New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-07-23
From Georgia.


To the Editor of the New National Era:
Being ON an extended tour through the
Southern States, Of pleasure and observation,
l have in the natural course of events reached
Savannah.
The purport of the present communication
of my peripatetic detour, but TO present to
you in pleasing word-painting, picture in
bold relief among the public edifces of this
city; an ornament to this metropolis, and
right justly the colored peoples pride and
boast; 1 speak of st. Philips A. M. E.
Church, of which that distinguished, gentle
man, scholar and divine, the Rev. DR.. Henry
NJ. Turner, is the revered pastor. This
ornate house of worship is erected in the
western part of the city on a new street, con-
tiguous to West Broad street, one of the most
conspicuous and noted avenues in the city,
the building is of brick and is, without ex-
ception, the largest possessed by the colored
people in the South, e., so far as 1 have
seen. The interior presents a striking coup
d'oeI to the visitor as he enters !; at the north
end is the elegant pulpit on raised dais,
spacious and commodious the galleries are
on each end, so that the choir which is in the
rear of the minister, and yet directly over
him, as it were. fronts the congregation. AT
the pulpit's back is a golden sun, dazzling in
its erubescent brilliancy in the glaring novn
of day, while contrasting scene is also pre-
scented upon the same background of
"The spacious armament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
The spangled heavens, shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim"
conveying the solemn realization to the finite
mind that it cannot grasp in comprehensive
thought such an absorbing thought: immens-
ity, illimitable space, no end.
Following this sublime spectacle, the new
moon is beheld rising in the east and passing
through, by successive gradations, all its
phases,
While the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn
are truthfully illustrated on the frontispieces
of the galleries by faithful pencil. Four
tablets of marbled stone, on which are in
scribed the Lords Prayer, the Apostles
Greed, and the Ten Commandments, are APP
propriately arranged on the galleries, while
the portrait of Bishop Ward is displayed d.
rectly in front on the gallery.
But how shall I speak of the happily con-
ceived and artistieally executed scriptural de-
signs in freshest colors, on the ceiling o f
the church. Immediately over the pulpit is
seen the Crucifxion of Our Lord, in his ex-
piring agonies ON the cross, with this passage
from Gal. G.: IA, "God forbid that 1 should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ" This is large painting and re.
fleets great credit en- the artist. On the
right of this is the Birth of Our Saviour
Hero is given very chaste grouping; the
Holy Babe and Virgin Mother, with the
kneeling wise men, most tastefully arranged
with appropriate passages from St. Luke and
St. Matthew. Over the middle aisle we come
first, advancing from the altar, to an angel
flying IN the midst of heaven with COLDER
trumpet in the right hand and the Holy Bible
in the left, with this text in scroll: "And
saw another angel fly in the midst of HEAVIER
having the everlasting gospel of peace tt
preach to every nation, kindred, tongue ant
people,"
In the centre, over the magnificent chan
delier, is splendid painting Of cherubim
around which are the words: "God oul
Father, Christ our Redeemer, Man our Broth
err" We proceed now to view the Lamb o
God with its attendant angel, and in scroll
"Behold the Lamb of God ~ "And I looked
and 10! lamb stood on Mount Sion." Rev
IA: /. +.
The next in the course of these charmin,
pictures is the millennium day-thc Lion AM
the lamb are lying down, and little child i
playing with them, with clusters of grape
on the ground, natural enough to tempt on
to attempt to pluck and eat them. "And il
that day make covenant with the beast
of the field and / will make themto lie dow
safely" Hosea, 2: Is.
But the artists masterpiece is that of tn
Judgment Day. "Then shall the King sa
unto them on his right hand, Come We bless
ed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre-
pared for you from the foundation of tn
world" Matt. Is: 81. 'Then shall he sa
to them also on his left hand, Depart ye ours
ed into everlasting fire, prepared for tn
devil and his angels" Matt. Is: Al
This picture is the conception of bold in
agination. ''The judge of the quick and tn