17. The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air. 18. The likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: 19. And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. 20. But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. ADDRESS OF WELCOME. C. J. H. WOODBURY, A.M., Sc.D. Chairman of the Anniversary Committee. N COMMEMORATING two and three-quarters centuries of continued existence, this church, unchanged in denominational faith and site, celebrates an event which is not vouchsafed to any other church in this country. The change which denoted that indication of modern civilization in appreciating the advantages of specialized skill, appears to have been first shown by the separation of town and parish; a momentous step in advance in American history, which left the one to attend to the functions of civic government, and freed the church from the burden of secular authority, so that it could infuse its beneficent influences over a wider scope, thereby acting with greater force in leading mankind towards better lives. History is frequently presented in such condensed narrative that merely names and dates are impressed on the mind, to the exclusion of far more important relations of movements to each other, and of their influences upon events which follow even at great distances. The Puritans were not of the peasantry but were among the most prosperous people of England, being possessed of material resources and imbued with that forceful intelligence which constitutes leadership in every community. Many of them were entitled to heraldic crests, to wear court dress and swords of ceremony, and there was a greater proportion of "misters" among them than there is of the society of scholars in these days of fecund colleges. While precise figures as to the amount of property that the head of a family should possess to join the colony cannot be stated, yet it is evident that he must be in liberal circumstances for those times; records show that furs, silk apparel and plate abounded in the Colony. At the time when this church was established, the wages of skilled mechanics in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay varied from fourteen pence to two shillings a day. Transportation across the sea was far more expensive than at present, and the entire outfit for the new homes must be brought by the colonists. It is true that they suffered during the early winters, but this was due to their ignorance of a severer climate than that of Old England, for which they were unprepared, and not on account of poverty; there was indeed penury at a later date, but it occurred in the second generation. Their intellectual force is shown by the successful manner in which they applied the principles of law developed under generations of monarchies, to the solution of problems of local self-government, and beyond that they initiated new functions of government, especially the written ballot, trade schools, free public education, town government, the separation of church and state, citizen militia, paper money, and the record of deeds and mortgages, all of which has contributed to the establishment of this Republic as the most potent nation in the world. When anyone ignores the record of these pioneers whom |