day, and Almighty God will be honored by our one joyous, united song of thanksgiving, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." "Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace."

IX

"Other men labored; and ye are entered into their

TH

labors."-John 4: 38

HERE are among Seventh-day Baptists those who believe it is wrong to celebrate Christmas. This feeling, which is rapidly growing less, was once quite general in our churches. In order to hold the interest of the children and young people through the trying holiday season, at Milton Junction, Wisconsin, they used frequently to have an entertainment, very like a Christmas entertainment, but which was held on December 23.

December 23 is "Founder's Day" among Seventh-day Baptists. Now it is not at all unlikely that there are those present who never heard of Founder's Day among Seventh-day Baptists, and who could not connect next Tuesday, December 23, with any sort of anniversary except that it is two days before Christmas.

The text this morning is John 4: 38, “Other men labored; and ye are entered into their labors." A theme suggested by the passing of

the 231st anniversary of the organization of the first Seventh-day Baptist Church in America.

It is not altogether unlikely that the treatment of this subject may be liable to the criticism of not being a sermon ; but yet this text is not merely pretext, as you will see before we have done. The application of this text, to this people, at this time, is very pertinent and vital. "Other men labored; and ye are entered into their labors."

So far as I know the first Seventh-day Baptist was John the Baptist. All agree that he kept the Sabbath; and few deny but what his baptism was by immersion. Our Saviour was also a Sabbath-keeping Baptist. His immediate followers were also Seventh-day Baptists. But our subject is not to trace the doctrine of our "Apostolic Succession;" but only of our history in America. I can not pass without a single reference to the interesting field of study in the history of the Sabbath-keeping Baptists of England. To those who have given it even a superficial study, there is an inspiration in the names: Trask, James, Stennett, Banfield, Chamberlain, Savage, Cornthwait, and a long line of other brave and gifted men who, with Black and Jones

of more recent years, have carried on the unequal fight in England. There are many lessons for us in their brave loyalty and scholarly zeal, and also in the mistakes which it is now clearly evident that they made.

In treating this subject it will be necessary to assume a certain amount of knowledge and a certain amount of ignorance on your part. Seventh-day Baptist churches in America have, for convenience in our treatment, four separate and dictinct origins.

I. The Rhode Island branch, with its beginning at Newport in 1664.

II. The second branch of our family began at Newtown, a few miles west of Philadelphia, Pa., in the last decade of the seventeenth century.

III. The third branch had its origin at Piscataway, N. J., when, in the year 1700, James Dunham began keeping the Sabbath.

IV. The fourth division is made up of a large number of small churches that have been organized through the efforts of the American Sabbath Tract Society; these are mostly in the South and Southwest. In each of these four divisions is ample material for a volume, and I must hasten. I. The Newport, R. I., branch:

Stephen Mumford, a Sabbath-keeper, came to Newport in 1664. After five or six years, six others were keeping the Sabbath. At first they had no thought of leaving the church with which they were connected, but as misunderstandings arose they found it best to ask to be dismissed, and thereupon they organized a church, the first Seventh-day Baptist church in America. This was on December 23, 1671. In the first group we find the names of William Hiscox, Samuel Hubbard, Rodger Baxter, Tacy Hubbard, Rachel Langworthy. William Hiscox was ordained the first pastor. He held that position until 1704. He was followed by Elder William Gibson, a Seventh-day Baptist from London, Eng. Other pastors have been: Joseph Crandall, John Maxson, Wm. Bliss, Henry Burdick and Lucius Crandall. The tracing of these names across New England, New York and Wisconsin to the prairies beyond is not only very instructive, but highly interesting.

For more than a third of a century Newport was the only church, but in 1708 those Sabbathkeepers who lived on the main-land were organized into the Westerly church. This church, now called First Hopkinton, included all Sab