Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1866-01-27
if'm tho sunday lrrsrafh.
A Morning in tho "Taber,
naolo."
BY \. II. MoIIL.

Our trip across the Atlantic hud
been n very pcrilous one For
three long anxious days we stccrcl
through apparently houndlcss fields
al lee Gigantic crystal mountains,
cleaning in gorgeous and danger
Gus beauty, came gliding swiftly
and silently from the frozen North
Ike dcath,urgclS, Stout hearts
grew faint, aud bearded checks grew
pale as hom after hom We stored
slowly along; and still the clear,
cold field leo spread out before and
on ~ ry side. Day after day the
sun sank behind icy towers and
mountains lighting them up with II
glory past human language to de-
scribe. Night after night the eter-
nal stars looked down upon our
struggling ship ~ she carefully
wound her difficult way through
Openings in the ice.
Tho "Canadian," sister ship TO
the one we were ON, had struck up
ON a sunken iceberg and gone down,
and we had picked up five Of her
crew 'hc thhd day out from Que
bee. 1t was looking for the others
who We're on some island off the
coast of Labrador, that brought us
into the ice region. The morning
Of the fourth day our noble Captain
ceased his anxious watching for the
bridge" and told us we were safe,
and the danger, and, alas many of
the good resolutions we made under
its influence, joined the mighty host
Of things that are past, and that
memory alone can summon at her
wish.
One beautiful Saturday morning
we reached Liverpool Docks, and
the evening of that same day we
were in London, anxious for the
morning to come that we might 90
TO the Tabernacle and hear Spur
rcOn.
Nine o'clock Sunday morning
found us out in the street before the
Tabernacle doors, waiting for the
immense crowd before us to enter
the Church. As far as we could see
up and down the street, people were
waiting their turn, Sturgeon, the
Baptist, Sturgeon the village boy,
the greatest pulpit orator in Eng
land preached here, and every Sun
day found that great crowd waiting
long before the doors were opened
for admission.
After a while we entered and
were shown to seats in the gallery
opposite the pulpit, where we had
n fine view Of preacher and congre-
cation. The Tabernacle seats five
thousand people, and before the SER
vices began every seat was filled
and the aislcs crowded, yet the
building is so admirably construct
cd that the speakers voice is audi
bic in the rcm~tcst corners and
highest galleries. And the voice
which | now heard for the first time
was one of great power, full, clear
and true, and sweet, too, with q
kind OF force in it. 1t seemed Gre
atcd to read the grand words Of the
Pam with which the services be-
gan. Those who know Sturgeon
only through his printed sermons
can form but little idea of him, and
must be unable to account for the
extraordinary success attendant up
on his ministry. His manner of
conducting the exercises is so i'm
pressivc, his comments upon the
lessons so graphic, instructive and
eloquent, that the sermon, grand
and eloquent as it is, is imperfect
without them.
After the Psalm n hymn was read,
the reader pausing frequently and
repeating some words or lines with
wonderful effect, giving them a new
meaning and power, by the mere
intonations Of his voice--so that his
congregation might sing with un-
Outstanding. After thus reading
the hymn it was "given out, as it
is called, u whole verse at q time,
aud sung. l think that was the
grandest church music l ever heard.
Thousands Of well trained voices
joining in harmopy-not discord
audiblc--the vast Tabernacle filed
with harmony! Now, l am not by
any means one of that class who
think old fashioned campmeoting
singing the most beautiful or spirit
ual kind Of music-on the contrary,
it has always been to me one of the
greatest proofs of the divine char
actcr of religion that it has surviv-
ell this long its singers and expound-
crs; but / do think two or three
thousand voices singing together
tremendously give one foretaste
of heavenly music.
The hymn was followed by a
prayer, earnest, simple, and compre-
hensive after the divine model Civ
en- us in scripture. Then another
hymn--then selections from the old
and new Testaments, and then a
short fervent invocation for bless