Morning journal and courier., 1892-01-18
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Thought and Deed of Gotham,s
Church CircIes-Seating Capacity of
the Great Tabernacle-Talmag and
Behrends COntrasted-IIook SWING
ing I'm Indfa-Dr. McIlvaine's Ser
mona New Presbyterian Paper,
&c.
There is popular belief that the Brook
lyn Tabernacle, in which Talmage's re-
markable ministry is carried on, has seat
ing accommodation for six Thousand pso-
ple The officers of the church are rather
anxious than otherwise that this impress
sion should continue. They are not to be
blamed, perhaps, so long as the public de-
mands vastness as condition of its pat
ronage and favor. But friend of mine
informs me that just previous to the re-
cent performance of the oratorio of the
Messiah" in the large building, the COM
mittee in charge of the arrangements care
fully measured each pew on the main floor
and two galleries, and, allowing eighteen
inches for sitting, found that precisely
8, ,430 persons can be seated in the edifice.
The auditorium measures one hundred and
forty by one hundred and ten feet. The
dimensions of the old Tabernacle, which
was burned down, were one hundred and
thirty by one hundred feet. 1t actual
seating capacity was twenty-eight hun
dred. Rumor had it that Tslmage then
preached to an audience never less than
FIVE thousand. But estimates of audi
ences, like the promises of politicians,
should always be regarded as subject to
liberal discounts. They belong to the gem
erically false. And yet, when it is men
toned that-almost always-seats have to
be provided in the aisles for those whom
the pews do do accommodate, 1t il certain
that Talmags breaches morning and even
ing to considerably more than seven thou
sand persons. Let critics sneer and en-
deavor as they may to belittle his ability,
Talmage's congregations furnish iudubitn-
BILE evidence that he has something to say
| that people want to hear, and the man who
| can gather seven thousand people 70 hear
what he has to say every Sunday can af
| ford to smile at the critics.
Speaking of Brooklyn churches, one of
| the most popoular among an educated and
| intelligent class of church-goers in recent
years is the Central Congregational, of
which DIR. Behrends is pastor. 1t con-
tains 369 pews, all rented, seating 1855
people. The financial status of the con-
gregation is attested by the rental-$24,
608, exclusive of premiums, which largely
advance the revenue. Two more utterly
dissimilar preachers than Talmage and
| Behrends it would be vain to seek. The
| former is a pulpit artist whose assemblies
are entertained by word paintings and fig
ures of rhetoric, Oriental in their richness
| of verbal costuming. Mots, tropes, apo
| thegms, epigrams and antitheses are scat
| tered throughout his discourse like vari-
| colored stars in q crimson sky. The effect
is startling. Occasionally there is moth
| ing like it either in the heavens above or
| the earth beneath. But all the more is it
interesting to Telmage's auditory. Beh-
rends, while possessing the imaginative
| quality, holds it subordinate to q judg-
ment that is always discreet and regulates
it by a taste that is obedient to literary
canons. His strength, however, is in his
logical faculty. He sweeps the field and
CLEANS it, and sets his sheaves on end, his
demonstrations full and satisfying as tas-
sells of ripened grain.
The savage fanatical practice of hook
swinging has been revived in India.
Hooks fastened to high pole are inserted
into the flesh of the wretched devotee, and
the pole is uplifted and borne along the
streets by means of roughly improvised
car The victim endures the torture with
bravado, and when the performance does
not kill him he makes money out of 1t, for
his fellow-idolators are willing to contrib
ute generously to one who has shown such
devotion to the gods. At q recent exhibi-
ton of this sort some thousands of Hin
docs were present. The victim was select
ed as Precipitation to the goddess of rain.
The lady had been in q pout, it was sup
posed, and had sent no rain for long
time; therefore it was believed that o lit
tie blood letting was necessary to concili-
ate her. Strange to say that, while abol-
ishing the suttee and other forms of inhu-
man torment, the British have not inter
fered with this revolving practice.
No sermon preached in New York for Q
long time has been more talked about and
commended by religious people than tina.
delivered recently In his own church by
: the Rev. DIR. James 81. McIlvaine. It wai
!; one of series on the Bible delivered By