The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-28

DR.. Hall is a mot devout and simple
minded New Testament Christian. He is
eloquent, but it Is in the most direct and
unaffected way. The worldhneSs of his
congregation is severe trial to him, and
he thinks that 20 be called to minister to
such one demands as much self-sacrficing
missionary Spit a. most recognized and so
called missionary effort, He is an English
| man, not pst Co. large, serious and i'm
pressive looking, with snowy hair and clean
| shaven face He has a son who has been a
practicing physician here for some Years,
and. as night be expected, gets much de
sirable patronage
Anothe' clergyman Of ardent piety of
the Old ,rthodoX kind is DR. Charles F.
Deems. II the Church of the Strangers. Dr.
Deems vas Methodist clergyman in the
South )efore the war, and had written a
numUt' of religious books aud made much
sectional reputation before he came here.
| Here however, he was unknown to even
the eigious public when he came North
directly after the war. He was in tho
ro1ghly good standing in every respect in
his church, but he came here to establish
an independent organization and be no
longer subject to the itineracy. He first be-
gan to preach in the University
I Building in a small chapel
and his congregation consisted for
quite a time of the janitor and his family.
Early in his career here, however, DR..
Deems made an invaluable friend in old
Commodore Vanderbilt. That rough and
ready financier and the little sturdy
preacher had warm and genuine liking
for each other. They had a good many
traits in common, despite their great diff
ferences. Both were courageous, pugnaci-
Gus Unnecessary, loyal and warm hearted.
Each liked to hear the other speak his hon
est convictions, no matter where they hit.
Vanderbilt helped Dr. Deems to build the
church he still breaches ina very plain,
ugly, commodious brick affair, running
from Mercer to Greene street, between
Eighth and Waverly Place.
There every Sunday the little preacher,
with his noticeably manly, unpretentious
bearing and strong face, calls on sinners to
repent and enter the stright and narrow
path with fervor and a directness that
remainds you of the preaching you heard
when you were young.
DR. Deems wears a beard of old-fashioned
Southern cut. 1t is very gray now. He
never discourses sectional politics directly,
but he is still good Southerner, and has
some ideas that sound odd to-day, such for
instance. as objections TO public schools
Newer theology is to be heard from the
Rev. Theodore Williams, the successor of
the great Unitarian preacher, DR.. Henry
w. Bellows, at the Beefstake church or the
Church of the Hola Zebra, as it is variously
called by the ungodly. The Cody have all
the trouble of saying the Unitarian church
at the corner of Fourth avenue and Twen-
tieth street, for if it has any legitimate
special title no one knows it. 1t is there
that Mayor Hewitt goes to church with ex-
emplary regularity. So does his brother
in-law, Edward Cooper, and SO did the
famous Peter in his day.
Mr.. Williams is another little man,
though not so short as DR.. Deems He is a
New Highlander and looks altogether the
student His coloring is just a little too
dark to be called sandy and isn't anything
else in particular He speaks with that ex-
IRENE Boston accent which New Workers
used to spend their time mimicking until
the English article absorbed all their atten-
ton He is very intellectual in a Bostony-
metaphysical way, and is a popular pastor
and preacher. There seems to be nothing
to be said against him except that he is
young, aud he doing what he can to get
over that.
More Objectionable still on this score is
the Rev. Richard D. Harlan of the First
Presbyterian church. til remarkable that
this church puts up with his boyish, smooth
face at all, for, as the First Presbyterian
church should be, it is a marvel of stiff,
rigid adherence to the most antique ideas
Mr.. Harlan is a son of Justice Harlan, of
the United States Supreme Court. He
made his debut as a preacher in Washington
and has from the start been marked sue
cess. He is tall and slender, and has an
unusually good voice. His is thought to be
the richest congregation in New York with
all its staid gravity. Such people as the
AstorS and Lenoxes have gone there for
generations. There are people more thun-
deringly rich in Dr. Paxton's pews, but
here the thing is everybody is rich.
1t is a remarkable and pleasant fact, con-
sidering the tendency OF riches to make peo-
pie stingy, that this congregation for years
beat by full head every other Presbyte-
rian church in the land in their benevolent
contributions. OF late the collections in
DR.. Paxtons, Dr. Halls and St Bartholo-
news, where the Vanderbilts go, have been
nearly on a par with Harlan's. 1t is very
curious, with all this to remember, that this
church is so conventional that it has never
had an or an until within a few months,
and that they are still quarreling over the
innovation.
Harlan used to capture all the prizes at
Princeton, and was one of the last orators
to win medal at the intercollegiate ora
torical contests that used to be held each
winter at the Academy of Music.
The Rev. George RainsfOrd, of St.
Georges is one Of the conspicuous clergy
men of the day, and the general public
know more ana care more aOOuU MIN IMAM
they do about most clergymen. He is an
Englishman, and only a few years ago was
an unknown curate in English Norwich.
He is a big, brown, handsome man. A
good many women are given to talking
about his magnetism, but that's no fault of
his. He has a genius for organization and
for sett ng people to work He has made
ST. Georges famous as missionary church.
All sorts of people who never
did anything for anybody in their
lives are walked up by him to go to work
for the poor and the wretched. 1t does them
as much good and probably more than it
does their beneficiaries Mr.. Rainsford is
not strictly intellectually brilliant preach
or, and does not try to be. He thinks the
pulpit is the place for simple earnest teach
ing, and he gives it, He is not afraid to
cali spade spade, and goes in for telling
his people such truths as he thinks they
need and are not likely to hear elsewhere.
His wife and two sturdy little boys are al
ways in his congregation, and are his most
devoted listeners. His boys criticisms on
his preaching he often asks, and listens care
fully so their very candid remarks. He is
very low church.