Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1892-04-09

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that other statement, which recently
went through the country, which said
that the Brooklyn tabernacle had n
hard financial struggle because 1t had
all along been paying such enormous
salaries TO its pastor, DIR. Talmage, when
the fact is that, after our disaster
and for two years, / gave all my
salary to the church building fund.
have preached here twenty-thrce
years, and expect, II my life and health
are continued, to preach twenty-three
years longer, although we will all do
well to remember that our breath Is our
nostrils, and any hour we may be called
TO give an account of our stewardship.
All we ask for the future is that you do
your best, contributing all you can to
the support of your institutions.
NV first Sabbath in Brooklyn was n
sad day. for / did not realize how far
the church was down until then, and on
the evening Of that day my own brother,
through whose pocket / entered the
ministry, died, and the tidings OF his
decease reached me at six o'clock in
the evening, as was to preach Mt half
past seven. But from that day the
blessing of God was on u.s. and in three
months we began the enlargement OF
the building. Before the close of that
year we resolved to construct the first
tabernacle. 1t was to be a temporary
structure, and therefore we called 1t n
tabernacle instead of temple.
We expected to pay for the new
church by the sale of the old building.
The old one had been sold, but just ut
the time we must have the money the
purchasers backed out and we had two
churches and no money. by the help
of God and the indomitable and unpar-
alleled energy of our trustees, we got
the building ready for conservation,
and on September 90, 1870, morning and
evening dedicatory services were held,
and in the afternoon the children with
sweet and multitudinous voices, con-
secrated the place to God. Twenty
thousand dollars were raised that day
to pay floating debt. In the morning
old DIR. Stephen II. Tying, the glory OF
the Episcopal church and the chrysos-
tom of the American pulpit. preached a
sermon, which fingered in its gracious
effects aslong as the building stood. He
read enough out of the Episcopal prayer
book to keep himself from being repri-
mandcd by his bishop for preaching Mt
ut a non-episcopal service; and we. al
though belonging to another denomina-
ton, responded with heartiness, as
though we were used to the liturgy,
Good Lord. deliver u.s."
During the short time we occupied
that building we had constant down.
pour of religious awakening. Hosan-
nah. Ten million years in Heaven will
have no power to dim my memory of the
glorious times we had in that first taber-
nacle, which, because of its invasion of
the usual style of church architecture,
was called by some "Talmage's Hippo
drome." by others, Church Of the Holy
Circus" and by other mirthful nomen-
clature. But it was building perfect
for acoustics, and stood long enough to
have its imitation in all the large cities
of America and to completely revolu-
tionize church architecture
On Sunday morning, in December,
1872, the thermometer nearly down to
zero, was on my way to church. There
was an excitement in the street and
much smoke in the air. Fire engines
dashed past But my mind was on the
sermon l was about to preach, until
someone rushed up and told me that
our church was going up in the same
kind of chariot that Elijah took from
the banks of the Jordan.
We were, rs a church. obliterated.
''But arise and build" said many voices.
But how to raise the money for such an
expensive undertaking was the ques-
tion-expensive not because OF any
senseless adornment proposed, but eX-
pensive because of the immense size of
the building needed to hold our congre-
CATION. 1t was at that time when for
years our entire country was suffering,
not from financial panic, but from
that long continued financial depression
which all business men remember, as
the cloud hung heavy year after year
and commercial establishments with
out number went down. Through
what struggles we passed, the eternal
God and some brave souls to-day re-
member. Many a time would have
gladly accepted calls to some other
fields, but could not leave the flock in
the wilderness. At last, after, in the
interregnum, having worshipped in our
beautiful Academy of Music on the
morning of February %, 1874, the ami
versary of the Washington who con-
quered impossibilities and on the Sab
bath that always celebrates the resur-
rection, DIR. Byron Sunderland, chaplain
of the United States senate, thrilled US
through and through with dedicatory
sermon from Haggai ii. o: THE glory
of this house shall be greater than that
of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts.