San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1888-01-05
PentecOstism.
Fl. Worth Gazette.

heV. uuSu ". IeuUcoooV, "ho ~
Gently resigned his pastorate because
be had ''no sympathy with the reli-
gion of the present day." has conceiv-
ed and proposed carrying into effect
the idea of organizing a church OF
his own, or rather numl er OF
churches in harmony with his own
ideas. "Unity Church" is to be the
name of it, and he is to erect one in
Jersey, one in New York and one in
Brooklyn, to begin with he might
make it Unity and Trinity Church. .
The distinctive features of the new
religion are to be freedom, fellowship
and character in religion. He will
preach three sermons each Sunday,
and endeavor to minister to the
wants of the faithful unaided such
times as his congregations become
strong enough to support an assist.
ant. Mr.. Pentecost is wealthy, and
the question of money or salary does
not bother him. His ambition seems
to be fame, or notoriety. He did
not, like many becksliders. set him.
self up in opposition to religion and
rail against it, tut rather has de-
termined to assist and reform it by
plans and specifications of his own.
Whether or not he intends to be Il
second Martin Luther, cannot be de-
termined by anything that he has
said. Doubtless he believes he has a
great work in hand and that q new
era will soon dawn upon the earth
He will labor principally among the
poorer classes, who are practically
without spiritual instruction, and in
this he may do much good. Argue
us we may, the churches of the pres
ent day are not attended by the poor.
Thousands of people in large cities
feel themselves out of place-feel
that they are intruders in houses OF
worship where cushioned seats invite
luxurious worshipers whose rustling
silks and fneries, by contrast, deepen
the humiliation of those arrayed in
the modest garments of honest pow
erty. There are proud spirits among
the poor; there is often refinement,
education and sensitiveness arrayed
in rags. The fashion of the day is to
appear in church with all the evidence
of wealth visible, and those who have
no wealth to display feel that they
have no right to occupy seat. we
hear constantly of fashionable
churches in the cities where the great
and the grand congregate, and with
in whose portals the footsteps of the
poor are never heard. They would
be welcomed, they are beseeched and
implored to come, but the exhortation
never reaches them. The conven-
tionalities of society keep them back
as eff ctually as would prison bars.
If Rev. Pentecost proposes preaching
Christ crucified to the poor--if he
proposes seeking out the timid, re-
claiming the wayward has as
much right to preach the gospel as
he understands it as any other man.
There are numbers of preachers who
do not yield obedience to the church
rules, though nominally belonging to
churches. Beecber, toward the latter
part of his career, practically rose
superior to all church organizations.
and labored in his own way. If Mr..
Pentecost is honest and sincere be
will accomplish world Of good and
lrry instruction and con olatioD 10
those who are strangers to spiritual
guidance. H need not war on
Christianity to do this, and doubtless
will not HIS sacrifices bespeak his
honesty and his ism may be a. Chris
tianlike as that Of any other demon
iuution