Our church and our village . t in this church, I realize that his departureinto eternity was a transfer from the walls which heconstructed so well below to that city whose founda-tions are what they are because its Builder and Makeris God. And ever since, the Presbyterian Meeting-House ofClaysville has been the principal centre of interest inthis community. It gave its name to everything con-nected with it. There were the meeting-house yard,the meeting-house lane, the meeting-house hill. Thatlocust grove, through whose branches we looked at itfrom the village, inspired me with all the enthusia
Our church and our village . t in this church, I realize that his departureinto eternity was a transfer from the walls which heconstructed so well below to that city whose founda-tions are what they are because its Builder and Makeris God. And ever since, the Presbyterian Meeting-House ofClaysville has been the principal centre of interest inthis community. It gave its name to everything con-nected with it. There were the meeting-house yard,the meeting-house lane, the meeting-house hill. Thatlocust grove, through whose branches we looked at itfrom the village, inspired me with all the enthusiasmof a Shenstone. Those aisles showed on each Sabbatha procession the like of which I have never witnessedon the earth. Sculpture, both ancient and modern, hasexhausted itself on the church pulpit, but to my eye theold Claysville pulpit, with its steps and its railing andBible rest, covered with red damask, was a thing of realbeauty. And as I looked at the old pews with theirnumbered doors, I felt that they were no common 24. CLAYSVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Claysville Presbyterian Church benches. I admit that the pews might have beenmore comfortable, but I ever have denounced thevandalism that removed that old pulpit by which ourancestors showed that they were by no means deficientin good taste. Somebody has written a poem entitled TheMeeting-House on the Hill. I wish I could find it,for its meeting-house filled my mind and heart withour meeting-house on the hill. Why, dear friends,it is our Westminster Abbey, for, doubtless, you arenow peopling it with your dear dead as the LordsDay found the hearthstone circle in the family our heaven will link itself to the meeting-houseon the hill as the way by which we reached Godstemple on high. The fifty-first chapter of Jeremiah was spoken to theJews when they were captives in Babylon. A longcaptivity was in prospect. Seventy years must rollaway before God would fulfil His promise to Hispeople. I will turn away your captivity, an
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