130 A HALF CENTURY. 



tian. It was his custom to read the Bible througli, in course, three 

 times every year ! 



Henry Nortli is spoken of by Deacon Andrews as "the man with- 

 out an enemy." Mr. Rockwell describes him as "an Israelite, indeed, 

 in whom there is no guile." He was a man of the most scrupulous 

 integrity, and the spirit of kindness and good will added the grace of 

 a beneficent life. 



Dr. Samuel Hart was the beloved physician of the village. From 

 his youth up he had been a Christian, and now at fifty-six, in the full 

 maturity of a well-rounded character, he was at the height of his in- 

 fluence in the community and in the church. Intelligent, skillful, 

 sympathetic, and faithful in his profession and in every duty, a 

 man of deeds rather than of words, he was respected and trusted by 

 all. 



Norman Woodruff's is the seventh name — a plain and unassuming 

 business man, serious, scrupulously honest, intelligent, and generous. 



So I might go on if there were time ; but these seven must suffice, 

 as indicating something of the composition and character of that 

 original South Church — forty men and eighty w^oraen — which has 

 given direction and force to our history for the past fifty years. This 

 history it is not my purpose to rehearse. That will be done by 

 brethren of the church in the other services of the day. 



From that vigorous beginning, which was sanctified by prayer and 

 offerings, and sealed with the Holy Spirit's blessing, the great Head 

 of the Church has maintained us in life until this present. The 

 fathers have all passed away. Not a man remains of the original forty. 

 But through the unanticipated growth of our city the church has 

 been increased, and its field of work has been enlarged, until the 

 fondest hopes of its founders must have been more than realized. 



That the church has been thus able, in some measure, to perpetuate 

 the spirit of the fathers, and to meet the new emergencies which have 

 arisen, we give thanks to Almighty God, through whose grace all 

 blessings have been received. 



Among these blessings I should do violence to my convictions if I 

 neglected to refer to the three faithful and successful pastors who 



