St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-25
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.
The Followers Of Alexander
Campbell and Their Work
in st. Paul.
Undaunted by Failure, the
Faithful Few Make a
Fresh Start.
Ten Years Of Hard Toll Leads
to a Firm Founda-
ton.
One Hundred Energetic Chris
tians Who Spread the Faith
as They Go.

A church, like a person, seems to
stand in most perfect relation to the
Infinite in youth. Helpless as a child
before its parent it extends to society q
hand that caresSeS while it clingS for
support; too weak to war, it attains its
ends through love, and measuring each
day its shadow grown longer in
the sun, 1t has conscious
ness of progression that approaches
nearer sense of the universal than
mortal life in completion ever can en-
JOY. Among the most interesting of
young churches in st. Paul is the
church of Disciples of Christ, or Camp
bellites. The present society of this
name is the re-incarnation OF an earlier
one, which was born in 1874 and de-
parted this life after brave struggle
for existence, in 1879. The first
man who preached the gospel of the
CampbelliteS IN st. Paul, was Jacob
Creath Jr., an itinerant preacher who
visited here in May, 1S49. There was
not member of his faith in his con-
gregation, and the Pioneer disciple
wrote of st. Paul, 81 was not favorably
impressed with the place or the
people. The people had come there
to worship Mammon, and l
think they were devout worshipperS.
AS the city grew, however, representa-
tives of every denomination increased,
among them those of the Christian
church. In 1874 there was a sufficient
number that meetings were held regu-
larry in private houses. The little band,
consisting of Mr.. and Mrs. S. c. Ar
buckle, Mr.. and Mrs. w. A. Faddis,
A. NJ. Haggard, Mr.. and Mrs.
Edwin Stewart and family, were
visited by the state evangelist
who encouraged them TO effect a perma-
nent organization, which was done
March q, 1875. The old Unitarian
chapel on Temperance street was
hired as
a PLACE OF WORSHIP,
and here the following charter members
and officers of the church assembled:
w. A. Faddis. elder; S. G. Arbuckle
and Edwin Stewart, deacons; Mrs.
Laura A. Faddis Mrs. Deborah
e. Arbuckle, Sarah A. Arbuckle.
Mrs. Harriet c. Stewart. Miss Annie
Arthur III. Wilcox, Hannah Biggs, Miss
Ballard, A. NJ. Haggard, G. l.. Haggard,
G. II. Pierce and nj. d. Alexander
During the time that the congregation
met in the old chapel, one Sunday
morning a man of good appearance
and fine address presented himself by
letter to the church, who,
was none other than DR.. Tanner, who
was afterwards to become famous as the
man of forty-days' fast. The expert
ence of the Christian church here, the
first time it was on earth, was that OF a
willing spirit weak in the flesh. 1t
moved from the Unitarian chapel to the
Gospel Temperance club rooms, and
and finally, through want of funds. was
reduced to its primal necessity of hold
ing service in private houses. 1t con-
tinued to draw its fast-f1eeting BREATH in
this manner for about year, and at last
GAVE UP THE GHOST
in 70. But the spirit lived, though the
body died. Three years later, j. G.
Hay, from Minneapolis, began holding
afternoon services in the Swedenborgian
church, then what is now the colored
Catholic church OH Market street,
and not long after the Campbellites
were reOrganiZed by Leander Lane,
gregation of twenty-siX members, viz. :;
A. l.. Winship and wife, Mrs. Theresa
Hoxsie, S. c. Arbuckle and wife, G. d.
Pierce and wife, w. A. Faddis and
wife, j. W. Donaldson, Virginia Lane,
f. A. Steele and wife, Mrs. NJ. c. Fawk-
ner, Mrs. Harriet Pierce, G. l.. Green
ough, G. S. Fawkner, Frank Beckley.
Mrs. L. w. Teesdale. G. e..
Salisbury, w. l. Faddis, DR..
Clara E. Atkinson, Mrs. c. A.
Donaldson, Meta Pierce, Jennie
Florence. Services were held in the Y.
NJ. G. A rooms for two or three years
nj inf ah do
being strongly felt. the church decided
to dispense with minister in order to
save money to build or buy a home.
This, however, proved but poor econ
Omy that threatened disaster, and APP
phcation was made to the General
Missionary Society of the Christian
Church for pecuniary assistance. Aid
was promptly granted which enabled
the society in st. Paul to purchase a
small frame structure, occupied by the
French Catholic school at the rear of
the capitol and to move it on the lot
where 1t now stands on Carroll street,
Just below Louis. The amount re-
ceived from the General Missionary So
ciety did not nearly cover the
EXPENSE OF THIS ENTERPRISE.
ana the church had not a cent in it's
treasury. But owing to the indefatiga-
BILE efforts of the members, chiefly the
women, it is now wholly out of debt.
The pastor, q. l.. BrOokhall. sent by the
general missionary society of the
church, was marvel of executive abil-
lty, and to him large measure of sue
cess is due, though no more than to DR..
Clara Atkinson. Such an important
part did Dr.. Atkinson play in the up
building of the present Christian
church, it is frequently spoken of
as DR.. AtkinsOn's church-not improp,
erly so in any sense, either, since
Christian and Dr.. Atkinson are synony-
NOUS. She was ever ready to encourage
with her faculty for presenting the
brightest side, with her purse and:with
the labor of her head and hands. When
the church on Carroll street was to be
dedicated, the kalSominerS left it Friday
night and the carpet-layers insisted that
it would require all of Saturday
to put down the carpets. No one
saw possibility of getting the
scrubbed in the time that would inter
Vene between 6 o'clock Friday night
and O'Clock Saturday morning. But
DIR. Atkinson quietly deposited hose,
broom, mop. kettles. lamps and step
ladder in her buggy, whipped off to the
church, and with the aid of her servant
and Mrs. II. M. Woodward, an
other good soul who is not toe
careful of her Christianity to
work it hard, the church was cleared
and scrubbed by IL o'clock Friday night,
ready for the carpet to be laid next
morning. Though Rev. BroOkhall
possessed exceptional executive ability
which he exercised faithfully to the
good of the church, DR.. Atkinson was
none the less 1.-THE
POWER BEHIND THE THRONE"
1t was a regularly established custom
for her to meet him in his study each
Monday morning to plan for the work