubt that the walls were covered with the inhabitants, mocking these soldiers. They looked over them and said "If that man lives he will be my slave." "Those will be our prizes," and jeered and scoffed. It was a dark night, but ere long the cloud lifted. It was a dark morning with the widow of Zarephath. She had got down to the last bit of oil and flour and that morning she had but enough left for one more meal. She goes out Jx prepare that last meal and then await death by the awful pangs of starvation. She met a stranger who said "bring me a morsel to eat." She said there was only a little left her, and then he asked her for that, saying this is the commandment of God, have faith and all will be well." "^D between hm a,nd Vn' fn.fhpv wnnl TIP. Kn?nii*.l.? *t,*+-u,. ,.P*I "if,A ,.,.._. are spies, see wha our re sources are and their departure will be followed we are sure by an arrm, and we beseech vou to treat them as spies." The king was narrow and listened to the councillors and charged the em bassy with their claplicitv, and said they had been found out, and drove them awaj, As they passed by his guards their clothes weie cut from halt their bodies, their beards were shaven from half 01 the face and they were driven Out or the citv and sent back to David. The poor ambassadors re-ciossed the Jordan, armed at Jericho and hid themseh es, but they sent word to Da\id as to their treat ment. David learns how his ambassa 001 have been recen ed. Not only has he been insulted, not only he, but' God. There must be an atonement. So he sends fcr the general, but before this he sends word to his ambassadors that he regrets their treatment and thanks them tor their sei wees. Then to the general he sajs to gather the army and march to Ammon and avenge the in sult. General Joab nothing loath, as sembles the army but notwithstanding his skill mo\ es into a trap. The new king realizes his error too late, but he prepares for defense. He employs his own army. He secures thirty-three thousand hired soldiers. His ow army he assembles before the gate. His hired soldiers."Syrians, surround the army of Joab in the rear. Soon Joab discovers that he is between two fires one the front and one in the rear. He gets the men ready tor fighting and divides them into two armies. One faces to th-fc rear and the other to the citv. The arm\ to the rear he takes charge of, the other he places with his brother Abishai, and then seeing the soldiers ready for battle and all being ready for the conflict, after the manner of ancient commanders he makes them an address. While many speeches have been forgotten the writer has preserved this address. This is the text: "Let us play the men for our people, and tor the cities of our God: and the Lord do that which seemeth him good." Then the command to 'join battle" was given and soon the Syrians and the Ammonites also were driven into the cm. The insult to David had been avenged and the victorious arrm returned 111 triumph to Jerusalem. These words "Let us "play the men for our people, &c" with the help of God, steadied them. Let us see what strength they have for us. A 3?4.^-. ^hiAim Something in the manner of the man, something of her innate hospitality in spires her and she gives to the prophet first. That wafe a dark time in her ex perience but as she turns to look at her store to her surprise there was the cruse filled, also the barrel. It ivas a dark hour in the history of the chur-ch wh^enthey took Jesus, bound him and took him a prisoner dark hour when they spit upon him: dark hour when he was deserted by every one dark hour when they put the cross upo^ his shoulder: dark hour when they dragged him making the pathway red with his blood, when his enemie's derided, scoffed and mocked at him. This was the man who the week before came in triumph into Jerusalem. This was the man who predicted the coming of the new VKing.'' This was the man who had prophesied great things and now he was crucified, dving on the cross. When they took him down from the cross they carried him into the sepul cher, perhaps the safest resting place that the body of Jesus Christ had had for years. They placed a stone in front of ihe grave to keep the dead man down, but at the beginning of the third day it rolled away from the place of glory and one emerged clothed in white and as he went forth 111 power and maj esty he said "I am the resurrection and the life." It may seem as though there is no place to go for help, but have faith in God, believe that ou are doing our best, trust on Him and by and by" the sun Till be shining upon jou. 'Dark before the dawn but light in the pres ence of God's children will surelv dawn upon those who trust in him. God helps them who help themselves. Here are the enemv thirtv -three thous and, but what are they to'God, He who made the universe?" What does He care for thirty-three thousand or ten or twenty times this number of men? It is preposterous to think that God needs our strength. Joab may have said "drop your arms." He mav have had then! shout and sing, they ma) have had readings and prayer, been'told to "sit "still and await the salvation of God." Instead of this he undoubtedly said '.'this is our fight, and there is no help anvwhere, but in ourselves,." They talk about God and thev act as if He would help anv one in trouble but I don't believe that. I have always found that if we want anything done we will have to do it ourselves. We need not relv on anv one else. He might have said with Napoleon that "God was on the side of the strongest battalion." The victory is assuredly by preponderance of numbers. He might have trusted in himself, but he said we have to get out here, there is something to face to-day. He was where he had to exercise "the military skill of forty years of military disci pline, divided the army to- the" best of his knowledge, saw that every man wa 4 the fighting line, that' every pound of fighting force was where it could be hurled upon the enemy to the best advantage then to inspire them he reminds them of home and loved ones, appeals to everything in their nature, prays "O God, we are here to do our best, do your best." With the men doing their best and God doing his best there was bound to be a vic tory. That is the way we have to do in the work of God. Sometimes people who belong to church, because they belong to church and testify, give nothing else, just prayer. They" are all right, but they don't go far enough. I have heard people pray in praver-meeting "O Lord send us the awakening of the Holy Spirit, and a great revival," then go and touch them for a subscription and they won't give a cent. Like the old fellow*- singing lustily "Love so amaz ing, so divine, demands my life, my love, my all," feeling in his pocket for the smallest piece of money to put in the contribution box. And there was the other old feHow who belonged to the church for twenty-five years and it had not cost him twenty-five cents. His pastor said to him one day "the Lord hare mercy on your poor, stingy soul." I think we ought to revise our hymn books. We hear them sing: PRINCETON M. E. CHURCH. Dedicated Sundaj. September 20th 1903 i a*fts.%ftigy.t "My wifhng soul would stay in such a frame as this. And sit and sing itself away to everlasting bliss In the name of God, sisters and broth ers, how much would the people'do sit ting and singing themselves awav to everlasting bliss. "O to be nothing nothing, Only to lie at His feet In the name of God, brothers and sis ters, what can vou do lying at the Sav ipr'sfeet? You want to sing* "O to be something" go out and bear a little of the brunt of the battle, suffer, and do something for the love of God. "God helps those who help themselves." This magnificent church would not be here this morning if the people of this town had gone into the old church and sat and sung themselves "awav to ever lasting bliss." Thev came and looked to God and went around and made their sacrifices and sweat blood. So it is with the work of God. We have to make sacrifices, we have to bear burdens, we have to do all we can, and we have a right to turn to God and say, --God stand bv vour promises to me." lam surprised at this magnifi cent church. "God helps those who help themseh es." "Be of good cour- age." The speaker cited many cases of cour age, as shown bv Peter Cartright, who did not fear Andrew Jackson, and of Kitto. the world's great commentator of the bibK Rev. Clemans paid a fine tribute to William McKinley, the Christian soldier, statesman and presi dent of the United States. In speaking of President McKinley's last illness he said: I thought that Almighty God held him there for a week that the public might realize that a man might be honest and true and serve God as long as he lived. The prav er "God's will be done," the song "Nearer My God to Thee." and the words ol the Lord's praj er were with him alwavs and in his dj mg moments. That is""plaving the man, "and that is what we are here to do this morning. "The Lord do that which seemeth to Him good." He is going to do it anyway, he is go ing to bring everything good to pass. We are going to do our part, we are anxious about results. The people of this church and this vicinity can be proiid of this structure. This is the most magnificent enterprise that has taken place is this district this ear. Not only all the members of the church and the pastor, but all the men and women outside of the church who have given their time, their services, their monej. are to be congratulated. It is going to be here for all the years to come. It is not the church that I admire, it is not this magnificent struc ture, but it is the faithful, sacred lead ership of your pastor, that little fellow who in ppite ot every obstacle has set them all aside and by many a sacrifice helped ou to make this thing possible. 7T 4 I b^. mf' EBl,jim, ^v^pi's^r^-J*'**** -Jlfw UNION. s. 4 UlRlm mit I V, ife, Iff! pmmtmum He is a leader and ou have done well to follow him. That is one thing I like, another is the faithfulness of the board of trustees, who stood by him. In all their meetings not one unkind word has been spoken, they have been ani mated by one spirit. Then I look at the people of the church. They have given tremendously, the constituency of the church I mean, so have outsid ers. You will notice the results, broth ers and sisters, more and more as days go by. God is not so anxious about our doing great things, as He is about the effect of the things we do upon us. Now, we are going to dedicate this church free of debt. A great many evils trouble us. One of them v/e will look at for a moment. The saloon questicm. I don't care how many more saloons come. I don't care for the liquor traffic. The time is going to come when there won't be an open saloon^in this land of ours. How do I know? Because, God is "going to do what seemeth to. Him good." The time is coming when everv army will be disbanded. How' do I know? Because God is going to do everything good. If we will do our part, God is going to do "what seemeth HISTORICAL SOCIETY, VOLUME XXVII. FO. 41. to Him good." I would not like to say that I had gone through the war, through Vicksburg and Chancellors yille. through four years of service, if I did not have a sear. I would be ashamed of myself. When we hear how Paul suffered we have had an easy time. We never gave until it hurt, Do the best you can, go on and make this thing a brilliant success. Give money if it hurts, but make this thing go. "Be of good couragefor the cities of our God." The "pret de accomplir" portion of the program was reached when the presiding elder took up the most es sential portion of the morning's exer cises and announced the dedicatorv of fering. Rev. Gratz made a few re marks about the cost of the building, and amount necessary to clear the church of all debts so far incurred in its construction,, stating that $1,800 was needed to lift the debt. Revs. Gratz and Satterlee were stationed in the aisles, while F. A. Lowell was placed on duty in the gallery. A. Z. Norton and Walter McFarland were named as scribes and the work of lifting the debt commenced.The first subscription was for $200 and after holding the offer open for sums in this amount a few minutes sums of $100 were solicited, andthej came very readilj in these amounts, and when the S50 limit was reached the pledges began rolling in thick and fast, and by the time a few $25 pledges were in the entire amount of the debt had been raked and was rapidly nearing the $2,000 mark. Be fore the congregation was dismissed this amount was received in cash and pledges, and when tflfe doxology was sung and the benediction pronounced, there was an air of glory hallelujah per vading the whole congregation. The entire sum was raised in a little over an hour, and Rev. Gratz could safely sing "Still there's more to follow." AFTERNOON SERVICE PLATJFOKM ADDHESSES AND UNVEILING OF ME- MORIAL WINDOW'S The afternoon service brought out a good attendance, and by three o'clock the church was well filled again. The exercises opened by the singing of "All Hail the Power of Jesus'Name" with great spirit by the congregation. Rev. Geo. E. Satterlee offered prayer, fol lowed by a solo. "One Sweetly Solemn Thought" by Mrs. H. C. Cooney. The scripture lesson was read by Rev. F. B. Gladden, and after an anthem by the choir Rev. Gratz introduced Rev. James Steenson in a way that showed broth erly spirit and appreciation as well as true fellowship. Rev. Steenson deliv ered an interesting discourse on "The Lord is Our Strength" 2 Tim., 4:17, "The Lord stood with me and strength ened me." Rev. Steenson's address was a masterly one. He compared man's physical and intellectual strength with his spiritual strength. "Man's great desire is to be strong. God wants man to use the natural powers he has given him in a legitimate way. The weakling, whether he be weak in body, intellect or soul, is an object of pity and oftentimes aversion. Weak ness ma} enlist our sv mpathy but it w-ill never command our admiration." All man's powers are exercised for the attainment of excellence, and when it is attained the world bows in reverential homage before the physi cal hero, the intellectual giant and the moral king. Strength is even more desirable in the spiritual life than it is in the physical, intellectual and moral spheres of our being. The world pre sents no greater object of pity and av er sion than the spiritual weakling. There is a limit to physical strength and intellectual power but there is no practical limit to man's spiritual possi bilities. "There is a great difference in the wa\ in which man begins the develop ment of his physical, mental and moral strength and the way he begins the development of his spiritual life. In the former he has something to begin with, something in himself with which he can work. He has bone, muscle and sinew with which to begin the physi cal development. He has the mind with which to begin the development of the intellectual and moral side of his being. These are all alive, active. But on the spiritual side he has noth ing with which to begin. He cannot take the initiative. But you may say, hasn't he his soul? To be sure he has, but there is no spiritual life in that soul. There is nothing there that he can build on so that he will eventually obtain eternal life. The man is spirit ually dead and it is an impossibility for him to resurrect himself. In man's physical and mental nature he has the power subject to the control of his per sonality, but in spiritual life the source of his power is not resident in himself. He is spiritually dead. The dead can produce no action, they possess no power. Man must receive his spiritual power not from himself but from some source outside of himself. The source of man's spiritual strength is not his fellow man. No man has spiritual life A! \_JI i 1 1 i I 1 1 -s