VOTE OF THANKS.
Resolved, that the hearty thanks of this Association be extended to the pastors and members of the Congregational churches, and to the people of Worcester, for their cordial welcome and generous hospitality to the many attendants on this the thirty-fifth annual meeting; in particular to the Plymouth Church and Society for the use of this elegant house of worship and the convenient rooms connected with it, and to the pastor, Rev. George W. Phillips, for his many courteous attentions. This Association also desires to express its sincere thanks to the large choir, for its aid in the service of song; to the press, for its full reports of the exercises, and for the liberality of the railroads which have reduced the rates of fare over their lines. While deeply grateful to the various Committees for their great work in making and executing wise plans for this large gathering, it wishes to recognize specially the efficient services of the Rev. Chas. W. Lamson and Samuel R. Heywood, Esq., whose wisdom and executive ability have greatly contributed to the success of this meeting.
Rev. Geo. W. Phillips, pastor of the church in which the meetings were held, responded to this resolution in a very felicitous speech. Among other things he said:
It is evident from the numbers which have been entertained here, it is evident from the interest which has prevailed in all these assemblies, that this cause, represented by the American Missionary Association, has taken its place already fairly side by side with all the other great missionary organizations and operations that are under the patronage and direction of our churches. The Worcester which you visit at this present time is not the Worcester that was here when this Society was organized. It is not the city that it was when this Association held its meeting here something like a score of years ago. From scarcely more than thirty thousand it has grown to be a city of more than sixty thousand people; and side by side with its growth in population we are happy to assure you—and I think you have seen some visible evidence of it—that we have kept pace with our Christianity, with our church extension.
The best meetings on earth, all meetings on earth, must have their end; and we are come to the last hour of the last great day of this American Missionary Association feast. We say our good-byes; we go hence, each to his church, his community, his home. We shall not all of us meet on earth again; but it is grateful to think that by and by there is to be another meeting—a meeting in which we shall no more plan for the salvation and for the moral purification of this lost world, in which we shall no more seek to bring men to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, because those great words shall have been realized, “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”