Morning journal and courier., 1888-02-13
THE DE BIT IS RAISED.

THE DEBT IS RAISED.
 Tho Members of Center Church Make
 Up a Fund of Twenty-Five Thou
 sand Dollars in a Short Time to Pay |
 OMthe Church Debt and for Necessary |
 Repairs
 In response to circulars stating that the | church debt was to be paid off yesterday | morning if the weather was favorable the members of Center church turned out in large numbers at the morning service.
 Rev. Dr. Smyth, the pastor, preached a
 sermon from Deuteronomy xv,6: "For the
 Lord thy, God blesseth thee as he promised
 thee, and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee." The pastor said:
 1T think this church has historic right to take to itself these words which were spoken to Israel'of old. Surely for these two hun dred and fifty years the Lord has blessed it as he promised the fathers. They first wor shipped God under the open sky. It was in what the ancient chronicle calls a mighty barn that an elect company of God~fearing men and women were gathered to enter into the first covenant of this church. We, the | living, have received from others without cost to ourselves our house of God. From | the memorial stone in it's vestibule we may read the story of the privations of the early founders of our church in the still pathetic | record of the names of many little children ! who were born to die in those wintry homes. | But we come to day to comfortable worship ! from what pleasant homes the pastor of this church to whom their cheerful doors have l been opened know right well. Could John Davenport have been transported in the spirit through the years to the present day, | could he have gone with me this week from haraa fr of h on6 fnrt r | think he might preach at this hour with beaming eyes and from an overfowing heart. 'sThis church has lent to many nations, and during the present century it has lent iber- ally. It has capital of benevolence invested | all over the world. can find the record of | this investment for the past twenty-five | ears only; but within this recent period the l church has lent to all nations the not incon- ! siderable sum of $520, ,6S424. This large ! amount measures only the streams of benevo- | fence which have flowed through Che public channels of the iberality of the church, and not the countless springs of private charity 1 which are never dry.
 1T think the church may also read in i this scripture, and with downright, manly | determination take also to itself the admoni- l tion of the text. But thou shalt not borrow. It is not fitting that he who lends should l that church lending Eberally to many na- | tions should be obliged to borrow even lit- | tie for itself"
 1 A church in debt cannot wholly realize l this promise of the scripture 'And the Lord l shall make thee the head and not the tail l Thou shalt rule over many nations and they 1 shall not rule over thee." Solomon was 8 l royal fnancier, and the master builder of | Israel's fortune left this financial proverb, l ''The borrower is servant to the lender" It II is not fitting that church should thus be- | come servant to any man.
 | The aDeakAr smoke of how A kipo of Israel l wishing to repair the house of the Lord, had | chest with hole bored in the lid of it set
 beside the altar on the right side of the al- tar. ''And when they saw that there was
 much money in the chest the kings scribe and the high priest came up and they put up in bags and told the money that was found l in the house of the Lord" That is sufficient
 scriptural precedent for the work which we meet to accomplish as an act of worship and
 devotion upon this holy day.
 | s'There are two special notes in this scrip
 tural way of keeping a church from debt
 which we need to mark. We read of the
 money for which every man was rated, and
 also of all the money which it cometh into
 any mans heart to bring into the house of
 the Lord The scribe this Sabbath day who
 put up the money in bags holds in his hand
 Mosaic table of tithes by which every man
 may be rated; yet there is apt to obtain
 among men voluntary and approximately just rating of persons according to their sev-
 eral abilities. Rich men know and upon this occasion they will not I am sure need to be
 reminded that if the chest with the open lid I by the altar is to be filled and made even to run over little they will need to bear their full part according as each man in his own | just estimate would rate himself before the Lord.
 eve want this church to be the home of ! all it's children. We tarry in it but as in 8 great chamber; it becomes cold, unsocial, | cheerless as inn to us, if by our own love | and acts of devotion in it we do not make it
 our home, and ourselves the happy children of God in it. We all this day have duty
 and an opportunity to make the church more than ever ours, and to feel ourselves of right and perfectly at home in this ancient house of Gods people. Some of you who are new | corners have never had opportunity to give to make this your church.
 'tIt is full time to annihilate church debt | when it is growing by it's own worthless in- crease. This is the thing which needs to be | done; therefore it will be done by you. Hav- | ing once put it's hand to the blow this church ! cannot look back until the whole furrow be- | fore it is turned.
 "The witness of this church before the Lord is not to fail from generation to genera tion, nor is it's strength to be abated. Its young men and women to be left free to meet the responsibilities by service which are now coming as the Lords opportunities | to Christian hands and hearts; they shall run to the WOrk Wn1cn they are called unAlnQered an unencumbered by any burdens which others who went before them failed to lift. eff there be joy in heaven over one sinner | that repenteth is it wrong to wonder whether ! there may not be joy among those who for | long years have loved and served this church. as shall complete this work required of | us, having done it in their dear names as well | as in our own. And may we now feel and | realize in united devotion and in the health | full glow of our common effort the Christian | strength of Christian church. At this solemn hour, when in deed and in birth we take the vow of the Lords house upon us | may we receive new baptism af the spirit" After the sermon the entire debt of the | church was raised, amounting to $23, ,O00. | The committee has asked for $2 ,O00 more to make repairs on the church and little more \ than that amount was raised. In all there was something over $25, ,000 that was raised.
 The members of the church responded most ! literally.