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FIRST FRIENDS CHURCH

JUNE 4, 1905

THIRTEENTH AND ALABAMA STREETS
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

PRESS OF
THE AETNA PRINTING COMPANY
INDIANAPOLIS

Introduction

In order to fittingly commemorate the fiftieth anniver
sary of the organization of the First Friends Church in
Indianapolis, Ind., and to preserve for future generations
an intelligent and reliable history of the growth and de
velopment of the church during these fifty years, the
monthly meeting decided to observe the 4th day of June,
1905, as anniversary Sabbath and to arrange for appro
priate exercises for both morning and evening meetings.
A committee of Friends was appointed to arrange for
and have charge of the services, all of which proved to
be worthy of the occasion. The auditoriums of the church
were tastefully decorated and the choir rendered most
appropriate anthems and hymns of praise. The audiences
were large, composed largely of Friends some of whom
came many miles to attend the services, all of which were
marked by great thoughtfulness and such as to inspire
all to greater zeal and activity in the work of saving the
world.

Fiftieth Anniversary Service
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Thirteenth and Alabama Streets, Indianapolis, Indiana

JUNE 4, 1905

Voluntary.
Hymn, "Holy, Holy Is the Lord."
Responsive Reading of the Ninety-sixth Psalm.
As a further Scripture lesson a portion of the forty-
seventh chapter of Ezekiel was read by Morton C. Pear
son, our present pastor, with the following introductory
remarks :
"This is one of the most beautiful visions of Ezekiel,
the prophet. It is the picture of a river flowing out from
the temple of God, and its reading on this anniversary
morning serves as an impressive illustration and figure
of the origin and growth of the First Friends Church,
whose fiftieth anniversary we observe to-day.
"Just as this river had its source and beginning at the
foot of the sacred altar in God's temple of worship, so the
First Friends Church had its beginning at the very altar
of The Most High, when those faithful souls sought earn
estly for the wisdom of God as to its organization.
"And as the river flowed out, ever increasing in depth
and volume and life-giving virtue wherever it ran, first
ankle deep, then to the knees, then the tows and finally
a depth in which multitudes might swim, just so has this
church grown, both in numbers, from 57 to 850 souls, and
in spiritual life and power, until we have reached that
period in our history (let us believe) when all our own

and hundreds more may swim out into the ocean fullness
of love and grace divine, to reach at last the Haven of
eternal rest.
"And as long as the river flows, as long as this church
shall have an existence, may it bring life and saving
health to all the peoples. May our kind Heavenly Father
abundantly bless all this assembled people and the exer
cises of this day, making the day a memorable one because
of the outpouring of His divine spirit upon His people,
and may this celebration mark a new epoch in the his
tory and life of the church we all so much love."
Hymn, "For Christ and the Church."
The pastor then said :
"Now, shall we not all bow our heads in a season of
worship and of prayer. I shall call on none to lead this
service of prayer, trusting that the Lord will lead us.
Any one feeling the spirit of vocal prayer may be faithful,
I trust, while we thus wait upon the Lord for His bless
ing." Prayer, Alfred Johnson.
"Oh, God, our Father, we are invited by the Holy Ghost
to come to thee and table our many wants. We remem
ber, dear Father, that we are taught by the Word that
if we will draw nigh unto thee thou wilt draw nigh unto
us. Oh, Father, we realize, all of us, this morning, who
are thy children, that we want help from heaven; we
want help that we may draw nigh unto thee, and then
we know that now thou wilt draw nigh unto us and we
are now in expectation, dear Father, that thou wilt
verify thy promises to all thy trusting, believing children.
Father, we are invited by thee to come before thee with
uplifted holy hands, making our requests known. Father
we realize whilst thou hast been very gracious and very
merciful towards this plant of thy planting, thou hast
watered it in days that are past, thou hast visited it. in
wonderful mercy; yet to-day we are needy; we are very
needy, Father, and all thy children now are in expec
tation that thou wilt open the windows of heaven and

pour out upon this branch of thy militant church a won
derful blessing. So we pray, Father. We want the quali
fication to worship and adore and magnify thy great
name. We know, Father, that every good and perfect gift
comes down from thee out of heaven, and that thou art
still on the giving hand; thou art still visiting this vine
and ready to do us good. Now, Father, thou knowest
our every heart ; thou knowest our every need, and we are
before thee in prayer with uplifted, holy hearts, asking
for that divine blessing. Father, bless those that are
aged, those that have been long in the way and have
looked back upon the past and said, 'How wonderful are
the mercies of God.' Bless those in middle life, Father,
that have upon them the burden and care of the church.
Oh, Lord, give them a double portion of thy Spirit, that
they may go out and in before this people and honor and
glorify thy excellent name. And, Father, we are now in
prayer for the younger class. Oh, how tender, how tender
some of the hearts are. How well we remember when we
were members of this church in its infantile state. Oh,
Lord, how we met in love and how thou didst feed us in
that day with bread convenient for us. Oh, God, we re
member with interest how thou didst lead this church,
how thou didst deal gently with us and how thou didst
love the church, and now this morning we want to ac
knowledge thy wonderful mercy and thy great kindness.
How long, oh, Lord, hast thou borne with many, many
that have come in and have not been steadfast in the
faith. Thou hast watered the vine. Thou hast made a
way where there was no way, and many times when they
were in a great strait. Father, oh, how thou didst come
and make a way where there was no way. Now, this
morning, oh, Lord, what shall we render unto thee for
they benefits to us? We are like the Psalmist where he
said: 'I will take the cup of salvation; I will do the
measure of God's will; I will take it, calling upon thy
name.' Father, help us this morning that we may renew
our covenant with thee; that we may pay our vows now
in the presence of all thy people. Oh, Father, as we
wait before thee, wilt thou dispense the bread of life?
Wilt thou hand it to thy servants, and may they hand it

6
to the people? Oh, may we, dear Father, look beyond the
poor instrument direct to thy bountiful hand, thy great
loving power. If there is one heart discouraged, if there
is one ready to give out by the way, we pray unitedly,
Father, that thou wilt come to that heart and say, 'My
son, my daughter, renew covenant with me,' and as they
come bowing and confessing, and as they come penitently,
oh, Lord, we pray that thou mayest meet them and bless
them, and that this church will have put on more strength
and may shine forth as a city upon a hill that cannot be
hid, and may they know, as the Prophet declared, that
this river of water that proceeds from the throne of God
is the love of God ; that it goes out to all the human race ;
it goes into channels that have yielded and are willing
to receive thy love. Lord God Almighty, help us to walk
steadfastly ; help us to say, 'I will take the cup of salva
tion, calling upon the name of the Lord.' Now, Father,
bless every state in divine presence, every one here this
morning. We all want a special blessing on this anni
versary. Thou knowest it, Father; thou knowest that
some of, us tremble before thee. Bless every state. Take
care of us in all coming time, handing us down to our
graves in peace at last, receiving us into an everlasting
habitation with thee, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen." Prayer, Rebecca Flagler.
"Our Heavenly Father, we praise thee for all thy mer
cies in times past; for all thy favors to this church.
We thank thee for such wondrous blessings as thou hast
given, which we feel have not been merited, but which
thou hast given in thy great goodness, desiring to do good
unto us, desiring to use thy people for the publication of
thy salvation and for the winning of lost souls to thyself.
We thank thee that thou hast so continued to bless thy
people who have looked unto thee and who have been
ready to do thy will. We ask that thou wilt forgive where
there has been any unfaithfulness and remissness. We
ask that, while we rejoice in coming together and re
membering what thou hast done, we may remember also
that we are to learn by our mistakes and by thy wondrous

mercy in what thou hast wrought. We pray thee, our
Heavenly Father, that thou wilt enable us to understand
truly what it is to go into thy sanctuary. David said,
'I understood not until I went into thy sanctuary.' He
was puzzled and perplexed, cast down, depressed and dis
couraged when he looked abroad in the world and saw
how the wicked prospered, and he was about to be so de
pressed as to give up by the way, so depressed that he was
almost ready to distrust God and God's word, until he
went into the sanctuary of God.
"Oh, Heavenly Father, we ask for the future of this
church that this place may indeed be a sanctuary, sacredly
set apart for God, for God does indeed eat meat with his
people and give them blessings that they cannot find
anywhere else. We pray thee, our Heavenly Father, that
we may recognize this place as sacred on account of the
manifestations of thy presence in the midst of those who
gather in thy name, and that we may reverently meet to
gether with thee, and that we may be taught of thee in
thy presence, and that others may learn to come, and be
glad to come, because it is the house of God and among
thy people waiting upon thee, and they find that which
they cannot find, that they so much need and which is so
unlike the tiresome things of the world, and that they
may be so refreshed by them that this church shall grow,
shall be more spiritual, stronger, able to do better work
for thee; and we feel to praise thee to-day for what thou
hast done, for what thou hast wrought here, making us
people who bring forth more fruit unto righteousness.
For all this we pray as we praise thee. Amen."
Quartet, "Except the Lord Build the House?"
Offertory.Solo, "The Publican."
Announcements (remarks by the pastor) :
"You hold in your hands an announcement relative to
the evening service. We are expecting a very delightful
time to-night, and trust that all of you can arrange to be
present at that service.

8
"The historical review which will be presented this
evening will be of great value, I think, to every one pres
ent, and I trust that you may hear it. We shall have also
with us our brother, Thomas Brown. In the evening meet
ing he will speak to us, and other interesting remarks
may be made."

ANNIVERSARY SERMON.
ALBERT J. BEOWN, PRESIDENT OF WILMINGTON COLLEGE.
"Your fathers ; where are they ? And the prophets ; do
they live forever? Old things are passed away and all
things become new." My friends, it is with much feeling
that I take my position here this morning to speak to
you once more. A thousand memories cling around this
altar that are as sacred to me as life, and I trust that they
are the same to you. On this anniversary morning, when
we take both the retrospective and the prospective view
of our institutions, I trust that I may be able to throw
the curtain back and look at the social problems as we
face them — we, a people who are destined, we believe, to
accomplish some things which are worth while in the
world. There are three great stages in civilization through
which some of the Western nations have passed. If there
be any more, we have not yet reached them. Those are:
First, the military period, in which the nation has en
gaged itself with building up a power which is to protect
it from invaders ; second, a constitutional period, in which
the nation has undertaken to give to itseU a code of laws
by which it shall regulate itself; and, third, the ethical
period, in which it undertakes to criticise and perfect
the institutions which it has builded and lead itself out
into world progress. Only a few nations of the earth
have ever attained this stage of development. Those an
cient ones of which we read seldom reached the second
stage. As we stand to-day confronted with the questions which
are before us to be solved by the spiritual activities of"

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FIRST FRIENDS CHURCH.

9
the people they perhaps can be more clearly presented to
you by looking into the problems which were before the
people when this church was founded. A radical change
has taken place in the thought that the ideals of the people
in fifty years. When this institution was founded, in
1855, let us say, the great problems of slavery had in
volved all the activities of the people. (In this nation we
can see readily that it has passed through the three
stages. In the days of the Revolution we were building
a wall for protection against other nations. Then came
the Constitution and forty years of interpretation. After
that came the ethical interpretation of our social /life.)
In that period there came up men from every quarter of
our nation to add their criticism and thereby change and
modify our institutions. In those days Whittier lifted
his voice, as sweet as ever a song was sung, to tell what
freedom must mean through the power of the risen Re
deemer. The orator Wendel Phillips came with his mag
nificent story, which he hurled against slavery and into
the hearts of free men, declaring that we must be eman
cipated. And there came other men — statesmen and
scholars — to give their contributions toward the criticism
of the institutions which had been builded under pressure
of the slave regime. When this -great event had passed
into history the world turned its attention to other activ
ities, and out of these activities have come the questions,
moral and political and spiritual, which you and I may
be permitted in our day and generation to solve. The
critical spirit had to pass also because it , had accom
plished its great end in the destruction of slavery. To
the moral mind there seemed to be no other question on
which it should expend its energies.
Then there began that great period of industrial devel
opment, the like of which has never been seen in the his
tory of the world. Out of it that spirit of empire build
ing began to rise which recurs over and over through the
generations of mankind. It is the fever in the blood
to-day which stirs us to large conceptions; we want to
extend our borders and build more vastly than we ever
did before; and so, in the building, there is an infinite
amount of waste. Men do not consider how many things

10
might be rectified in their haste to build a great state.
But as the state is reared toward the skies and we fling
out our banners and say to the world, "We are invincible
— no power is able to touch us abroad or at home ; we are
masters of the social problems of life," at this period we
shall discover that there are certain weaknesses in our
social state, and then again men will turn their atten
tion toward the criticism of the institutions which we are
building to-day. I think no period of the world's develop
ment has shown any more striking manifestations of em
pire building than we have seen in the last twenty-five
years. The whole political aspect has changed in that
time. The men of the former ideals have passed away.
Our fathers in this nation sleep in their graves and their
problems lie with them. The new age has come and the
curtain has fallen back and we look out again — world
wide to-day rather than sectional. Take the educational
institutions of our country, for example. No place in the
world have we seen such a rapid development, and it is
all toward unity and solidarity of the great systems which
are being perfected to-day. That same spirit which says
that the Constitution must follow the flag everywhere is at
work in the school system. In the problem of theology
to-day there is the distracting period of change and new
interpretation. Whether it be right or wrong, it is sink
ing down into the hearts of the young men and women
of this country, and they will hold to the new interpreta
tion. If we are unable to go with them, we shall stand
aside after a while and see them build institutions with
other ideal* and other forms than we have seen fit to
follow. In the ethical questions which are arising we see an
infinite field of service for men and women, who, inspired
by the spirit of the Redeemer, still hope to lift human
kind toward God and toward righteousness. Never I
think, so far as my knowledge goes, were so many difficult
and intricate questions of moral and spiritual and social
life before the people of the world as there are at this
present time. In the industrial activities of the world
we face questions in America which we have never before
faced. In their broad conception, in the depth of their

11
feeling, in the dangers which threaten, as well as the
hopes which show us the way out of our difficulties, they
are unique and they are supreme. Out of this spirit of
empire building, of constructive administration, they have
all come, and they are products of the modern era. Now,
do we believe, my friends, as a Friends church, that we
shall enter into the making of the new state, into the
spiritualizing of the new conditions, with anything of cer
tainty about the outcome of it all ? Do we stand and hesi
tate before the titanic undertaking? Do we say that the
fathers are dead and their ideals have passed away, and
these new, strange ones are ideals which we cannot up
hold? But somebody will settle these questions. Some
man with a vision that is as keen as the light of noon
day will be able to penetrate the clouds and find the solu
tion. Everywhere among the progressive races of the
world some one has found the way out and pointed us
toward leadership and victory. I should as lief live to
day in this period as in any one that has ever been in the
world's history. I can conceive of no more fields of activ
ity in the past than there are before us this hour. It
will demand the highest morality, the keenest spiritual
conceptions and the greatest intellectual genius to solve
these questions.
If we were strong in other days, when the period de
manded reflection and criticism and modification of our
institutions that we might make progress, shall we not
through another half century be equipped through the
leadership of the Redeemer to face all those issues that
are before us ? The individual must be reached. The tide
of spiritual life must be borne down to his heart until
he shall say, upon his bowed knees: "I have seen the
Lord ; my heart has been won to Him, and by His redeem
ing power I have been lifted up to stand with Him upon
the summits of life, to take a glimpse of what is around
me and what I shall do. We are approaching this stage
of ethical development. Men have been saying for twenty
years that the twentieth century shall be the most remark
able one in history. It is not a guess which they have
made, it is not a blind hope which they have expressed,
but it is a conviction which is born out of the experience

12
of the past that over and over again will come this period
wherein all the acts of men shall be held up for public
criticism and for public expression. Out of the compari
son of ideas and criticism which are forced upon men
we shall find a way out of the difficulties which con
front us.
We are here to-day celebrating this fiftieth anniversary
because we believe that we have made progress in half
a century. If we had failed in that time we should not be
here speaking as we are ; no effort would have been made
to celebrate this day ; no one would have dreamed, had we
failed in the conflict, of assembling a few members to
tell of the story of our decline. ' But as change comes, so
progress comes, and this morning, my friends, we are here
with the conscious feeling that somehow or other, under
the leadership of Jehovah, we shall find men and women
who will be able to lead us in the future as we have been
led in the past.
But let me speak further yet of the fathers and the
prophets, naming some of those who have been the mov
ing spirit in Quakerism in the West. They have all gone,
it seems to me. There was Jane Trueblood, of whom I
have heard much said in this meeting; a woman of
peculiar type, a woman of matchless spiritual conception,
who always saw the bow of promise beyond and knew
that the Redeemer was able, through His saving grace,
to rescue any man. She, I believe, has left her impress
upon the city of Indianapolis, and while her name may
be forgotten, or not recalled, to the younger generations,
the spirit of power which she manifested is still working.
It is true in one sense that the fathers are dead; it is true
in a sense that the prophets do not live forever; but in
another sense, though they be dead, yet they are alive.
There was Elwood Siler, that rough, vigorous man, with
a wholesome Christianity ; unpolished, yet, I believe, full
of power, expressing to Christianity and to the world
What God has been able to do for a man.
And in your own pulpit a few years ago stood the lead
ers of a generation. Levi Rees, who has recently gone to

13
the other world, was in many respects one of the most
matchless speakers that Quakerism in the West has ever
produced. Enos Pray was another ; that man, whose voice was sil
vered over with the power of God and who could hold
the people enraptured with the simple story of the cross,
is gone, and his silver trumpet voice is no more heard in
the land.
And there was Calvin Pritchard, a man of executive
power, a man clear-sighted in spiritual things, who stood
here and told over and over to you in this city the way to
God and to righteousness.
Barnabas Hobbs stands as the intellectual product and
genius of our Western Quakerism of the generation that
is past, a man who gathered into his great intellect all
the problems of his age and had an answer for each of
them. My friends, let me say to you, without enumerating
any more names, that there were .gathered in these humble
homes those who had a sufficient conception of Jesus
Christ and His kingdom to give to this institution in
Indianapolis, and to the Friends Church in the West, an
uplift, which has sent her through forty or fifty years of
great triumph and success. But, this morning, "the fath
ers, where are they?" Not one of these men is left to
tell the story. The prophets, the preachers of that gen
eration, "do they live forever?" No more will you look
upon their faces; no more will you hear their voices; but
we can say that in their day and generation they settled
the questions which were before them. Their ideals are
not exactly our ideals to-day. The form of worship which
we practice now was not their form of worship. The
manner of the expression of their lives is not the expres
sion of life to-day, and with the changing tide of human
life we have moved on from their day and their questions
to the new era. They did not conceive of what you and
I would have to face in the industrial world. There never
came to their conceptions the riots of Chicago or the spirit
of industrialism which is rife all over our land. They
never dreamed that we should own possessions on the
other side of the world, and that there would come the

14
great feverish development of empire building once more.
They discharged their duty, they left their testimony to
the world that they had done well, and that is the legacy
which they have left to us. Having done well under the
inspiration of Jesus Christ, who was to them all and all,
they have said in ringing tones to this generation, in Him
you shall conquer. In the sign of the cross you shall be
led to victory. If you do not meet the same questions
which we did, if you do not interpret the forms of church
life just as we did, you will, through Him, be able to meet
the responsibilities of the hours which come upon you.
The hour of fate has struck for the Quakers of this
generation. The future may be certain, but if it be cer
tain it will be because the King of all the ages is en
shrined in every heart that is here and in this country.
We are lamenting about the fact that there are not many
prophets coming forth in this generation to hold up the
ideals of the Kingdom of Christ. It concerns every lead
er of the church at large. Where shall they come from?
What are the forces that are holding them back? And
we, who look back over half a century of progress, of great
achievements, of splendid victory and the fair name in
the city of Indianapolis and in the West, how shall we
look into the future? With what hopes? With what
assurance? In the industrial life which has been going
on for twenty-five years, the old ideas which made every
family a sacred institution for the development of one
child for the ministry and prophecy of the Lord have
passed away. There was a time that every father and
every mother looked forward to the day when one child
should speak for the Lord. But with these new conditions
of life, we have turned their attention to other pursuits
showing that there are opportunities for more power, for
the accumulation of more wealth, for higher social stand
ing, until these sacred altar fires at home have lost their
significance, and in their place have come up strange gods
for the future. If there be no prophets born at the fire
side in our institutions, there shall be no history to write
of them in the future. If we turn aside for these other
things, then we have failed. Our humble fathers and moth
ers who helped to build this church were not unmindful of

15
the fact that there must come men and women who are
still called of the Lord to answer His summons in every
detail of life. Shall we forecast the future now? In the
age of criticism which is to come, the remodeling of the
institutions which are being built, the forcing upon hu
man society great hearts and great intellects which shall
demand recognition in that reconstruction period, will
there come from your families and from mine a single
voice? If one comes, it will be because we, too, have heard
the Lord's call, and we have opened before the minds of
the children the significance and the importance of stand
ing before Him as an exponent of salvation to men. My
hope will be great if I find over this country that we'
turn back once more to the old Scotch idea, that upon our
knees with one child we shall set him aside for the min
istry. It is the one great hope for us, and while I do
not yet see them coming as I should love to, the beginning
is with us who have children to rear. The foundations
of this next half century are to be laid now by us who
see with the curtain thrown back the need of the next
generation. I believe that the moral issues of the next fifty years
will have more depth and power to them than those of
the fifty years that have passed. Slavery was a cloud that
¦overshadowed the whole nation, it is true, but I wonder
if it was ever so serious after all, being sectional, as some
of the questions which confront us. The question of
morality in the great municipal governments of our coun
try, the questions of intemperance and vice and crime
which flow out of these reckless institutions which are
being builded, the great industrial war which is upon us,
are graver and more ethical in their nature. He who is
to be raised up as a prophet to see over these difficulties
will be like one of the men of old. There must come to
us yet a man with the searching, keen vision of Amos,
who shall be a student of human affairs, and who shall
have a voice that will pierce to the very heart of man.
Along with him must come one whose spirit shall be as
gentle as that of a mother, who will weep with his people,
who will crush and yet love and sympathize like Hosea.
Then, after all, must come one who shall have great con-

16
stitutional vision, like that of Isaiah, who shall forecast
the generations of the world. If God was able to raise up
such men in the times which are past, do we believe that
His arm is shortened and that He is unable to raise up
men for the future? In that period of Hosea and Amos,
city life had come for the first time upon the Jews, and
in it were some of the identical elements that are in our
problems to-day. The classes were warring, but not to
the extent we are. Immorality and intemperance were
rife, but not so extensive, after all, as in our own period.
There are rising here and there to-day men who are
prophets. The reconstructive period is beginning in moral
and spiritual things, and out of it I believe will come a
finer temper of spiritual life and social adjustment than
has ever been seen in the human race. My faith is that
He who watches over the destinies of the people is still
with them marching toward victory. But, my friends,
I believe that the same Redeemer whom we found at an
humble altar, to whom we confessed our sins and acknowl
edged Him as Lord, will be the power which shall save us
yet in the future. All the tide of life must be poured into
the individual until he is redeemed, and the reflex current
which flows out from these lives will be the salvation of
society. Let me counsel with you, that your ideals, though they
be larger than those of our fathers; that your thoughts,
though they be vastly greater than those of a generation
ago, shall yet enshrine Him as Lord. There have come
no others in two thousand years who can cancel sin and
let a man go free. Of all the prophets and all the philos
ophies that have come, outside of the Kingdom of Jesus
Christ, none has ever taken away a single iota of sin or
guilt; but from heaven above He has come, and He is
mighty to save. I believe that as our Christianity en
larges and we see things differently than our fathers, yet
we shall see Him standing above all the storms of the
ages calling us to come. I must not fail to counsel you
my friends, for I feel it my privilege, that the sacred
altar fires of the spiritual life must never be allowed to
die upon your family altars. May the flame burn there
as it did upon the old Roman citadel, that every man

Rev. LEVI REES.

17
who comes by shall know that this is a house dedicated
to the Lord. Here lies the hope of the future, the salva
tion of man and the triumph of the church.
But, in conclusion, let me say, though our fathers are
gone and the prophets do not live forever, yet I think
they stand this morning upon the battlements of heaven
asking you and me to stand with them, that we in this
day shall triumph as they did in theirs. With the splen
did heritage which they have left, we would be cowards
if we did not rise in the power of His might and strike
off the shackles of sin and evil that are everywhere.
Though it costs much, let us be true to Him. Though men
turn from us and refuse to give us the honor we de
serve, let us tell that simple message, that the men and
women of the future shall know that the Redeemer still
lives. I believe that if America is to be saved, it shall be
saved through the spirit of Jesus Christ, as you and I have
been saved, and if once there shall come the social ad
justments which we so much need, they will come because
we are clear-minded and sane enough to see that the
hour which demands our services will be given power from
Him Who rules over us. If one voice comes out of the
past more than another, it is that voice which says, "I, if
I be lifted up, shall draw all men unto me."
You are aware of your own personal triumphs, and how,
as you have trusted Him and been true to the narrow
way in which He leads you, you have been led out into
paths of usefulness and power. Just as you and I have
denied ourselves, and have chosen to walk the hard way
in the beginning, so He has walked with us on the path
way of life He has stood by us in every conflict. We
would not expect to conquer for righteousness without
the expenditure of some energy. We would not hope
to be triumphant in the future unless our lives were
crowded full of perplexing problems. That man who is
of value to your church and community and city to-day
is the man who has emerged out of enumerable difficulties
and stands master over them all with a clear conception
that Jesus is still able to lead in this age. He who could
give counsel to the disciples who were with Him cen
turies ago ; He can speak to you and me now, and lift us

18
up until we shall see that in the new age that shall be we
shall stand with the men and women who have conquered.
Let it cost what it will.
"Once to every man and nation comes the moment to
decide." And you and I will be brave enough this morn
ing, we will be heroic enough, to say that "Righteousness
shall cover the earth as the waters do the sea," by What
we mav do for the upbuilding of the Kingdom of Jesus
Christ. It is with much hope and with some fears that I look
out over the future of Quakerism. I know what has been
accomplished, and that it was accomplished because the
Redeemer was so profoundly enshrined in the hearts of
men that their lives were His life and their thoughts be
came His thoughts and their social movements in the
world were the social movements of God. If such shall
be the hope and thought and aspiration of the future,
our future is as clear as the light of morning. But if, my
friends, we have come to the stage where sacrifice is too
great, to that moment where endeavor seems to call for
too much, if there are not some men and women who will
follow the call to stand in the humble places and yet
speak for Him, our future is not secure. We know that
great spiritual peoples of the past have lost their mes
sage and no more do they speak to the world. I believe
they lost it because they forgot God. We may need some
one to rise and write for" us, . "lest we forget," that Jesus
yet is Lord.
My friends, I hope to see in the twenty or thirty years
that will be allotted to the most of us the most splendid
triumphs of spiritual life that this great country has
known, and I hope to see standing beside the other insti
tutions of religous life the Friends Church. Oh, I should
love to see it foremost, even. I should love to see it strik
ing into the roots of human society as it has done in the
past, and out of it all coming that emancipation spirit
which shall free us from the sins of individual and social
life. Lastly, may this church, dear to me, glorious in its
manifestation in the few years which I was with you
strong and vigorous for Him, be more so in the years that

19
are to come. If we were permitted under His care to rise
just a little toward the glory of the coming Kingdom, may
you in the years to come be swept up by the great current
of His power close to His bosom. These memories must
linger here until we have been laid in the grave. These
forces have entered into all of our lives, and they must
tell their story over and over for a hundred years.
Chorus, "Hymn of Gratitude."
"We will wait just a moment before our service closes,
if any one feels that he has a remark or a word of prayer."
Prayer, Emaline Tuttle.
"We thank Thee, our Father, for the message that Thou
hast given to the church in the past. We thank Thee for
those who have gone on before and are sitting in the King
dom of Heaven with our Lord. We thank Thee for all
they did for the church; but we desire, dear Father, not
to worship them, but to worship Thee and Thy dear Son,
our Christ. We ask, oh Lord, that Thou wilt pour in
upon us light, understanding and wisdom, that we may
do our duty as well as they did it in the past, and may
we always know the message that Thou art giving and
hast given to the church, and may we never lose it. We
realize that it is through unfaithfulness that any church
or any individual loses the message. Dear Father, may
the young people and the middle aged people of this
time, and all of them, know what the present message is,
and may we be able to tell it in the years that are to come
with greater power and greater earnestness and clearer
vision than it has ever been told before. We ask espe
cially that Thy presence, Thy power and Thy glory may be
manifested in Indianapolis, that it may shine out to oth
ers, and that they may be able to walk with the Lord be
cause of the light which comes from this church. Oh
Lord, may we sink out of self and into Christ. May we
know no will but Thine. May we all be able and willing
to suffer just as thou shalt lead us, and, oh Lord, we
pray that Thou wilt reveal to the young people the beauty
and the grandure and the glory there is in sacrifice for
the building up of Thy Kingdom and the redemption of

20
men and women in the earth. It is a beautiful work, and
we thank Thee and praise Thy ever-blessed name that
Thou art always, and always hast been, the leader of Thy
people. We pray that this church may put its hand in
Thy hand and be led by Thee, and that Thou wilt call out
the young men and the young women and anoint them
afresh, that they may see clearly the way that Thou
wouldst have them go, and that they may become stronger
and stronger in the Lord.
"Let Thy blessing rest upon every branch of the church.
We pray special blessing may rest with those ministers
that are before Thee to-day. Oh Lord, anoint their heads
afresh, we pray Thee, but grant to all that power and
unction to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. Now,
dear Father, bless each one of us, we ask, in Jesus' name.
Amen." Hymn, "Savior, Again to Thy Dear Name, We Raise
with One Accord Our Hearty Hymn of Praise."
Prayer, Thomas Brown.
"We thank Thee for the witness of Thy presence this
hour, for the touch of Thy Holy Spirit. We thank Thee
for the inspiration that has come to us through this serv
ice. Now, as we separate, may this same sweetness abide
on our hearts.
"Dismiss us with Thy benediction, we ask in the name
of Jesus. Amen."

EVENING SERVICE, 7 :45.
Vountary. Hymn, "Come Sound His Praises."
Scripture reading, forty-sixth Pslam.
Anthem, "How Amiable are Thy Dwellings."
Prayer, Albert J. Brown.
"Great God, our Father, who hast been our dwelling
place in all generations, let us approach Thee this evening
in the attitude of prayer and worship. Unto Thee our

21
God, we ascribe praise and glory, for out of the bounty of
Thy store-house there has come to our hearts the food
which has helped us. Lord God of all generations, Thou
whose battleline has been flung out far over the nations of
the earth, hear us as we pray to Thee for grace and mercy.
Thou hast builded beside all waters, and hast laid founda
tions deep in the hearts of men. May we not share of that
spirit to-night in the outlook for another half century of
power through the name of the Lord? To those who are
here to-night, and to those who share the burden of re
sponsibility, grant that Thy mercy and Thy leadership
shall be clear. The fathers and the mothers who have
born sons and daughters here in this household of faith,
may they not be forgotten, our Father ; and those who are
here and have been with us from the beginning of this
church's history, God grant that their last days shall be
full of glory, and when the end comes may it be light in
the evening. They have stood through many a conflict
and though few indeed, yet their voices ring out with the
same inspiration of years ago, and they say, may the
Lord bless us yet. For the children whose lives are to be
builded into this institution, we pray that great wisdom
and an abundant outflow of Thy life into their hearts.
May they be strong and stalwart, having as many eyes
to see as there are hopes and ambitions in life, to conquer
through the name of Jesus Christ. God grant that over
all of our lives Thou shalt keep watch, night and day, un
til the journey is over, and, when once it has been finished,
oh permit us to sit down with Thee in Thy throne to dwell
there forever, by the grace of our Savior. Amen."
Trio, "I Have Surely Built Thee an House."
(Remarks by the pastor.)
"One of the very interesting exercises for this anni
versary service is the reading of the historical review of
the organization, growth and development of this church.
This 'Historical Review' will be read to us by Elizabeth
Cox."

22
HISTORICAL REVIEW.
Elizabeth Harvey. Cox.
To those who have been members of this meeting only a
few years this celebration is one of pleasure only. To
the few who are left of the old-time members of Delaware
Street Meeting it is an occasion filled with sadness, more
than joy. Many of those whom we revered, whose as
sistance seemed so necessary, and to whom the church
owes its very existence, have gone to their eternal home.
To many of you the names of the former members, even
of some who have been gone but a few years, are strange.
In giving this history as accurately as I have been able
to gather it, I have tried to omit names of all who are
living, except of those who were here during the earliest
period — that included in the first twenty-five years' his
tory. The next historian may name those of this day, who
prove worthy, in the next quarter of a century.
Though we are celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of
the establishment of Friends Meeting in Indianapolis, we
must go back at least seventy years to give a complete his
tory. In 1834, when the first Friends, Jacob S. Willets and
Robert R. Underhill, with their families, moved here from
New York, our city was a village of about 1,200 people —
not many more than the present membership of our
monthly meeting. Even twenty years later, Plainfield,
which grew to be such a strong Quaker settlement, had
no Friends meeting, and the present location of our
church seemed far in the country forty years later.
These Friends were soon followed by Hugh and Sarah
Smith from Cincinnati; Mary White, Sarah Weaver and
their families, John Reeve and family, from New Jersey.
These, with a few others, requested Fairfield Monthly
Meeting to grant an indulged meeting, to be held in In
dianapolis, which was done on September 15th, 1836. This
meeting, under the care of a committee from the Monthly
Meeting which granted it, was held in a small frame house
just north of the Second Presbyterian Church. As some
of the Friends moved away, and other discouragements

23
came, this meeting was discontinued after an existence of
two and one-half years. The few Friends left still con
tinued to meet in each others homes; one of these homes,
that of Robert R. Underhill, stood on the site of the pres
ent Shortridge High School, and was a large brick resi
dence, afterward a part of the high school building, where
many of us attended school.
William Hadley, to whom we are indebted for a short
written history of the first twenty-five years of our Meet
ing, and his wife Hannah, began attending these Meetings
in 1853, when there were only five or six in attendance,
and continued until death called them. As a rule, there
was no preaching, silent meetings lasting an hour, a quiet
hand-shaking and parting.
In 1854, Robert Underhill left for a long visit to his old
New York home, and the meetings were held with William
and Hannah Hadley, on North Pennsylvania street. At
this time there were several valued accessions, amongst
them John and Mary Carter. Of all the charter members,
Mary Carter is the only one still with us, Horace Hadley,'
one of the charter members, having died a few weeks ago.
Alfred Johnson, of Richmond, another charter member,
is with us to-night.
Soon the members increased beyond the -capacity of the
Hadley home, and a building at 426 North Pennsylvania
street, occupied as a church by the English Lutherans,
was rented. There was no minister amongst them, but
frequently ministers from other meetings visited them.
About this time Thomas and Hannah Pearson, the latter
a minister, from Lockport, New York, came into the meet
ing and added greatly to its life.
In May, 1855, a request was made of Fairfield Monthly
Meeting that Indianapolis have an established meeting.
This was granted in September, 1855. It is the golden
anniversary of this established meeting which we are cele
brating this year. As the city grew and the business in
terests increased, Friends became more numerous, and it
was dsirable to have a permanent home for worship.
There were no wealthy members; in fact, most of them
were comparatively poor. With the courage born of their
feeling that they were in the right, these few people com-

24
bined their business and executive ability, and giving
the Lord credit for helping them devise plans, they began
to seek a location for the church.
The sentiment at that time was that the churches should
be around the Circle, or at least no farther north than
University Square, but after carefully canvassing the sit
uation, Friends decided to break away from this idea and
finally bought the triangle of ground between Delaware
and St. Clair streets and Fort Wayne avenue, paying for
it |2,800.00. The Friends interested agreed to divide this
land, reserving the best lot, 100 feet square, on the corner
of St. Clair and Delaware streets, for the church, sell the
remainder to the different members for homes at sufficient
profit to pay for the church lot and leave a few hundred
dollars as a nucleus for the building fund. Lacking about
$3,000.00 necessary to carry out their plans for a house
suitable for public meetings and large enough to accom
modate the growing congregation for years to come, Jon
athan Owens, William Hadley and perhaps others were
sent to ask aid of the neighboring Quarterly Meetings. The
usual plan of Friends Meeting houses was a low, one-story
building, twice as long as wide, with a movable partition
in the middle to separate the men and women during
business meetings. Therefore, while they met with a de
gree of success in some meetings, others sharply censured
them for attempting to erect a two-story building fur
nished with seats with closed backs and ends — pews, as
some called them. It looked too pretentious to accord
with some Friends' ideas, and yet twenty-five years
later appeared very plain, and the seats so straight and
uncomfortable, became the source of much complaint.
Let me quote in regard to asking this aid from'William
Hadley. He said:
"I remember of having presented the subject to a very
large Quarterly Meeting, as I thought, in a very impres
sive manner, and the subscription was being entered into
freely and liberally, when, suddenly, the good work was
stopped by a Friend who wanted to ask a few questions
about the kind of house we were proposing to build. I
answered as best I could, but failed to convince his judg
ment of the necessity of such a house, the like of which

Rev. THOMAS C. BROWN.

25
was unknown anywhere amongst the Society of Friends.
I went away from that meeting meditating upon the folly
of our undertaking, half inclined to go home and change
the plan so as to conform to the common custom. Find
ing a change would unsettle the minds of our Friends at
home, we were the more determined to adhere to it. Some
of the Friends increased their subscriptions, and some ad
ditional funds were obtained from other sources, and, fin
ally, the requisite amount was reached and the contract
let." The building being promptly finished, the first service
was held in December, 1856, conducted by Eleazer Bales,
a noted minister of Plainfield, who dedicated the build
ing to the Lord, free from incumbrance. Glad were those
Friends, who now had a building which would serve not
only for their own use, but for public meetings of the
traveling Friends, who were numerous. Before this it
had been necessary, either to ask for the use of some other
church, or to fail in providing a place for the meetings
of the traveling ministers, and the embarrssment was
deeply felt in either case.
The growth of the church has been gradual. In 1859,
when the Indianapolis meeting was made a part of Bridge
port Monthly Meeting, the membership was fifty-seven.
In 1865, when Indianapolis was granted its own monthly
meeting, the enrollment was 15Q. Twenty years later it
was about 500, and when the old house was given up the
membership was 600. The number in the Monthly Meet
ing when the last record was made in July, 1904, was 991.
The accessions since bring the total to about 1,050.
Following the efficient labors of Hannah Pearson in the
ministry, came David and Hannah Tatum, who were here
most of the time from 1858 to 1866. James Trueblood
came here with his family in 1862, and from this time, his
wife, Jane Trueblood, an English woman, was one of the
most faithful ministers of the meeting, as well as one of
the greatest charity workers, for at least thirty years.
In those days, ministers of the Gospel were not so hard
to secure as at present; at least, our meeting at times
had several able ones at the same time. In 1864 came
James and Sarah Smith, the latter also an English worn-

26
an, very gifted as a minister as well as in many other
ways. Two years later, in 1866, Enos G. Pray and his
family took up their residence here. He had been recog
nized as an eloquent speaker at Indiana Yearly Meeting,
on public days, and drew many of our citizens to hear
him. Others, who have lived here and taken part as min
isters in the regular meetings before a pastor was regu
larly employed, were Barnabas C. Hobbs, who lived here
several years ; Calvin W. Pritchard, Drusilla Wilson, Wil
liam S. Wooten, Anna Mills, John Stanton, James Adams
and J. J. Mills. Seven ministers have been recorded as
such by our meeting.
Seldom since the very early days, when the meetings
were held in the houses, has there been a silent meeting.
If no preaching, there was prayer or singing. Sometimes
we had but one minister, but oftener a half dozen. The
day of the great revivalist and the traveling minister and
Friends seems to have passed away.
Until the year 1888, we had no regularly employed pas
tor. In that year, Levi Rees came in response to a call
of our meeting, and was with us between four and five
years. It was during his services, and much to his ef
forts, that the Young Peoples Christian Endeavor was
formed. Following him, Thomas Brown was called. He
also was with us about five years, the last pastor of the
old church and the first of the new. Following him came
Albert J. Brown, in 1897. He was our pastor for five
years, being here during the sessions of the Five Years'
Congress of Friends, both that of 1897 and also that of
1902. Morton C. Pearson, the present pastor, began his
services in 1903.
It has always been true that wherever Friends settled
they immediately established schools. In this city prev
ious to about 1867, the public schools were inferior so
that Friends preferred private schools. For a time Han
nah Hadley taught her own children and others at her
home. Sarah Smith, one of our charter members main
tained a private school in her own home, corner of Mar
ket and Alabama streets, during the '50s, '60s and '70s
which was well patronized by the best citizens. There was
also a private academy conducted by Thomas Charles and

27
William Mendenhall on Ohio street, just opposite our new
Federal building, which did the best of work.
For about twelve years after the church was built, a
thoroughly good graded school was conducted in the low
er rooms, but as the efficiency of the teaching drew more
pupils, it was necessary to add a frame building in the
rear of the church. Not only the Friends' children, but
others, attended, since it was far superior to the public
schools of the day. One custom, that of taking the chil
dren upstairs to Wednesday morning meeting, was al
ways followed. To the old pupils the memories of this
school are very vivid and interesting. The influence of
these schools is felt to-day, and they were only discontin
ued after Mr. Shortridge had come here and began his
work in establishing a good system for primary and high
schools. From the very first, the charity of Friends has been dis
pensed with a free hand. A great work was that done
during the Civil war under the auspices of the "Freed-
man's Aid Society," of Western Yearly Meeting of
Friends. In this city the main work consisted in aiding
the destitute colored women and children refugees from
the South. A one-story building on Pennsylvania street,
just north of Washington, was in charge of Jacob Willits
and his son Penn. It was filled to overflowing with
clothing, which was given freely to the needy.
Growing out of this work, carried on by committees at
home and in the extreme South, a school was organized
at Columbus, Miss., in charge of Jonathan and Drusilla
Wilson, who were sent South with a number of efficient
teachers, willing to brave the dangers which were then
very great to Northerners living in the South.
The white orphan asylum was established fifty years
ago by Marcia Willard, and early in its history Friends
took a great interest. In the early '60s, Drusilla Wilson
became president of the board of managers, and when,
on account of her work in the South, she was obliged to
resign, Hannah Hadley began her services as president,
and continued for twenty years. Hettie Adams and Map
garet Evans were for many years members of the board

28
of this institution, and many of its matrons have been
members of Friends.
Soon after this, James and Sarah Smith secured a
building on Pennsylvania street just above the corpora
tion, which was then what is now known as Tenth street,
and began a famous work among destitute and homeless
women and girls. This work proved so sucessful and
such a blessing to the community that good men and
women supported it by voluntary contributions. Soon
the accommodations were inadequate, but the citizens
proved equal to the necessity and provided by private sub
scriptions the present building on North Capitol avenue
called the Home for Friendless Women. The services of
Sarah J. Smith in this institution proved so valuable, and
her wisdom and power so great, that she was called upon
for counsel by the committee in charge of the building
and equipping of the "Women's Prison and Girls' Refor
matory." When the building was finished, she was made
its first superintendent, and served many years until the
infirmities of age would no longer permit. Her assistant
during these years was Elmira Johnson> another Friend,
who was placed in entire control of the penal depart
ment. She proved so successful with the prisoners that
she was retained in this one position until failing health
forced her withdrawal. Our meeting has always provided
for the Sabath services once each month in this institu
tion. The present matron, Miss Emma Rhodes, is a
Friend, and has recently brought her letter to this meet
ing. The next charity work of prominence was aid for or
phan colored children, which was begun in 1868. Hannah
T. Hadley, as president of the white Orphan Asylum, was
often compelled to refuse entrance to colored orphans, so
that she interested her husband and others in the idea of
a home for them. Lots were secured, partly through do
nations and partly through purchase, and subscriptions
secured to build a house large enough to begin work at
the corner of Twenty-first and Senate avenue. One donor
Calvin Fletcher, Sr.., one of the pioneer citizens who
headed the subscription with $500.00, and asked each of
his seven sons to give $100.00, made it the condition of

29
his gift that the institution should always be under the
control of Friends, and this has been rigidly adhered to.
Other large contributors were Gustav Sherman, who gave
half of the land on which the building stands ; Edwin D.
Peck, who left an endowment of $1,000.00, $5,000.00 from
the estate of Isaac Williams, of near Salem, Indiana,
$1,000.00 from Western Yearly Meeting of Friends. The
County Commissioners pay quarterly so much toward the
support of each child, just as they do to the white Orphan
Asylum, but the sole management is in the hands of a
board of women managers and a board of directors, all
members of Friends Church. Other work for colored peo
ple was that begun as a mission Sunday school by Jon
athan Wilson, William Pyle and Joseph Newsom in 1866,
on the corner of East and St. Clair streets. These
Friends secured donations amounting to $400.00 and pur
chased a lot in what was then an out-of-the-way place,
Broadway, near Eleventh, and the colored people erected a
very small, cheap house for church and school. At pres
ent a large congregation worships on the spot, and has
a commodious building known as Allen Chapel Methodist
Church. These same Friends, with some others, at this
same time assisted by teaching and in other ways, the
Baptist colored people on West Michigan street. Four
other mission schools have been maintained for a time at
least by Friends.
For several years, in the '80s, a number of Friends who
lived in the northeastern part of the city, held regular
meetings and Sabbath school in a building on College ave
nue, and J. J. Mills often led the services. Another Sun
day school and library for white people was carried on
at the corner of Yandes and Thirteenth streets for sev
eral years by two of our women, assisted by Mrs. Sarah
Heath, of Roberts Park Church. It grew to such pro
portions that the people desired to form a church and be
taken in by Friends, but this not being thought advis
able at the time, Roberts Park assumed the work and to
day has a large Methodist Church grown out of this
nucleus. About fifteen years ago a Sabbath school was organized
in West Indianapolis. A church has now been built, free

30
from debt and prosperous, with about 150 members. An
other mission is in Haughville, where Friends own the
building and carry on a Sabbath school and regular serv
ices on Sunday and during the week.
Very early in the '50s there were times set apart for
Bible study, but the Sabbath school, with the superintend
ent and officers, was not begun until 1863, when it was
organized with Nathaniel Carpenter as its first superin
tendent. The change of ideas in regard to music is worthy of
note. I believe the love of good music is strong in Quak
ers, and that in suppressing this they got entirely away
even from the ideas of George Fox. For many years there
was no singing whatever in the meetings, and the first
piano bought for a Quaker child in this city, in 1876,
caused a great deal of censure.
Gradually, from one person occasionally singing alone,
the custom grew for all to join in this devotion. For sev
eral years our best singing on special occasions was fur
nished by members of one family, two sisters and two
brothers, but one of whom is still a member of this meet
ing, whose voices blended beautifully in a quartet.
Later, a choir was formed, and at first a small organ was
brought into the Sunday school and Christian Endeavor
work. Then a piano for the Sunday school, and, finally,
an organ for the regular church services.
The committee, entitled the "Peace, Book and Tract
Committee," of late has done good work in managing a
series of lectures on peace and arbitration, and in dis
tributing many books and papers.
When it comes to the history of the part our meeting
has taken in temperance work, I fear we have but little
to record. Probably ten names in all these years would
cover the list of active workers in this line, but it is
noteworthy that when our members do undertake it their
strength is recognized. One who was called to her eternal
home only a few years ago served as president of the
first local temperance union, from the beginning of the
Crusade until many years later, when it seemed she could
do more efficient work out of the union than as a mem
ber. Another woman, now with us, is always in a posi-

31
tion of great responsibility in temperance work. Several
of our men occupy positions in the temperance societies,
and our pastor was last winter made chairman of the
legislative committee of the Ministerial Association of this
city, which is an inter-denominational society. As to the
real work of reformation and Christian influence among
the intemperate, while the field is large enough to keep
us all busy, our members, as a whole, are simply quietly
ignoring the whole question.
The earliest aid society in our individual meeting was
organized in 1874, with the young girls of the church,
aged from 8 to 16 years, who desired to keep their mem
bers interested in their own church, by giving them some
thing to do. They met at regular times and made, with
the intention of raising enough money to carpet the
church floors, useful and fancy articles. Strange as it
was in that day, they were permitted, with no dissenting
voice, to hold a fair and social, a carpet was bought and
the children's interest kept in their own church. A lit
erary society was organized about the year 1882, and,
maintained for several years. It added a great deal to
the social life of the church.
The second aid society was "The Young Ladies' Aid
Society," organized in 1887, with thirty-five members, the
object being to raise money to aid in establishing a board
ing-house for girls.
The women of Western Yearly Meeting were organized
in 1887, and formed the association to establish a board
ing home, which was formally opened in August, 1890.
For years it was up-hill work to maintain it, as it was
desirable to make the expense to the girls who were either
getting their education or starting with low salaries, as
low as possible. William Hadley Ballard, one of our mem
bers, seeing the need of a suitable building for the home,
which should be permanent, as a memorial to his little
daughter erected the magnificent building, with all con
veniences, large enough to accommodate sixty girls, which
you all know as the "Bertha Ballard Home." Upon its com
pletion he turned it over to the association, which was
incorporated under the laws of Indiana. Starting partly
as a charity, since contributions were continuously so-

32
licited, this gift of a house, and efficient management, have
made it self-supporting; that is, the board paid by the
girls sustains the home and leaves a surplus f or future
needs. The Young People's Christian Endeavor Society was or
ganized by Levi Rees in February, 1889, with eighteen
members, and has been a power for good ever since. It
has not only strengthened the Christian life of the young
people and aided many enterprises of the church, with
its money, but has contributed largely outside the church.
One room was furnished by them at the Bertha Ballard
Home, and accommodations for one patient provided at
the Flower Mission Hospital. Each year they send a
certain sum of money to the Mexican missionary, besides
answering all home calls. At times a Junior Endeavor
has been carried on, though there has not been one for
several years.
The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society began in Feb
ruary, 1882, with Rebecca Morris president, she having
been appointed by the Yearly Meeting to organize the
women of this meeting, and Elizabeth C. Marmon secre
tary. Twenty years ago there were twenty-nine members
and sometimes fifty subscribers to the Missionary Advo
cate. This year there are thirty-three members. Death
has claimed many of the early members, and many have
moved from the city, but the society should be larger
now that it is, as our church membership has doubled.
The main work of this society is in aiding the Mexican
missionaries, but a fund is also maintained for supplying
the Cuban missionaries with suitable literature for their
work. Twenty-three years ago the society asked that the
Sunday school collection once a month be devoted ex
clusively to foreign work, and this has been done con
tinuously. One of the members of this society, Jemimah
T. Pray, was the first president of the Women's Foreign
Board, which was composed of local societies from all the
American Yearly Meetings. The young people, manv of
whom are so engaged as to be unable to meet with the
women's society in the afternoon, organized in March
1903, a young people's society. It meets the last Tuesrtav
night in each month, is called the Delitha Butler Harvey

Rev. ALBERT J. BROWN.

33
Circle, and its object is to aid both the African and the
Mexican missionaries of our church. Forty-five is the
average attendance. Along with the interest which it in
creating in foreign missionary work, it is doing home mis
sionary work by seeking the strangers and newcomers,
making them acquainted and giving them a pleasant so
cial time.
The Home Mission department of the church has been
actively engaged in its service of mercy for many years.
There are several subcommittees having charge of cottage
prayer meetings, conducting monthly religious services in
the public institutions of the city, distributing flowers to
the hospitals and supplying needed help to all who are
suffering. The Door of Hope receives much help from this
department, which has become a strong arm of power in
the life and activities of the church.
The Women's Aid Society of the church was organized
in the spring of 1895, for the purpose of raising the funds
necessary to supply the church furnishings. The women
of the church were divided into five sections, each to raise
$200.00. After this was accomplished, a permanent so
ciety was formed, the first meeting for work being held
October 8th, 1896. Its work was no longer confined to
help for our own church. Its charity has been ample and
no good cause appeals to it in vain. As a social institu
tion, its benefit to the meeting is great, since at its gath
erings there is opportunity for strangers to feel at home.
In the year 1900, April 2d, a number of our members,
much interested in seeing that everything of interest in the
history of the church was preserved, organized and in
corporated "The Friends Historical Society." A number
of lectures were given under its auspices, and a great
many valuable books have been received, which otherwise
would have been lost. It is the desire of the members
that pamphlets, essays or books which may have a bearing
on the Friends Church, be placed in the care of the so
ciety. In regard to building a new church home, William Had
ley, in closing his short history of the early church, which
he wrote about the year 1880, said :

34
"Whilst we are thus blessed with the ministers of the
Word, who are discharging their duties to the church
faithfully, before God, there remains for us who are called
to other parts of the work, to fill up our places and faith
fully discharge our duties, and even make some sacrifices
•for the cause we have espoused. Without entering largely
into a consideration of these, I think I may mention one
that is now moving upon the hearts of our people, to
provide a more comfortable and commodious church. This
has served its day, and cannot much longer accommodate
our growing congregation and Sabbath school. In five
years from now our membership will reach 500, and per
haps in less time we shall be recreant to our duty if we
should fail to consecrate of our means for the Lord's
cause and build for Him a house that shall honor His
name." This was the general sentiment for years, and one day
several Friends, who had met socially, decided to further
agitate the subject of a new church building by calling a
mass meeting of the members. After much discussion,
many plans and the usual trial, the old church was sold,
this ground bought and the building erected, at a cost of
about $30,000.00. It was dedicated in the fall of 1895,
by the pastor, Thomas Brown, one whom we loved and
honored, who had aided so much by large contributions,
as well as by his wise counsel and deep interest, Benjamin
F. Trueblood, of Boston, Mass., preaching the dedicatory
sermon. William R. Evans, one who had worked faith
fully for the building, was never permitted to wor
ship in the new building, death having claimed him before
the dedication.
It is well to know sometimes what others think of us,
even if the judgment be not flattering; therefore, I quote
an article from a Methodist paper, which I noticed sev
eral years ago. It is as follows:
"It is a fact that when George Fox died there were more
Quakers in England than there were Methodists when
John Wesley died. The Quaker movement, in its earlier
stages, was more widespread and more successful than
the first phase of Methodism. If the Quaker movement
had continued, there would have been no need and no

35
room for Methodism. Why did it so disastrously fail?
Because, for some unexpected reason, the Quakers, not
long after George Fox's death, ceased to be audaciously
aggressive. They no longer carried the war into the en
emy's country. They settled down comfortably in their
meeting houses, and while they continued to inspire many
social philanthropies, and to effect enormous political
improvements, they seemed to lose 'the passion of souls' al
most entirely. In our own day some of them are begin
ning once more to make a brave attempt to reach the un
reached masses of the people, and we earnestly pray that
they may wholly recover the intense and fearless evangel
ism of George Fox and the first apostles of the Society of
Friends. England has greater need of them than ever,
and let all be warned by the disastrous blight which befell
them as soon as they ceased to promote forward move
ments in every direction." I believe this criticism cannot
be justly applied to our Indianapolis meeting.
This is the Methodist view. While it makes no differ
ence as to which denomination carries on the evangelistic
work, it is the duty of each individual Quaker to the cause
of Christianity to see that this criticism shall no longer
hold true. Again let me quote William Hadley, giving his
view of the unity of our meeting :
"Indianapolis meeting has been remarkable for the
unity of its members in a more liberal and progressive
spirit than has prevailed in many other places — no divi
sion of sentiment has manifested itself. Whilst commo
tions and dissentions and divisions have arisen in some
sections of our church, we have been preserved in that
Christian love that has bound us together a united body.
Whilst we must acknowledge this to be a direct blessing
of God, it has been cultured and maintained largely
through the instrumentality of our teachers and preach
ers, who have not been confined to the narrow limts of our
peculiar tenets, but to the broader ground of the doctrines
of the Gospel as seen from Scripture standpoint. Our
ministers in the last few years have been from the young
er members of the church, raised up as it were from
amongst us, in an opportune time, untrameled by the con
servative ideas, that in some places have bound the church

36
to forms sanctioned by use in an age that is past, but not
adapted to the present."
As it was twenty-five years ago, I believe it is true to
day that our meeting is singularly united. A few ripples
may appear occasionally, but amount to little. We are
striving to do Christian work and to take a broad view
of life, which will shut out criticism of each other's efforts
and mistakes. There can be no hesitation in prophecying
that our meeting will still progress, and no backward
steps be taken, if we continue each to do his duty and fol
low the doctrine.
"Do unto others as ye would that they do unto you."
Offertory. Solo, "My Redeemer and My Lord."
Remarks by the pastor.
"The one who is next to address us needs no introduc
tion to this audience, having been the former pastor of
this church for four years, pastor when this church in
which we are assembled to-night was erected. This broth
er of ours will speak to us to-night on "The Church of the
Future; What Should It Be?"

THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE; WHAT SHOULD
IT BE?
Thomas Brown.
Dr. Sheldon has well said that "Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, to-day, yea, and forever, and humanity
is the same. Christ is the same in His power to save, in
His power to teach, in His authority as the perfect person
of all ages, pre-eminently at the head of all known ethioal
and spiritual forces in the world; and humanity is the
same from age to age in its need of salvation, in its pow
er to choose between right and wrong, in the retribution
which it suffers for wrong choices and the ability, by the
grace of God to be redeemed through the redemptive force
of Jesus Christ."

3T
This personal Savior, the Son of God, remains to be the
true foundation, the rock upon which the church is build
ed, as truely as when He declared to Peter, "Upon this
rock I build my church."
The Holy Scriptures remain to be the inspired word of
God ; infallible in their teaching, when rightly interpreted,
and are the safe outward guide in all ethical and spiritual
forces in the conflict with, and their conquest over sin.
He who holds to these two fundamental doctrines, the
Deity of Jesus Christ, and the Inspiration of the Bible,
will not drift very far afield in the realm of doctrine, and
will always have a base from which he may operate in
life's battles. Hold to this anchorage at any cost.
"Thou canst not add one cubit to thy stature" was nev
er spoken of the soul or of the church. There are abso
lutely no limits in this regard. "Grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" usually
is given a personal application. This is doubtless as it
should be ; but the command should not be confined to this
personal application. Is it not as equally applicable to
the entire church as a body? The vision of Nebuchadnez
zar of the stones cut out of the mountain without hands,
increasing, enlarging, growing until it fills the whole
earth, certainly has a note of victory in it that should
breathe courage into all church members. In the evolu
tions that attend this growth there is conflict. The forces
of corruption and darkness are pitted against the forces
of purity and light in deadly combat, but the fact that
the vision holds until this stone fills the whole earth as
sures us of the final triumph of the church. Its duty and
destiny are clear. The former is to oppose sin to the
last ditch and rescue the sinner; the latter is to enjoy
with God Himself the fruits of that perfect victory, which
He is working out through the instrumentality of the
church. With the church planted on the doctrinal foun
dation of the Deity of Jesus Christ and the Inspiration of
the Bible, and guided by the Holy Spirit, the result of
the issue is no longer in doubt. Victory will crown its
effort. A glance at the history of the church in the centuries
of the past, in its struggles for the ethical and spiritual

3S
supremacy, reveals the fact, that every generation has its
peculiar form of conflict. As James and Jambres with
stood Moses, so there have been men in all ages who resist
the truth as they did, by opposing unto death (witness the
stake), by the spirit of compromise (holding men back
from full consecration), or by duplicating in some meas
ure the miracles of Christianity by the deceitfulness and
cunning of designing men (witness Spiritualism and
Christian Science). Truth is with the church, and the
rapidity with which it prevails will be directly in pro
portion as the church adopts methods suited to the people
and times in which they live, provided always that its wit
ness for Christ be kept clear and strong
In recounting the incidents that have marked the prog
ress of this church during the fifty years of its existence,
we have an apt illustration of the wisdom of the church
in its flexibility and ability to adjust itself to the par
ticular needs of the hour. As to its doctrinal basis, this
church stands to-day where our fathers stood at the time
of its organization in this city, and where Fox and Penn
and Barclay stood at the time of the birth of our denomi
nation, two and one-half centuries ago; but, had there
been no readjustment of the methods of work, this house
would never have been built, and the splendid Sabbath
school and Christian Endeavor and Foreign Mission work
in its present form would never have been organized and
"Ichabod" would have marked this spot and the effort
then put forth.
While progress in the arts, or science, or invention may
change the physical habits of the race, remolding the hab
its of thought, revealing new forces and lines of energy,
they are in themselves absolutely powerless to change the
inward life of humanity. As the laws of nature are un
changing, so the citadel of the human heart, garrisoned
by sin, never yields, except through the energy of the one
divinely planned remedy — the cross of Jesus Christ.
We are, and ever have been, in a transition period in
every department of human life. It is as true in the de
velopment of the church as in any other field of activities.
Each generation writes its own definition of duty. Chris
tianity is constantly being analyzed and the terms of our

39
faith are ever being restated. This, however, does not
touch the fundamental facts of sin and its remedy; but
the method of applying the remedy to the disease. With
new light comes new responsibility. With new responsi
bility comes new power, which, when rightly applied,
yields progress. It surely was never intended for the
church to stand still and every other line of human ac
tivity be in ceaseless, surging effort to reach a higher plane
of effectiveness. This leads up to a clearer viewpoint from
which to measure what the future church should be.
Every agent on this earth with a mission to perform
should have the best equipment for accomplishing its mis
sion; and it should strive to master every detail of its
work and thus assure a more rapid conquest of its prob
lem. The church of the future should be one that "has
understanding of the times and knows what Israel ought
to do." It will avail us nothing if we devote ourselves
to the problem of other centuries, and "thresh over again
the old straw" that has been so effectively rent in the
white heat of the conflict, when such problems were live
issues. There was a time when cannibalism, dueling,
widow burning and human slavery were practiced and
stood across the high road of progress. These issues have
been met by the church and have been vanquished. In
their stead we have the saloon problem, the labor problem,
the war problem and other kindred questions that have
risen up and challenge the progress of Christianity, just
as earnestly as did those other' problems in other cen
turies. What ought Israel to do is a question that should
be determined by the church of each generation.
Having determined what Israel ought to do, then the
church of the future, should be imbued with courage to
accomplish the task' assigned to it. Every element of
strength should be employed to reach the desired result,
and every brother should gladly say to his fellow worker,
"Be of good courage." The church of the future should
be resourceful and lay tribute on every agent that will
yield an ounce of power for the final conquest. We are
just now learning better how to utilize the element of
strength that exists with the young people. The church
of the future should lay firmer hold of this power and

40
with its splendid organization direct its activities along
suitable lines, so as to make them more and more ef
fective. Let the earth be more completely girdled with
Christian Endeavor Societies, Epworth Leagues, Baptist
Young People's Unions, and other kindred organizations,
which have been organized by the church, and whose
strength may be hurled with tremendous effect in the con
flict. The church of the future should make full prepara
tion for the thorough training of its young people in all
the phases of Christian work. There is no one fountain
that yields such rich results in this line as the study of
the "Old Book." It is here that we may learn what God's
thought is. It is here that the Christian may find food
for the soul. The terse saying of U. S. Grant in his brief
message to the Sabbath school department of the Cen
tennial celebration held in 1876, is a message worthy of the
occasion and of the man, "Hold fast to the Bible as the
sheet anchor of all ouf sure liberties."
The church of the future should be aggressive. We are
just now learning, as never before, that when a pastor
enters a new work, that this congregation is not his field.
The world is the field, and the church is the force through
which the Gospel message is to be carried to the field.-
This will give the church a world-wide conception of its
mission. Much is being said in religious periodicals about
the "New Evangelism." Whether the church of the future
shall adopt the old or the new evangelism may not be very
material, but that it should be evangelistic is all im
portant. This evangelistic spirit should permeate the en
tire membership. How often has the pastor yielded to dis
couragement when he has sought to advance along evan
gelistic lines and finds so many members of his church
inactive. If they have an evangelistic power, it is latent.
"All at it, and always at it" is a truism to-day as really
as when spoken more than one hundred years ago. What
excuse has this or any church for its existence, unless it
should fill the mission intended by the Master? "To brmq
souls to Christ and to build souls up in Christ" is the high
mission committed to our hands, and the church of the
future should keep an eye single to that high mission
The church of the future should, above all things else be

Rev. MORTON C. PEARSON.

41
spiritual. Three years of training in the school of Christ
by the Great Teacher, training by example and by precept,
by parable and by miracle, in the public discourse and in
private, and by the most tender and patient teacher and
teaching was not enough to equip the disciples for their
life work as witnesses. It was still essential that they
tarry for the enduement of power, the promise of which
should follow the baptism with the Holy Ghost. "Know
ye not that ye are the temple of the Holy Spirit?" not only
was addressed to those to whom Paul wrote, but it will
still come with peculiar emphasis to the church of the
future. Vital union with Jesus Christ, through the Holy
Spirit, has been, and still will be, the one essential to
spiritual life. This alone can impart to the church the
aggressive spirit with which the church of the future must
be imbued. This alone can clothe us with the spirit of
love that so abounded with the disciples and found its
fullness in the gentleness and love, and yet aggressive
spirit, that permeated the life of Jesus. It was this alone
that led Paul to say that "I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Unto Him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own
blood; unto Him be glory and dominion forever and for
ever. Amen."
Remarks by the pastor:
"We are nearing the close of this anniversary service,
and yet we have some other interesting exercises — greet
ings from some of these friends who are on the platform
with us to-night, and who have been here so long. I am
sure if we should all express our feelings, we would say
that we should like to hear from these friends at more
length than will be possible at this late hour. We trust
they can each bring into a compass of about five minutes
each their message of. greeting for us to-night. I should
like to introduce at this time our dear aged mother in
Israel, Drusilla Wilson, whose name has been mentioned

42
here so often to-night, and ask her bring to us her greet
ings now."
Drusilla Wilson:
"I am very glad to be here this evening. As I have
iooked over the congregation and have heard the very
interesting paper that we have just had read in regard to
the progress of this meeting, I have remembered the time
when I first attended the Indianapolis meeting, my hus
band and myself, when the meeting was held in Robert R.
Underbill's house. We had a good little meeting there,
and I did not then expect, after this length of time, to
have the opportunity of meeting such a congregation as
this at this place ; and then, again, at the dedication of the
new-old meeting house, there on Delaware street, when
Eleazar Bales preached the dedication sermon. I believe
I never heard a better sermon than that was at the dedi
cation of a meeting house. I suppose at that time they
would hardly have been ready to say he was dedicating
the house, but he was sent for to come there, and he
preached the sermon in that house, and we had a very
good meeting. And now, to-night, as you have heard the
paper in regard to the gradual up-building of this church,
and, as I remember, it spoke of the seats getting very un
comfortable in the old brick meeting house on Delaware
street, so that some said they could hardly go to meeting
because the seats were so uncomfortable. I remember
when my husband and I went from Indianapolis meeting
down South to Columbus, Mississippi, on a mission to the
freedmen and held services, we sat on rude slab benches,
and we forgot that we needed better seats than we had
there then. We were so interested in seeing those poor
slaves who had been so recently set free, who had been
slaves all their lives until just then, and who seemed to
be so eager to acknowledge the truths of the Gospel  that
we should tell them the "old, old story of Jesus and His
love," and we forgot that we were tired and sitting on
slab benches. So I feel that it is the best thing we can
do, if we get tired of our old churches because they are not
quite as we would like to have them— while I believe in
the progress and upbuilding all the time — to send out

43
some of our missionaries into other fields where they have
not our opportunities, and that they will become so in
terested that they will forget the need of these great com
forts. So I want to encourage us all. There are so many
things which come before my mind, that it is very difficult
just in two or three minutes to say what one would feel
like saying under other circumstances. It would not be
well for me at this late hour, and with so much better
speakers here, to keep this audience longer. May the
Lord bless us and keep us, that we may every one en
deavor to do unto others as we would that they should do
unto us under like circumstances.
Remarks by the pastor :
"For a long time this meeting has been looking into the
face of our brother, William Pyle, for years a member of
this meeting. We are glad to introduce him now for his
greeting to us upon this anniversary occasion."
William Pyle:
"Friends, it seems to me at this late hour and warm as
it is, it would be better to adjourn the services very soon.
As this was to be reminiscences, I consulted Webster, and
he says reminiscences are recollections of things in the
past that come to the mind. Well, now, this paper that
has been read to us produced so many recollections in my
mind that I am lost. I hardly know where to start, and
I cannot occupy much time.
"I arrived in this city on the first day of the third
month, 1863, a young man 33 years old, with my family,
wife and three children. On the First day morning after
I was here — we called it First day then — I hitched up the
carriage, as we had done in Ohio where I came from, and
set out to find the Friends Meeting. Calvin Lindley told
me where I would find it. He was a brother of Mary
Carter's. I found it readily. It was Sabbath school time
— First day school we called it then — at 9 o'clock, I think,
or something like that. We entered, strangers, and they
took us in and gave us a hearty welcome, and we enjoyed
their little season of Sabbath school teaching under Wil
liam Hadley. William Hadley was teacher and superin-

44
tendent of the Sabath school. And pretty good, too, I tell
you. There was nothing but what was good about it.
We stayed to the services, and I recall to-night as I stand
here looking into the faces of the Friends who occupied
the gallery of that time. I see only one here who was
there then, and that is our dear sister, Drusilla Wilson.
There was Jacob S. Willits, whom we revered as an elder,
a man of God, strong in his day and generation. David
Tatum sat next to him, and then came Jonathan Wilson,
Jesse Taylor and Abijah Taylor, Sr. About the same time
Samuel Adams came here, and Nathaniel Carpenter, my
wife's father, and they were sitting on the top seat, as we
called it. It was an elevated seat, with a railing all the
way from south to north, and there was a little bench
along the back of the other seats for the ministers to kneel
on. We do not have them now. It was elevated about
four or five inches. Some of you older people have seen
them in the old Friends Meeting Houses. It was expected
that the praying would all come from the gallery and be
tween the aisles, where the ministers would be seated. On
the other side was Hannah B. Tatum, Jane Trueblood,
Ester Willits, the wife of Jacob Willits, and Drusilla Wil
son and Deborah Taylor. They had their costumes on —
plain bonnets and broad brim hats ; and the men sat with
their hats on. We always sat with our hats on in meet
ing, and when anyone prayed — it was not announced that
a certain person would lead in prayer, but we would find
them laying off their bonnet or hat and kneeling down;
that meant that the congregation should rise and stand,
the men taking their hats off while the person prayed.
That was the custom. The great contrast between that
day and this is remarkable in so short a time. It is only
forty-three years that I have been connected with this
church. It is remarkable. On the next seat sat Stephen
Brown and Hugh Smith, William Hadley and Abijah
Taylor, Jr. — John Carter, I think, and Mary faced the
gallery at that time. They were young-like people, about
like I was and my wife. On the other side was Hannah
Hadley and Ruth Lindley and others whom I cannot now
remember, but they were a nice, substantial looking body
of people, such as I felt I was glad to worship with and

45
take an interest with. I came from the farm, have been a
farmer almost all the time, and a great deal of the time
the only farmer belonging to this meeting; and the city
meeting was something new to me, but T fell in with them.
I found that there was a good spirit there, and through all
these changes that have come about in our church there
were many things that were a little in advance of my
ideas, but, still, as I could see the spirit of the Lord and
the loving harmony manifested among Friends, I could
not do otherwise than to say amen and go along with the
movement, whatever it was. So I have enjoyed this church
exceedingly, and I have admired the harmony and unity
that has prevailed in this Monthly Meeting since it was
established, and to-day I praise the Lord for the meeting
that we have, and as long, dear friends, as the spirit of
the Lord prevails with us, and we can harmonize and
worship under His blessing, we can depend on the bless
ing and power of God to keep and protect us and develop
us, but no longer. We must not get away from the true
spirit of worship. While the changes have been so great
in the manner of worship and in our appearance and every
way, yet, if the Lord is with us, we are safe ; but no long
er are we safe than while we maintain the spirit of our
blessed Redeemer in our hearts and allow it to permeate
our lives and our actions to our fellowmen. T praise the
Lord for this occasion, and for the many people I see here
that have been associated — some that are associated with
other churches at this time. We would be glad to hear
from them to-night. I know their hearts are full and they
would like to speak if we had time to hear."
Remarks by the pastor :
"Now we shall listen for two or three minutes longer
to our brother, Alfred Johnson, of Richmond, Indiana,
who, we learn this morning, was one of the charter mem
bers of this church, and was here fifty years ago to-day."
Alfred Johnson :
"I think silence would be best, but I will indulge in a
few words. I hope to be different from a brother who
was called on, who said he was going to give a scrap of

46
his experience and who spoke for a solid hour. I told him
I was glad he did not come across a speech. So I did not
come across any speech, and I shall make it short. I
knew a boy who was a very close observer, and, he liked
Robert Douglass to talk, because he kept looking at his
watch. There was always hope that he would quit. Now,
I will lay my watch right here, and you shall see that I
will watch it. I was called early to the service of God
and to leave home. I was converted in the woods, and
then God called me to go among the Indians. I left father
and mother and five brothers and five sisters when I was
25 to go West to be a minister. I saw many things there.
The Indians are very apt, very sagacious; They could
commit to memory remarkably well. We often had a
contest in committing Bible verses. I said one day in
the Shawnee Sabbath school that I could commit more
verses in an hour than any Indian in that school Charles
Desheen said, 'You cannot do it,' and I said 'I can do it.'
So we raced, and I beat him two verses.
"I want to interest you little folks. I remember I said
one day in the class there that I was taught by a good
man that the long hairs on a cat's mouth proved there
was a God. The Indians would ask, 'How do you know
there is a God? Did any of you ever see Him?'
"They were smart, and we had to get answers to their
questions. I had been taught by Barnabas C. Hobbs that
the long hairs on a cat's mouth prove there is a God. I
will tell you how, and I want you to remember the story.
They are called feelers. Cats have no judgment about the
size of a hole, whether they can go through or not. So
they put their nose in the hole they are going into, and if
these hairs hit either side they won't try to go through,
because that tells them they will be caught fast. How
does that prove there is a God? Why, there never was
anything designed but what there was a designer. There
was a design in the long hairs on the cat's mouth, and
that pointed to God. The eyebrows of every one of you
are a witness for God. They are a little roof built over
your eyes to keep the sweat out of them. If you had no
eyebrows, your eyes would be put out; so that is another
evidence.

47
"I said I was going to be very brief. I will tell one
more story, and then I will close. There are many young
men in prison who want to talk about religion, and do
not want a drunken guard to hear it; so I have gotten
the consent of the chaplain and warden to talk to them.
There were thirty-seven one day wanting to talk religion,
and I remember going to one and, taking his hand in mine,
I said, 'Brother, what do you want?' and the poor young
man, with tears on his face, said, 'I want to know what
the unpardonable sin is, for which a man need not pray.'
Nearly every one asked that question. It told a great
story; and that was, the power of God upon the mind of
our prisoners, shut up there alone. Another, I remem
ber, said to me, 'I was an orphan boy. I never remem
bered father or mother. They died when I was young, and
I was cast on the cold world without any protection. An
old aunt took me to Sabbath school. The teacher wanted
us to commit the Lord's prayer, and I said I had no book.
"Well," she said, "I will give you a book." ' So she gave
him a Bible about the size of an old-fashioned hymn book,
bound with leather, and wrote her name in it as presented
to him by his Sabbath school teacher. He took it and ran
away and never went back. He said he got into bad com
pany by smoking and swearing and playing cards, and one
evening when he went to a ball, having a lady friend with
him, and being too drunk to be decent, he offered her his
hand and she refused it. He pulled out a revolver and
shot her cold in death. Now he is a life-time prisoner;
a young man but 20 years old. He had the Bible in his
hand, and there was the handwriting in it. He said, 'I
have learned the Lord's Prayer, and I say it every night
and morning, but it does me no good.' I said, 'Brother,
that is not the prayer for you. That is the prayer for the
Christian; Our Father who art in heaven.' 'Well,' he
said, 'Why did not somebody tell me?' I said, 'The prayer
for you is, "God be merciful to me, a sinner.'" That
young man said to me, 'You tell every boy and girl that if
I had not left the Sabbath school I never should have
darkened the cell of the prison.' "
"The Lord bless you."

48
Remarks by the pastor:
"We have a visitor with us to-day from the city of Chi
cago, one whose name has been mentioned in the reading
of the 'Historical Review' to-night as one of the two men
who were the founders of one of the private schools of
early Friends in this eity. I want to introduce Thomas
Charles to this audience."
Thomas Charles:
"Only a word. I have been taking the 'American Friend*
ever since it was published, almost. Yesterday, when I
left Chicago, not having had time to read it, I put it
into my valise, and just before I got into the city I saw
on the last page that you were to have this celebration
here to-day. That notice brought up before the eye of my
mind a picture of the meeting held on Delaware street,
which I began to attend in 1864, and continued to attend
until 1869, when I left Indianapolis. As that picture
came up before my mind, I remembered Barnabas 0.
Hobbs, Drusilla Wilson and Jane Trueblood, and the pic
ture that William Pyle has given was fully in my mind,
and I thought how many of these can I see? I saw a
friend last night, and asked him, 'Is William Pyle still
living?' 'Yes, he is living.' 'Then I can see him.' 'Is
Drusilla Wilson still here?' I heard something of her a
few months ago. 'Yes, she is here.' I am glad to look on
their faces again, and I shall be still more rejoiced, I
hope, in a few years to come, when I shall meet them and
a host of others of the good and great of all times and all
races." Remarks by the pastor :
"We have with us to-night a number who are not mem
bers of this church, and I want our dear aged sister, Mary
Carter, to stand to her feet. I want you to see her, for
she and Alfred Johnson are the only charter members of
this church who are present, she being the only one now a
member of this particular church. Mary, will thee please
stand, and then, if thee has just a word, we would be glad
to hear from thee." °

49
Mary Carter :
"I do not know that I can say anything which will add
to what has been said. Our family came here the last
week of 1853, when the meeting was held in Robert Under
bill's house. As we did not often have ministers with us,
he would read a. chapter from the Bible about the middle
of our hour of worship. While holding our meetings in
William Hadley's home. Eleazer Bales and Samuel Spray
often came and preached for us, and, as stated in paper,
we had traveling ministers then more than now. William
took pains to invite any Friends who came to the city,
and the meeting grew too large for their parlor.
"It was in the spring of 1855 that we met in the Luth
eran church, on Pennsylvania street, a half square north
of St. Clair, and it was then and there that we first held
our preparative meeting. As they had a smaller com
pany than we, they allowed us the use of the church in
the morning, they using it in the afternoon. This church
had no partition, of course, so we had a canvas put up to
draw across, and in that way separating the men and
women during our business meetings, the men and women
always holding separate business sessions, this being the
custom for many years.
"It was after our meetings were held in this church that
Thomas and Hannah Pearson came from Lockport, New
York, Hannah having a sojourning minute for religious
service. With us she found a hearty welcome and open
field, which she most earnestly entered into and occupied
to our edification.
"The old church, corner of Delaware and St. Clair
streets, finished in 1856, was built with second story, so
as to have the first floor for private school. I think
Emma Trueblood, now Dixon, of Kokomo, was the first
teacher. After this, her sisters, Amanda and Rebecca and
Mary B. S. Wright taught. I cannot name all the teach
ers now. There are several men and women among us,
one lately gone, who went to that school, among them
Rosa Brown, Eva Taylor and her sister, Elva T. Carter,
now of Plainfield; Lawson M. Harvey, Horace M. Hadley
and our two oldest sons.

50
"The Lord has been with me in blessing all these years,
and, as Elizabeth Cox said in her 'Historical Review,' we
have just heard, this is a sad reunion for some of us, espe
cially for me, being the only one of our charter members-
left." Anthem, "Sing Alleluia Forth."
Remarks by the pastor :
"We surely thank you, dear friends, for your attend
ance here during the day, and as we shall now close this
eventful service, we most earnestly pray God's blessing
to rest upon us all. As I said in the opening of the morn
ing service, I want still to repeat, that this day should
mark a new epoch in the life and history of the First
Friends Church in Indianapolis. May it be realized in
the next half century, and if any of us shall be permitted
to be held here when that celebration shall be held may we
be able to see great progress in all lines of Christian work
and service, which we may be partially instrumental in
bringing to pass in the years which lie before us."
Benediction by Drusilla Wilson :
"We thank Thee, our Heavenly Father, for Thy care
over us during the past fifty years; for guidance and di
rection. To Thee we commit our future, beseeching Thy
protecting care.
"And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with
us and abide. Amen."

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