THE SOTTII CIIIIKCII. .'{.'i 



ASSOCIATIONS AND SOCIETIES. 



For several years after the organization of the Cliurnli, its 

 general work, aside from that of the Sunday-school, was prose- 

 cuted chiefly by the Church acting as one body, in i)lanMing 

 and executing the various projects for advancing Christ's king- 

 dom. A Church meeting was held every Friday afternoon, at 

 which schemes for active Church work were freely discussed, 

 and the final action was the result of the concurrent judgment 

 of all or of the majority of the Church present. As these 

 meetings were well attended by nearly all the members, and 

 especially by those having the greatest influence, the whole 

 Church participated in the onward progress of its distinctive 

 work. As opportunities for Christian effort and counsel multi- 

 plied, and the Church itself embraced a greater variety of age 

 and condition of members, much of its work has been done ])y 

 societies and associations formed within the Church and work- 

 ing together in harmony to accomplish its mission. A few of 

 these societies were nearly contemporaneous with the Church in 

 organization, but the greater part have been formed within the 

 last twenty years. 



Ladies' Benevolent Society. — Before the Church was or- 

 ganized, some of the ladies who were among its original mem- 

 bers met at private houses to sew and plan to raise money for 

 furnishing the new Church edifice then building. For the bet- 

 ter prosecution of their work, they formed themselves into a 

 society, with the name of the "Ladies' Benevolent Society." 

 The first meeting as a society was held October 29, 1841; this 

 is therefore the oldest association in the Church, anticipating by 

 more than eight" months the beginnings of church life as a sep- 

 arate Church. In less than a week after the society was organ- 

 ized it had fifty members. Its work at first had direct and 

 special reference to preparing cushions for the pulpit and the 

 furnishing of the meeting-house, dedicated in June, 1842. But 

 from that time through the more than fifty-one years of its ex- 

 istence, it has been an instrumentality for good, working on 

 varied lines, as the Providence of God has presented opportu- 

 nities. 



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