Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-25
A BIG CHURCH'S DEBT.
Bessie Bramble Suggests That the
Gar Help DR.. Talmage Out.
1BILITY SHOULD CHIP IN, TOO.
A Unique Theory of Sin Traced to the
Financial Depression.
ASTRONOMY AND THEOLOGY MIXED

The Tabernacle in Brooklyn, where Doc
said to be the largest Protestant church In
America. 1t is generally filled at the Sum-
day services until it is the 'jammedst jam"
upon the continent, excepting, perhaps, at
some of the football games. Brother Tai
mage is the all attracting star. His elo-
| quence, his word-painting, his moving force
draw all men and women-who visit New
York-unto him, at least, once.
"He is the best advertised show in the
country" said a newspaper man. He is
not only preacher who draws the crowd,
but he is the editor of a paper. which he
claims to be ''the brightest and best re-
ligious paper in the world, which no
Christian home should be without This
paper, under the direct domination of
Brother Talmage, sent a steamship laden
with -four enough to sustain, as it says,
125, 900 lives in famine-stricken Russia, for
which Alexander I'LL, Emperor of Russia,
Grand Duke Nicholas and the Crown Prince
personally thanked Brother Talmage in ac-
knowledgment of such noble generosity and
Christian effort in behalf of suffering
humanity.
TaImage Honored in Russia.
Furthermore, they gave him right royal
reception, and allowed him to hob-nob with
them to the utmost limit that is ever per-
mitted by court etiquette to anyone out
of the order of nobility and the circu-
lation of blue blood. Brother TaImage came
home enchanted with such condescension
and royal recognition. and has been very
busy white-washing the Russian Govern
ment ever since. He has been making out
that George Kennan has been contributing
to the magazines and publishing books full
of falsehoods concerning Russia and
Russians He places the stamp of liar upon
E. B. I.anin, whose articles upon 'Russian
Characteristic" have been so widely read,
and which are supported by the statements
of unbiased writer's and by the digest OF the
civil law and the testimony furnished by its
enactment.
1t seems plain from his own showing that
Brother Talmage was beautifully hood
winked in Russia by the high officials-iust
as are the American Ministers at the court
of ST. Petersburg. He does not seem to
have become aware of the tyranny that ex-
lists in the Cars domains. He evidently
does not know that parents-whateyer their
means-cannot give their children a classi-
cal education without the consent of the
Government, which is charity given. Ad-
mission to the technical schools and the
universities is now as difficult for Russian
without what is vulgarly known as ga
pulr'-we are told, as "iree admission to
Mecca for an unregenerate Christian.
He Did Not Stay Long Enough.
His stay in Russia was short. His views
OF the empire were those presented to distin-
guished strangers. Had he gone down into
the depths of the Siberian mines, had he
been subjected to the hardships of the civil
and ecclesiastical law, had he been under
constant surveillance of the police, who
were privileged to enter his rooms cross
examine his servants, open his letters, and
meddle with the affairs of his private life
as they saw fit, it is hardly likely he would
have been so gushing in his praises, and so
liberal with ''taffy" for the nobility.
The testimony OF Brother Talmage as to
the British aristocracy is that it is distin-
guished by less of strut and arrogance than
is shown by many an American constable,
or alderman, or legislator. There is less of
ostentation in the castles and halls of the
nobility in England than in the gilded
palaces of the nob-ocracy of this country
he tells US The marquises, and earls, and
lords he met were good, nice men with no
pretensions about them. The duchesses and
countesses were unaffected, and put on
no.airs. The Earl OF Kintore was as COM
pletely'a ''gospelized man" as Brother Tai
mage ever met. When this good, gospel
lied" Earl visited 'the slums" he did not
go IN a carriage-oh, no-but he simply
required the attendance of "John
Thomas to carry his coat, his Bible and
his psalm book. Without any pretentious
swagger, he shook hands with dirty, nasty
looking men-called them gentlemen"
gave them little religious talking to, and
promised them "a regular blowout" in the
way of treat at Christmas.
The Other Side of the Picture.
Now, with all these good, liberal, wealthy
friends in Europe-to say nothing OF the
"beastly rich" on this side OF the ocean-it
does seem strange that Brother Talmage's
Tabernacle should be levied on by the
sheriff for debt-that there should even be
proposition made to attach the money on
the collection plates, as the papers tell us.
1t would seem eminently proper for the
Emperor and Empress of Russia and the
wealthy nobility of the court of st. Peters
burg to step in and settle the claim of the
sheriff on the Brooklyn Tabernacle as
token of their appreciation of the boat
load of -four freely bestowed upon the
starving peasants of the empire last
summer through the efforts of Brother
Talmage. Considering, too, their char
acter for charity and goodness
as portrayed by him to the world at large it
would not be too much to expect that the
nobility and gentry of Great Britain should
"chip in" and relieve the Tabernacle and
Brother Talmage of the load of debt which
so burdens their minds and encrusts their
souls with worldliness
''They had no business to go in debt" is
the expressed opinion OF very many people.
A church is no more justified in building
great and splendid house without the