And State Papers 447 



dedication service of a church; and it is a happy 

 thing that we should have repeated them this morn- 

 ing. This church is consecrated to the service of 

 the Lord; and we can serve Him by the way we 

 serve our fellow-men. This church is consecrated 

 to service and duty. It was written of old that "by 

 their fruits ye shall know them" ; and we can show 

 the faith that is in us, we can show the sincerity of 

 our devotion, by the fruits we bring forth. The man 

 who is not a tender and considerate husband, a 

 loving and wise father, is not serving the Lord 

 when he goes to church; so with the woman; so 

 with all who come here. Our being in this church, 

 our communion here with one another, our sitting 

 under the pastor and hearing from him the word 

 of God, must, if we are sincere, show their effects 

 in our lives outside. 



We of the Dutch and German Reformed Churches, 

 like our brethren of the Lutheran Church, have a 

 peculiar duty to perform in this great country of 

 ours, a country still in the making, for we have 

 the duty peculiarly incumbent upon us to take care 

 of our brethren who come each year from over seas 

 to our shores. The man going to a new country 

 is torn by the roots from all his old associations, 

 and there is great danger to him in the time before 

 he gets his roots down into the new country, before 

 he brings himself into touch with his fellows in the 

 new land. For that reason I always take a peculiar 

 interest in the attitude of our churches toward 

 the immigrants who come to these shores. I feel 



