40 CENTENNIAL HISTORY
A few years had passed on, and my troubled soul had found peace in believing, and at the September communion, 1848, I stood forth, alone and trembling, and confessed Christ before men. Not many days before, Mr. Brewster had been dismissed at his own request, and Mr. Belden, installed by the same council, as pastor. Both were present at that communion service, and Mr. Brewster prayed so tenderly "for her who that day had cast in her lot with the people of God." And Deacon Clark passed me the sacred bread in such a gracious, gentle way, with a smile of welcome that has brought tears to my eyes many times at the thought of it. Those days of blessed memory, how few of those now living recall them! The pastors that ministered, the deacons who served, the fathers and mothers of this church that gathered here in sweet fellowship, have passed on to their reward. And during the last fifty years of our church life, how frequent, how familiar to us all, the going home of our members! The strong men, pillars of the church, the mothers, so loving and reverent, the youth passing on in their beauty, and the little children who had taken a few steps only up the hill of life, all have vanished and their places here know them no more. We miss them, but let us not call them lost, this great host of our beloved who dwell on high. They are not lost, they still are ours, our richest treasure. Are they not all ministering spirits? Do they not come through the open sky, to this dear church home today? They rejoice in our joy. They sing with us, "Blest be the tie that binds"; they bring the breath of Heaven to our weary souls, They bear us upon wings of light and open to our dim sight visions of unseen glory. Surrounded thus, on this crowning day of our church life, with such holy influences, let us rise to higher endeavor, to more Christ-like service. Let us seek first the Kingdom of God. Let us follow in the footsteps of just men made perfect, who have entered into glory. Then as our short day of life draws to its close,
"We, too, shall reach their home,
Beyond the star-lit dome,
Their anthems we shall swell,
Their joys, we, too, shall know."