for diffusing education and intelligence, the postal system, the signal service, the associated charities, compel the old settler to confess the truth of that striking text in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that "God has provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

In all this gain of two hundred and fifty years of history, New England has been abreast of the spirit of the age. I reminded you that the Spanish settlements in Mexico and South America were made more than one hundred years before the settlement of New England. New England and Mexico represented when founded two different political and religious ideas. Judge the two trees by their fruits. With one hundred years the start, where, in comparison, are the Spanish Colonies to-day? They have never learned the lesson of progress or of self-government. If it were not that Columbia holds over them her protecting shield, they would long since have been trampled under foot by foreign foes. In no respect is the fruition of the years more surprising than when viewed in relation to our entire country. When your fathers landed here, England had a population of not over five millions. Liverpool was a city of four thousand inhabitants. Only four provincial towns in the kingdom contained so many as ten thousand. Who of your fathers would have supposed that at the end of two hundred and fifty years the line of coast from Maine to Florida, and westward from the Atlantic to the Pacific, would be under one free and independent Republican government, with a population nine times as great as that of Old England then; with fortyeight cities having a population of over thirty-five thousand, a vast metropolis several times larger than the London they knew; with two million, six hundred and fifty thousand farms, covering four hundred and seven million acres; and an industrial, commercial, and political eminence which ranks the nation with the first powers of the earth? A quarter of a

thousand years, and still that tide of life is flowing from the Old World to the New! The Mary and John brought one hundred and forty people to Dorchester; the seventeen ships of that summer, together about fifteen hundred. But, during the month that has just passed, there arrived in this same port of Boston over eight thousand emigrants, and in the port of New York the enormous number of fiftyfive thousand, still seeking, like your fathers, freedom and fortune in the New World.

The growth and development of this our country challenge the wonder of the world. But its still undeveloped resources, its vast and inviting possibilities are enough to fill us with awe. Seventy-five years ago, the pastor of this church, Dr. Harris, journeyed to the State of Ohio, and wrote an account of what was called "the far West." Only seven years ago, the present pastor, also with pen in hand, sought the far West of to-day. When he reached it, Ohio was a thousand miles behind. And from that starting-point, in the heart of Dakota, it was still possible, after two centuries and a half of settlement, and with forty million people scattered over our country, to march five hundred miles west on one parallel, and five hundred miles back on another, for four months, without seeing a house or a white man, a railroad, a telegraph, or any sign or token of civilization. Two hundred and forty-three years from the Dorchester landing, and yet, through our own country, there flowed a river more than a thousand miles in length without a settler on its banks; and the steamer that bore us one hundred and fifty miles up its waters was the first one that had ascended its current! And when, a year later, we stood with Custer on one of the heights of the Black Hills, where for the first time music waked the echoes, and our glorious flag was flung to the breeze, the little wreath of smoke that floated in the peaceful valley curled from the Indian's wigwam. No sound of forge

or hammer, or whirl of busy wheels. The wave of emigration, which so long ago broke upon the shores of New England, had not yet rolled to the base of these hills. Such facts. as these show, not only what America has become, but what it is to be.

With honor for the past, and gratitude for the present, what shall we say of the future? As your fathers crossed that ocean, they doubtless looked back from the stern of their vessel with many a homeward sigh; but I imagine they looked still more frequently, with mingled hope and fear, over her bow. Let us look over the bow to-day. What, may we ask, is to be the future of this old church? Shall it live two hundred and fifty years more? Be not too bold in prophecy. It has passed through momentous changes in civil and religious history. It still has a firm lease of life. That Power which has guided it through so many years of change can guide it in the years to come. May it never forget the words of John Robinson, "that the Lord has more truth to break forth out of his Holy Word." May it never forget that there is still a work to be done, as vital and as grand as that which was committed to our fathers. And if it is destined to die, in the changes that are to come, I raise to God for it the prayer of the Grecian hero who, when the mists of battle hung around him, and soldiers and steeds were wrapped in darkness, prayed to Jove, the Father, that, if it were his lot to perish, he might die under a clear sky, and in the light of day. So, if this church is to pass away, may it die with its armor on, fighting in the light, blending with the prayer of Ajax that glorious apostrophe of the Puritan poet, who, when the shades of darkness gathered over his failing eyes, still sung,

"Hail, holy light, offspring of heaven, first-born!"

Whatever betide the forms and organizations that are dear

to us, religion itself shall endure. The light of eternal truth shall never cease to shine.

The future of our country! who shall forecast it? We hold its welfare in our hearts to-day, with that bright hope and tender solicitude which are born of the deepest love. The nation has survived the hard struggle of its birth; it has stood the test of foes without and foes within; it has suffered the shock of the mightiest war that ever jarred the planet. It has surmounted all the ills of adversity. Let us pray that

it may stand the more crucial test of a renewed prosperity. To the Power that broods over our altars we commit our country and our homes, lifting to-day from reverential hearts the triple prayer,—

GOD BE WITH US, AS HE WAS WITH OUR FATHERS.

GOD SAVE THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. GOD SAVE OUR NATION.

Afternoon Service.

At the conclusion of the morning service, the guests of the day were conducted to Lyceum Hall, near the church, where a bountiful collation was spread. The absence here of all set speeches and conventional formalities gave free scope for a delightful social reunion, whose opportunities for the renewal of friendships and the exchange of reminiscences were gladly improved.

On the return to the church, at half past two o'clock, the chair was taken by Thomas J. Allen, Esq., who, after some opening music by the orchestra, spoke as follows:

Entroductory Remarks of the Chairman, Thomas J. Allen, Esq.

It is my pleasant official duty to extend a cordial welcome to the friends who have honored us with their presence today, and to ask your attention to the addresses which are to follow.

Practically, the history of this parish is a history of the town of Dorchester, as, for the first hundred and seventy-six years of its existence, there was no other church within its borders, and no voters who were not members of this parish.

The pastor of this church, in his two anniversary discourses, has made you familiar with the causes which led to