ORANGE CONG CHURCH 5
Address of Welcome
By
Deacon Stiles D. Woodruff
KIND friends, in the name of our common Lord and Master, and in behalf of the Orange Church I welcome you on this our hundredth birthday. First I would welcome the mother Church. The man or woman who has a good and noble mother spared to them, with all her love and care bestowed upon them, has a goodly heritage. The Orange Church can boast of a double portion of this blessing, for we had two mothers, the First and Plymouth Churches of Milford. We sustain a very peculiar relationship, for we are an offspring of twins, if I may be allowed to so express it, and we feel proud of our ancestry. Looking back at the records one hundred years ago, we find you were not in favor of our withdrawal from your communion, in fact strenuously opposed it, but this opposition as I understand was not of that nature which produces antagonism, but the kind and loving feeling of the parents who would keep all their children beneath the paternal roof. When at last these two bands of Christians decided to go whether or no, then these two mothers bade their children a God Speed and gave a mother's blessing, as I understand, and during this wide century we have been associated and bound together by family ties and kindred blood as well as Christian fellowship, and living as far as I can learn, as mother and daughter should live, all working for the same blessed results in the Master's cause. And to the Churches from adjoining towns with whom we have been associated, especially that church located within the borders of our own town, we welcome you. You have assisted us in the installing and the dismissal of our pastors, and from